£200 a month to keep a horse? Really?

Weekly for two, Winter: IDxTB 16.1, and DWB 16.3:
Livery £45.00
Hay £21.00
Bedding (mats and sprinkle of shavings) £5.00
Feed £10.00
Farrier (both barefoot) £5.00
Insurance £7.50
Weekly: £93.50

Weekly for two, Winter: Trad Cob 13.3, and Welsh x 13.0:
Livery £24.00
Hay (big bales, ad lib) £15.00
Feed: £5.00
Bedding (only in for a few hours during the day) £3.00
Insurance (self insure) £0.00
Farrier (both barefoot) £5.00
Weekly: £52.00

Combined: £145.50 per month (winter only, summer is less hay and bedding, but similar feed).

So, for 26 weeks £3,783, which is £630 per month. Divide it by 4, it's £157.63 per equine per month.
 
I keep my horse in full livery. Everything is included, ad lib hay, all feed, grooming, exercise if need be.

I arrive at yard and horse is all tacked up and ready to go. Facilities are a bit limited mind you but the cost per month is...

£100 !!!!!!!!!!

Ok, so I do have to live in India to get such an incredible deal.

Oh, shoeing is also included.
 
Aces_High said:
I always feel on here that my horses get minimal hay/haylege compared to a lot of people on here. I am amazed that £25-£30 a month on hay covers two horses! I feed my horses mini quads and it's very good quality and one bale lasts me a week for 2 horses. They are £70 a bale (that's what I would have to pay if I paid for my hay). I would be paying £140 a month on hay per horse.
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Yes, hay/haylage is definitely the killer! I envy you. The livery would make a very healthy profit if we made our own hay and bedding.
 
Livery - £100
Feed - £15/20
Bedding - Already have 6 months supply so £0
Hay - £40/50 for winter supply
Farrier - £45 every 6 weeks

... And the endless amount of rugs and treats he's bought... Oh and vet bills :(
 
Livery £0 keep at home but spend £800 per year on fertiliser + time doing it mending fences stables etc
Hay make 400 bales and buy £1000 worth

round bale haylege
Feed £20 p/w
Shoes free hubby farrier
Wormers teeth back man entry fees hunt subsctack repairs various must have items don't want to know I think it's alot !
 
/all I can say is that if mine were to be £200 approx per month each, then not only would I be divorced, I'd also be horseless!
I really do mine on the VERY cheap, I am lucky.
I work in lue of their livery costs on the farm. One is shod every 8-10 weeks at £65 per hit, March-Oct, and bearfoot thereafter. The other is trimmed. I don't insure them. I work in lue of their hay and straw. They are out 24/7 as much as humanly possible. I have all the rugs and tack I need, but if I did need anything, then I find equine table top sales! I have my own IW401, and manage to pay a few pennies for the diesel if and when I go to a local show. Wormers twice a year, and hope not to have the vet out other than annual jabs!
 
Faro said:
I reckon if I averaged out my yearly costs, including hay, insurance, feed, etc., I would spend about £500/month - but that's for 5 horses (the advantages of renting your own land!)- in other words approx. £100/horse/month. So it's definitely possible, but I appreciate that not everyone's that lucky.

None of mine are shod, and OH and I do routine foot trimming ourselves. Only 2 are fully insured, the other 3 are covered via BHS membership. All except the 30 year old are extremely good doers, so I have very little to buy in the way of hard feed. Haylage in the winter of course, nothing extra in the summer.

It suits me down to the ground having my gang living out all year, not only financially, but because I get to the farm each day and see a gang of happy, healthy horses, who I don't have to worry abut exercising if I've ended up working late (happens a lot) and who don't get stressed if I don't keep to a strict yard routine (which would be impossible with my work anyway). Even if I could afford it, me and my horses just wouldn't fit in at a livery yard trying to adhere to somebody else's timetable!
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Sounds very idyllic. I would keep mine out all year round if I had the type of land that didn't poach and the horses had access at all times to a barn or shelter. But I just don't do mud - at all.
 
My biggest costs are insurance (£150 per month for 4 horses), shoeing and hard feed/supplements/balancers. But I doubt I spend £200 per month per horse (not including extras like lorry, shows, memberships, new rugs, tack etc which are not necessarily essential).

My haylage I buy in big bales at £35 and feed ad lib but rarely go through more than 1 bale a week between 4 and that is with haylage out in the field in winter as well.

