[BarrelRacer23]

As many as you can afford. As long as their taken care of I have no problems with it.

Now me personally I won't own more than I have time for, I don't like having a horse without a job. I've always had 2, a main horse and a project.
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[DuckDodgers]

I agree with as many as you can afford to care for properly. I used to think that it was an awful waste for great horses to sit in their stalls for many months when their teenaged riders lost interest in them, but I'm now more of the opinion that as long as the board is paid or care is made, then they're not doing too bad. I do still think its a waste of talent, but I'm not going to judge the owner as long as the horse is cared for.

My barn manager has 6 horses that she keeps at the barn, four in stalls, that she never rides, plus three of her sisters that stay for free. I've seen her ride three times since being there, and that's only because I begged her to ride with me! They all have the same care that any boarder would though, and she will take them out once on awhile for some quality time or a bath.

Now, why do I have a problem with this situation? Because if something goes wrong with any of there horses she will not be able to pay the vet bill. When my horse choked there were two vet bills totaling close to $400. That would really be pushing it for her, but it was necessary for the horse. I can't be too critical because I don't know everything about her finances, but just in the money she would have saved in one of those horses over the past year would give her a reasonable emergency fund to work with should the event arise.
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[Celeste]

I can't be too critical because I don't know everything about her finances, but just in the money she would have saved in one of those horses over the past year would give her a reasonable emergency fund to work with should the event arise.
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But she really helped out the boarding stable, the veterinarian, the farrier, etc. financially.

 

[Celeste]

When I think about horses staying fat without a job, I wish that somebody would pay to keep me up, deliver me food, give me love and attention, and never expect a minutes work out of me.

 

[Golden Horse]

I personally wish I could afford a big herd of beautiful Arabians and be able to just walk outside and be with them and have some for riding or driving or whatever.
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You don't need a big herd, just a few nice moving pretty to look at Arabians, so beautiful:lol:

But what exactly does "afford their care" mean? Cause many horse owners would already be struggling with e.g. a colic-surgery or other expensive vet care for one horse, let alone 3+...
Or if one of the horses suddenly becomes "special needs", e.g. develops a metabolic issue and can't run with the herd any longer? Then "adequate care" suddenly becomes a lot more than letting the horse "be a horse" in the field. To me, the number of horses needs to reflect that things like this can and do happen.

For me it means dealing with the day to day stuff, and then hard decisions have to be made if you have a special needs case. Two reasons I cut down my herd, I didn't want to breed anymore, for lots of reasons, but the spur that made me sell a bunch was when Ace had colic, right when we had no money.....which made him reluctant to call the vet. I of course called him anyway, and we were lucky because he was there early, and it wasn't a bad one, she came through well. Because we are farmers the money supply varies throughout the year and from year to year, so I wanted to have my own horse fund so I didn't have to make a hard choice based on money so much.

For me, one beside my full time job is plenty. I'd have no idea how I would find time and energy to ride 3 on a regular basis. Even if I rode every day (which I don't), that would still be only 2-3 rides for each horse per week, which in my opinion isn't enough to advance with serious training (dressage in my case, maybe other disciplines are different)...

In my case, animals usually stay for life. So I don't buy until I'm certain it's a keeper, I put lots of care into the animals I have, and I have never sold or given away any animal yet.
So it's definitely quality over quantity for me, but I know others want and have more horses, and that's fine with me too.
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I find this part of your post a little confusing, you want to ride them often because they are in serious training for a discipline, but you have them for life, those two don't usually go together.

As you say each to their own, I guess being a farmer, and having bred for a while, I am not so into having a horse for life. I have also bought in horses that I knew I wouldn't have for long, they just needed some TLC and a leg up to go on to a new home. I have really only one horse that I think is here for life, and that is Ace, a retired sway back ex broodie Arab mare has little future in the big wide world, and if ever I can't keep her I would rather euthanise her than send her out into an uncertain future.

 

[BlueSpark]

what do you have time and money for? If you dont have the money or time for basic handling and vet/farrier/feed, you have too many.

I think you have to factor in a few things.

-Retired or semi retired horses are not going to need the training or riding that a saddle(or driving) horse in the prime of its life would idealy receive.

-horses too young to ride or drive need minimal amounts of time invested(aside from the basic lessons).

-broodmares, although vet costs will be higher, need minimal amounts of time invested.

- resale projects, horses in training or horses just being started under saddle, need much more time.

I have 3. One is my main saddle horse, who is pregnant, so will be off next year. One is 6 months old, will receive her basic training this winter, then needs very little work for 2+ years, until saddle training begins. The third will be 4 next year, and will get all the time and riding my saddle horse normally gets throughout the summer. For me, two going under saddle and a young horse or two that need minimal handling is my max.

 

[DuckDodgers]

But she really helped out the boarding stable, the veterinarian, the farrier, etc. financially.

Well, the owner doesn't receive any money for her horses. In fact, I think she gets free hay from him!! She does care for his granddaughter's horse though, so I guess it balances out some. Farrier doesn't get called as often as I think he should, but it gets done. I guess the one that gets the best deal is the vet- at least she gets vaccinations done!

 

[SlideStop]

Again, as many as you can afford. They are herd animals after all. I don't get where people get the notion "poor horsie just sits in a pasture all day". That's what nature intended them to do, walk, eat, sleep, play, breed, etc. My mare would likely KILL to be living the pasture life right now.

It's nice having lots if horses if you can afford it. The trainer and her family I used to ride with had a few show horses, horses they were training to show and sell, a few retired show horses they used for lessons, and a mare they had shown extensively they liked breeding. Every horse had a job, and some of their jobs were not having a "real job". If the family was busy they sat, but who cares. They had 4 shoes on their feet, a roof over their heads, and hay in their bellies. They have it pretty comfy over there!!
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[BarrelRacer23]

To add to my post. I know a woman who I consider a horse hoarder/ impulse buyer. She has over 20 horses, TBs, a few QHs, and a few WBs. All of them have breeding to make anybody who knows the breeds bloodlines jealous. Some aren't even broke, alot of them are brood mares that had colts last year that she was going to sell but now wants to race, her WB is a trail horse and he's beautiful and could make a really nice show horse. One of the QHs knows barrels but she never keeps him in training long enough to get anywhere to go show. She has a TB on the track. We've bought two nice horses for cheap from her because she just needed them gone and we wanted them. Sure I wonder how you can let all those horses do nothing, especially the young ones with all the talent to make something. But all of them get fed 2 to 3 times daily, have their feet done, get groomed occasionally, and get all their shots. Who am I to judge? There are people with only one horse who may ride it daily and spend all the time with it, but not feed it enough, give shots, or have farrier work done.
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[Palomine]

One ranch I worked for had 500 head, and that was not counting 2 year olds, ranch horses, yearlings, weanlings, and sucklings either. All owned by one owner.

Just broodmares and stallions counted to that many.

Different strokes for different folks.

I do have a problem though with people on public assistance of ANY kind that have even one horse though.