£200 a month to keep a horse? Really?

Wagtail

Wagtail

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I am surprised that so many people on here claim that they are able to keep their horses on less than £200 a month. Is that for real? Especially those who have to pay livery?

My WINTER monthly costs for my own horses (kept at home) are as follows:

Haylage £80
Bedding £53
Feed £25
Insurance £40
Shoeing £30

Total £228 (average per horse)

This does not include vets fees and vaccinations or buying of equipment and rugs/tack or riding gear. Or 4 x 4 and trailer.

Where am I going wrong?
 
£20 livery
£9 haylage
£7 bedding
£8 food
£8 insurance
£2.5 (trimmed every 8weeks £20)

£54.5 weekly costs BUT way more on rugs and tack etc! :-)
 
I guess they don't insure or shoe and keep at grass thus no bedding.

Mind £80/month on hayelage sounds steep I recon I use half that, but then I have to pay livery too.
 
It depends upon the horse, what work they are doing, and whether 200 per month is an average over the year. There are always going to be some months that the costs are more, and some less.
 
Consider going barefoot - you'll save your £30 in shoes!

Consider self insuring - it will still cost you so much per month - but in the end of the day it is your money and if you don't need it for vets bills...

I've just done this - our insurance costs have gone from £1680 per year down to £160. The difference is getting salted away in an account that is not touched. When we have enough in it, then that's the emergency fund and we are saving.
 
Mine being a hardy native doesn't cost anywhere near £200 a month!

Haylage (small bagged horsehage) about £60
Bedding - only put in stable occasionally as lives out - £6
Feed -about £15
Insurance - covered 3rd party on separate policy, so about £3
Shoeing - barefoot and feet rarely need trimming - £0

Total - £84

So there are some of us who can keep them much more cheaply. :) If I fed hay instead of small bale horsehage I could save another £30 too!

Get into hardy types, much better on your pocket! :D I'm currently starting to feel sorry for my neighbour with a tb that drops weight at the drop of a hat, winter is going to be expensive for them I think!
 
Wagtail said:
I am surprised that so many people on here claim that they are able to keep their horses on less than £200 a month. Is that for real? Especially those who have to pay livery?

My WINTER monthly costs for my own horses (kept at home) are as follows:

Haylage £80
Bedding £53
Feed £25
Insurance £40
Shoeing £30

Total £228 (average per horse)

This does not include vets fees and vaccinations or buying of equipment and rugs/tack or riding gear. Or 4 x 4 and trailer.

Where am I going wrong?
Click to expand...
Haylage: £45
Bedding: £40
Feed: £25
PL insurance@ £5.00
Shoes: £15 [currently barefoot]
Routine vet plus vet supplies and other horse related goods: £25
sub-total: £150
Stable and turnout: £30

He is only 15.00 and in light work, would be more if bigger and in hard work.
I can't find a place with good free draining grazing all year round, and it is the state of the fields not the hardyness of the horse that requires him to be in so much.
 
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Diy livery- £120
Shoes- £40 (although she goes 6 weeks between so some months doesn't have them done)
Hay- £56
Feed- £0
Insurance-£0 (I pay yearly)
Straw - £20 when I need it but our bales are huge, I've only just finished the one I bought in May!!

So a bad month the total cost is- £236

Good month - £176
 
Per month
Shoes: £60 (Soon to try her barefoot for the winter)
Livery: £100
Hayledge: £40
Weekend turnout: £8 (£1 per turnout)
Insurance: £64 (Yes she is insured for EVERYTHING :D)
Bedding: £50
Feed: £20 (She doesn't get much hard feed lol :D)

That adds up to: £332 or something :eek:
I don't get paid that much either :o
 
Both mine together don't cost £200 a month to keep.

1. I get mate's rates livery at only £6 a week for the two.

2. They are both natives so feed costs are minimal, add to that the fact that I feed straights, some of which I buy straight from the farm.

3. Only one is shod.

4. They live out.

5. My OH makes hay so I have that for the cost of making it only.
 
For one - £174.40 per month:

Livery - £108
Feed - £10 (he is only on calmer chaff and a supplement)
Trimmer - £30
Insurance - £30

I'm hoping my husband doesn't read this thread - as we have three...
 
