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How many horses is TOO many?

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6K views 23 replies 21 participants last post by  xJumperx 
#1 · (Edited)
I was looking over my "future plans" that I made when I was really young (aww!) and I had literally written out every single breed I wanted (we're talking 4 pages of lined A4 paper) and exactly what it was to be called, the gender, the colour, any markings I wanted and what it would be used for.

An example was
"Big Ben" - Shire Horse - Male - Bay - Blaze and four white stockings - Pleasure riding, showing and hacking out.

I had every single horse planned out - minus the money side of things, of course - money just grows on trees you know! I even designed the barn and as I look over those plans, I'm glad I never aspired to be an architect. Doors and windows are so overrated.

So yes... how many horses do you think is "too many" - provided that you had ALL the space and ALL the money? And how many horses would you like to have, and have you any ideas what breeds you'd like, their names or anything else?

I personally think no more than 10 if I had everything I would need for them. However, if I could have EVERY single breed of horse, I really would!!!
 
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#2 ·
If I had all the space and all the money, my pastures would be full of all these poor 25+ year old horses (okay, probably mostly all Arabians..) that are being given away in their last years of life.
I think space, money, and time determine how many. If my supply was endless, my list would be. Realistically, I only have as many as I can afford, and still have that list waiting. LOL
 
#3 ·
Well, I suppose if you had all the money in the world and could pay to have others care for the horse, you could. I guess though... what would be the point? I mean, I know there are those that like to have horses for bragging rights but, if you don't have enough time to spend with each horse, you don't have a relationship with them either. To me, owning a horse is more then just paying the bills, it is knowing them, having them trust me and vs.versa.

I love when you are sitting on your horse and are so in tune that the a thought pops in your head "like trot" and the horse knows it. Without obvious movement or Que' the horse picks up on your thought. THAT is what owning a horse can be like or... you can just have a thousand of them and go look at them from time to time. ha ha

I doubt there are many of us that cannot come up with a wish list of horses we would love to own or at least try riding. I have one in my mind that keeps showing up in dreams but I have not yet found him in real life.

Just out of curiosity, how many are on your current list?

I agree with the rescue aspect of having horses. If I could afford it, the pastures would be full of horses that were bound for slaughter.
 
#4 · (Edited)
how many are too many? no idea lol. but were working on getting our ranch built up in TX and we need in between 10-15 for it...that to me is PLENTY.

then again the rescue back home has taken in 70 horses! and while i applaud them for it...that is ALOT of horses that cant be rehomed, ridden, used for lessons, etc. so hay burning pasture puffs.

i guess it just depends on your goals.

ETA: what we want/need for the ranch is just some good stocky horses with cowsense. something that can work all day with us lol. not so big on having papers and big names etc but just good stock that will make my job EASIER and not harder haha.
 
#6 ·
I don't want more than I can use. Fortunately for the horses, any of mine are part of the business and we can use what we have. Twelve, as of last weekend.

Otherwise, since I work away from home, if it was just me, I wouldn't be able to justify any of my own.
 
#9 ·
It all depends on how much you can do. If you had ALL the time and ALL the money, nothing would really be too much, would it? The guy I boarded and bought Clementine from has ~25 and it's WAY too many. He doesn't regularly trim them, never has a dentist out, they're either very fat or skinny. They only EVER get ridden if day camps are going on. He doesn't know when a horse has a problem - one of the horses feet were getting so long it was walking rolled back on its heels. We told him and he said, "Yeah, I know. I'll get out there one day." Makes me angry. Don't have more horses than you can take care of. but if one had ALL the time and ALL the money... That wouldn't be a problem! :D I would have quite a few myself.
 
#10 ·
I agree with what a lot of you are saying.

I'd certainly want to try and rescue a few slaughter-bound horses and bring them on before trying to find them their "forever home". As well as that, I would like one of my own horses... or four at the most... for competing and just the odd hack out. Something like a Thoroughbred (maybe an off-the-track one)... I do like them, and my first two horses were OTTBs and they were both lovely.

But if there were more hours in the day, and I had more money than sense, I don't know what I'd do. I sometimes just wish I could clone myself and have, or be around every breed of horse... well, I'd just explode!!!
 
#12 ·
I am just talking for me here, only 2, as I like lean, clean riding machines. One horse is mine & one horse is hubby's, however he doesn't ride his horse enough to make him lean & I do all the the grooming, so the clean & lean part is usually left to me. I have enough to do in one day, riding a 3rd horse, nope, too many.
 
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#13 ·
I like the 4 we are at right now and I just got my dream horse which is a mustang.

Now if I had unlimited resources and could do horses all day instead of working I think I would add a few mustangs and a couple rescues as training and rehab projects. Not to many though - there is still a limit on my time. Maybe 4-5 projects at most depending on how much time they needed dedicated to them for their particular issues.
 
#14 · (Edited)
As many horses has you have enough time and money for to keep them healthy and happy. If I had more land I would offer it out to some local horse rescues as I don't have enough time or money for more horses. If I had more time and money I would adopt as many rescue animals as I could. Right now with two horses, I'm really at my limit.
 
#16 ·
In an ideal kid's world kind of way:
- my Morgan x, for dressage and trails, and cause he's my first and I love him
- a nice big easy going QH or draft x for my fiance and guests
- an arab for endurance
- a well bred warmblood for dressage and vaulting
- a cow-bred, well trained QH (or Appy) that I could learn cutting and team penning on.
- a little Welsh x or German Sport Pony for the kids
- the retired pony that I learned Vaulting on as a kid
- and a Fjord. There will always have to be a Fjord.

