Horse Are Expensive II: May 2016

6/1/2016

So far for 2016, I've spent $7892 on my horses. While I love organizing and logging data, I hate seeing the results of this particular project. Tracking my spending doesn't make me feel good; it makes me feel excessive, over-indulged, and spoiled. I'll continue the series through the end of the year, but like the last time I did this, it's going to take a lot of effort. Seeing those soon-to-be tens of thousands add up makes me feel a bit ill.

The month of May felt expensive, but after studying my budget report, it looks to be the cheapest month of the year to date. I should point out that once again my husband chipped in though.

My husband is a bit of a gambler. He likes to bet on Thoroughbred racing, and he enjoys buying scratch off lottery tickets. Surprisingly, he wins more than he loses on the ponies, and now and again, those scratchers give him a reason to come back. In April, he won $500 on a scratch off lottery ticket and handed me $200 of it to pay for Speedy's May ultrasound.

I tried really hard to keep my expenses down for May. I did ride two days at the Christian Schacht clinic, but since I didn't have a farrier bill in May (the horses were done at the very end of April and are due the first week in June), that money went toward the clinic. I did spend a bit on "stuff," but I didn't go overboard.

This is the second year that I've kept such detailed records of my hobby's "costs." This is the cheapest month I've ever had, and I am wondering why. I keep going back through my records making sure that I haven't left anything out. Had I not done the clinic, my costs would have been well below $1,000. That almost feels like having horses for FREE!

We're going to be gone for 16 days in June which means no showing. I am squeezing in a lesson right before we leave, but my June expenses should be pretty low as well. Low bills are a good thing right now as all of my extra money is going back into the bank to help my savings account recover from our upcoming trip.

I am quite sure I'll be back to full spending by July!

jenj

6/1/2016 07:11:28 am

This makes me cringe. I know our bills are higher than yours, and I reaaaaally don't want to know by how much. Ignorance is bliss.

Bakersfield Dressage link

6/2/2016 05:46:16 am

Cringe is the right word for sure ...

I pay all of my own expenses from my own income. My husband never pays for any horse things. These last two things - buying my tires and helping with the vet bill, are quite new experiences. That means if you paid for your horses and your husband paid for his ... maybe it's not as bad as you think. Does that help the cringe factor? :0)

6/2/2016 08:10:35 am

We don't have separate finances, and since we have two horses each, I figure it's more or less even. Except the fact that he has 5 saddles and I have 1... how did that happen??? My truck is my daily driver (I have a 5 mile commute, so it's not that bad), so things like new tires and such are just in the noise of owning a vehicle. Plus since we have a "farm," we really do NEED the truck, and not just to haul. So it would be really hard to separate out "horse only" expenses and "because we have Wyvern Oaks" expenses. Unless you consider Wyvern Oaks as a horse expense, in which case, we're screwed! :D

6/3/2016 07:09:40 am

Your only choice is to keep writing the checks with one eye closed! maybe you won't notice all of the zeros. LOL

Micaylah link

6/2/2016 01:11:53 pm

Does that board cover both horses? If so, jealous! I pay $415 for my one and luckily the other is "leased" by my mom and the yearling is at my house

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Not-So-Speedy Dressage