The Viability of the "Project Horse"

So it's been a few years and your farm is up and running. You feel pretty good about the care you're providing your horses, and you're no longer drowning in start-up projects. I think it's pretty natural at this stage (if not sooner!) to start thinking about acquiring more horses. After all, you have the space and you can tell yourself that spreading the fixed costs across more horses actually means that each horse costs you less. You're saving money, right!? (Okay, not really, but this is how we horse people think.)

One idea you may have is to take on a project horse, something you will buy, train up, and sell--hopefully at a profit. The recipe for success with a project horse is complex:

• One sound, sane horse with potential for success in your discipline, acquired for a reasonable price (bonus points if said horse is flashy, but at the very least it should be a desirable breed, size, sex, and color)
• Minimal-cost horse care/board (here is where it is crucial to have your own farm because it's much less feasible to profit on a project if you're paying $500-1000+ for board per month)
• Regular doses of skilled riding and training (with support from trainers as needed)
• Required registrations and competition entry fees, and success at those competitions
• Good luck so that horse will remain sound, sane, and marketable

If you have all those ingredients, making money on a project horse is possible, but I wanted to relate my experience with this in the hopes that it helps anyone thinking of taking on the same thing. This isn't exactly related to farm management, but it's a topic that does often come up for farm owners.

The Project Pony

I bought Gwen in July of 2018. Here's another tip: if you buy a resale project, you're off to a good start if it's totally adorable! Just look at this cute face and big poofy forelock:

Gwen meets Dominick the Donkey for the first time, in a showdown of adorableness.

Gwen was a green-ish 7-year-old who had been through a couple of owners and was currently at a very small lesson barn where she wasn't quite suitable to the beginner clientele due to her forwardness and sensitivity. As far as I could tell when I first bought her, her pros as a project were:

• Adorable (see photo for proof)
• Well-kept and apparently healthy
• Not too old
• Clean legs, eyes, etc
• Good feet
• Decent gaits
• Described as pretty unflappable (this turned out to be true)
• Game to jump (very true!)
• No apparent vices (also true)
• Registerable with a breed association

Her cons were:

• Plain bay mare
• Too small for most adults
• Too forward/sensitive for many kids
• Some holes in her training (rushy canter, no concept of correct contact)

The Project Plan...and Reality

When I bought Gwen in July I planned to sell her within 3 to 9 months. I charted out expected monthly expenses, added in a buffer for unexpected extras, and calculated the price I'd need to sell her for to break even at 3 or 9 months. (I deleted that document a while ago but remember it not being terribly far off reality as far as monthly and occasional expenses.)

The first thing I discovered was that three months was wildly unrealistic. She hadn't been in consistent work when I bought her so I conservatively spent about a month legging her up to avoid injuries. It was a good way to get to know each other too. We spent most of that month on the trails, first just walking and then as the weeks passed adding in trot and canter. She proved to be a phenomenal trail horse--brave, confident without other horses, and very surefooted. My young horse was lame at that time with an uncertain future, and riding Gwen through the woods and fields was very therapeutic.

Nothing soothes the soul like a view of nature through a good horse's ears.

We started jumping lessons after about a month and I learned that although she was extremely game, she was also greener than I expected. She had a lot of scope and could get around a course, but tended to get flat and fast. Jumping lessons proved crucial to bringing her along well. Most of my experience is in dressage, so I don't think I could have added as much value to her without jumping lessons.

At the end of three months, we had just done our first horse trial (starter/elementary-level). She tied for first in dressage and jumped double clear despite some nasty weather and slick footing. I was thrilled with her performance and with how much fun I'd had. That was probably about the time I realized I wasn't selling her before winter, and resigned myself to buying some pony-sized blankets.

In month five we did our first Beginner Novice horse trial (still unrecognized) and she was just as fabulous. We spent the winter dabbling in foxhunting (not her strength...she got uncharacteristically wired) and working on our dressage and jumping.

Pony's got springs! In a demonstration of her scope, 13.2 hh Gwen easily clears a 3'3" oxer during a winter lesson.

In month nine, when spring rolled around, we did another unrecognized Beginner Novice then moved up to recognized, where she still excelled at the jumping phases while turning out respectable (though not usually top-placing) dressage tests. Now I felt like I had created demonstrable value, because in addition to being much much more rideable over fences and correct on the flat, she was logging recognized show miles.

