1 – It can be expensive.

The minimum amount of equipment you will need is your basic equestrian tack. Halter, rope, bridle, saddle, pad and blanket. That’s all you need if you are just riding around on your own farm.

If you go to public trails, you will need a truck or SUV with a trailer package. And a horse trailer or a stock trailer. If you want to camp with friends you’ll either need a camper that mounts in your truck bed, or a combination camper/horse trailer. Or friends that have an extra bed in their camper. Of course, you can always make do with a rain-repellent tent and a quality sleeping bag. Nothing wrong with that.

And you will need feed buckets and water buckets to bring along with hay and grain. A good hay net, fly spray, hoof pick, curry comb and brush round out the list of requirements. You don’t have to have it, but a saddle bag to keep your sandwiches and water bottles is a good idea, too.

Depending upon the type of riding you do, you may or may not need to have your horse shod. Riding on dirt trails, it’s not so much a necessity. On roads, streets, or rocky terrain, it’s probably a good idea. Some people only have horseshoes put on the front hooves of their horses. Talk with your farrier and friends who ride with you to make decisions as you start out. At the very least, you are going to need to pay a farrier to trim your horse’s hooves regularly or learn to do it yourself.

Still with me? Ok, now let’s talk about the day-to-day upkeep for your horse. A horse will normally require somewhere between 16 and 20 pounds of hay or grass per day. So, a typical 80 pound bale will last 4 days. Or if you have grass pasture, you can turn them out, but be careful. Too much grass can cause a horse to develop a “grass belly” or in extreme cases, founder. The price of hay varies from one area to another, and from one year to the next. Lots of things factor into the price of hay. The amount of rainfall is one of the bigger factors. Too little, and there isn’t much hay. Too much, and it might prevent the hay from having enough drying time between cutting and baling, causing it to get mildewy or mold. You don’t want that for your horse. So that all affects the supply, and ultimately the price. Grain isn’t cheap. Consult your vet or experienced horsemen about how much and what to give your horse.

Your horse will need a barn to shelter your horses against the cold and rain. Generally speaking, a roof to keep them dry when it’s raining and shady spot to lounge in when it’s hot and sunny, and a windbreak will do under most circumstances. If it’s really cold, you’ll want to get them into a stall if you can. A veterinarian once told me, “You can build a really nice, quality barn, and your horse will stand outside in the worst weather. He’ll only come inside to take a dump.” And he was right.

If you are keeping your horses at home, you’ll not only need a horse barn, but you must also have good quality fencing.

Depending on your situation and preferences, you may decide to build horse stalls in your barn. And a round pen where you can work your horse and for turnouts. 

Ok, so now if you want to go to horse shows, pretty much everything I’ve already told you will do you just fine as long as you focus on contesting. Barrel races. Flag races. Pole bending. The fun events. You might need to spend a little more money when you purchase your horse if you want to be competitive. Be aware that if you only use your horse for contesting, he will likely be a complete knucklehead if you wait and decide two years from now to go on a trail ride. If you ride trails regularly and contest once in a while, probably no problem.

But if you want to get into Western Pleasure, Horsemanship, or English Pleasure and Equitation, you are looking at big bucks all the way around. Your horse can set you back hundreds of thousands of dollars. You have to have the best quality horse show tack. You will need quality western clothing – shirts, vests, jeas, chaps, boots, cowboy hats – and quality English blouse, breeches, boots and riding helmet. If you are serious about showing, you will need a high-quality horse trailer with camper facilities. And if you want to really look like you belong, you will arrive in your own motor home/land yacht while your professional trainer trailers your horse in a camper/horse trailer.

You’ll be paying your trainer a ton of money to train your horse, and you or whichever member of your family is showing the animal. And God forbid you ever use the horse for anything fun like a trail ride.

Vet bills will vary depending upon what you need. You’ll need Coggins tests for transporting your horses. Vaccinations. Deworming meds (you can do that yourself) plus any odd thing that pops up, such as you have a horse that gets colic. You’ll pay for a vet to come out for that or you’ll pay someone to dig a hole to bury your horse. One way or another, you will pay.

2 – It is a LOT of work!

If you have been around horses all your life, or maybe for a few years, you will probably be familiar with all the work that goes into the care and feeding of horses. Horses are great. Horses are fun. Horses are also very expensive and require a lot of work. So, a word of caution: It’s a lot of fun to have a horse. To go trail riding and camping with your friends. Some people enjoy competing at horse shows. But the deeper you get into it, the more is required of you.

If you keep your horses at home, it will be up to you to feed them twice a day, clean out the horse tank and keep it filled with fresh water. And in the winter, you’ll need to break up the ice in the water tank every day or provide an electric tank heater.

There is always the option, if you have the land and facilities, of boarding horses for other people to offset some of your expenses. But that will result in a lot more work. What you charge will depend upon where you are and what facilities you have. And what services you provide. The owners will depend on you to feed, water, and turn out their horses. It’s a lot of work. Oh, yes, while the horses are turned out, you will need to muck the stalls. And then you will need to figure out what to do with all that manure.

We at one time were up to 14 horses, and I was spending so much time baling and hauling hay that I had very little time for trail riding. Baling hay and mucking stalls, and spreading manure. We had excellent vegetable gardens, by the way.

And what do you do when a nice horse that you are boarding is owned by a deadbeat who won’t or can’t pay you? You can’t stop feeding and caring for the animal. And you don’t want anyone taking the animal off your property to “go trail riding or to a horse show – we’ll be back this afternoon and pay you then.” The other alternative is you keep paying to keep the horse on your farm. Talk to people who are in the boarding business, because I don’t honestly know how I would handle it.

3 – Horses can be dangerous.

Horses can be great companions, and you will love them. You will love them so much that you will forgive them for running into you and knocking you down when you are between them and their freshly filled grain bucket. For dumping you on the ground when they get spooked. For stepping on your foot. For kicking you when you startle them. For biting you. For sitting down mid-stream when you are riding the across a creek. And for pooping on you when you are trimming their hind feet.

My wife, my daughter, and I have all gone to the Emergency Room because of our involvement with horses.

My wife Marsha was clipping the ears of her Appaloosa mare with electric clippers. The horse reared, knocking the clippers into Marsha’s face, leaving a nasty scar just above the eye.

Another horse heard Marsha pouring grain into the feed buckets and came charging into the barn, knocking her over and giving her a mild concussion.

Our daughter Angi was sitting on her horse at the 4H fairgrounds, when another horse decided it wanted to fight. The two horses began kicking one another, and Angi took a spill and broke her thumb.

Another nasty spill in the middle of a big forest on a trail ride resulted in Angi being transported to the ER with a cracked rib, a bruised spleen, and a concussion. (I was 2,000 miles away, working, and didn’t hear about it until much later.)

Due to my own negligence, I fell and separated a shoulder while trail riding in New Zealand.

Another, green-broke horse I was working with bucked me off. I was a little sore, but when I fell, I narrowly missed hitting my head on the corner of an 8X8 wall post. That could have been fatal.

If you are going to ride, you are going to fall. But as the saying goes, you have to get back up on that horse.

This started out to be an informative piece meant to provide you the basics of what you would need to know, perhaps even encourage you to jump in and set up your own horse farm, but I think it became more of an intervention.

If owning and operating a horse farm is what you really want to do, I do encourage you to follow your dream. There are certainly many rewards that go with the lifestyle. I can say with certainty that despite all the reasons I’ve listed not to Marsha, Angi, and I loved it and would not have traded the experience for anything else we could have done.