Am I ready to own a horse?

It sounds as though you have a reasonably good idea of what's involved in riding and caring for a horse. Two big issues to consider, however, are money and your future plans. You probably already know that, between board, feed (if you're responsible for that), farriery, worming, and other routine care is going to run you several hundred per month. Routine veterinary care and/or dentistry will cost an additional $200-$300 annually. This means that it will cost you several thousand a year to keep your horse, barring emergencies. (And there are ALWAYS emergencies!!) So talk to your family, if you're still living at home, to make sure this is affordable.

Assuming you are financially fit, you need to consider where you think you'll be in the next 5 years. Are you a high school student considering college in the near future? If so, what will you do with your horse while away at school? If you are a young adult on your own, how settled are you? Do you foresee changing jobs/careers, getting married, having kids, moving again -- all activities that are very common for people in their twenties-early 30s. How will horse ownership fit into any anticipated lifestyle changes. It can be really heartbreaking to be forced to sell a beloved horse after only a couple years because your circumstances changed.

If you can handle the finances and are stable enough for the long-term commitment of horse ownership, go for it. If not, continue to lease.

Questions to ask the seller: How long have you owned this horse? Why are you selling? What are the horses bad habits? Are they submissive or dominant? Are they registered? What are there friendly quirks? What is the horses temperment? What is there history? Where did you buy them? Any conformation flaws? Who is there sire or dam? Have you leased this horse out?

Health questions: Have they ever had a injury? Have they ever been ill? Health history?

Riding questions: What rider level do they need? How often is this horse ridden? What disipline are they best at? Are they safe in traffic? Do they require any special tack?

Those are some. Hope this helps. :) Those are horse buying tips. :)

If you feel that you can look after a horse, without needing someone to help you, and you know that you are confident around horses, then go for it. Id suggest looking at a lot of horses before you decide which to get though, so that you can make a good decision. Also start off with a horse you know is placid and laid back so that you can get the hang out of owning one before you go for one more challenging :)

Horses are very expensive to keep. There's many costs that come to owning a horse:

- saddle

-bridle

- saddle pad

- bit

- stirrups

- girth

- farrier

-vet

- treats

- halters (2 or 3 incase one breaks)

- lead rope

- renting a horse trailer or buying one to bring your horse around

etc.

surprise costs can be:

-vet

-farrier

- shows

but you seem to know what you're doing. just thinkit through.

sorry i can't five a full detailed answer, in class about to take a quiz.

It really is going to depend on what your going to.use it for . Are you going to show? Or just trail ride? Are you wanting stall.board? Or pasture board?I have owned a horse I showed in 4h and just trail rode and she was an easy cheap keeper as she stayed fat in pasture. But now I am into showing in bigger shows and its expensive and my horse is a very hard keeper as she doesn't hold weight well and shes on supplements and good hay and stalled and she only keeps weight with her supplements. You also wanna keep in mind how much time are you going to have to be around yours horse? If you only going to be around twice a week then I wouldn't get a horse and just find a partial lease.

Hope this helps

If you have to ask this question, then it is my guess that you aren't ready to own a horse yet. You don't state your age or your financial state (which is fine) but this question lacks the sound of confidence in yourself. You may have experience, but, until you can ask YOURSELF this question and answer it honestly and with confidence, then no, in my humble opnion, you are not ready to own a horse.

It is my understanding that horses are very expensive to keep. Please check with a current horse owner to get the figures. Horses are fairly hard to adopt out and often suffer way too much when not cared for with love.

If you have the money and time! Go for it! You sound like you have the experience! Enjoy!