Very recently someone inquired about adopting two horses. The person came to the Ranch to look at Daisy and Stella and when I replied to their questioning about the adoption fees that Daisy was $1500 the person replied that she had no idea that horses were so expensive nowadays. I replied that I thought this was extremely inexpensive and that where I came from (Germany) one wouldn’t even dream of a horse costing this little; I also mentioned that this is still well below the cost of their rescue alone.
First of all I cannot believe that someone would think a perfectly healthy, very friendly and rideable horse costing $1500 was expensive. That’s a steal.
To pull Daisy from the kill pen cost about $1350 plus vet fee, plus boarding for about 10 days down in Louisiana, plus transport (roughly $3000 for the 6 of them), then she had to see the vet as she arrived with a bad cough and both Stella and Daisy had to be put on special feed as they arrived very underweight. Feed per horse through the winter is roughly $100/month for hay, $50 for each farrier visit, $15 for each deworming, and that doesn’t even include my work hours, energy for the barn and fence, fuel or payments fo the Gator, cost for the fencing and shelter I had built last year, insurance, maintenance cost etc etc
I literally put all my money into this Ranch and the animals and then someone carelessly saying they thought $1500 for a perfectly healthy horse was expensive really appalls me. Because then also, if I were to give the horses away for much cheaper people would just turn around and sell them for a profit.
But in the end the question comes down to: what’s a soul worth in $?
To me they are precious beyond a monetary value. And so a person implying what I am looking to adopt them out for is too expensive just shows how little worth they are to them. And in that respect it’s better for Stella and Daisy (or any other animal) to stay here at the Ranch where they are valued beyond a monetary measure.
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