do people think you are rich because you have horses

[inmyownlittleworld]

Do you find you get this ?IN REALITY PEOPLE WITH HORSES DONT HAVE ANY- ITS ALWAYS SPENT ON HORSES HAHA !I dont drink, or go out much ,but "i have money "because i have horses they are soooo wrong they dont know the half of it

 

[Ladydragon]

Nope... Not around here anyway...

It's an ex mining village which is generally very deprived... Livery is ultra cheap (mostly working farms) for those who use it although you can probably throw a stone and hit a horse or two living on a patch of green someone owns or 'out the back' or 'up the mountain'...

 

[savia]

No, I'm poor because I have horses

I tend to get this alot, especially having a companion, and most of it comes from people with kids I just say back, "Well you must be loaded because you have kids". Usually does the trick

 

[BeckyMason97]

Yes, especially when you say you have four, in fact, on my last yard when I got my second, I had people telling everyone my family were drug dealers! Hilarious!

That's just busy livery yards full of jealous kids in liverpool for you!

 

[Littlelegs]

Oh yes. Mums in the playground are the worst. Poor them, have I seen the price of riding lessons, poor little Joanna would love to ride but we can't afford it, can she ride yours for free. Obviously I must earn a six figure sum to afford 2. Erm no, I don't drive a £20,000 car, have 4 massive plasma tvs, visit a beauty salon each week or have 2 expensive holidays. Did actually say to one mum who kept insisting I should take her child each wkend & teach it to ride that I would, provided daughter & I can go on holiday with them.

 

[inmyownlittleworld]

Loving the replies , ill check back tommorrow after ive hoovered both my mercedes - drug dealers haha i might try it -nice one

 

[Lolo]

But the thing is, you're poor because you have horses. That's not being poor, that's being able to spend £200 per month on keeping a horse which is money others don't have.

If someone said "I'm poor because I spend all my money on diamond rings" people would laugh them out of town, of course they're not poor! So why is it ok for horsey people to claim it?

FWIW, if people say that my stock response is "Yes, wasn't I lucky?" because wasn't I just?!

 

[maggie123]

I'm with Lolo... Very few people with horses are poor. They just spend their disposable income on geegees. And to have disposable income full stop lifts you out of the very poorest. I imagine few on here fall into the bottom couple of income levels, probably more like average to high....

 

[Cinnamontoast]

Yes and they always think I have loads!

 

[mandwhy]

To be fair, quite a lot of rich people have horses. I still get a bit jealous of people who had ponies when they were little as my parents couldn't have afforded that much just for me (and they probably thought I'd get bored - as if!). I have every intention of working hard to get a decent wage and I don't really mind if people know it because I have horses in future

 

[Paris1]

Yeah, but not for long! My wardrobe is small!

 

[Barleyboo]

I used to get the "you must be getting paid too much" remarks from someone at work. Then I asked her to work out how much she was spending on cigarettes in a year (she was a terrible chainsmoker - this was before smoking was banned in offices - showing my age now!) and it was twice what my pony cost me so she shut up.
Most of the time it's about priorities. Some people choose to spend their money on going out getting drunk, smoking, designer clothes or anything at all really and they rarely get people pointing out that they must be rich to afford it all. The trouble is non-horsey people only have the Jilly Cooper image of posh stables, shiny thoroughbreds and grooms, they don't see us 'normal' folk pushing barrows through the mud with hay in our hair and holes in our wellies!

 

[Guylian]

I asked my friend this and she said she'd be rich if she didn't have the horse. If I had money to spare I would buy my own horse - for the time being horse sharing suits me fine Since everyone knows I horse share they actually just think I'm very poor and that's why I can't afford a horse, which is half true.

 

[Enfys]

But the thing is, you're poor because you have horses. That's not being poor, that's being able to spend £200 per month on keeping a horse which is money others don't have.

Absolutely.

Being 'poor' is wondering where the next meal is coming from, or wondering, out of desperation about going and standing on a street corner.

If I didn't have horses life would be different, and we would have a much greater disposable income. We wouldn't live on this property for a start, or drive the stonking great truck we have, actually, we wouldn't have to work at all, and then I could have a horse.......

Nobody thinks I am rich because I have horses, this is a farming community - they think I'm stupid! Why waste good land for horses instead of tobacco or beans, or corn, or wheat, or hay to sell to the stupid people

 

[tinap]

Yes I find that's definately true, despite the fact that I drive an old S reg Rover,ave a tatty old trailer & never have any money. But the fact that daughter has a pony & competes regularly makes people think we're loaded.

