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I have a retired neighbor with 3 working horses, he has a couple different wagons for different uses and goes into town and back on errands everyday or just out for a ride.
He also did a month long trip with them across Ontario recently, he stayed for free with other horse people and probably got free feed at most of them too! Free gas and lodging... When does that happen on a car trip?
The economics of horse transport aren't all that bad, your feed costs are fixed for the year, about $1200/horse plus shoeing is maybe $200/horse, and maybe an average of one vet visit per year for $150. You need a shelter at about $200/year/horse and some land, so maybe $300 extra in property tax.
That totals $2050 per horse for a year. Anyone figure that car ownership is cheaper than that? Plus they can reproduce themselves.
There are also horse loggers that can stay in business, with a skidder tire costing more than a horse team, never mind fuel costs or the payments on a $100-200,000 machine, there are some situations where horses come out ahead.
I know horses seem ridiculous from an urban point of view, but to some, a modern urban city seems ridiculous...
Ian
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