Life Lessons--The Horse Industry and Depreciation

Uprooting my life and moving across the country has presented plenty of challenges.  This decision was relatively unexpected (within the last 6 months), so my previous thoughts about long-term planning have gone out the window.  I didn't truly know what I was getting into when I started into the Quarter Horse world 4 years ago.  Candidly, most of this post may be "TMI," but it would have been helpful information for me when making decisions 5 years ago.

We have a joke "Horses are as addictive as cocaine and twice as expensive."  I can't relate to the cocaine-portion of this joke, but I hear it's also expensive.  In terms of the horse-addiction...All logic goes out the window when it comes to my horse hobby/lifestyle.  Showing is a "fix" and once one show is over, we obsessively plan for the next.  I would estimate 25-50% of my income went towards my horse hobby, depending on the time of year.

• Horse: I had to sell my horse, Scotty.  This is the one thing I sold that I didn't get pretty much screwed over on; I bought him green, and found him an excellent new home with a loving family that spoils him.  Financially have a nice little "nest egg" for my next horsey companion, once I'm out of school.  Granted, if you added up what I paid for him and then spent on his care (board, feed, vet/farrier, chiropractor, supplies, etc) I'm sure I lost money--but that is DEFINITELY not part of "Horse Show Math."

September 2014--We won the Rookie Equitation class.  Best horsey-moment ever!

I bought a truck and a trailer so I could haul myself to shows.  At the time, I was not at a show barn, and really needed my own rig to get places.  After finding Barb, I definitely could have paid her to haul me and come out WAY ahead.  Here's some math:

• Truck: I bought a 2 horse, aluminum trailer so I could get away with only a 1/2 ton pickup.  This was to be my primary vehicle (ha ha, that's what I told myself when I bought it!) so I wanted something that was "good" on gas mileage.  
• Math: $36,000 for a brand-new 2013 Chevy Silverado.  Sold 3 years later for $22K.  So yes....$14,000 in depreciation over 3 years.  I still owed the bank on this truck and couldn't afford payments once I'm unemployed...so truck had to go.  

• Trailer: I was too scared to buy a used trailer because I didn't know what I was doing and pictured terrible breakdowns/issues in my head.  Thus, I justified a brand-new custom-ordered aluminum trailer.  "I'm going to keep it FOREVER!" I thought!  Ha ha.  I definitely want to upgrade to a living-quarters trailer in the future.  This means more $$, and a bigger truck to pull it with.  
• Math: I paid $18,000 for it, brand new.  The company that makes them cheapened them up significantly the year after I bought mine...so now you can get a brand-new one for under $16K.  :(  This does not help my resale value.  To sell it, I want to cover what I owe plus my downpayment...or $13,000.  It does not appear to be worth this right now.  So, I'm probably going to sit on it until I graduate and then trade up later.  Unlike the truck, it won't depreciate that much just sitting. (At least I hope? My track record estimating this has not been good so far!).  But my pride can't handle another huge financial hit.
• So let's add this together:
• Monthly Payments on Truck and Trailer: $450
• 3 years of payments: $16,200...plus insurance on truck and trailer
• Compare that to paying a trainer to haul me, plus hotel...and still come out WAY ahead of what I did.  "But I'm building equity!"  Yeah....Had I stayed in Ohio and kept the same rig for another 5-10 years...this logic might have paid off.  Not in this case.  Live and learn!

• *Bonus:* I did use my truck and trailer to move myself to Colorado.  By the time I added up my expenses (gas, meals, storage unit--Approx. $1,500) I probably would have been farther ahead just getting rid of EVERYTHING and furnishing my next place from Ikea.  The cost to use a moving company (well above $3,000) was definitely more than my stuff is even worth.

• Saddles:
• Western: I bought an older, used saddle, thinking it wouldn't depreciate much more....it did.  :(  Worst case, I'll dye it black (if that's still "in") and keep using it post-graduation.  

• English: Brand new, mine was $1,600.  My friend just bought basically the same saddle for $700.  This I'm not mad about, since I've used mine A LOT and it still has a lot of life left in it.  Definitely keeping this for the long-haul.  But it's good info to have!

So...It's been a learning experience.  Going forward, I will buy used!  Better to let someone else eat the depreciation :)