Post
by RayGubernat » Mon Sep 08, 2008 5:37 pm
Ruff -
Thought of a few more things you should know.
It's not exactly a vet bill but your horse should be seen by an equine dentist(not a vet who does dentistry as a sideline, but a real horse dentist) at least once a year. Horses need their teath "floated" or smoothed doiwn with a rasp to eliminate shapr edges and such. If the horse is patured perhaps twice a year. The bit is your control mechanism and it is in the horse's mouth and if their mouth hurts, it is not going to be happy about you pulling and tugging on a sore mouth. That costs about $40 - 70 a visit, depending on what needs to be done. It is well, well worth it.
Farrier charges vary, depending on the locality. In central DE it costs me $25 per horse to have 4 feet trimmed. It costs $50 per horse to have a trim and two shoes in the front, which is what I do. I suppose shoes all around would be $75. In central NJ, five years ago, it was considerably higher for exactly the same work.
A horse is a thousand pound animal that is afraid of everything. They are a prey animal and survived since Eohippus by fleeing at the first sign of danger. They also have an IQ of your shoe size. You really, really need to be careful about which horse to buy.
I have my five "S's"... Smooth, sound, strong, safe and sane.
You want a horse that, above all will not freak out at...litereally...the drop of a hat, or a gunshot or a plastic bag wafting along on the breeze or an orange fence that comes into view around a blind corner. You want a horse that will not, under any circumstance, kick at or bite at a dog. Some horses just plain flat do not like dogs. Avoid them. If a horse has a tie down in the front, that is probably because it rears. Walk...no... RUN away. That can get you killed.
You want a horse that neck reins because you can turn the horse with one hand. When field trialing, you will often have something else in your other hand.
You want a horse that will park out, ground tie and absolutely, positively stand absolutely still while you are mounting, even if all the other horses are thundering away. in fact, you want a horse that will stand still when you want it to stand still...for as long as you want it to stand still. Some finds and flushing attempts may take five minutes or more. a horse that dances around is distracting to the dog and is not appreciated by anyone.
Roading a dog looks easy when it is done right, but it is a fairly complicated dnace that can go very wrong in a heartbeat. The horse has to be tolerant of a roipe running across its chest, and also tolerant of having the rope bump it in the bit shank(happens all the time). Most importantly the horse has to have enough sense to stand still and not panic if the dog runs around behind the horse and ties it(and you) n a knot. The ropw will wrapover your leg, effectiviely tying you to the horse. If the horse stands quietly you can disengage the rope, climb down and reorgainize everyting. If the horse panics, it may well kill the dog and just might fall over with you still attached. If that happens a broken leg is about the BEST outcome you can hope for.
The horse has to be thoroughly conditioned to the rope across all parts of its body, but especially around its legs and under its tail.
I bought my first horse from a plantation down south about 8 years ago. He was 4 years old, smooth and strong. He was a little bit of a scaredy cat(still is) but I thought it would be manageable. Plenty of folks told me I spent waaaay too much money. I put him with a dog pro until I could get my act together and in eight months, I got back a dog horse. I could road dogs off him, handle off him, scout off him and he could run down a dog and stop it or turn it. All I had to do was hang on. If I wanted to know where the dog was, sometimes all I had to do was let the horse have its head and he would look to where the dog was. He was watching and listening all the time and his eyes and ears are waaaay better than mine. I can ride him four or more hours a day, day in, day out. I can sit in the saddle from the first brace of the day as the mist is clearing to the last brace of the day when the shadows are lengthening and his gait is so smooth that I can actually still walk straight when I get off. I stil have him and Blackie and we will probably retire from field trials together. Not a year goes by that someone asks me if he is for sale. He is not a perfect horse. He has his flaws, but he makes me look like I know what I am doing and I am a really lousy rider.
So did I spend too much? I don't think so.
Folks will buy a horse for $1500 that is rank, untrained and barely rideable. They will then put that horse in a boarding stable and pay $300 a month or more. In a year's time they paid out more than twice what the horse is worth, in board.
With dogs it costs the same to feed a champion as it does a mutt. Horses are the same in that respect but a dog only has a useful hunting life of ...at best...ten years or so...most not even that long. I, or my son or daughter-in-law will, in all likelihood still be riding Blackie when he is 24 and he will still be walkin' on just fine.
RayG
I
Next field trial you're at you'll need to take him out for a brace...sit back, give him a little cluck, and enjoy the nice smooth ride (trust me....WAY better than the wrangler horse).
