re: How many of your kids would choose horses over traditional sports if given the choice?

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Not true. I lived in a small town. Parents never rode horses. I did it on RN salary. First horse was given to us free. Plenty of horses to be adopted. Found him in auction barn. His dad won the All American

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How many folks live in a small enough town that owning and maintaining a horse for competition would be affordable today?

And that's not even including competition costs for something like dressage. You can't even enter USEF/USDF competitions without yearly membership fees. Then you have show fees, boarding fees (while at the show), hauling/travel. Saddle and riding attire is usually a few thousand for quality equipment.

I have a coworker that supplements her therapist income by training dressage riders and she makes quite a bit of money on that just training folks.

I dated a barrel racer for a short time. They are off the crazy axis on crazy/hot meter, BTW.

You could bankroll an entire travel ball team for the money it takes to get into competitive barrel racing. A good horse will run you $250,000, and that's just upfront. Forget the food, shelter, vet & med bills, trailer for hauling to competitions, truck, travel, etc., etc.

ETA - also had friends that owned and ran horses at Canterbury Park in Shakopee , MN. Thoroughbred racing. You don't even want to know how expensive the horse game is.

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Not true. I lived in a small town. Parents never rode horses. I did it on RN salary. First horse was given to us free. Plenty of horses to be adopted. Found him in auction barn. His dad won the All American.

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Did you have free access to a barn and pasture?

I'm paying $800-$1000 a month for boarding. That's not counting riding classes, farrier, vet, saddle, boots, brushes, buckets etc. Having a horse makes having a boat seem negligible.

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There are a ton of work and incredibly expensive to maintain.

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thats a bit hyperbolic. They are as much work as you want them to be. The amount of work you put in will affect the expense of ownership. very expensive relative to what?

And yes, I've had horses for more than 25 years.

We currently have 3 horses. (It changes all the time) My wife shows horses and I roped since I was 9. My son has been on and around a horse since the day he was born.

With that being said, he wants nothing to do with them. If he did, there is nothing his mother and I would love more. He plays baseball and football.

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generally well to do folks that participate in it.

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Poor folks participate too, as grooms, barn rats, hot walkers, etc.

My son is pretty adapt at picking winners on online horse betting sites. He is not so good at traditional sports betting....

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very expensive relative to what?

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The OP is relative to traditional sports

My family always had a couple of horses growing up that we just used to ride around the property.

In that situation it’s not crazy expensive. Definitely more expensive than buying a four wheeler or something though.

And doing anything competitively is expensive as frick.

Been there and done that. The cheapest thing you will buy is the horse itself. Horses make boats look like a bargain.

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Definitely more expensive than buying a four wheeler or something though.

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boats, tackle, rifles, shotguns, ammo, hunting clubs, golf courses...they're all expensive. Just depends on what you want to do and to what extent/level you want to pursue it. IME, the physical commitment and time necessary for horse ownership is more taxing than the financial commitment.