We also switched to wood pellets (on rubber) which is a massive saving compared to shavings, it probably costs me a maximum of £5 a week per horse whereas on shavings it was more like £14 per week per horse, I know it doesn't seem to make as nice a bed and the horses/their rugs do seem to be dirtier but the horses don't seem to mind it not being a deep fluffy bed and I just wash the rugs more often.
 
Sounds like the average is well over £200 per month then. But also, it seems that it IS quite possible to keep horses for a lot less. If more than one of the following apply:

They are barefoot
They are out all year round
They are good doers
You have your own land/rent your own land
Make your own hay
 
Livery (and then having to stable in winter to save the limited grazing so you're spending on bedding and more hay) is what sucks up finances.

If you can live out all year and/or not have to pay livery, it makes a huge difference.

Round my way, many peeps rent a field for a few hundred quid a year, then keep their uninsured (for vets fees), unclipped (so unrugged), front-shod only, hacking/RC horses, with a bit of feed and carrots, and some hay in winter.

Depends what you want. If you must have arenas and electricity and stuff, then it's going to cost you if you have to rent.
 
Livery £20
Haylage £7
bedding £7
Feed £4 (generally one sack of balancer a month at £16 per sac)
Shoeing £10 (56 split into 5-6 weeks)
Insurance £4 (£16 split over 4 weeks)

£66 per week on average (£264 per month) - but there are obviously the 'ad-hoc' costs like back/saddle/dentist people as well as vaccinations etc...
 
I currently pay:

Livery - £100 a month
Feed - £30 a month
Straw - £30 a month
Farrier - £20 every 2 months

so about £160 a month (excluding extras, such as lessons/tack/etc ) per horse. I currently only have one but thats going to change soon ;)

But I am moving and this will cost me:

Rent - £250 a year, so thats erm.... £20ish per month
Feed - Will probably be slightly less because there is more and better quality grass. so I'd say £20
Straw - Horse will be out pretty much 24/7 but will have some straw in their field shelter so I'd say £60 a year (ish) so thats £5 a month
Farrier - £40 every two months (two horses)
Hay - about £30 a month, more in winter, less in summer.

so thats, £95 a month (ish) :eek: :D

but I do have to fence off a 3 acre field, and a 1 acre paddock, and buy a mobile field shelter so there is a down side :D but still, half the cost for double the amount of horses :D :p
 
As an example, my finely built TB X hanoverian costs;
£50 per month livery.
£35 per month hay (winter only)
£20 per month farriery.
£54 per month insurance.
£5 per month feed.

Total for her is £164 in winter or £129 in summer.

The cob costs £114 in winter and £79 in summer.
 
Haylage, for five in last winter I was going through four bales a month so 120
Straw, for same five in last year I was going through two 8' bales a month so 20
Shoes - 2 shod 3 unshod so difficult to tell but if you say 100 per month that would cover it
Insurance - we self insure now
Feed, supplements etc - mainly chaff and sugarbeet with one on veteran mix and barley rings, everyone else is a good doer and on "pony nuts" with the odd supplement here and there, again my actual figures from last year are skewed due to favours being repaid in sugarbeet but what, 100 quid a month tops if I'd been paying.

Basic costs for five at 340 per month, that's one pregnant Connie mare, one elderly Welsh, one veteran 16.2 KWPN, one lightweight TB, one TBXShire.

A tad under 70 on average, but then we haven't added in the costs of buying a house with the space to keep them at home, nor the cost of building a suitable yard, nor the running costs of the vehicles required to fetch the forage and bedding and feed and maintain the arena and land, or the running costs of the house, yards, stables and field at which point it all gets rather hair raising.
 
I pay on average £245 pm for two.

£110 field rent
£37.50 shoes ( £75 every 8 weeks 1xfull set and 1 trim)
£32 haylege (ad lib)
£45 bedding
£20 Feed

Personally I think that is good for 2 ponies.
 
For 2 every month:

£260 livery
£40 haylage
£25 bedding
£20 feed - Speedibeet £9 every 3 months, Alpha A Oil £12 every 2 months and Grass nuts £8 every 2 months (mainly for the TB)
£30 farrier
£10 vaccinations
£6 teeth
£10 wormers
= £401 so £200.50 a month each!

I insure PL through my BRC membership, and have a credit card/overdraft for vets bills. I do have a pick up for towing but it is also my everyday car so I don't include that in horsey bills, I also have a very handy friend who does any trailer repairs for a meal and a pint!
 
Wagtail said:
Frightening isn't it?
Wormer £20 per month? :eek: ETA just realised it's for two.
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How are you paying £20 a month on wormer! I use the equest/pramox system so £40 spring and autumn, and then £20 summer and winter - 1 x pramox is £20 so £40 for 2, and 1 x equest is £10 so £20 for 2 = £120 a year divided by 12 months is £10 a month.
 
