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What type of hobbies do you have?
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05-22-2018, 08:18 PM
Quote: No.... In Texas we have Ranches. [img]<fileStore.core_Emoticons>/emoticons/tongue.png[/img]/emoticons/[email protected] 2x" title=":P" width="20" />  Quote: Man, I will never understand why Germany's most famous US-emigrant left Texas for Hawaii... Overcrowded, expensive, volcano and ruled by the Dems... 
05-22-2018, 09:31 PM
Quote: Yes, said the same thing myself here somewhere-- I have a kennel with 5 bitches (the most you are allowed without USDA license and unannounced inspections), used to raise a few litters a year. But since the Great Recession there isn't enough demand for purebred puppies to sell them in a timely manner or at a profit. So now I just have 5 really experienced bitches. (What?!? Like I'm just going to heave the old girls out on the street?) BTW, I didn't heave the horses out either, but even the most beloved of my life have aged out and gone away by attrition. [img]<fileStore.core_Emoticons>/emoticons/sad.png[/img]/emoticons/[email protected] 2x" title=":(" width="20" />
05-22-2018, 09:33 PM
Quote: Don't start with me-- [img]<fileStore.core_Emoticons>/emoticons/rolleyes.gif[/img]/emoticons/[email protected] 2x" title="9_9" width="20" /> [img]<fileStore.core_Emoticons>/emoticons/laugh.png[/img]/emoticons/[email protected] 2x" title="xD" width="20" /> 
05-22-2018, 11:53 PM
Quote: There´s a proverb in the German equestrian circles: "The only way to become a millionaire with horses is to be a billionaire before..." [img]<fileStore.core_Emoticons>/emoticons/wink.png[/img]/emoticons/[email protected] 2x" title=";)" width="20" /> Yes, horses are expensive, but it isn´t impossible to make a living with them if you organise everything properly. The farm I worked on for two years bred expensive showjumper horses, sold one or two every month and also was boarding other peoples´ horses...went quite well financially, I´d guess...during my time , the farm owner, who was NOT coming from a rich family, managed to buy about 50 hectares of additional land, bought herself a friggin´ 70 K Deutschmark Mercedes with cash (!), not being dependent on a bank loan. She had constant revenue from the nearly 80 boarding horses, made hay and sold it (what saves money twice...once for not having to buy hay and straw herself and twice for selling hers to other stables) and not one of her showjumpers was sold for less than 10 K Deutschmarks. I guess it´s the same in horsekeeping/boarding as in other agricultural sectors....go big or get extinct. Well, I keep four mares...and my expenses rarely exceed 300-400 Euros a month. I grow my own hay, so the only stuff I have to buy is muesli/pellet food....which I buy in bulk directly from the producer for lower prices. The farrier for all four of my ladies is the most expensive thing I have to deal with, every 6-8 weeks he pays me a visit and leaves with roughly 250 Euros ( 2 mares get horseshoes, the other two walk barefoot). Deworming and vaccination twice a year also doesn´t cost a fortune. What really rips your bank account is those rare occasions of emergency visits from a vet...you can be sure it gets really expensive then. Colic surgery for example (luckily I haven´t had that) can sum up to 8000 Euros ...without any guarantee the horse in question will survive. But besides that, horsekeeping doesn´t have to be "expensive"...depending on what you call expensive and how much you are willing to curb your own personal demands....and whether you´re willing to generate more income by doing some additional work. I grow most of my food myself, I am not interested in status symbols besides driving a nice sports car and I just do fine with my four girls. From my perspective, horses aren´t expensive. 
05-25-2018, 04:46 PM
Quote: Dude I lived in Germany before, there's a horse in every corner, it is definitely equinophiles homeland, I'd bet it is cheaper, safer, and there's more access of services there than a lot of the world to care of horses and that makes it quite a good ground for zoos.
05-25-2018, 04:46 PM
Quote: Ranches?... what is the difference? uh?... Quote: Yeah, if you think 5500€ (6450$) per year is cheap. And there are a lot off animalcare laws. Also it's very hard to have horses on the own ground, as Germany isn't Texas with plenty of space. It's smaller than Montana with 83 million citizens and exploding estate prices. So you have to rent a stable. Good luck banging your horse in public. Quote: Ranches?... what is the difference? uh?... more livestock, less vegetables
05-25-2018, 06:24 PM
Quote: Good luck banging your horse in public? Your best wishes do come a little late, pal...I´ve been "banging" my mare in three public boarding stables and one private boarding stable for 22 years ... [img]<fileStore.core_Emoticons>/emoticons/wink.png[/img]/emoticons/[email protected] 2x" title=";)" width="20" /> It´s not as impossible as it might seem , but it´s vastly dependent on your personality and your awareness of the risks and daily routines within those stables. I´d even say that most of the German horse zoos aren´t as lucky as I am now and aren´t in possession of their own slab of land to "do it" uninterfered...so they all have to "bang their horses in public" as well. To my knowledge, only those who upload porn that is traceable back to them are the ones who had to face problems with the authorities. Not one case of someone quietly having fun with his/her horse has come to my knowledge...and as a part of the pro equestrian community, I´m sure I would´ve heard of such incidents...stuff like that always gets around in the equestrian community quickly.
05-25-2018, 06:35 PM
Quote: Germany IS horseland, always been and probably always will be. This affinity with horses may stem from old Germanic religions that saw the horse as a holy animal. Regardless of where you live in Germany (except some remote parts of East germany, maybe) , you can be sure there always will be some farriers and vets within a 20 km radius offering their services to horseowners. Many specialised equestrian shops sell anything realted to horses, from saddles and bridles to hoofpicks and muesli/pellet food. Estimations from the FN (German rider association) say there are roughly 1.5 million horses living in Germany...and those are only the ones the FN has been notified of within the sport context, the officially registered ones. Add another million horses owned by non sport people and you end up with roughly 2.5 mil to 3 mil horses in Germany...for a total population of 82 mil Germans, that´s a solid qouta, eh? [img]<fileStore.core_Emoticons>/emoticons/wink.png[/img]/emoticons/[email protected] 2x" title=";)" width="20" /> |