At the end of month eleven I put her on the market and she was sold within two weeks. I still miss her but am thrilled with the home she found, with a smaller adult amateur who is a better size for her and spoils "the princess" rotten.

The Project Profitability

Although I kept her for longer than expected, I recognize that I got pretty damn lucky with this project all-around. She was super easy to add to my menagerie because she was happy to live outside alone when needed but also got along when turned out with others. She wasn't "mare-ish" at all. She didn't turn out to be chronically unsound or nutty. She didn't have any devastating injuries. I found a buyer pretty quickly once I decided to sell.

And yet, I still didn't make any money. Let me break it down for you. As you may have learned already, I'm kind of a spreadsheet person so naturally I tracked every single expense related to the pony in an Excel document. I didn't factor in my time/labor or any general property-related expenses since she was an "add-on" to my existing herd.

Here is a summary of my expenses:

Pony purchase: $1,600
One year of "board": $598 (yes, you read that right...less than $50/month for grain, hay, and bedding)
Trims/shoeing: $740 (she was barefoot until shortly before I sold her)
Vet/dentist/meds: $2,439 (about $1,000 routine and $1,500 to resolve a specific issue)
Equipment (saddle fitting, pony-sized girth, fly mask, blankets, etc): $690 but I sold some of it with her for $320, so net of $370

Factoring in only the above expenses, I pretty much broke even when I sold her after a year.

However, I spent about $2,200 on shows, foxhunting, and clinics. Obviously those were fun and educational for me but the shows were also required to justify her sales price, which was a good amount above the $1,600 I had spent on the good-natured but green pony.

I also spent about $2k in dressage and jumping lessons during that time. Again, those were partially for my education and enjoyment, but I would not have created as much value in the pony without them. I could have brought her along fairly well on the flat because I have a strong dressage background, but I was getting back into jumping after some time off and both the pony and I really benefited from the jumping lessons.

In the end, I decided it was fair to apportion half of the shows, clinics, lessons, etc to the pony's development costs and half to myself because I was benefiting too. Adding up all the expenses I mentioned above plus half of those costs, I lost about $2,500 on my project pony. I don't regret it at all because I think $2,500 is a small price to pay for a year of fun with a freakin adorable pony, but it's certainly not a good business model. Good thing I'm not in horses for the money!

I can't say I won't ever do the project horse thing again, but I do worry that I wouldn't get so lucky twice. I would also be careful to start with one that I think will be easy and low-maintenance like Gwen, but you really never know what you've got until you bring a new horse home and work with it for a bit.

Just some food for thought if you find yourself wondering whether you can fill that extra stall with a money maker!

Winter Hay Feeding: Round Bales vs. Small Square Bales

I've found sourcing good hay to be one of the most difficult and stressful parts of horse ownership. I'm lucky to be in an area with many options, and I still struggle. I try to choose what I think looks good (nice smell, no apparent dust/mold, no apparent weeds/trash, not too stemmy) but my horses can turn their noses up at stuff that looks and smells perfectly fine to me, even in winter when they have little else to eat. So, I like to pick up a few sample bales to feed before I commit to a whole load. That doesn't work 100% but it's better than relying on my own senses.

Turns out it's not always this easy...

Last year for the first time I tried feeding large bales (round bales or large 3'x3'x8' square bales) in the winter, and it's been a really mixed experience. First of all, round bales or large squares (I'll just use "round bales" as shorthand for the rest of this post) present some logistical problems for the small farm. They're big (duh!) and hard to move. I typically buy one at a time, bring it home in the bed of the pickup truck, and roll it off the truck to wherever I want it. I can even get a whole-bale hay net on there by myself in the process. But, I can't flip the bale onto its end or move it onto the pallet I put underneath to try to keep it dry, so hubby has to help with that part. I also bought a secondhand bale spear for my 23-horsepower Kubota, which works well if I need to store one in the garage for a little while before feeding it. Obviously without a large tractor and specialized machinery, I can't stack them, so if I bought more than one at a time they'd take up a lot of floor space.

The major pros of round bales are the daily labor savings and the cost. It's so much easier to put out a round bale every few weeks than it is to dole out square bales daily, whether I'm putting them in hanging hay nets or hay boxes or just throwing them into the Hay Hut (the easiest option for square bales by far, though the horses do pull some of it out onto the ground).