DIY Grass Livery - £40 per month
Hay - £24 per month October/November - March/April time (Ad lib for that price but usually use 3 x small bales grown on site @ £2 per bale / £6 per week)
Lives out so no bedding
Front set of shoes 4/6 weeks - £25 trim and refit £30 for new set (TB crap feet)
Salt lick (Simple systems tub lick) £12 ish 1 x per year (£1/£2 per month)
Insurance (No vets fees) £63 per YEAR (KBIS) / £5.25 per month.
Simple systems feeding mid winter up to £30 per month summer nothing but a handful of just grass and some garlic + joint supplement.
Feedmark ExtraFlex Joint Supplement (brought when on offer! £20/£30 per month)
Wormers brought in bulk via YO at about £50 per year works out at about £4/£5 per month. = £166 per month absolute max winter, about £112 in the summer as usually the left over feed from winter sees me though till i start feeding again, Sadly no transport although i have a tow car but we are a 1 car household. Only other cost i can think of is physio plus yearly saddle fitting, vaccinations and dentist visit and rugs etc but would not count these as part of my ongoing monthly costs i would say £200 per month would have me sorted for the whole year the months we dip under that going towards the extras as above!
 
Montly cost

Part livery £250 per month
Feed £35 a month
Supplements £20 a month
Shoes £70 a month, horse goes through shoes like crazy!
Insurance £55 a month

oh and did i mention im a student :D
 
It really does depend on where you live. I am in London and keep my horse on the outskirts (far enough out to have lots of land, near enough to go up in the evening). On part livery, it costs me triple that sum :O (my job would not allow me to do DIY). Luckily I have a lovely sharer who pays part of that!
However my retired pony, who still lives at my family home in France, costs me about 50 quid a month (that's mainly on wormers, vet stuff, foot trimming and a little hard feed and supplements- we have our own land and hay and he isn't shod.)
 
I'm surprised that other people are surprised about how cheaply you can keep a horse! Or that they automatically assume that the horse is unshod, uninsured and seemingly not that well looked after. My monthly costs in winter....

Share of field rent: £50
Haylage: £25 (1 large round bale)
Feed: £5
Insurance (inc. vets fees): £25
Shoes (4, remedial shoeing with rolled toes & wedges every 6-8 weeks): £50

£155
 
I'm currently paying:

full livery £380/month includes basic feed and haylage
farrier £65/month
feed £12/month
insurance £25/month

so £482 and that's just for one and I haven't included supplements.
I don't trust my oldie to live out 24-7 :rolleyes:
 
in real money terms i keep mine very cheaply, in terms of time and energy i certainly expend more than if they were on full livery!
I have 2 horses and 2 ponies, 3 of those are good doers, the biggest ( of course, couldn't be the smallest could it:rolleyes: ) is not such a good doer over winter.
my livery costs me £90 a month for all 4:p
farrier is £100 every 8 weeks for 4 trims so £50 a month
Hay is only needed in winter and i buy large round bales from the farmer , last winter they were £20 each but this year they'll be £25, generally get through 2 a month.
don't stable them but if i need to i can get free shavings from a local saw mill, costs me diesel and time to go get it but difficult to put a cost to it:confused:
Winter, the big'un needs food, usually just a pony nut and chaff diet is enough so roughly about £20 a month.

I don't insure them, touch wood, apart from a bout of herpes last year I've only needed vets for vaccs visits. I do have a secret vet fund though that even OH doesn't know about, if he did he'd bloody spend it:rolleyes:
The one cost i can't put a figure on is the time and effort i put into maintaining their field, some days i'm only there for an hour, other days i'm there for 5 hours:rolleyes:

So yes it can be done cheap, and the fact that they're healthy and happy convinces me that I must be doing something right even though they're not kept to the same 'standard' as other peoples
 
I dont pay much at all.

Grazing for 2 (horse and pony on 2 1/2 acres ( Have field to myself.)
£20.00 PER MONTH for both of them,all year long with use of cowshed.
Hay (For the Winter only) £220
Food 20.00
Insurance for horse 22.46 per month incl vets fees.
 
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For my stabled gelding:
£100 per month stable
£20 per month bedding
£46 per month ad-lib haylage (In winter)
£15 per month hay (Summer)
£15 per month feed (In winter)
£60 every 6 weeks for shoes

Obviously there is wormer, insurance, vets etc. on top.
 
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