Horses

Another conversation thread on DuneMUD:

[20:12] Jor: How are you guys doing tonight?
[20:14] Marlboro: Just login like you did, Jor.
[20:15] Jor: I just got done crackin all the ice outta the water troughs and feedin the horses... glad to be inside right now, time to relax and warm up... :)
[20:17] Marlboro: Horses?!? Really?
[20:17] Marlboro peers at Jor.
[20:17] Jor: Yeah... Most people would probably never guess by looking at me, but I'm a horse freak... ;)
[20:22] Marlboro: Does a horse not cost quite a bit to maintain?
[20:23] Jor: Kinda depends on if you are caring for it yourself, or boarding it... Where I live boarding is hellacious. It will cost you about $300.00 a month per horse to board.
[20:23] Mreh: $300/mo isn't all that bad at all, Jor.
[20:23] Jor: We care for our own, so it really just boils down to the cost of hay for us. That's about $160.00 a month for 3 horses right now
[20:24] Jor: No, your right, but it kinda depends on what they do for you too. If they give you a space in a barn, feed three times a day, clean for you and what-not it would be great, but they normally don't do that around here.
[20:25] Jor: The cost is really for two feedings a day and a space in a pasture...
[20:25] Mreh nods at Jor.
[20:25] Mreh: My mother's worked as a stall mucker for a lot of my life, so I know far more than I wish I did about how horses get cared for.
[20:26] Mreh grumbles.
[20:26] Mreh was routinely punished by having to push wheelbarrows for a week or two.
[20:26] Jor: But either way, it would be worth it for me. I love my horses...
[20:26] Jor: lol!! Yeah, I got punished a couple times that way myself... sucks!! :)
[20:27] Jor: Did she work on a ranch, or care for her own horses?
[20:27] Mreh: She worked on a farm.
[20:28] Mreh: And, she was really susceptible to heat one summer, so I ended up being woken at the crack of midnight for "work".
[20:28] Jor: That is very hard work to do... My hat's off to her for being able to keep that up for very long...
[20:29] Mreh nogs.
[20:29] Mreh: She's a tough woman.
[20:29] Mreh: All she was in charge of on the farm was the horses, but that's still tough work.
[20:29] Mreh: But she's also the type to give proper care; two feedings, turnout, and properly cleaned stalls.
[20:30] Jor: People joke and say "Early to rise and early to bed" on a ranch, but it normally isn't that way... It's usually "Early to rise and late to bed"... Very long hours of backbreaking work...
[20:31] Mreh nods.
[20:31] Mreh: Early to rise, early to grave.
[20:31] Jor: Oh yeah....