My first winter, hubby and I built this 4x4 Slow Grazer box. I used to fill this with about 1.5 bales every evening for the two horses and mini-donkey. It's a nice design but honestly a pain to fill. You can't just throw two bales in there because the horses can't eat it well through the grate unless the flakes are separated and fluffed a bit. P.S. Most donkeys, especially minis, should not have unrestricted access to hay for health/weight reasons.

I also used to hang hay in nets on the fence in the dry lot. Here Dominick the Donkey demonstrates that a little no-climb wire can't keep him from food!

If the weather is cold/wet enough, I hang a few nets in the run-in shed. Here are Z and Mr. F sharing nicely (not for long, I'm sure). I always hang one more net than there are horses, and spread them out so no one has to fight for hay.

With a round bale, I also get some peace of mind knowing that the horses always have plenty to eat, even if I'm working late. In the rare event that I go out of town, someone else can care for them with minimal labor.

I have also definitely saved some money feeding round bales. Here were my average hay costs per horse per month from December to February by year (the horse count doesn't include the mini-donkey because he eats relatively little and has been a constant--sorry Dominick!):

2014-2015: $101/horse/month (small squares...I don't think I fed the best hay this first year, out of ignorance, which is part of why costs were so low)
2015-2016: $156/horse/month (small squares)
2016-2017: $157/horse/month (small squares)
2017-2018: $152/horse/month (small squares)
2018-2019: $94/horse/mo (round bales supplemented with 4-12 small squares per month)
Dec 2019: $59/horse/mo (round bales supplemented with 6 small squares)

The cost savings look great, but unfortunately some of my horses haven't maintained weight well on round bales and a lot of each bale goes to waste. They're just not that enthusiastic about them and they seem willing to starve themselves to some extent. Some people say, "If they get hungry enough they'll eat them," but I'm not willing to let my horses lose weight and condition just to save myself some work and money.

One of my Thoroughbreds four days before I put out the first roundbale of the season.

The same horse, noticeably thinner after being on a roundbale for a month. Interestingly, this weight loss was despite dramatically increasing his grain from ration balancer plus 2 lbs/day of rice bran to 7 lbs/day of Triple Crown Senior. It wasn't a very cold month either. And he was out of work for a couple weeks so he should have needed fewer calories!

Update 1/24: After less than 2 weeks back on square bales, the Thoroughbred's ribs are already less visible. His workload and grain ration stayed the same.

In my case, none of this lack of enthusiasm is due to the horses wasting the round bale or it being exposed to the weather. I use a Hay Chix round bale net to keep horses from pulling the hay out to use as a bed or toilet, and a Hay Hut to protect it from the elements. (Side note: if you just have to pick one, I think the Hay Hut does more than the net. Also, although it's quite expensive it's much more durable than a net. Mine had some quality control issues like holes not lining up, so I think it was a bit overpriced, but it has done its job. If you're lucky you might be able to find one used at a significant discount. Also, if you have horses with shoes it's not safe to put a round bale in a net without something to keep them from stepping in/on it. I did this for literally 24 hours once when I was in a bind, and I witnessed one of my horses getting tangled and panicking.)

I think the waste and weight loss are caused by a combination of two factors:

1) Horses seem to believe that hay has an "expiration date" once set out, even if it's protected from the weather. If you have more horses they will eat the round bale fast enough that it doesn't reach the expiration date (and hopefully some are on the less picky end of the spectrum and willing to clean up what the princes and princesses won't touch). With only two to three horses, I've found that a lot of each bale gets left behind and goes to waste.

2) Round bale palatability, in my experience, is lower than square bales. They seem to eat 80-100% of most square bales but only about 60% of round bales. (Some of the ~40% they don't eat has probably reached its "expiration date" but I also think some of it was unpalatable to begin with. Even from the beginning of a new bale there are mouthfuls that they will taste then let fall out of their mouths, or move out of the way to get to the choicer parts.)

Usually after two weeks it's hard to tell if the hay level is going down at all. I untie the hay net so they can pick through it more easily, but that hasn't done the trick. The longest I've left one out was a month, and at that point they weren't eating it at all. After two weeks or so I'm typically wondering if they're eating enough and worrying about them losing weight. My horses will eat about 30 lbs/day each of square bales, so a 600-lb round bale should only last about 10 days with 2 horses if they're eating at the same rate. The fact that a round bale lasts me weeks and weeks means that a) they're just not that into it and b) they're not getting the nutrition they need.

