Talk me down please; I'm thinking about buying a horse! · 6:48pm Oct 25th, 2021
The title says it all.
I live in a mountainous region with an absolute shed-load of trails and wild land all around, accessible directly without even having to use a trailer, my family owns enough land for grazing, and we have access to about 50 acres more adjacent besides, some of which is already fenced and available.
I already know this horse and have been caring for him for several months. I rather like him, and judging by how he behaves around me the feeling is mutual.
He's a huge draft horse (his sire is genuinely the biggest horse I have ever seen in my life, and I've seen a lot of big horses), just shy of two years old, and he's got an incredibly social, calm, and intelligent disposition.
He's about to be for sale, and I can afford him, as well as general ongoing care and feeding costs. His current owner is a down-the-road neighbor who breeds horses, and is a good friend, which means I have an expert on-call practically next-door as well.
But horses are expensive, and just because one can afford something doesn't mean one should buy it...
And like all things, eventually sooner or later, horses die, and break your heart...
Please do me a favor and talk me down. I haven't been this attached to a horse... Possibly ever.
Well, horses are a full time commitment. All pets are, but horses are leagues ahead of cats and dogs. If you like hard work, that's fine. But if you get a horse, that horse will be a major part of your life for as long as that horse lives. This is basically like having a kid, except the kid weighs ten times as much as you do and has hooves.
In the end, the choice is yours. But think about the horse. Are you absolutely sure you will be able to give the horse the best quality of life for as long as that is?
Personally, I don't know what to say. During High School I took riding lessons and the first horse I rode was a big old gelding named Buck (like the buckeye tree), he was a gentile giant. I learned later that he died after I started riding a different horse named Count. Buck and I had a good bond with each other. I feel that you should buy the horse just so you can keep the relationship you have now going, other wise that relationship will dissipate if they end up going with someone far from where you live.
5600007
That's the most important point you've raised. Can I give him the best quality of life?
The tricky issue is that I have access to everything I need; Expert friends, including the people who bred him, plus enough skill of my own to start with, the time and money both that'd be needed, the will and the effort a plenty, the space...
And yet even when you can check all the boxes it's still a huge decision. Lifespan on these guys being 30 - 45 years, he and I would be reaching old age together if nothing goes horribly wrong for one or both of us...
That'd be my worst fear, actually; Something terribly expensive and horrible going wrong medically.
It's kind of a terrifying thing on the whole, because I have dreamed about having a horse since I was nine or ten years old, much like I dreamed about living high in the mountains away from city life. It was all kind of part and parcel of the same hope for the future.
I did a ton of horseback riding and general work with horses in Boy Scouts, and even did some long far-from-civilization two week into-the-wilderness adventure riding trips where you had to carry everything with you, and do all the care for your horses on-trail. We basically slept beside them the whole way. And all any of that ever did, from the good moments, to the terrible ones, even the painful and frightening ones, all it ever did was make me want a horse more.
When I was younger, and living in a city, I couldn't afford one. Now I'm stably (ha ha, BAD pun) employed in a way that I can, when considered together with where I live (being able to keep the horse on family land rather than pay a boarding fee somewhere).
Suddenly its a frighteningly real possibility, and driven not just by the fact that 'oh, here's a great horse for sale of the kind you want, inside your price range.' If that was all, I'd wait and see and probably research, and prepare, and hem and haw for another three years minimum before jumping in... But...
5600050
When this horse, Sam, came to stay with us in the adjacent pasture to our property, he would barely approach anyone but his current owner/breeder, even when food was offered. Young and skittish, as he had every right to be. Now he's warmed up to the whole family...
But to me in particular he's gotten very close.
I left town for a week and a half to pop off to the beach with the family a while back. When I came back, the first thing I did was go out to see him, and feed him. Now Sam? He is a growing gelding still, even at almost year 2, and *food motivated.* Once the food is in the container, he wants that above anything and everything else, always. I set his food in the container, and then stepped back to check on a text. Normally I like to rub his head and neck and withers while he eats, and he very much seems to like that.
For the first time I saw Sam put something *above* his food. He stepped away from his food, crooked his neck around me, and pulled me back towards the food bowl. He wanted me to scratch between his ears, and rub his head, and his neck, and he was willing to walk away from his food to come get me.
That moment kinda sorta got to me. Anytime I'm up in the pasture, whether I have food or not now, 7/10 times he will leave his grazing and come find me, just because he wants to socialize. He knows I don't have food, but he wants to see me. I lie down on some of the rock formations higher up, and he comes up and sniffs at my hat, and my hair. Then he'll nudge my elbow until I rub him on his nose.
Sometimes he will come running to me at full tilt gallop down the hill, and while everyone else who ever sees him do that will flinch, or back up, I just stay still and smile. He always stops in time, and I think he respects the fact that even though he's a huge enormous creature, he knows that he doesn't scare me.
I know horses come and go. He's the fourth we've had up in that pasture from the same breeders in just a year's time. If he's sold, we'll get one to three new ones within a few months...
But the whole family has gotten mighty attached to him, and me in particular. And he seems pretty attached to us, and to me in particular.
I'm pretty torn.
5600062
Aw. whichever way you decide to chose, make sure it will be one you don't regret. ok? If you do end up keeping Sam, give us updates on him. I would love to hear about the adventures the two of you go on.
5600065
And there in lies the hard part; I can't figure out where my regrets would truly lie...
I'm usually decent at being able to enjoy an animal's company, while not getting too attached. This time I made a huge spectacular mistake, and I got really, really, really attached. And once I do get attached, I am *attached.*
At the same time, there's that crippling fear of all the possible medical issues and expenses, in particular. Really that's the only thing that scares me out and out. Getting crushed, kicked, falling off? That's nothing. I have very little sense of personal bodily risk. Cost? I ran the math, both on purchase price and ongoing costs, and I'm solid without having to stretch at all. He's an easy-keep who comes at a really good price.
But emergency vet bills are scary stuff. And much worse, the emotional hit of watching a companion whose life is in your hands go through pain? I'm not good at that. Unashamed to admit that it would leave me blubbering uncontrollably on the floor in tears.
But then again, seeing him go away to someone else might be just as bad...
I'll definitely keep everyone posted, either way.
This face tho...
i.ibb.co/yQWyvBr/PXL-20211026-210959366-2.jpg
He came right up and sniffed first the phone, and then my hair right after. Then, of course, he wanted me to stand there and give him head rubs for a good while, and wouldn't let me leave until he was satisfied.