Starlight

Star Light Star bright,

The first star I see tonight,

I wish I may, I wish I might,

Have the wish I wish tonight.

Those that have followed this blog for a while, know that I have a horse, Starlight.  I've had her since I was 12 and she was 2 - I'm now 26.  I've known for the last few years that I needed to either get my but in gear and start riding more often to keep her in good health or find her a home where she would be ridden.  With getting married, buying a house and children on the 2-3 year horizon - I knew that it was fair to keep her.

Friday, June 17, 2011 marked the day that I found her a new home.

Photos: Happy Weekend

Starlight - Month One

Well, it's actually been two weeks since Starlight (my horse) has moved to Calgary. I thought I would do a summary post in terms of where I stand when it comes to what I thought I would spend on her in the first month.

Vaccinations were just about spot on. I still have one to give her (it's basically a nasal spray which will be awkward and she'll hate me for) and the other is a booster shot to one of the injections I already gave her. The pregancy test is probably a nix b/c a recently gelded gelding (boy horse who has been 'cut') mounted her and he probably wouldn't have done that unless she was in heat (smelled good and was ripe for the picking). I will probably still get her tested in a month if she starts to show.

My cousin did take the $50 I offered to help with the gas in moving her to Alberta which I was expecting but hoping he wouldn't.

The place where I am boarding her actually gave me a discount for the month of August because she wasn't there for the first three days of it. That was pretty awesome!

The few items i NEEDED tack wise, didn't cost as much as I thought they would and I can still wear my old riding boots althought I would really really like a new pair of ropers (riding boots that lace up, not traditional cowboy boots).

I've only had to bump my gas budget up by about $15 ( I think ) to compensate for the extra driving around. So this is also good news.

Unfortunatly, my cinch is an inch or two too large so I thought I would have to buy a new one ($75 ish)...however; as it turns out someone i know as a leather hole puncher (that he leant me)! Heeyah! That means, I can just fix the piece of leather that the cinch (think of it as a belt for a horse) connects to the body of the saddle with. This is excellent because it means I won't have to buy a cinch or a leather hole puncher!

There is a rivet missing from my saddle which means I can't use the breast plate until that is fixed. It's something that my dad figures is really important, but starlight has never been a bucker so I'm not too worried about it.

So there you have it - my first month with Star.

Going forward, the only ongoing fixed cost will be her month board/feed which will range between $90-$165 month depending on how much hay is required for feed.

*Much appologies if there was too much horse-related language in there... feel free to ask questions if your interested.

17 days until I am credit card debt free!

Starlight

A few weeks (?) ago, I mentioned that I would be moving my horse, Starlight, back to within driving distance. In my post Weekend Spending Forcast, Manshu, from OneMint mentioned that he (I'm assuming, Manshu might be a she) would like to read a post about Starlight. So here it is.

When I was 11, I started asking my dad for a horse. He told me no for a full year. "Jessie" he said, "We are just not horse people".

The following summer, after my 12th birthday, I asked my dad again if I could have a horse. This time, he said yes! I was so surprised! I started scouring newspapers and asking around town about who might have a horse for me. I thought a horse might cost me a few thousand dollars, and had as much saved up for her.

As it turned out, a friend of the family (my grandmother's, brothers friend) had a young quarter horse with no home. The horse was originally intended as a gift for his neice (?); however the family did not want her. When my grandmother mentioned to him that her grandaughter (me) was looking for my first horse - he gave her to me.

I could not ride her for the first year (no one should rise a horse before the age of three due to the development of their bodies/bones), but I brushed her and saw her nearly every weekend.

The following summer, I finally got to ride her!

By the time I was finished highschool my family had as many as four horses! Right under my dad's nose, we had all become, horse people.

I went off to college, and Starlight had to stay behind. There was no room, and no money to bring her to the big city. For the past six years, we have tried to find ways to bring her to me or me to her - but it just hasn't worked out, until now. My parents slowly got rid of their horses as their interests and lifestyles changed. For the last year, Starlight has lived with my aunt/uncle in Southern BC. They have also made some changes, and no longer had room for her.

It is wound up being, perfect timing. I am in a place in my life where I can afford the time, and the money to have her with me again. I want to be able to ride again and am so excited for that.

So now, at 25 (me) and 15 (starlight) we are back together again!

My Horse!

No, this is not my horse; however, she might have one that looks just like this little guy!

Thats right, she might be pregnant.

As it turns out where she was located in April, a Stud broke through two fences to get to her. This stud (some say stallion) spent 6 days with Star and another mare.....

The gestation period for a horse is 10-12 months... So come next Spring I might have a foal to contend with.

But for now, we shall explore the costs of just bringing Starlight home. I have estimated high for some of these items, but I think It will be pretty accurate. I have already paid the deposit for key (for access to the pasture), and I do not NEED to do a pregnancy test - so that can wait a few months or longer. I will have to do vaccinations and pay for her first months board. I would like to offer my cousin, who is driving her to calgary, $50 for his trouble.

He is coming to Calgary anways - but in hauling a trailor with a 1500lbs animal, he decreases his fuel economy some. Im also assuming that I will start spending at least $30 more a month to visit Star. She is only about a 20 minute drive from the house, but if I go out often, which I intend to do, Ill have to pay for it in gas.

I do need to buy some new tack, but It may cost as little as $75 - I will need some brushes, bug spray, wd40, vaseline, gloves, new boots - oh wait, new boots. I will need about $200 for new tack.

Okay - so, now I have to come up with about $700. Great.


That was a little pessimistic... Realistically, I have to come up with about $500.


Hmmm.... How do I find $500 extra in my already very tight, tight budget....

New Roommate!

Great News!

