Just received a notice. Rental horse will be $700 this year, for ten days.

expensive nag

and cheap at double the price if you need one.....

A real bargain when you consider the cost of hay, pasture, shoes, vet bills and all the other BS that comes with owning one. If you aren’t on one 200 plus days a year, renting them is the was to go.

I been on several myself Saddle, I cuss’em every single time. But they sure beat walking and you need to pick early as I’m sure you know.
The corral gets slap empty most years, novice beware for unexpected sudden moves to test your mobility!

I just don't know that I could ever ride/trust a rental horse.

There is a lot to be said for foaling them, imprinting them, and breaking them out just the way you want them to be. And knowing the horse well enough to put a bullet down the earhole of one that simply does not meet expectations. We used to "chickenfeed" them. That option is not as easily available today. They still make coyote bait though.

After sixty some years of keeping, breeding, raising, and breaking our own horses, it kind of breaks my heart that there is no longer a horse on the property. But I have two teen aged granddaughters clamoring they each need one. Perhaps that is about to change.

I've rented from Sombrero off and on for 10 of the past 30 years. Like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get. One year I got a 16 hand part draft horse whose back was so round an ordinary saddle tree wouldnt fit. No matter how tight you cinched it, it would roll at the first side load. Another time I got a horse that was blind in one eye, and spooked accordingly. Another year I got a horse built like Arnold Schwarzenegger who was trained to clicks. One click he would walk, two he would trot, and three gallop. I thought he was the perfect horse until I learned he had a phobia about mountain streams. He would not paw the ice to drink and wouldnt drink where other horses had. I called Sombrero and they took him back after 2 days without drinking.

On the other hand, about half the horses have been good run-of-the mill mountain ponies. I tried going up to their Sweetwater ranch one year to pick out a horse early, but the wrangler's promises were BS. They take the first horse in line when its time to load, no matter what they told you a month earlier. All in all, they have a monopoly on the rental horse market here, and if you want a ride and don't own your own, they are all you've got. They are pretty reasonable about taking back a horse that wont work, however.

A $350 backpack and two legs sound pretty cheap.

Oh, that is for sure. I tell people that every year. I just paid $1400 for most of this coming year's hay, $450 for two teeth floating, $100 for vaccinations.I figure it cost about $1800 a year for each mule I have and I have little bit of pasture. Feeding for 12 months would jack that up to $3k . Probably more with the way hay prices are soaring.

The down side is those Sombrero horses usually need a little tuning up. They are not for the meek or newby. I have used my own mule for 40 years or so, but my hunting partner usually rents one. His average of getting a decent horse is pretty good. Never had to turn one back in, but they have had their quirks I have seen some real rodeos with others and their rentals. I bet 1/2 of it is the guy not knowing anything