re: price (and value) of horses

[benamil@juno.com (David Bennett)]

Linda Flemmer wrote:

>>
Why don't I wait & spend $5000 later?  I still get somebody else's
training on the horse, and their philosophy may not have been mine.  I
don't have the joy of saying, "He's mine, & I trained him."  I have the
luxury of enough space & $ to keep him for several years just to let him
grow.  What do I get in that time?  - the beauty of a youngster playing
in the pasture, teasing the "old men" (aka our geldings), bonding with
me, the joy of discovery.  (Remember that first scary stump, the first
drink from a fast stream, the first deer on the trail or first car
zooming past?!)
>>

Last summer I bought a ring-broke, barely 5 year-old gelding.    I paid
his breeder her price for him and still feel he is worth every bit of it.
 It goes without saying that he is a nice horse.  BUT, I got to show him
ALL of those things you mentioned - first scary stump, a drink from a
fast stream - and from a muck bucket, deer, wild turkeys, ATV's, 
monuments in the park, and a whole bunch of other things.   We've now
done six 50-mile endurance rides, mostly back to middle of the pack
finishes.   He's turning into a nice trail horse.  I do have the joy of
saying "He's mine and I trained him" - because I have.  The early
training helped him to know left, right, stop, and go.  But,  the horse
he is now is much different than what he was this time last year.  And,
we have learned and done it together.

Dave Bennett & Rocketeer
Chickamauga, Georgia
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