So horses, by nature, are not cheap to own. And in this economy it pays to be frugal!! SO let's talk about some awesome ways to save MONEY! Here are a few things I do, or have done recently.
I bought a beautiful Circle Y Show saddle off Craigslist for $200. It was scuffed and scratched up. Then for less than $10 I re-dyed it black. It looks AMAZING! Circle Y, look like it just came out of the factory for $210.
I never buy Sand Clear, I buy the Wal Mart version of Metamucil. It's 100% Psyllium, the same thing in the $30 tub of Sand Clear.
FIND your local grain warehouse. Ours is called Xcel Feeds and is a supplier and manufacturer of grain. SO for $14 I can an 80lb bag of beet pulp. Instead of $13 for a 40lb bag at the local feed store.
I extend my grain and enhance the fat content by getting a bag of rolled corn and mixing it 50/50 with my other more "expensive" grain. I use Purina Omolene. (YIKES it's pricey!)
Get a SCALE! Weigh out what you are feeding to prevent waste!
Shop your DOLLAR STORE! Things like garlic or paprika powder for a buck. Mixing spoon, buckets, towels, sponges, hair brushes. All for a dollar!
Shop tack sales and HAGGLE for the best prices. Go to your local tack auctions too!
So what other things do you guys like to do when money is tight? Your Tips and tricks for saving the almighty dollar?
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Living the Dark Truth through the eyes of a horse trainer. Uncensored, uninhibited and far from sugar-coated. Exposing the insanity that is the world of horses, their owners, the breeders, and of course the wacked out wannabes...Welcome to my life...This is what I get the joy of dealing with.
Blog Archive
-
▼
2009
(150)
-
▼
June
(16)
- Head Banger's Ball!
- Penny Pincher!
- Blow Up...
- Leave It To The The Race Track...
- I'm Seething With Jealousy!!!
- I'm In Bed!!!!
- HOW To Lay Down On The Job
- Laying Down On The Job...
- Home at Last
- To Sacramento
- Getting What You Want
- I'm FLYING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- Simple Horse, Simple Care
- Wild Horse Racing?
- Hunter VS. HUS
- Pleasure Me
-
▼
June
(16)
5 comments:
Our 4 horses used to waste tons of hay - literally!! It was stomped on, urinted on, and pooped on. I am sure that nearly everyone can relate. As hay is expensive and a major pain to get, I came up with this idea: we bought 4 of the 100 gallon rubbermaid tubs and removed the plugs. We now feed the horses in the tubs. No more waste! Our hay consumption has been cut to less than half. And the horses are no longer eating hay out of the mud. Remember to always dump out any water after rain. You could also drill holes in the bottom if you never want the option to use it as a water tub again. One of the horses then developed the habit of going to all four tubs and pushing the hay out, so I had to fix it so he couldn't do that anymore - LOL
I buy food grade ground flax seed by the 50 pound bag at my local feed mill, it is between $32 and $35 a bag. I feed flax to eleven horses so a bag will only last me about 45 days. this is much cheaper than buying flax in the pretty tub! I use some of it for my own home baking, too.
I have a question about mixing rolled corn in with prepared feeds - wouldn't this throw off the calcium/phosphorous ratio already established in the prepared feed? How would you compenstate for this?
lynnbrkh, if you feed a good mineral supplement you could compensate for Calcium/phosphate balance.
Personaly I don't feed corn, it digests in the hind gut and can cause gas,also,after finding out about PSSM in one of my horses, I have switched the a lo carb high fat diet on all of them.
We buy directly from the feed mill for our grain. It's a Landmark co-op and it holds things like Purna as well as its own brand of feeds. I found a very nice high fat/moderate protein feed for my endurance horse made by Landmark called Extreme Supreme; it has nutritional quality extremely similar to Purina Ultium (my second choice) for way less. It had soybeans, sunflower seeds, and oats among other things, and it is not pelleted (my horse is prone to choke and pelleted feeds are easy for him to choke on) It's often cheaper than Farm&Barn (aka Farm&Fleet) or oter feed stores, and they have a wider variety to choose from. They also have a nutrition chart you can compare teh feed's nutritional qualities on.
Post a Comment