do people think you are rich because you have horses

No. I never give the impression that we have 'extra' money, and don't volunteer the information that we have horses. We're not rich, but we're not poor either.

I don't think anyone with horses is poor. If you have spare money, you're not poor.

Being poor is cutting back on your food because you can't afford it, not even being able to afford to pay for electric or your rent. Being poor is not cutting back your food to pay for the horse :rolleyes:
 
I have never gone out of my way to tell people I have horses as it's usually more hassle than its worth! As a child, living in Hampshire, surrounded by very rich horsey people, kids at school assumed I was one of them! In reality we had several hairy and pretty wild NF foals that my mum had taken pity on and parted with a couple of tenners at the sales! I remember one "so-called" friend getting rather upset when I couldn't provide her with a imported warmblood for pony club camp one year!

These days my non-horsey work collegues think I have my own racing yard as my hubby slipped out we had 10 horses now. Why do people assume that? I have never owned a TB in my life!

Like others have said, you spend your money on other things. I have mates that have kids and still go out every weekend on the p*ss, smoke, eat out etc. No idea where there money comes from! We pay the mortage, bills and the rest go on the horses...its our life and they make us happy :)
 
yes im sure people do, but thats all we have and we wouldnt have it any other way! i also think people think our horses and cars are mummy and daddy bought as we dont have amazing well paid jobs, yes they were when we were younger but from the age of 15/16 we always paid as much as we can for them from 17 i paid for my horse myself. it does drive me mad that people think that!!!
 
I get the "you must be rich" too, I just tell people that I work two jobs, which I do and I know how to shop for ULTRA bargains (i.e. £165 bridle for £41). One of the dinner ladies I work with, thinks nothing of spending £50 a pop on a football ticket for EVERY game of Leicester City but that's "ok" to society as it's football. Someone else I know spends £200 a month on cigarettes and then moans to me how she wishes she could afford a horse!! It's all about priorities and hard work.
 
i get it all the time at school. but at 15 i pay all the bills myself even though my mum is a horsey person she doesn't have time for horses really, and if she wants to ride she rides with her friend, so i am left to it really which i like. if i got really stuck or had a massive vets bill she would help me but she couldn't affod to pay it all. and i get my money because i work for it. i muck out a feed someones horses 4 nights a week, which takes me one hour an evening and i get £7 for that which is £28 a week. i am very lucky that my weekly spend is very low as don't pay feild rent as with a friend and do the poo picking in retern. i buy hay before the winter a don't have to buy feed every week so someweeks don't pay anything.
 
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What gets me is people think they have the right to comment. Also we don't moan about what our costs are, unlike some people with children (you would think they were forced to have them)..I just say I am waiting for 'horse benefit' to be introduced, because they are a lifestyle choice too:D
 
I don't think it helps that we happen to live in what is now considered to be the poshest road (wasn't always) and keep our ponies at home, as luckily this house (one of the smallest in the road I hasten to add) happens to have fields, we got it cheaply as the house isn't the biggest was in need of TLC and only has 1 bathroom, no fashionable en suites. We don't drink, smoke, go out, eat out, go on holiday, but we spend wisely, meaning our quite average household income (I suspect much lower than everyone else round here) stretches to afford ponies for our daughter.

Was told I was 'rich' the other day. Well I am rich in quality of life, but a part time income (mine) and a redundant OH just going self employed - lots of set up expenses, not much work and no income yet isn't exactly what I would call financially well off!
 
I agree, people who don't know anything about horses think we must be rich, especially if they've ever seen the price of a riding lesson.
When me and hubby were in Tunisia bartering in something in a shop, he mentioned we had a horse when they were trying to flog us some model one, and they threw us out of the shop when we wouldn't pay their high prices! Lol
 
Some people yes... Which annoys me greatly as it's totally untrue..

Others no... People that have horses themselves or are from the 'country' don't although there are always exceptions.....
 