I've got a 16'1 TB on DIY:

Stable £90
Hay £72
Straw £16
Insurance £25
Feed £15
Shoes are £70 but my loaner pays for shoes - she rides 1 day per week.
 
£108 livery (inc haylage and bringing in and rugs off if necc)
£20 hard feed
£7 shavings (he lives out has rubber mats, comes in for a couple of hours in the day for munch)
£25 shoes (shod every 8 weeks £50)
£5 insurance (not insured except through BHS Gold for PAI and liablity)

£165 a month. :D

(Of course we've not included the cost of running a 3.5t lorry, entry fees, hunting subs, vets (luckily not often except for vaccs), teeth, back man, lessons....etc etc etc)
 
My claim was based on a summer loan that I had for 3 months :D

Livery: £25 pw
Haylage: £15 pw
Insurance: £20 p/m so £5 pw
Bedding: £6 per bale of shavings (1 every 2 weeks at this stage cos he was mostly living out at night, in during day for haylage)

Anyway I think most people were simply trying to make the point that the OP on the thread in question was being ripped off. £200 is definitely a very, very low estimate (esp. this time of year); however, it's a bit much for a sharing arrangement.

PS: sorry if I am replicating anything anyone has said, I openly and freely admit that I haven't read the whole thread.
 
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At the moment my mare costs me roughly £201.00 a month
£120 for DIY livery that includes everything like hay/straw/grazing/school etc
£25 for shoes (she goes 8 weeks and it's normally around £50)
£56 for insurance (used to be £30 but she had loads of lameness work done so price went up, otherwise it would only have been £175 a month. :( )

She doesn't have any hard feed at the moment but if she did it would only be a few extra pounds a month.
Obviously this doesn't include optional extras but £200 is the basic cost, so it's definitely doable.
 
I think it's those with good-doer horses who live out and don't wear shoes that can get away with spending less than £200 a month.

Theres no way I could keep my horse on that, competing, lorry hire and keeping him up together with lessons ect adds a lot.

Briefly in the summer mine cost around:-

Liverty - £110
Shoes - £52
Feed - £28 (Bag of balancer and a bag of Hifi)
Insurance - £42

= £232 per month for the basics
plus costs for wormer, back man, saddler (new saddle!), dentist, lorry, lessons, shows, buying fly spray, new overreach boots ect ect and I dare not add all that up!

Winter my horses costs loads more per month:-

Livery - £110
Shoes- £52
Insurance - £42
Hay/Haylage - £80
Feed - £45 (Bag Hifi, 2 bags fibre nuts, balancer, supermarket oil)
Bedding - £32

Basic winter cost for a month is = £393

I do less shows in the winter but I have more lessons so that probably equals the same. Then he has his winter back check, dentist, saddler, wormer, plus the odd new rug and he has his Jabs in November. Plus other stuff like cream for mud fever, antiseptic spray for when he cuts himself nobbing in the field and a million and one other things I havent thought about.

On average the horse probably costs around £500 a month all year round all in (obviously some months are less, some are more! October is expensive and so is March as thats when he has his checks).

I wish my horse cost less than £200 but then I wouldn't be able to do all the things I wanted with him and he wouldnt be in as good condition/well trained to do the things I want with him :).
 
Grass livery 40 a month
Hay and barley straw 21.65 a month
Feed 16.67
Insurance 50.00 a year bhs
Trims 20.00
Vaccine a year 42.00 no call out fee
The hay and feed is a divided amount
 
Per month...
£40 field & stable rent
£10 hay (big bale at £30 lasts me 3 months)
£27 feed
£25 shoes (£50 every 8 weeks)
£14 bedding

So that's £166 per month. Add on working when that's due too.
But ontop of that is £300+ a month we spend on competitions & lessons
 
Grass livery for mine £30 pm.
Front shoes only every 8 weeks so £16 pm.
Haylage £30 pm.
Normally no hard feed, though may end up feeding this winter as doing alot more work.
Insurance £22 pm.
Total £98 per month.
 
