“Inflation is as violent as a mugger, as frightening as an armed robber, and as deadly as a hitman.” Ronald Reagan

Don’t skip to the next page just yet, this actually is the grassroots gazette even though you could be forgiven for thinking you have been redirected to the financial pages of another site with a title and opening quote like above, but this article highlights ways inflation effects us all in the equestrian world. In edition 7 we had an article from Amy Fleming, or was it Tom Booker? under the persona of “The Horse Whisperer” predicting a crash within the equine industries, particularly racing. While it was an interesting take on the situation, I think ole Putin going bath poo crazy is going to result in a fast track downturn for us all.

So here we are, it is March 2022, and after spending 2 years struggling with the effects of covid on our industries and on ourselves, we find ourselves facing a new challenge, “Inflation”.

In recent days there has been a lot of talk in the media, be it printed, television or radio, surrounding that foreign word that the majority of us don’t understand. Normally, up until recent days, I would usually change the channel, the station or turn to the next page when I would see or hear anything related to inflation, but the reality of what it actually means Is hitting us in our pockets very hard now, more than ever with prices of everything soaring through the roof.  

Let me simplify and break it down by giving you all an insight into the first hour of my daily routine. First thing every morning  I come downstairs to be greeted by our Wonderful dogs and I proceed to boil the kettle. The next thing I do is go out the door to check the horses and give each of them a scoop of nuts,  followed by switching on the walker to let it warm up, as on cold mornings the oil in the reservoir tends to be thicker so it needs a bit of time to warm up in order to get up to speed. Then I return to the house, boil the kettle again and have a cup of tea.

Before you get bored and start thinking “this fella is rambling”, I need you to stay with me as I ease you into the real crisis we face …..   In 2020 the average cost of boiling a kettle was 2.5 cent. Today that will cost you almost 7 cent! Next, I proceeded to give 20 horses their breakfast at an increase of 15 cent per horse, which for me, equates to 3 euro per feed. Then off I go back in to boil the kettle again (lets say half the energy so 3.5 cent) and have my cuppa.

Now that’s almost  €3.07 inflation in the first hour of my day without ever adding the extra price of the tea bag or the milk, never mind the Walker that has been running for 40 minutes now at a 260% cost increase, as was the figure reported in the Irish Times back in January this year. This will result in over 1100 euro of an increase in costs over the next 12 months minimum as prices are set to keep rising for the foreseeable future.

That’s the Christmas present budget gone, without even realising it because of how inflation is effecting me in the first hour of every day.

This is the point where I urge you to take a minute to gather yourself as this ride is about to get very bumpy from here on out.

Taking a look at things on a larger scale we need to think about the price of fuel. I was able to go to the Curragh to gallop horses on €100 of diesel, now that is looking like it will be €200 very shortly. In 2019 I attended 30 race meetings, let’s average my diesel expenses at €110, that was €3300, and this year you can almost double that figure.  Straw for bedding was costing me €20 per bale and I am hearing predictions of 40 to 50 euro per bale for this year and the same can be said for hay or haylage.  Fertiliser prices have jumped over 200%, add that to fuel prices and the people who produce the feed and bedding we need can’t possibly supply them for any less. Then we look at shavings, which comes from the forestry industry. They are in turmoil due to the lack of permission getting granted to cut down forests, which has forced us as a nation to import our timber driving costs up again. 

All in all our racing /breeding operation is facing a 30 grand increase in costs this year and that’s before the extra tea bags, milk, and anti-anxiety medication we will all probably need by the time this year is done ….