There’s a reason we have the term ‘horse money’, let’s put it like that.
You take a chihuahua to the vet, it’s going to cost you a couple hundred bucks. But a horse isn’t a chihuahua. The bills scale exponentially. Then there’s the stabling costs, transportation, farrier, tack, etc. Etc. Buying a horse is the dumbest thing you can do except for buying a boat.
Basically, all in, figure on something between 8k and 10k per year. Assuming good health, you can ride a horse daily, but they’re not exactly convenient for your grocery shopping. Though I have done a drive through on one :D
Hell, forget motorbikes, even bicycles would make it hard to justify horse costs. And I bet they are superior for range and speed (average, at least, not so sure about max, and obviously it requires a rider in good enough shape, but I think you’ll get there if you ride regularly, assuming no disabilities).
There’s a reason we have the term ‘horse money’, let’s put it like that.
You take a chihuahua to the vet, it’s going to cost you a couple hundred bucks. But a horse isn’t a chihuahua. The bills scale exponentially. Then there’s the stabling costs, transportation, farrier, tack, etc. Etc. Buying a horse is the dumbest thing you can do except for buying a boat.
Basically, all in, figure on something between 8k and 10k per year. Assuming good health, you can ride a horse daily, but they’re not exactly convenient for your grocery shopping. Though I have done a drive through on one :D
So a horse is cheaper than a car. The average yearly cost of car ownership in the us is around $12k in the US.
This includes car depreciation, insurance, maintenance …
True! Not to mention depreciation. But I guess you’d also have to consider the horse has a hard limit of working time before you have to replace them.
… and you cannot eat a car after an accident!
Ok, so 15K miles/year isn’t uncommon, 3USD/gallon is close to average, 25 mpg is optimistic.
So currently the average american is paying 1,800 for 600 gallons a year. So roughly 5x, without considering cost of maintenance and depreciation.
But then you have bikes. A Honda Wave gets like 160 mpg.
Fuck, I forgot about bikes. You’re right, bikes are the real deal breaker for horses.
Hell, forget motorbikes, even bicycles would make it hard to justify horse costs. And I bet they are superior for range and speed (average, at least, not so sure about max, and obviously it requires a rider in good enough shape, but I think you’ll get there if you ride regularly, assuming no disabilities).
But they don’t nuzzle you happily when they see you.