I’ve mentioned before that we are a 4-H family. Each year for the past several years my 13 year old daughter has submitted an entry in the horse lovers project. She has always done pretty well. This year, however, she did great and took home the “Best in show” ribbon.
In past years the project has usually been around a horses health. This year she dug into what it costs to keep a horse. The result is a paper that looks at the startup costs of becoming a horse owner and what it takes to keep them on your own property as opposed to boarding them someplace. The girl was always aware that it took money to keep our own horses on our property but we never had reason to really get into the details of what that meant. This turned into a fine opportunity to explore this.
In researching the paper we had to figure out how many horses she was going to have (2) and what kind of barn they would live in. We also had to look up all the barn accessories (buckets, pitch-forks, feed barrels, etc) and tack (riding equipment. bridle, saddle, etc). We determined how many acres she would need to have fenced in and how the pastures would be broken up for grazing and riding. This led to a discussion around building the fence and buying the posts, gates and associated hardware, not to mention the equipment needed to electrify the fence. Lastly, we had to feed and care for the animals which led us to the majority of the recurring costs of grain, hay and vet visits.
As you might imagine this was a real eye opener for her and ended up being an eye opener for most people that read it. Horse owners and non-owners alike. Like most things that become an ingrained part of your life you kind of forget that there is a real financial obligation that exists. As people read the paper you could hear them saying, “I hope my husband doesn’t read this.” or “If this is how much it costs for two horses then how much am I spending?”.
I was impressed that the girl looked at the costs of being a horse owner and wasn’t scared off. Instead, she understood that planning for something like this is a necessity and that it’s important to look at the big picture and beyond. This could have easily spun off into a conversation about school, work ethic, priorities, and more but I decided to let this opportunity pass. Overall I think this project was a fun learning experience for her and I didn’t want to ruin that.
Oh, by the way, aside from being a good writer she’s also a good rider (clever.. I know). She managed to get first place in her fitting and showing class and took second in one of her riding classes. She also made it into the championship and medals ring twice. Yep, color me proud.
Several weeks went by and we didn’t hear much more about Mason outside of the mention of his name. No scandalous events.
But what about the kids you ask? Well, the kids are the real surprise in this story. In preparation for this trip my wife had thought of everything. She purchased seat organizers that held all new toys (nothing costing more than a few dollars; coloring books, kaleidoscopes, etc). She borrowed the neighbors dual screen DVD player. She packed food and comfort toys and books for each child. Everything was covered, except the unpredictable nature of children. No one knows who they may become, which of their personalities will be on display on a trip like this. At least that is what I thought. It turns out my wife knows the answer to this question as evidenced by two incredibly sweet and amicable little girls as we traveled west.
There was never an issue, not one. Well, maybe one. It seems that setting in a car seat for many hours does funny things to the circulation system. Every several hours we would stop and allow the girls to run and play. This always started with them looking a bit like drunken sailors, though they always found their legs soon enough. Amazingly they never complained when ushered back into the car. The girls could not have behaved better. As a matter of fact they may have even behaved a little better on this trip than they do on any normal day when they aren’t setting in a car for ten’s of hours. This is coming from a guy who thinks his kids are pretty darn well behaved.
I watched my son and his races and we cheered him on. Although his car was much faster than last year’s, he didn’t place at all, but his vehicle speeds were right in the middle of the pack. This didn’t bother him in the least. He was just happy to be with his friends, and was genuinely happy for them when their cars did well. I was enjoying his outlook.
