That pic of bridge I posted a few posts back… here is the bridge making the news today.
Wow, @creekland. Had no idea that buying a pony was so affordable—I guess the expenses pile up in the care, feeding, stabling, etc.
Those definitely are major expenses for those who keep theirs in stables. Ours live in pastures and I do shots, etc. H sometimes does their feet. It depends upon his availability. Even so, it’s mainly because we’re not in the show market ourselves that we can price them the way we do. Many times ours sell to dealers (including this buyer) who only keep them a month or so and sell them to others making a tidy profit themselves. Being in the “show” market comes with perks.
We’re the wholesaler so to speak, but have cut back a bit in our production as we wind down. Caring for more steeds was easier before my stable hands went off to college. 
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Many times the cost of a horse or pony is the cheapest part of owning one! I speak from many years of experience with two girls that had show ponies and horses that we had to board at show barns. It was a sad day when we sold D2’s junior hunter since she was off to college, but we also got a huge pay raise ourselves by not having to board a horse any longer.
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My daughter has had the opportunity to have several horses for “free.” Including a few thoroughbreds from large farms in Kentucky (horses didn’t pan out in terms of racing potential/ability so the farms were looking to reduce upkeep costs). But as noted, there is nothing “free” about those horses.
Several of the school horses at the barn when she rode in high school were owned by college students. They were in the school horse group to get exercise.
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I fondly remember my teen years working with quite a few off the track thoroughbreds to see if we could make hunters or school horses out of them. They had been donated to the university that ran the riding school. I was a regular student rider and boarded one of my own horses there.
I also recall one of my teen years when I lived in southern FL and worked at a barn so I could board my horse there for free. There were $30,000 ponies I schooled when they’d get naughty. This was back in the early '80s.
Show horse/pony prices vary considerably pending what level they are at and what market they are in.
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D2’s little hunter pony could be terrible and always needed a good school by one of the older riders before a show. We paid nowhere near what others paid for their ponies who were showing them on the “A” circuit. When the pony was good D2 was almost always in the ribbons and the pony was qualified for Pony Finals although we never made the trip east. There were several times when our little pony beat the $250K pony that came from a big show barn in Wellington to San Diego.
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D2’s junior hunter was a thoroughbred that was never raced. His big brother was also a hunter and sold several years earlier for $1 million. D2 was the only one showing a thoroughbred in the junior hunters on the “A” circuit here when she was riding as a junior. Everyone else had warmbloods.
Here is her thoroughbred junior hunter:
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My first time in a mall since Covid started, and it’s the mall of America. Here to watch my daughter perform an excerpt from her ballet company’s nutcracker.
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I took this picture 9 years ago, and it still makes me laugh…weirder still, I know exactly where I was, what I was doing, and who I was with…and yet I still find myself saying stuff like, “did we already talk about…” or “did I already ask you about…” (and no, he hadn’t fallen down the escalator, he was repairing it)
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Ahhh, the bodega kitty!
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That’s scary!!! 
Was this from a few springs ago during the super bloom?
Has anyone tried a Smart Phone Telescoping Lens ?
Yes, March 2020 at the CA Poppy Reserve
That’s one of my favorite places. I go there every time we are in San Francisco.
This is the one in San Diego. My favorite Japanese garden that I’ve been to is the one in Portland OR.
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