Whoever said most people on here earn average to high income... I earn just enough ti get taxed. Is that like £7000 so im taxed. Payed weekly & buy end week have nothing...
But i budget WELL!
My horses livery costs me more than 1 weeks wages. Im far from rich!
But idher
 
Whoever said most people on here earn average to high income... I earn just enough ti get taxed. Is that like £7000 so im taxed. Payed weekly & buy end week have nothing...
But i budget WELL!
My horses livery costs me more than 1 weeks wages. Im far from rich!
But as someone has said its about priorities. I still go out but i spend under tenner,no new clothes,no holidays etc.
Sometimes id like to have more money but my horse is my life :)
Ps. Luckily atm i dont pay rent @ home (or i couldnt have horse) but i have to now so horse is going to have to move home!
(im 20 lol)
 
yes- all the time when I was younger (school age). Friends always seemed surprised that I live in a very normal house even though I'd tell them what my parents told me, that we could only afford a horse because I was an only child. If I had had a sibling that money wouldn't have been there. I also always had my horse on DIY so not exactly extravagant
 
Someone actually put one of those cards saying "you look as if you could earn extra cash, why don't you sell our tat on a part time basis" on my car once :eek: blimmin cheek, I have a good job etc, but I my car is a mobile tack/feed room and somewhere for the dog to store her sticks :cool: How very dare they!
 
If anyone says this to me, I just reply with "Oh yes, I am, terribly rich, absolutely loaded". That tends to shut them up :D

I don't get why you're all so worried about what other people think :confused: I couldn't give a rat's arse as to whether people think I'm rich or poor.
 
I'm a single parent and I don't drink/smoke/do anything really except work from home, look after my children and ride my horse. But I do feel incredibly lucky and have to point out to people that I waited for forty years to get my horse.

Because whatever I am doing without I am spending money other people haven't got on my beautiful big beast. And I do know quite a lot of people who haven't got a quarter of that cost without any extras. I am very very lucky and yes, have a better income than an awful lot of single mothers.
 
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Hmm...
We don't own a television. We go to the cinema once a month (date night) and share a takeaway with friends at the weekend. Don't smoke, OH will buy the occasional bottle of beer if he's had a rough week, and we carpool with family for groceries and split the petrol bill. Also growing our own vegetables this year:)
Our income (between us) is well under £10,000 per year. We pay our bills, run the car, and most of the rest goes on the animals. I try to make sure OH has a bit of personal spending money each month, but he keeps buying me things instead of himself:o
I guess we just got used to budgeting: the heating only goes on in our house if absolutely necessary, and we shop very carefully. We can't have children of our own, so I suppose we spend on the animals what most parents do on their children. Although children eventually move out/start paying into the house!
My OH's side of the family know we have a horse. Mine don't like horses, so not really a topic I discuss with them. Close friends know but don't really care - not into horses but like clubbing/smoking/drinking, etc. Neighbours don't know since it's none of their concern, tbh!
Nobody considers us rich...just good at managing our finances. I saved up a good bit for an emergency vet bill fund before I bought Hippo and I put a little in each month to be safe (ISA). So far, we have had to dip into it twice for the cats and once to repair the pump for the fish tank.
 
I'm sure people think I'm a gypsy. :rolleyes:

I once had an argument with the lady next door because I was burning some ragwort on a day that she decided to put her washing out. She told me "It's useless trying to reason with "your type"!" . ( I had given her notice, wasn't breaking any bylaws and itwasn't a particularly nice day so I'm not sure what she expected me to do. :rolleyes: )

I'm not bothered. I couldn't give a fig as to what other people think of me.
 
