Not sure if this belongs here but, am wondering just how my fellow horse owners are toughing it out with rising cost of gas and other things...Where and what are you cutting back on to save money and still give your horses the best care possible...And do you all plan to camp and trail ride or show less this summer or don't change your plans at all??? I myself, plan to vaccinate my horses myself and less trips to the local parks to ride the trails....And also plan to get my friends to schedule to have their horses teeth done the same day as me and have the equine dentist come to one farm and split the farm call...

To be perfectly honest, most of the things that you listed are things that my wife and I have been trying to do all along. For vet calls, which are rare for us (mainly coggins tests or severe injury) we will take our horses to my inlaws farm and split the farm call (which is $45 for a 3 mile drive from his office--there's good reason why we don't use him much). We have been very lucky to find a very reasonably priced excellent farrier and EqDT. My wife worked as a vet tech for a few years and has a very good base knowledge of how to vaccinate and take care of injuries that are more mild. I trim our horses between their regular trimmings to prolong that time and we do not shoe our horses.

When the spring grass comes in, most of the horses grain gets put on hold. This saves a ton of money, and will save more this year the way feed prices have gone up. I keep my 33 yr old on his senior feed and the other horses that get ridden a lot get their Nutrena Safe Choice. They all get a 1/2 cup of corn oil because I love the way it makes them shine. I will cut out rolled oats, beet pulp, forage extender, and sweet feed.

Our vacations are with our horses. We can't really afford to hop a flight to Vegas or take a cruise. We love camping, riding, etc. even if its a day trip. It's a time for us to not think about work, stress, or whatever, so we value them greatly. They're not something that we really want to sacrifice. We cut out cable and just use the antenna, netflix, and redbox. We also have cut eating out, movie theater visits, and other various frivilous spending habits. We have adjusted our grocery list as well.

We bought a cheap older "fix-er-up-er" LQ trailer but are having a blast working on it together and making it what we want. This avoids $200-$300 a month payments on something we use less than 20 times a year.

It's definitely worth a daily, weekly, or monthly budget re-evaluation to continue doing something you love.

We started trimming our 3 horses feet 4 years ago when I lost my job, and never went back to using a real farrier. We invested time into learning how to do it properly and money into equipment but figured that paid for itself within the first 3 months of trimming feet ourselves.

We don't eat out like we used to but I wish I could figure out how to make healthy satisfying meals for just two people. I feel like I waste a lot of money on groceries that end up spoiling. Gardening does not seem to be the answer because of all the time involved and the fact you can buy frozen vegetables in the discount grocery store so cheaply!

Our vehicles are paid for and I don't anticipate buying a new one anytime soon. We have a VW Jetta TDI that gets 45+ mpg and that is what we use on trips of any real distance. We usually only use our 1 ton truck if we need to use the trailer or haul something. We suck at vacationing in the traditional sense so our "vacations" are centered around camping with the horses or visiting friends or family and staying with them. We started having friends over for meals when we bought a new farm last August and haven't stopped. I enjoy cooking for them and lingering around the table or living room talking afterwards. I may sneak in a trip to The Great American Trail Horse Sale in Lexington, VA next month buy will do it on a shoestring.

I hesitate to do my own shots on the horses, even though we self vaccinate our other livestock, because I like having the tight relationship with my vet- when I call and say emergency, they come running! I have given our dogs the boosters that I can legally here in PA- basically everything but rabies. We feed the horses a ration balancer at the rate of 1 lb per head per day but my husband formulates supplements for a living and brings it home from work as part of his benefits package for free. I sell feed for a farm store so I get a break on shavings and supplies as well as dog, cat and livestock feed.

interesting reading comments about feeding grain.  I used to think I HAD to feed grain twice a day.  have always fed excellent quality hay, and they get some grass on our limited grazing area too.  I've been working nights for over a year so my schedule is pretty wierd, outcome is horses get hay about 5 am before my husband leaves for work, I come home around 9 or 10 and give them more hay, then they get hay and grain at night.   well they don't appear to be loosing wt or energy by only getting one small grain meal a day.  suprise suprise.   so now I've cut their grain by about 3/4 which saves a huge amt. of $$.    

another money saver is  only going to schooling shows, trying to carpool when trailering,  and really limiting  camping trips to not more than 3 or 4 hrs away.   just can't give everything up completely- I'd be totally miserable. 

I buy most of our clothes in thrift shops, we've cut out (almost) all restaurant trips,  try to consolidate all trips into town to save on fuel, use a clothesline instead of dryer,  read library books instead of buying,  etc. 

another cool thing is the barter system.  we trade off w/ friends &  neighbors for various things.  it's fun and creative too.

Oh gosh, I don't even know where to start! I have been "scraping" by for a long time. I don't have kids for one! I knew early on that if I wanted to have horses, that I couldn't do both. 

I have cut: eating out, clothes shopping ( some jeans I have had for 5 years!) getting my hair done,( I look really bad, but my horse looks good!), pulled one horses shoes for the winter, no trips over 3 hour haul,horse don't get grain anymore, I don't ever go any where,groceries (that is a big one), I drive a car I would not have driven when I was younger, moved horses out to a  big pasture to help save on feed bill, don't buy anyone b-day gifts or X-mas anymore, use electric blankets instead of the heater.( I even have a small electric throw that I can move from computer chair to sofa) there is more but I don't have the time. I am making payments on both my truck and trailer at this time. I'm thinking of selling my nice trailer and getting something much older and steel just so that I no longer have a trailer payment. I really can't cut anything more. Well, I could eat oatmeal 3x a day. Done it before-

With over 100 animals total (with being 13 horses and 3 donkey's) we starting having the vet come to us.  The vet charge is cheaper than hauling 3 at a time back and forth.  No shooting matches further than 100 miles.

Can't trailer pool (with a 100 animals) when we get ready to go we are gone!

Plus with all of the criters we have cut out most extras for ourself.  The criters come first, then we go from there. 

Not because we have too, cause we WANT too!  Would not have it any other way.