After 3 weeks, there is still a LOT of this second cutting orchard grass round bale left! I untied the net to let them pick through it more easily in the hopes that they'd eat more, but they still never finished it.

Part of the problem might also be that it's harder to evaluate quality before you buy. Unlike with small square bales, you can't grab one to try or break it open to see how it looks inside. I recently ended up with a round bale that my horses would barely pick at, and there was no good way to get rid of it. If you place your round bales out in pastures it's not a big deal to just leave it out there to rot and move on to the next one, but I put mine in the dry lot so leaving it there would ruin the expensive stonedust footing. Having to deal with a massive pile of uneaten hay every few weeks partially offsets the time/labor savings that make round bales attractive in the first place.

Giant pile of uneaten hay that needs to be moved before I can place the new bale (which, by the way, is easier to unload if it's turned 90 degrees so you can roll it off the tailgate). 

I ended up dragging the pile of hay out to the field to decompose, which is probably more stress than I should put on my round bale net regularly.

I'm perfectly willing to consider that I'm buying sub-par round bales, but I've gotten them from a very reputable supplier that I've bought square bales from for a couple of years. I've tried to find other sources but so far the strongest endorsements I've gotten from any friends are "okay but we've gotten some bad ones" and "my horses ate one but not the other"--not exactly confidence-inspiring. I also wanted to try putting out only half of a 3'x3'x8' at a time, but I haven't been able to find any of those this year (and the one I tried last year was not well-liked by my horses anyway). For at least the rest of this winter I'll be going back to small square bales thrown into the Hay Hut daily, for my peace of mind and the horses' health.

If One Donkey Is Good, Two Are Better!

Dominick the Donkey has been part of my herd pretty much since I brought my horses home, in August 2014. I found him on Craigslist and brought him home from an unsanitary horse dealer's lot where he was living in a large concrete pen with a couple dozen other equines, picking straw and hay out of muck piles. :-( Amazingly, despite coming from a bad setting, he had obviously been well cared for in the past because he was in good weight and had healthy, well-managed feet.

For 5.5 years, Dominick has enjoyed being one of the gang with the horses. Unfortunately, horses and donkeys (especially miniatures like Dom) have very different nutritional requirements. My large, hard-working horses do best with free-choice forage, whereas Dom needs his intake limited. In the summer this is easy because the gang comes into the barn for the day to avoid the heat and bugs, where each stall/run is stocked with the right amount of hay for its occupant (full hay nets for the horses, and a single flake for Dom). Overnight while they're turned out on grass, Dom wears a grazing muzzle.

Winter has been a bigger challenge because full-time turnout with unlimited hay is easiest for me and healthiest for them, but makes it difficult to manage Dom's weight. He tolerates a muzzle 24/7 but I hate that he doesn't get a break from it, and even with the muzzle he tends to come out of winter fatter than he went in. I can't separate him from his horse friends to give him a break from the muzzle either because he will freak out alone, even if they're still in sight.

So, I finally decided to cave and acquire a buddy for Dom, so that he can be dry-lotted with a friend and appropriate forage while the horses are turned out 24/7. Which leads me to...

Welcome home, Lancelot!!!!

Mr. F says, "Mom, I don't know if you realize but there's a small gray thing in my stall..."

Lance came from a wonderful Maryland rescue, Lost and Found Horse Rescue, which despite its name rescues primarily donkeys. He is about two years old and was born to a feral herd, so although Ashley at LFHR has done a terrific job getting him healthy, he is still very timid around people and easily frightened. Thankfully he is also highly food-motivated so every evening I hold a bucket with some Triple Crown Senior and while he eats I scratch and groom him. We're also working on giving to pressure and leading properly, because right now leading involves me luring him from one place to another with a bucket of grain. Thank goodness he loves his food!

After only a couple of days together, Dom and Lance are sharing a stall and a hay net. I think they will be inseparable before long! I also think Dom will be a good influence as Lance is already getting braver around me while he watches Dom approach fearlessly for treats and attention. I love that Dom will have a friend his size to play with because he clearly enjoyed playing with my yearling a few years back, but hasn't had anyone who will play with him since.

What I've learned from this is that although donkeys are wonderful, they are not ideal companions for horses unless you can limit grass/hay or separate them at least part of the time. When I first got Dom I was stalling my horses during the day in summer and overnight in winter, which worked well for him, but as my horse management practices have evolved I've had to adjust my donkey management too. I hope that having a buddy brings Dom joy and helps keep him healthy for years to come.