We have a new roomate. Her name is Samanatha! She is a 25 year old art/design student at the same school that Lindsay goes to.

This means that the four of us will now be paying $250/month each instead of $375/month each. That's a serious savings of $125/month each!! It will also save us about $20 - $25 a month each in utilities. So yea!

This is perfect, perfect timing - with moving my horse to Calgary, this will just about pay for it. So yay!

I really didn't want another roomate - I was really enjoying living with just the three other. I figured the extra $$ would be nice, but it's not the end of the world. Since I learned that I would have to move my horse to Calgary, I realized that I really am going to need the extra funds - so no matter how much i like my space (and everyone here is sacrificing, we all lke our space), it's going to be worth it.

The girl seems pretty nice too - chatty, friendly. She's a student so come september, she'll pretty much be a hermit (her words) -because of the type of education she's getting and how much time she'll have to spend on the computer.

So yea! Everyone else (Nelson, Jordan & Lindsay) will have some extra cash in their pockets, and i'll pretty much break even. I think that'll be pretty nice all around.

My horse... My Money

I have far too much stuff going on in my head.

I’m trying to be very calm, and just figure things out (to do with my horse) at a reasonable pace; however now that I’ve made the decision to bring her home – I want to do it straight away.

I know that I don’t need to worry about saddles and other gear b/c my parents didn’t sell my gear (just theirs), so I should be able to pick that up from them within the next couple of weeks.

I’ve arranged to look at two different places. One has pasture ($90/month in the summer and $150/winter), the other is paddock – which is just smaller parcels of field, I think – ($150/month).

Both places seem to have options in terms of keep tack (saddles, bridles etct) in locked barns, but it will be interesting to see the difference. I think they are both pretty similar in distance too, but on opposite sides of the city.

I’m also thinking that I might need to buy my own horse trailer (I’m thinking anywhere from $1000-$3000), but I’ll need to talk to my parents about that, in case I’m getting ahead of myself.

But realistically – if she’s in Calgary, I’m going to need to be able to move her around, take her to different farms if necessary… bring her to different places to ride….what if there was an emergency and I had to get her to a vet….

*sigh

I’m not going to sell her, I’m just going to figure this out.

I think I will start with looking at my budget to see what I have to work with....

Weekend Update

Well I have found a few options for my horse that are less expensive then I originally anticipated. I THOUGHT that I would find something for around $500/month. I beleive I may be able to find somwhere to board her (with feed included) for about $150/month. I still need to go check out a couple of the farms I called - but we shall see.

Someone came to check out our room for rent on Saturday, he said he would get back to us by Sunday evening and unforutnatly we didn't hear from him. I'm going to call him this afternoon to see if he decided or not.

Jordan had a great birthday yesterday, we were pretty low key - I cooked a lot (including two birthday pies). He wanted ribs and baked potatoe for his bday supper. He loved his presents too!

$$ wise things are going okay - I still owe myself a few hundred bucks on my credit card, and I'm hoping i can put it away soon. I put a few extra $$ on it already because of the GST rebate and other such things.

I just realized it's the 6th of the month - which means I can check online and get all of the utility bills. which means I'll get $$ from my roomates for those within the next couple of days.

hmm... what else

we went to the calgary stampede on saturday. saw a girlfriend of mine and a few of her friends - did some wondering, bought some things, just hung out mostly. it was fine - but it was really the same 'ol, same 'ol. Nothing all to spectactular. Jordan paid for everything and my aunt gave us the tickets so that was pretty excellent (I bought beer for drinking on J's birthday yesterday).

I think that's just about everything for my weekend update.

I'm going to try to bank another 10 hours this week. I think that very soon I'm going to run out of OT tasks I can complete at work. So I may not reach my 75 hours. I will still be happy with myself if I do every thing that is offered/I can come up with, for OT.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

July Goals & My horse

It feels so nice to be back home, sleeping in my own bed! If only I could have taken a vacation day from my vacation - ah well.

I few other PF bloggers that I read have posted June goal re-caps and July goals. I thought perhaps I might do this, but realistically I have so much going on in July it won't happen. So instead of setting myself up for failure, my only July goals will be to continue to use my credit card less and less, and try to be calm and relaxed about my budget/plans.

You see, it was just J's mom's birthday, this weekend is his birthday, the next is his brother's, the next is mine, and the next is my mothers - phew! 5 Birthdays, one after the other! I'm going to try to be reasonable in my spending however; one of my greatest challenges is NOT spending money on other people. I find a lot of joy in making other people smile.

I'm already looking forward to our next camping trip which will be closer to home and with my parents. I get home sick pretty regular, though I'm generally pretty good (at least I think I am) at hiding it. So I'll get to hang out with them and a few other family friends from the 15th to the 19th! It'll be really nice.

hmm.. what else is going on in terms of an update.

I'm starting to look even harder for a roomate, there are some life circumstances coming up that would make having an extra $125/month very handy.

Once of these is that I may have to sell/move/give away my horse. I've had her since I was 12 years old. 13 years is a long time to be faced with losing a friend. You see, my parents no longer have horses and she was staying with relatives - but it seems they are no longer able to use her.

I'm going to do some research in Calgary about costs associated with boarding horses, but last time I did that it was about $500/month. I can't afford that right now. My only hope of keeping her will be to find someone who already has horses and a large field with a stream running through it where she can stay. If all I have to pay for is feed in the winter, it should be fair to pay $150-175/month (hense a roomate is now more important for me then it was).

So I guess I have some serious financial/committment things coming up.

I feel kind of sad, like I'm mourning her already. Here is a picture of her, not the best quality - but it'll do for now. She was trying to make friends with the shetland pony next door.