The economy and horses!

SEL said:
Once upon a time, back when you were probably too young to remember, Maggie tried to replace council tax per house with a charge per person. All h3ll broke loose and there were riots. It was reversed.

For me it made sense having a charge per person for council services but it did favour the wealthy (for instance 2 occupants of a large house found themselves with a significantly lower bill) so was unpopular. It does mean single occupants of a property are now paying a disproportionate amount towards council services IMO.

Tbh I think we'd all feel better about huge council tax bills if we could see what we were getting for it!!
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Yep, I remember my widowed nan saying she was better off with the poll tax.
 
canteron said:
The school fees, which have cost the government money, they could have given 2 years notice, lots of children were abruptly pulled out of schools in the middle of exams.

A years notice for the winter fuel allowance changes would have been kind, lots of elderly people, like my very elderly mother on mother on a limited budget had counted on that tank of oil to keep her warm during the winter. Why did it have to be so abrupt.

Small farmers who live on a shoestring, earn very little but have brought up their children learning farming skills (and possibly not a lot else) dumped on, that is a lifetime of planning destroyed in a second. Oh and quite a few suicides to get within the timeframe.

And god help anyone in the hospitality industry with the perfect storm. The amount of pub closure/shattered dream is a travesty. Why could they not have staggered the shitstorm they have dropped on them?

I appreciate your values probably meant that you dont give a stuff about people not like you if it polishes your personal halo, but I think evolution to give people time to adapt rather than revolution - but they wanted to give the middle classes a beating to make ‘their people’ (you?) happy.

Oh and there’s Angela Raynor (did you know Me&Em dress her!) and her 2 houses winging !
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The fact you think that political decisions are brutal and hateful then go on to personally insult me is staggeringly ironic.
 
SEL said:
Once upon a time, back when you were probably too young to remember, Maggie tried to replace council tax per house with a charge per person. All h3ll broke loose and there were riots. It was reversed.

For me it made sense having a charge per person for council services but it did favour the wealthy (for instance 2 occupants of a large house found themselves with a significantly lower bill) so was unpopular. It does mean single occupants of a property are now paying a disproportionate amount towards council services IMO.

Tbh I think we'd all feel better about huge council tax bills if we could see what we were getting for it!!
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Yes, back in 1989.
At that point we were 2 adults and a junior school child. Our 2 x adult payments was about £20 more a month than we had paid in rates.
However, my parents still had 2 of my 3 brothers at home and their bill was about the same as their rates (big house then, would be band H now).
The poll tax riots were awful, the poll tax only lasted here till April 93 I think.

In theory (in my opinion) it was a good idea.
We are - and were back then - a very multicultural town but one nationality were very against it, but going from rates to having to pay for 8 adults or more, as they were often 3 generation families living together, irked them greatly.
 
Little bit old-fashioned said:
Can I ask what part of the country you are in? We are South West and while we haven't had tons of rain and the fields are very dry we have had just about enough - had good rain yesterday afternoon which helped - to keep things growing well enough that panic hasn't fully set it yet. Just peeping in at the edges.
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Also South West, Wiltshire.
 
Crackerz said:
Also South West, Wiltshire.
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We are South Somerset (on Devon Dorset borders) and having a good mix of showers and sunshine at the mo, so fingers crossed the grass is doing well for hay cutting. The hedges and verges are overgrown and a lushous green. If we didn't have a foal at foot I'd be taking the girls out hand grazing just to make the most of them!

Got more showers this week and whilst the ground is hard and cracked in places the showers are taking the edge off it and its soft enough to ride on away from edges and gateways now.

I wonder if we need to look towards a model when hay moves further than it has needed to before. Areas where there is lots of it organise established routes where they guarantee to move large quantities each summer. Although this wouldn't help with the cost - and would push up costs in areas where previously there was abundance - the lack of stress from knowing there was enough to go round - in places like SE which seems especially badly hit based on responses here - might at least help reduce the cost spent on stress relievers like wine and chocolate (my 2 personal favourites that were abused over winter 😂)
 
This is interesting reading. I think as a lot of people are all in the same boat!

