Should I buy this horse?

Question

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Followup To

Question -
Hi, I am stephanie and I am 15 and going to be 16 in september. and I want to buy this horse named Pearl that i have been leasing for about a year. she is a Appaloosa that I have been riding for about a year and a half. but she is also used as a lesson horse. The owner said that if I really wanted her that she would be sold to me for 1$. and she said she could feed her for me. I was really excited. but I would still need to pay the $125 a month board. the first problem is that I only have about $500 saved and I can't get a job at 15, at least not around here. I understand the amount it will cost for worming and shoes also. my second problem is that she is about 18 and my trainer just noticed she has a early sign of arthiritis in her back leg. When I asked her if i should buy her she strongly advised that I shouldn't because she isn't trained to perfection. she belives that I would be better off with a more well trained horse. But I really have tuned into Pearl. and I have lots of knowledge of how she acts and how to respond to them, so I am very capible of controling her.So I would like to know should i buy pearl? I just worry about her getting older and getting lame or something and then I am stuck with a horse and vet bills i can't take care of.I would really like to buy her and have her retire out of the lesson horse she is. I am not sure that my trainer would like that so much but I would like to have her only work the 3 times a week that I go down there. If you have any answer to this caous. It would help. Thank you so much.

Answer -
Hello Stephanie. There are a few things to take in to consideration when buying a horse.
1. Can I handle this horse comftorbaly and safley.
2. Is this horse safe for me.
3. Is this horse going to be able to handle the riding that I would like to do.
4. How is the horses health.

If the arthritis in this mare was just detected the chances are that its not too bad yet and with proper care it shouldnt get to bad at least for a long time. Glucosomine Sulfate is a suppliment that you can buy at most local tackstores and feed stores this suppliment is added to a horses daily feed and has been proven to improve arthritic joints. So the aritritis isnt to big of a deal other than the fact that you will have to come up with the extra money to buy suppliments.

From what you have said she seems like she is a good horse for you. Inorder to pay the stable bills the only thing i can really suggest is see if you can do stable work to pay it off or maybe if you can cut a deal with your parents earning money for good grades and doing chores....There will always be the extra cost of suppliments and a possibility of extra vet bills but then again there always is because you never know if any horse will suddenly go lame...

As far as taking her out of lessons that is your choice but it seems as if the deal the owner is making is if the horse keeps up in the lesson plan her feed will be paid for. You should talk to your parents and see if they are willing to work something out. Make sure you will have enough money to pay for this horse before you decide to buy her.

If you do decide to take a more well trained horse the price of the horse is going to be a lot greater than the price of this mare. I hope i have helped you some feel free to let me know if you have any more questions

thank you so much that really helped. I had one more question. If i decided to tell the owner that I wanted to take her out of lessons, and if she didn't want to feed her, then I wanted to know how much is hay and grain for a few months or year based on your experences? just a simple estimate is alright, I just wanted to know the general amount. they currently give her about 2 flakes AM and PM with a can of grain in the AM. but during summer like now they put her in a huge pasture and she usually gets a few cups of grain when after we brought her in to ride. again thank you for your helpful answers.

Answer
Well it's really hard to say about how much hay will cost because that really depends on where you live but the most I have seen a bale of hay sell for was $3.00 and the lowest was $1.50. So hay would probably cost you about $10-$15 a month if hay is in this price range where you live. The grain also depends on what kind you feed her but I would say about $15 a bag on average and you would probably need 2 bags a month so all together feed would cost I'd guess around $45 a month but this isn't for sure just an estimate.

I hope this has helped you and remember if you have any more questions feel free to ask :)