Arizahn said:
Hmm...
We don't own a television. We go to the cinema once a month (date night) and share a takeaway with friends at the weekend. Don't smoke, OH will buy the occasional bottle of beer if he's had a rough week, and we carpool with family for groceries and split the petrol bill. Also growing our own vegetables this year:)
Our income (between us) is well under £10,000 per year. We pay our bills, run the car, and most of the rest goes on the animals. I try to make sure OH has a bit of personal spending money each month, but he keeps buying me things instead of himself:o
I guess we just got used to budgeting: the heating only goes on in our house if absolutely necessary, and we shop very carefully. We can't have children of our own, so I suppose we spend on the animals what most parents do on their children. Although children eventually move out/start paying into the house!
My OH's side of the family know we have a horse. Mine don't like horses, so not really a topic I discuss with them. Close friends know but don't really care - not into horses but like clubbing/smoking/drinking, etc. Neighbours don't know since it's none of their concern, tbh!
Nobody considers us rich...just good at managing our finances. I saved up a good bit for an emergency vet bill fund before I bought Hippo and I put a little in each month to be safe (ISA). So far, we have had to dip into it twice for the cats and once to repair the pump for the fish tank.
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Presses "like" button.... Many of us don't specifically have spare income that we happen to spend on our horse, we do without stuff to be able to afford them! And often that "stuff" is what to other people would be essentials.
 
A lot depends on where you live as well. In some parts of the country you probably are going to be quite well off to be able to afford a horse as livery fees seem to vary a lot when people post them on here.

And as for keeping them at home, I could cry looking at property ads, for what we've had to pay for an ordinary terraced house 3 bed, we could have a lovely large place with acres of land elsewhere. You would need to be rich to own something like that round here. For example a farmhouse with about 15 acres in say Wales or Lincolnshire (I've got mental note this is where I would like to move as cheap!) would cost the same as our terraced house. And I'm not in the middle of London or anywhere particularly glam or interesting, just an ordinary street in a fairly run-down town in Kent. that 15 acre property round here would be anywhere from about £600k - over a million.
 
nona1 said:
A lot depends on where you live as well. In some parts of the country you probably are going to be quite well off to be able to afford a horse as livery fees seem to vary a lot when people post them on here.
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I think there's a lot of truth in that... My livery fees are a pittance compared to many I see on here... They'd just be too prohibitive for me... I've got friends who think nothing of having the equivalent of my livery costs for the month in their pocket for a special night out... They're not 'rich' either and probably wouldn't be considered as 'financially comfortable'... We just make different choices in what we scrimp and save for...
 
I'm lucky enough to have 2 horses on full livery (my husband & I)...but.... I have worked very hard in my field (in IT). I still work at times horrendously long hours but luckily can work from home sometimes so it all evens out.

I am 50 now, have slogged for a very long time to be able to have our boys. I don't want to be sitting here at 70, regretting my life and not going for it when i had the chance :)
 
Having a horse doesn't mean you are rich but it does make you good at budgeting! I wanted a pony since I was 5 but my parents could never have afforded 1. As a teenager I worked at the local riding school so I could loan one - at a fraction of the price of having my own. It has taken me until 31 to buy (until I felt I could afford it and still pay my other bills comfortably). I couldn't afford it if I had children. I don't go on holidays, get my hair cut once or twice a year and the last time I bought new clothes was last summer (well apart from a pair of jodphurs :) )

I'm not poor but certainly am not rich! Other people (earning a similar salary to me) have commented on how expensive it must be to keep a horse but I just point out that it is less than what they spend on their kids - I prefer having a hairy baby! It just depends what you want out of life!
 
I used to be rich until I got a pony for my daughter?
No more holidays for us, we're always, at the stables, at a show or just can't afford them anymore.:D
 
All my life I've wanted a horse... I rode when I was little, then didn't ride again until I was in my 20's and had weekly lessons when I could pay for them myself. I wanted to buy a horse when I was married, but ex-husband said no, even though he would p!ss money up the wall on stupid cars. Got divorced and then was in a position to buy my own - woop woop!!!

I'm not rich by any means, have a couple of cars for me and husband-to-be (getting married on 5 May), but I work hard and have my own business and I'm fortunate enough to be able to afford it. My work is mainly seasonal, so I put extra by each week for when I won't be earning as much as of course livery/feed etc will still be the same.

Any pet is a commitment and a way of life and you factor them into your life like you would do a child. It does annoy me how people think that you're loaded because you have a horse and quite frankly, it's none of their bloody business, so foxtrot oscar ;)
 
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