The higher costs of Horse care.

I'm sure everyone knows that the price of keeping a horse has gone up substantially over the last year. If you look at rising fuel costs, increased feed costs and a poor hay harvest this year you can see the problem. Now you must add the increased cost of shavings. According to a report from " The Horse .com" the downturn in the housing market has caused a subsequent shortage in shavings and increased the cost. "The cost of shavings has increased by 70% in the past two years," noted halter horse trainer Ted Turner of Turner Ranch in Aubrey, Texas. He said he has been forced to pass the increased cost on to his clients. Since shavings are bulky they are expensive to ship so you need to live close to where the lumber industry is. Other things impacting the cost of keeping a horse are also going up. With the increased interest in ethanol fuel a lot of the corn production has been shifted to that use causing a large increase in feed costs. The rise in gas prices has also increased shipping costs. The rise in property values has increased the property taxes. From the Veterinary end ,fuel costs have impacted us hard. With the three of us driving over 5 counties the fuel bill each month is staggering. All of these factors must to be having an impact but I must say that as of now we have not seen a reduction in the number of horses or cases we are seeing. Perhaps (and I think this is the case) the economy as a whole is much stronger than the press is saying, allowing us to absorb higher costs than you think. We will have to watch these aspects of the economy and the horse industry for any trends that develop.