Hey all - buying a horse

[TBF]

4. I was going to suggest a horse rescue group as well -

given the economic downturn I'm guessing those groups have a lot of animals to place and good resources to guide you.

Currently I live in the suburbs, but I grew up in a very rural area in the midwest. My grandfather raised horses (along with cattle and cash-cropped corn on 600 acres). My parents had about 5 acres - old house with a couple of barns. When I was a teenager and wanted a horse I was allowed to have one that someone was giving away, but my dad fixed up the barn and did the fencing. My mom knew how to care for the horse (feeding, riding, brushing, cleaning it's hooves etc) so it was a pretty easy deal for us. We had a welsh pony through my teen years and then gave it to a local farmer with kids when I went off to college.

It's definitely something you can do assuming you are considering the cost and day-to-day work involved. As long as you can commit to that (or to paying someone to help you - no idea what your resources are) then I'm sure it could work out. Animals can be a costly proposition - just for my labs alone I spend money on food, toys, kennel when we vacation, Vet bills, regular medicines like heartworm preventative, etc ... plus you need to make the time to play with and walk them. For folks who work many factor in doggie daycare/lunchtime dog walking as well. It's not something to go into lightly.