How many horses is TOO many?

I did the same thing when I was younger...

My limit would be probably around 5...

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!

10 is too many for me...lol...I need to cut back ;p It just depends on your plans,goals, and budget for how many horses you can have. Ideally for me I wouldn't have over 5..hehe.

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.