I used to have a horse-owning wife so I got a thorough exposure to both sides of this 
)Anything I left out?
@Peter and I thought you were making a reference to Langewiesche’s favourite metaphor in Stick and Rudder
Anything I left out?
A horse would be great if you could switch it off and take the key out, that’s the big difference
Peter wrote:
Anything I left out?
Depending on how you look at it…. I am glad I don’t have to pick up behind my airplane… yet others would lament that what my airplane might drop occasionally in little droplets is not quite suitable for fertilizing strawberry fields….. this is where horses may come in handy.
I prefer whipped cream anyway.
But maybe the one similarity those of us who have known a partner with a passion for horses can fathom what our spouses go through with ours for aviation.
Peter wrote:
Anything I left out?
For both first time owners think that purchase is expensive until they figure out that it is only a tiny down payment on total cost of ownership.
Horses are more like motorcycles.
Except a motorcycle where the brakes occasionally seize and it will not move forward under any circumstances.
And other times where the brakes fail and the throttle gets stuck wide open.
Peter wrote:
both should ideally be hangared
Although we frequently bemoan the cost of flying, at least whilst our plane is hangered and underused – sometimes for long periods of time due to Covid, weather etc. – it doesn’t require feeding/fueling then: The daily commitment & feeding cost for maintaining a horse can be astronomical.
Peter_G wrote:
Although we frequently bemoan the cost of flying, at least whilst our plane is hangered and underused – sometimes for long periods of time due to Covid, weather etc. – it doesn’t require feeding/fueling then: The daily commitment & feeding cost for maintaining a horse can be astronomical.
It does need to be serviced and ran regularly or otherwise put into storage properly. Both is also not inexpensive. Airplanes left to sit in a hangar or worse outside due to longer times of not flying, may also develop very expensive issues.
Mooney_Driver wrote:
due to longer times of not flying, may also develop very expensive issues.
Agreed. But a plane does not require a daily visit or feed.
With a horse, you can choose: you either go there once (or twice) a day, or you pay someone (known as a “stable girl”) to look after it (“full livery”) which then costs quite a bit and easily more than hangaring a plane.
The facilities for this are a most powerful driver behind choosing a house, because obviously you can’t just get it “around the corner” in most places. But before that you need to have a stable source of funds
