Those are some good questions you have there, Woodchuck. I could type enough on those that if you read it all your eyeballs would fall out. :roll: But I will try to keep it short.
To the first question, the care/ enjoyment ratio. I spend about 5 times my riding time, on ground work (training), feeding, mucking, fencing etc. I include all this in my enjoyment time so very little of it is real work to me. I just like spending time with them. Hauling, handling and stacking hay bales is work, that is the only part I dislike. Finding it to buy is really the hardest part.
As far as hours per day? Many days all I do is feed hay in the morning, check the auto waterer, and look them over quick. 15 minutes tops. Then the same at night. Then some days I spend all day on training, or fixing fence, or building on my obsticle course.
On upkeep, mules and horses are different. I am speaking generaly here, as each horse or mule will be different. Mules take "way less" over all upkeep than a horse. I have one 1160lb mule and one 850lb mule. So about one ton total. I also have one horse that is 900lbs or just less than half ton. The horse eats and poops conciderably more that my two mules together do. The horse also craps anywhere she happens to be, my mules have specific areas. They will leave their stall clean all summer long unless closed in there for some reason. The horses seems to go out of there way to poop and pee inside the stall.
I have about 2 1/2 acres of pasture which will feed my two mules all summer long (5 months). For the remainling 210 days I buy about 6,300 lbs of grass hay or 100 to 200 bales, depending on there weight. This is enough for both mules. Grass hay around here is $1 per bale whether they are 30 pounders or 70 pounders. My horse requires nearly that same amount of hay by herself. I also feed about 5 lbs of a grain mix per day to my horse. For my mules I feed zero, up to maybe one lb of oats per day each in the winter months. They stay fat and my horse stays skinny. I go through about 4 salt blocks and 4 mineral blocks every year. $8 each.
Vet/med bills; mantainance is about the same on horses or mules. I have a farrier come out about ever two months to trim hooves at $15 per animal. I worm them every two months. That is $7 to $15 per animal depending on what wormer is on my rotation list for that time. I have the vet out twice a year. In the spring she gives 3 way, tetnus, and West Nile shots with a quick check up. She charges me about $120 for all that for the three animals combined. One critter would cost more than a third of that though. I also have her come out to give a Coggins test once a year if I am taking them out west or going to sell one. I think that is $20 plus $20 for her to show up at the farm, so I try to work it into a regular visit. Teeth floating every two to three years is about $55 a critter. I have never had a bad injury on a horse or mule so I don't know the cost to that.
Fencing; use a electric fence. I use a wire that is actually a white 1/4 inch nylon rope with wire strands in it. My local Fleet Farm has it. It is easy for the animals to see and it doesn't sag like the white or yellow tape does. And the deer see it too. I use two or three strands. For posts I use steel T posts 16 ft apart and the smaller rod posts for a temporary fence.
Tack; spend as much on your tack as you wood on a good, but green horse.
I just bought a custom (made to fit my paticular mule) saddle for $800. They can go 3 times that.
A rope halter you can tie yourself or buy one for $15 to $30. A rope halter is an important tool. A lead/ lunge rope is about $5 to $25. A bit & bridle is about $40 to as much as you want to spend. I spent $70 on a leather halter bridle. made my own reins and slobber straps. Saddle blankets are from $25 to $175.
Then there are feed buckets, mucking forks, gates, stalls, bug spray, a horse trailer, a truck to pull it, etc.
There are also your "vet" bills to consider. Mine, last year, was about $2,500. That was for a broken collar bone (my wife's). Two broken fingers, a cracked rib, and a boogered up leg (all mine). All of these were my fault, including my wife's collar bone; nothing the animals did wrong, but happened never the less. Spend more $ on a well broke horse and good tack, then you'll spend less $ at your doc's office.
Housing; I have a 10x10 stall in my barn for each animal but 12x12 would be better. I have a 45 foot diameter roundpen, for training, that runs about $1,000.
I guess, after writing this all down, a $5,000 fourwheeler is looking pretty good......but then fourwheelers don't come a running when they see you. Thats worth something.
Hud