Daughter says her mates call her the rich one too. Her clothes are always hand me downs!!

 

[Merlin11]

yes i think some people do. most people are aware that they don't come cheap. i would be a lot better off if i didn't have them and wouldn't need to work. they are a lifestyle choice imo. unless you are very well off you have to give up other things to have them or work longer hours to pay for them etc.

 

[hobnob]

I was called a "rich @rsehole" when walking back from college the other day...I do an Equine course, and don't have my own horse. In fact I only have a Saturday job and earn £25 a week so far from it!

 

[ClassicG&T]

Yes! It drives me up the wall. Even though my parents pay for it and not me we still are faaaar from rich.
One lesson my friends googled Horses For Sale to try and prove a point and clicked striaght away on the £20,000 horses, I was like "IN MY DREAMS!"

 

[Black_Horse_White]

The man I buy my shavings off certainly does, because he keeps putting his prices up!

 

[katherine1975]

People at work say to me that keeping horses must cost a lot of money. I reply that it does but most of them with children work part time and I work full time to pay for my hobby.

 

[Littlelegs]

I'd accept someone with no disposable income assuming you have to be rich, but I have a smaller income than most cos i'm a single parent, I just spend my small disposable sum differently to others. Most of the people who have assumed i'm loaded are better off than me.

 

[Devonshire dumpling]

All my bills are paid for (just) The horse is budgeted for, ie I have to put money back for him... we are going to Spain in the summer again been putting money back... we don't have spare money to go out for meals and petrol i look on as a luxury so am careful where I drive, I also don't spend loads of money on clothes, I have 2 children.

Am paid weekly on a Friday and by Monday probably have non left ...

So what catagory do I come in?

 

[OldNag]

I suppose it's an easy assumption to make. But I figured it was cheaper to buy my kids a pony than to keep forking out for lessons. Which is true, well it was for a while. Not quite true now as in fact we acquired a second.pony ... ooops!

I am very frugal in other areas and neither I or OH earn a fortune so I guess I create disposable income by not spending where other people might. We also have telly from eBay, don't have flash hols, go to the pub about twice a year... we have never been big spenders anyway. I often buy my clothes off eBay, and am always on the lookout for sale bargains.

But looking from the outside, I guess it is very easy to assume that because you have a horse you are loaded, so I can understand people thinking that.

 

[maggie123]

According to Wikipedia the bottom fifth of households had a take home income after tax and including all benefits of about 13000 in 2008. The top had 53900. I suspect hhoers (obviously not all but most) are more likely to be closer to the top than bottom.

 

[Paris1]

Oh no! A fellow horse person assuming I'm rich! I take home under 10k per year. I cut back on my daily needs to pay for horse.

 

[Montyforever]

Yep people judge before they know! I live in a small flat in a rough area, my car is falling apart (exhaust been patched up, gear box going ect) I havent bought any new clothes or gone out in years. When I got money for my birthday last year it was spent on shavings as my mare went down with laminitis a few days before!
I give up everything to keep my horses, so get very angry when people think I'm rolling in it!

.. And that's just to keep a mentally unstable, walking vets bill welsh a and a spooky welsh d who refuses to even lunge so I must be stupid

 

[xxMozlarxx]

Oh no! A fellow horse person assuming I'm rich! I take home under 10k per year. I cut back on my daily needs to pay for horse.

What does your partner take home?

 

[Paris1]

I'm happily single!

 

[Ibblebibble]

According to Wikipedia the bottom fifth of households had a take home income after tax and including all benefits of about 13000 in 2008. The top had 53900. I suspect hhoers (obviously not all but most) are more likely to be closer to the top than bottom.

well this HHOer is more the middle ground rather than the top and i have 5 equines! The myth that it costs a fortune to keep a horse is perpetuated by the horsey snobs who have to have all the latest fashions, livery at an expensive yard and love the fact that the general populace think they are rich It is actually possible to keep a horse on an average income if you don't feel the need to keep up with the Smythe-Jones i don't feel the need to dress me, my kids or the OH in the latest Joules or Musto range, i no longer go out and spend £100 on a night at the pub (yes i used to ) that one night out equals my monthly field rent

Now i shall wait for someone to tell me i shouldn't have horses because i don't earn enough

 

[maggie123]

Paris - you must be an amazing budgeter! Providing you've got usual outgoings ie pay rent etc and are over 25 I'd think you're eligible for working tax credits at least.