For the first time in 20+ years of having my own horses I am actually being very careful about what I'm doing. I have made decisions regarding what I'm doing competing wise as that really is an expense that can be curbed. Once upon a time I would be out most weekends, riding or carriage driving. This year each horse (or the pony) will get one outing each per month. What I hate most is that I can't support all the shows, being an organiser myself it makes it a scary thought of putting on anything as lots of people will be in the same boat. The show will need to be special and offer something a bit extra to draw the competitors in.
I am very lucky as I do keep my 2 very cheaply but I realise that if I want to continue to have the privilege of owning horses I do need to watch it.
We've just started to have a few showers this week so that will help the grass. Luckily all of ours are good doers and we have enough grazing to keep rotating at the moment so I'm really hoping we can put off giving hay to a more reasonable time this year! We were very lucky as our hay supplier looked after us but we're a long standing customer and always pay on delivery etc he said one plus point of the shortage was he could easily drop his less than perfect customers!!
 
I have just moved my horse to full livery they do everything including riding if you want .
I put down the non ridden horse we had a home .
Sky is definitely my last horse
However one in livery is costing the same or even less as Sky plus Blue (retired ) because I had a freelance groom and when you think the food and bedding the farrier and medication for Blue the electricity bill for the yard etc etc.
I am enjoying the livery they have a hacking time where anyone who wants to go joins in I don’t however enjoy the empty yard at home .
 
We have finally purchased our own trailer but it is so expensive to go to basic low level shows with my daughter.

Just fun shows such as judges favourite, prettiest mare etc are £14 a class.
So now find myself limiting the amount of outings we are having.

We're in the south east and I am worried about a hay shortage again .

We've had a bit of rain this past week but it forecast to be really hot again next week. I can't see hay prices ever dropping back down now.

We've definitely cut back on trips to the tack shop (not that there are many about!) and only go if absolutely necessary. No new matchy matchy sets this year!!
 
We’re also in the SE and I see so many shows having to cancel due to low entries…it’s difficult enough if you have your own transport let alone having to hire transport!

Grass also isn’t looking very good at all, only a few mm of rain this week and we’re set to have a scorching heatwave next week :confused: Almost all the livery yards around here that included hay are now charging separately for it which is understandable, but many now selling their horses or having to find something other way to cut down on costs
 
I was chatting to a farrier the other day and he said what's been happening is people with multiple horses are evaluating what they need and selling those they don't. E.g. not keeping hold of a child's horse who has mostly lost interest etc.
 
I only have my retired boy at grass livery and when I had two in work it cost me no more than about £400 a month for diy bedding and hay. Wouldn’t be able to keep one for that now. I dint know how people afford it. I’d have to go back to work full time then wouldn’t have the energy or the hours!
 
I was thinking of this thread lately. I have been convinced to go to the regional championships this weekend, but there are only a total of 36 participants! (biggest class : 13) I don't know where everyone else has gone, but two years ago (last year was cancelled due to an equine virus) it was more like 200 participants.
I think some of it must be down to finances and the championship being over two days, so either extra travel or paying for stabling.
 
Titchy Pony said:
I was thinking of this thread lately. I have been convinced to go to the regional championships this weekend, but there are only a total of 36 participants! (biggest class : 13) I don't know where everyone else has gone, but two years ago (last year was cancelled due to an equine virus) it was more like 200 participants.
I think some of it must be down to finances and the championship being over two days, so either extra travel or paying for stabling.
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That's interesting that France is also seeing the reduction in competitors. That's a big drop!
 
Squeak said:
That's interesting that France is also seeing the reduction in competitors. That's a big drop!
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It is a big drop. I don't know what it's like in other areas as where I am is pretty rural and lots of people don't have money or time for horses. I just checked the other regional championship (there are two in our region as it is so big geographically) to see if they had more participants. They were up to 147 but are near Bordeaux (more people and more money). I was wondering if some RS from our area had gone there instead (you can choose whichever championship you want as they are held on the same days), but they haven't. In fact there are very few competitors from outside the 33 department.
 
I’ve had to change jobs to keep affording my boy. We do compete at a low level BE but may have to revise this if things keep on the way they are. My priority is to give him the best care I can so comps may have to give.
 
teapot said:
Judging by the email I get offering lesson spaces at one of the biggest centres in the south - increased lesson costs and cost of living is biting.


Used to be super hard to get a lesson with my old coach, now there’s plenty of choice…
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and they're now offering Klarna as a payment option... :oops:
 
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