[greglepore]

We have 2. We did 10 years of a small farm with them at home and will never do it again, at least in a climate with real winter.
One thing to consider is that you're in "horse jail". Wanna go away for the weekend? Good luck with that. They need to be fed, stalls mucked if they're in stalls, watered, ice broken from outdoor troughs yada.
Board here isn't cheap, we spend $500/mth per horse for field board (have stall access for emergencies and horses have sheds) but most farms lose money even at that - hay is $11 a bale for ordinary stuff, diesel for tractors to mow is outrageous, etc. The only way most boarding farms make income is through their lesson programs.
I still enjoy riding, even though I started late-in my 50's, but I could own a really nice sailboat for what I spend on horses. I don't want to discourage you, but I'd try an onfarm lease for a year. Lots of horse owners will do this-their kids go to college, or their priorities change, but they don't want to sell-they'll lease the horse (or partial usage). This is better than random horse rental, as it really takes a while to bond with the animal and figure out their idiosyncrasies. If you jump into to ownership and find its not for you, horses aren't easy to rehome in this economy.