Thursday, December 2, 2010

Boots & Hay

You are all so funny. The image of Mario clopping around in rain boots to keep his feet clean was too much! Actually, the boots in the boxes in the previous Monday Mario were both returned. With the rainy season starting the pasture at the stable is a huge muddy, boggy mess right now. I've been told that the stall Wings is going to get moved to when the rain really starts (it's going to get worse?!) gets pretty bogged down, too. I currently wear my leather riding boots to the stable. They are old (I got them when I was 15, I think!) so I don't care a lot about how clean they stay, but I'm not about to go into ankle-high muck with them on a regular basis, either. So I needed something to wear when going out into the pasture or mucking stalls.

I looked at the rubber boots on horse sites but they were all about $70! For rubber boots! I eventually found two pairs of those Western Chief boots. I couldn't quite decide which to get. I had a 15% off coupon for that day only so bought them both and figured I'd return one once I made up my mind. When I went back to return the pair I didn't want, I found these:



I fit into the kids size of the above boots! And they are better quality (waterproof guarantee, made in Canada vs. China...). The adult version of the above cost twice as much as the Western Chief ones I had bought. So I got the purple boots for $17. I feel slightly silly in the purple boots at the stable but they do the job and I am happy!

And since we're analyzing the boxes Mario was sitting on in the last post. That Oxbow Hay box... Do you know what it cost me? $29.55. For NINE pounds of hay. I usually buy a 25 pound box which runs almost $50. I was talking to someone at the stable and found out that a bale of Timothy hay costs $23. A bale is around 100 lbs of hay! Ugh.

So the most recent time my stable friend got a bale she picked up timothy hay for Mario. I took my hay container down and filled it up (I think I squeezed in 30 pounds). I paid for the whole bale since she was nice enough to pick it up (her horse and Wings will chomp on the other 70 pounds). Even after scrapping 70% of the bale, I still saved over 50%. Highway robbery of small animal owners!

11 comments:

Lisa said...

Is that true? I order my hay from "Farmer Dave" somewhere in upstate NY, and I thought I was getting a bargain paying $26. something for 10 lbs including shipping. Wow.

Chocolate & Chants said...

Oh, all those hay eating animals. Gotta love them :)

Cute boots!

The Fab Furs said...

Purple boots are a good move--Mario would look great in purple. We visited a llama ranch last fall and I envied the bales of hay they had stored there--but at 100 pounds each, I can neither move them nor store them, though the buns liked the idea of having a bale of hay to sit on (I also wondered about the freshness after awhile). Oh well, the buns are worth the expense.

d. moll, l.ac. said...

I been getting half bales from the Feed and Seed, if the right guy is working he'll do this for me. I stuff the whole bale in a giant plastic bag (a futon came in it) and it fits in the back seat of my car. You ought to be able to get a good deal on hay just wearing those boots.

dawn @ running the dawn said...

i love the boots. my rain boots are actually purple as well :) but i'm not trying to get much work done in them, so i'm ok with them drawing unnecessary attention.

RG said...

Oh heck - I go tree planting with a guy who wears pink ones! They just get muddy anyway and as long as they are sturdy and strong and fit good and don't leak, well what the heck!

We are lucky we live where some hay is grown and we can get a local bale for $10 whenever we need it. We have a place to store it. I would think where you keep the horse you can store your own bale and just bring home what you need. Furthermore you might dust the top of the refrigerator more often and a I saw some spots on the floor once and why don't you get some yogurt drops for Mario. Just sayin' ... Your Mother.

The Bunns said...

STOP EVERYTHING RIGHT THERE - NOW. Are you saying Mario is not worth a few extra bucks for the OxBow finest? Is THAT what you said?

Well - here are 9 FIERCE disapprovals to you and a pfhttt from Kitty Boy.

Now, pick yourself up off the floor and ORDER THE OXBOW NOW!

Nicole said...

I have some straw in the barn ill go steal you for fre......

Crafty Green Poet said...

Over here we now have rubber boots with high heels and in all sorts of patterns, in an attempt to make them look more glamourous or something.

That's outrageous pricing for small quantities of hay

heather said...

I was upset when I realized that I was going to have to pay up to three dollars for small hay bales (30-50 lbs). Maybe I should start a smuggling business driving Ohio hay to you.

Anonymous said...

who knew hay was so $$$$$

Love the boots! I can wear kids sizes in some shoes and it's so awesome how much cheaper they are!