Triming Equine Costs
Like a hot car, for most of us horses are a luxury item, but unlike a porche that can be dumped when the economy goes south, most owners are will go to amazing lengths to keep their four legged friends. I’m Susan Allen stay tuned for Open Range. The horse owners I know work hard to afford their animals and given this economy most look for ways to trim costs. The first place to analyze is feed, typically for convenience sake many of us simple toss our horses a bale of hay when we should be feeding only what they need, for the average thousand pound horse, that’s two percent f their body weight per day, about twenty pounds of hay. Using feeders helps control hay waste, in fact Texas Tech completed a study showing that horses utilize thirty five percent more from a feeder and even more if fed in a shed. Fed on the ground they pull hay out, tromp on it and won’t touch it when it’s dirty, would you? In an article for Horse.com an equine extension specialist and animal science professor from OklahomaState says he has received numerous calls about how to spend less on horses. Dr. Freeman answers bluntly,” reduce your herd” and he says to do that a horse must be marketable, meaning you need to create a horse others want to ride, so invest in training. My son just sold his gelding for a nice profit but it was because he had trained it to be versatile, a good calf roping horse that could rope both ends and pack game, where as a well bred horse broke only to halter is s tough sell I’m Susan Allen .
