Читать книгу Horse Economics - Catherine E O'Brien - Страница 8

♦ The time value of money is one of the fundamental concepts in financial management. The saying, “A dollar today is worth more than a dollar tomorrow” is true because you can invest and earn interest on your dollar today. The earlier you start, the more your funds will grow.

Horses and the activities associated with them have a very significant social aspect for the people involved, as well. Shows, clinics, riding clubs, and rodeos, to name a few, allow you to share a common interest with others and can make you feel as if you are accepted by, and belong to a group of people. Children can reap great benefits from being involved with a 4-H club, taking instruction, joining a riding team, and developing friends at their riding stable. They can learn teamwork, cooperation, and responsibility, not to mention how to care for and manage their horse. Such skills translate well into other areas of their lives.

Though all pets can have similar positive effects on their owners, it is important to understand that having a horse is not like having a dog. A dog will forgive you regardless of the treatment he receives. For example, you can unintentionally hurt your dog’s feelings when you leave for work each day. I have a terrier that pouts on weekday mornings, but every evening when I return, I get this tail-wagging, toy-bone-holding, exuberant “she’s home” dance. Obviously, the dog forgot that he was upset that morning.

However, in my experience, this is not the case with horses. I distinctly remember one night when I reached for the horse “cookie jar” in the barn, only to realize (to my horror) that I had not filled it and did not have any back-up treats. Since all eyes had seen me pick up the jar, I was in trouble. The next morning at feeding time, I was met with indifference from some and even downright disgust from one horse (the same horse that throws a fit when I pay attention to another and when he thinks he is going to be left out of an activity). This illustrates how horses have the capability of holding grudges. Emotional and physical experiences affect them for longer periods of time because of their capacity for memory, emotion, and self-preservation. Horses don’t automatically trust you, and every horse has his own distinct personality and quirks.

A horse’s ability to interact and bond with humans comes from accepting a person, not just as a part of the herd, but the leader of it. You have to earn a horse’s respect; it cannot be achieved through coercion or trickery. Once you gain your horse’s trust through consistency and fairness, your relationship can develop. When you have a horse that is excited to see you walk in the barn and enjoys being ridden, then you know you have succeeded in being a good horseman, which can bring immense satisfaction and feelings of accomplishment.

Of course, the trade-off for these good feelings is the amount of money you spend attaining them. You not only need to know how to make the horse-ownership lifestyle enjoyable, but feasible, as well. Whether you are a devoted parent fulfilling a horse-crazy child’s dream, or an adult purchasing your very first horse, this chapter is designed to give you some insight as to how much horse you can afford. Quite often, people only consider the purchase price of the horse and maybe the cost of boarding at a local stable. I feel a better approach is to have some idea of all the costs involved with maintaining a horse in order to then determine how much can be budgeted toward the purchase price.

The recurring costs associated with horse ownership can be managed within your budget as long as you are aware of what they are, and plan and account for them. In the following pages, you’ll find I’ve listed seven areas of horse-related expenditure to give you some idea of where your money will go. In addition, I walk you through the process of actually purchasing a horse. My hope is that by arming you with this information at the outset, you will be better prepared to tackle specific monetary issues I discuss later in this book.