In the real world, one horse is plenty of work and sorrow. And I want to keep my SO, too.
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#17 ·
I have 12 and it is to many, I have the money and space to feed and house them. But I do not have the time to work with that many. Sure 2 are 20 y/o and one is 24 y/o and I don't ride them much (but they are totally sound and ridable). I have one that is so spooky that I do not enjoy riding and a nervous big Palomino project horse. I do have 5 good younger trained riding horses but keeping their riding skills polished up takes time. Lastly I have three yearlings that need ground manners and more halter time.
I have a full time job, a ranch to run, a family, pets, friends, the church, a art hobby and I am 60 years old. I wish I had more time in my day. I get up at 5 a,m. now. I would not tade it though and I am happy.
 
#18 ·
I have 2 right now and there are days I can't keep up with the up keep since my place is a little older and I work full time with an hour drive one way. In a perfect world, where my time is not monopolized driving and working retail, I want 4: two riding horses and two broodmares. More than that and someone falls by the wayside.
 
#19 ·
I already joke that I have two "boyfriends", one being the horse. Seriously, if you have one that you work with a lot it's like being married. For me, two horses would feel like bigamy. I don't even enjoy riding other horses. It's like trying to wear someone else's shoes - broken in in all the wrong places.
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#20 ·
I was looking over my "future plans" that I made when I was really young (aww!) and I had literally written out every single breed I wanted (we're talking 4 pages of lined A4 paper) and exactly what it was to be called, the gender, the colour, any markings I wanted and what it would be used for.

An example was
"Big Ben" - Shire Horse - Male - Bay - Blaze and four white stockings - Pleasure riding, showing and hacking out.
LOL! I remember doing the SAME thing when I was young. I wish I could find my old writings... would be interesting and fun reading!

One thing that's very important to consider is TIME. A friend of mine has what I consider to be a lot of horses. One thing I've always said to myself is I'll never have that many horses, because she is pretty much chained to her farm. I suppose if a person could afford to hire a "farm sitter," it wouldn't be as big of a deal, but there's still that "guilt factor" of not spending as much time with each horse as you feel you should.

A coworker just asked me this morning how many horses I have and I actually had to think about it... mostly because I just got three new ones. I feel like I'm definitely at my limit, especially considering four of my horses are at my parents' house and one is boarded near my workplace, which I have to split my time between two places. Two of my horses are retired and don't require much in terms of actually working them. Two are very young (weanling and yearling) ponies so they will require quite a bit of training very soon. My other horse is 7 but is very green so is going to require A LOT of time and effort. I'm having to sacrifice all my other hobbies because I just don't have time for them plus horses. But... I just had to decide where my priorities lie.
 
#22 ·
My boss has anywhere from 3-5 personal horses at any given time, plus her boarders, and her training projects. And her stallion. Currently there are 16 horses on her property, soon to be 17. It's my job to feed them all and put their rugs on in the evening. That takes me 2 hours, but I'm slow with the pickup because it's a manual and I'm used to an automatic. It would take less time if I was more confident with the vehicle.

I have two horses, and that's enough for me at the moment. If my riding horse wasn't getting on a bit, I'd only have the one... but I don't want to be horse hunting in a few years when he retires, so I have him, and a youngster I'm bringing on.

If MY horses were the only ones I had to worry about, I think I would like to have 4 or 5, so that I can jump basically every day that I ride (I only ride 4-5 times a week at most and of those days I only jump once, at most). In the perfect world where I made my living out of riding and training, I would have my own 4 or 5, and then client horses, and I would be in the saddle most of every day. Would probably pay someone to feed and rug for me, and make sure my barn was tidy... and probably hire a cleaner so that my house wasn't too awful. I'd have a lovely small barn with perhaps 30 stalls, a big hot walker, and plenty of turnout... a huge indoor big enough to have a dressage arena AND a jumping arena set up side-by-side, and separate outdoors for dressage and for jumping, then I'd have my own top-quality cross country course and all that.

And charge a fortune for boarding because NOBODY in my state has that kind of facilities... it costs too much to set up. So it would be very exclusive and the top, poshest barn in the whole state... and I would employ the best coaches, because I'm not really into teaching people. I would train their horses, and then my coaches would train them how to RIDE their horses. And make sure that my skills stay right up there too, because obviously when I'm rich enough to have all of that I'll be the top rider in Australia, and I can't let my own skills slump, I have to always be a better rider than anybody else :P

....what can I say, I have big dreams!
 
#24 ·
I have this all planned out as well :p

I'd like to have 3 horses of my own, all trained by me, one in Eventing, one in Hunters, and one in Jumpers. I would ride each 6 days a week, and their day off would be staggered - as in, they wouldn't all have Tuesday off. A might have Tues, B might have Wed., and C would get Thurs.
I'd also like to have 3 horses constantly in training. When I was done with one, I'd take another in. If I had 3, there would be no incomming. Since this isn't my job choice, I won't rely on it for income. It would pretty much be a paying hobby, that would give me a little bit of blow money :p

So, in all reality, 6 horses would be ideal for me. I currently have 3, used to have 4, and always thought 'one more would be really awesome!' So I was picturing 5, but one more wouldn't hurt ;) Given, all of my horses are in very, very good health. I have a friend that has just 1 horse, and that poor thing never gets taken care of. And she's the only one she has!! We have actually had to go in and take one of her horses because of neglect. We called local rescue, they said they were full. We said we'll keep it if you go and pick it up - don't associate our name. They obliged. We nursed the little guy (a Shetland) back to a healthy weight and nutrition, and he was rehomed. Mom didn't like him at all, and demanded he get out.
 
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