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In reply to the discussion: It's past time to end the "pony envy" [View all]laundry_queen
(8,646 posts)156. Exactly.
Like hockey, just to register your 6 year old in swimming/dance/whatever lessons isn't super expensive. However, once your child moves up and gets good, the elite levels for poorer people are simply out of reach - in any sport. The equipment, the travelling, the restaurant food, hotel rooms, etc. Crazy expensive. My parents spent thousands a year on my brother's hockey, back in the 90's. Easily 1/8 of their income was gone every year so my brother could play on elite teams. That means several months worth of food to someone in poverty.
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Just a tiny bit of bad luck and maybe Rafalca/Ebeling will fail spectacularly.
magical thyme
Jul 2012
#104
I enjoy the fun-poking, the "horse prom," the "horse they danced in on," etc.
magical thyme
Jul 2012
#130
Likewise, there is nothing too petty, inconsequential, idiotic, pointless or downright (edited)
A HERETIC I AM
Jul 2012
#45
They do run a legitimate business - training, boarding, breeding, sales.
riderinthestorm
Jul 2012
#10
She has to make a profit to be structured as a business or get hit by the IRS
riderinthestorm
Jul 2012
#81
I have an up and coming akc hunting dog, can i write off his food&training&expenses?
peacebird
Jul 2012
#25
+ a billion or so. Why don't the Romneys support therapeutic riding programs?
magical thyme
Jul 2012
#145
I know several people who do or did dressage, and a few who will be at this year's Olympic
Bluenorthwest
Jul 2012
#21
Yeah. I remember seeing lots of lectures about how elitist hockey was in '08
Posteritatis
Jul 2012
#109
I told my daughter that I would find the money somehow if she wanted to stick with it.
xmas74
Jul 2012
#158
you can love the animal *and* love the sport.They aren't mutually exclusive.
magical thyme
Jul 2012
#40
Every dressage movement is something a horse does in the wild, on their own
riderinthestorm
Jul 2012
#82
Bullshit. False premise. We didn't pay nearly eighty grand so Jackie/Caroline could trot around.
MADem
Jul 2012
#37
You didn't pay $77k. You paid $50. That's all that was allowed. Fifty bucks.
riderinthestorm
Jul 2012
#83
The absolute nerve of those one percenters to even try to get a dime out of the taxpayers is what
MADem
Jul 2012
#124
She has a legitimate business and if you don't like the tax code for that, take it up with the IRS
riderinthestorm
Jul 2012
#132
No--I will continue to assert that her "legitimate" business is a bullshit hobby.
MADem
Jul 2012
#137
I am not defending the Romneys, and am sorry you so misunderstand my post
magical thyme
Jul 2012
#89
I would see it as redeeming if I felt her involvement were not so selfish
magical thyme
Jul 2012
#154
Some democrats ride, some own/shoot guns, some smoke, it used to be a big tent
The Straight Story
Jul 2012
#52
It still is a big tent. It's way more tolerant of differences than it was fifty years ago.
MADem
Jul 2012
#59
Sorry. $77,000 in tax breaks for horse expense isn't a hobby, it's a scam. n/t
lumberjack_jeff
Jul 2012
#68
If Romney's horse beat the competition at the olympic qualification matches
JustABozoOnThisBus
Jul 2012
#92
" Olympic competition is a sport of the 1%. Dressage in and of itself is not."
riderinthestorm
Jul 2012
#125
Back then, the rich paid more than their fair share of taxes--really!! The tax rate on the wealthy
MADem
Jul 2012
#138
I'm not defending elitist scum like the Romney's. I'm *condemning* them.
magical thyme
Jul 2012
#108
Why would you assume any of us were envious of their lifestyle of expensive prancing
TwilightGardener
Jul 2012
#111
Every horse or pony I've ever owned I rode bareback and had a place to go in mind when I got on so
lonestarnot
Jul 2012
#126
I own and operate the exact same dressage (and CT) business as the Rmoneys and Jan Ebeling
riderinthestorm
Jul 2012
#152
b.s. I've written that in all likelihood their so-called biz will end up declared a hobby
magical thyme
Jul 2012
#153
I stagger around a lot when I'm drunk. I call it Dressage, and I want a $70K writeoff.
Fire Walk With Me
Jul 2012
#167