Equestrian Money Diaries launches for a fourth year

For the past four years, I've run a project which speaks to the power of community-gathered data (and the power of Google Workspace).

'Equestrian Money Diaries' is an anonymous Google Form which allows anyone from around the world to share the costs of riding and own horses. It was born out of the problem I faced as a prospective horse owner: there is not enough real-time, detailed data around the costs of horse ownership to make informed, financially sound decisions for the welfare of the horse. It's also born out of a truth: equestrians are a tight-knit community of knowledge sharers, but discussing finances is taboo - hence anonymity.

In the last few years, we've had thousands of responses and in the first 7 days of 2025 alone, 275 people have submitted diaries from over 19 countries.

This year, I set up a Google Sheet, powered by formulas, which self-updates and provides realtime averages and percentages against 2024. I hope that it goes some way to democratising data for equestrians and improving the welfare of the horses we ride and own.

See the form itself here: https://lnkd.in/gwuxDHpZ

See the spreadsheet here: https://lnkd.in/gTA6ty5z