REALITY HORSE OWNERSHIP . . . Living Your Dream

by Louann Chaudier

Overview

REALITY HORSE OWNERSHIP is intended for anyone who loves horses and wants not only to know more about them, but also learn what to expect if you buy one. While love for horses and best practices to ensure their welfare are dominant themes of this book, many pertinent issues are addressed that are not often mentioned elsewhere such as:

* The perils of buying horses on the Internet;
* Horse equipment -- how much do you really need;
* The ratio of work to fun when you own a horse property;
* How to tell your kids you have to sell their horse because you can't afford it anymore;
* The considerable value in buying used tack and trailers;
* How to "tough out" being a chubby, middle-aged newbie rider.

REALITY HORSE OWNERSHIP is an informative book written in a conversational style as though the author is sharing experiences with a riding buddy. Sometimes sad, often funny, personal anecdotes interspersed throughout the chapters offer insight into both positive and negative aspects of a life that revolves around horses.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940157589592
Publisher:	Louann Chaudier
Publication date:	01/16/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	11 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

I was one of those horse-crazy girls who prayed nightly for my parents to buy me a horse. That we lived in a suburb of Detroit was a minor impediment in my estimation. After moving to central Indiana, my wish came true when I became the ecstatic owner of a Standardbred racehorse. (My grandfather owned several racehorses that he campaigned around the Midwest and I tagged along.) I learned to drive horses years before I began riding.
After a 20-year hiatus where going to college and having children pre-empted everything else, my husband bought me a riding horse for my 38th birthday. I boarded my horse at northern Illinois stables for ten years before acquiring a 5-acre horse property in southern Wisconsin that I named Restless Spirit Farm.
Because finances were always tight, I thought I should do all work on the farm myself. I learned to set posts, put up fence, install electric fence chargers, bale hay, repair barns, use a heavy-duty paint sprayer, run a hydraulic lift, tuck-point fieldstone foundations, and perform all tasks related to keeping several horses at home.
I began writing about my experiences in the mid-90s with an article about what it’s like to be a middle-aged beginner rider. Since then I’ve published over 75 articles in Equus, Western Horseman, the Morgan Horse, Hobby Farms, and Horse Illustrated magazines. I also contributed a section on pasture management for a DVD handed out to new horse owners by the Kentucky Horse Council.
Over the years, I owned a Standardbred, a Morgan, several Quarter horses and Paints, an Appaloosa, an Arabian, two Thoroughbreds and a Haflinger/Morgan cross. All were my teachers.
I’ve also been a lessor and lessee for many years, trained several young horses, trailered to State Parks to trail ride with friends, and bought and sold enough tack to furnish a store.