Just done a quick total up for ours as follows@

Live out all year round, own land plus extra 6 acre field which costs £600 per year, keep 2 on it so per horse £300 per year = £25 per month.
Make our own hay, last years cost approx £1.25 per bale, only fed hay when snow on the ground, maximum used around 100 bales, so again divided by 2 over the year works out at £5 per month.
Bag of hi fi lite £11 between 2, last about a month so £5.50 per month for one.
Shoes £60 every 7 weeks, call it £30 per month
Insurance £40 per month.

So in total £ 105 not including vets fees.
 
I have two on DIY and they are out 24/7 from beginning of March to end of October. They then come in at night in the winter.
Winter - per horse
£100 -DIY
£24 haylage
£20 feed
£35 shavings
£40 insurance
£40 shoes
Total - £259 x 2

Summer - per horse
£100 -DIY
£40 - insurance
£15 feed
Total - £155

Then add on insurance for trailer -£25 per month
Vaccinations, teeth, back check, tack check, show entries, worker, worm count, diesel to yard etc

Scary when all added together! I must spend between £500 and £700 a month for both mine depending on time of year.
 
Mines a 14.2hh Welsh Cob mare. My monthly costs don't really amount to much as of yet, she's out in the summer in at night in the winter. Though won't be going through much straw as she's a clean girl and should only need hay when she's in.

DIY Livery - £80 per month for stable and turnout
Feed - £30 roughly every 2 months when in hard work for chaff and a mix
Straw - £10 a month as I'll be setting up a deep bed and only aiming to put a new bale in every 2 weeks.
Hay - £35 for a large round bale should last 2-3months
Shoes - £45 for fronts every six weeks though depending on the amount of road work might go back to all four for £70
Insurance - £40 a year for BHS Gold

Though of course that's not including vets (only for vaccs, touch wood), worming, rug repair and any bits and bobs I feel compelled to buy for her!
 
Bills last winter was:

Livery for TB
£60 PW livery
£65 shoes every 7 wks
£25 in extra bits

2 @ grass livery (had to move from own land)

£20 PW keep
£40 every 2 wks for big hay bale (TBF only used this twice end of winter as used up own hay)
£40 for 2 trims every 12 wks

THIS WINTER am hoping to have them on our field till December time then will asses the situation with them all.
They are all together now and all bare foot - initial outlay of rugs (need 2 new ones) then seeing how the field copes - if not then around £15 PW per horse for grass keep, poss need a stable for TB if needed but TBH shes looking really really well, very chunky and a far cry from how she was last year.
Hard feed too - so around £10 PW for this
Still will work out cheaper now there all out barefoot :)

Summer bill - erm zilch apart from feed for TB and wormers and trims :)
 
monthly
livery £100
farrier £20 (£40 per 8 weeks, half set)
bedding £20
feed £20 (tops, don't use much hard feed)
hay/haylage £50
Insurance £25

£235 per horse very roughly, though average over a year, where in the summer there's no bedding, feed, hay. this will be less.

of course plus vaccinations, worming, teeth, vet visits under the excess!
 
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I've been keeping a log of all horse and horse related spend for the last few months and it usually comes out at around £380 - £400 per month.
£125 of that is livery then £35 bedding, approx £15 hay, say £5 feed, £35 shoes, £50 lessons then there's all the extra little things that add up.
I haven't been to any comps in the last few months so that would add to the cost too.
 
DIY livery - £95.33 pm
haylage -£24
feed - £8.00
Insurance - £57
no longer shod but has hoof boots so with trimming and 1 pair of boots per year= £18 pm

thats over £200 already! Pony currently on box rest so add in pm £39 for straw as well.

If he was not on box rest I could knock of the straw and hayledge in summer but would need to add it back on for winter and also pay for turnout and fetch in (gets too icy to drive up in the morning and he will not stay out all day on bare winter turnout so I doubt I could trim much of the overall bill.

Fileds around here are at a premium and rare as very muddy and hilly so very few local land owners turn cows out over winter never mind horses!
 
Hi , Wish it was £200 a month!!!!

Mine on rough livery..stabled is £105.00 A WEEK!!!!!!!!!!

Shoes £63 + VAT every 6 weeks
Balancer £37
Insurance £30
Carrots apples etc say £5 a week
Extra shavings £7 per week (yard very stingy on beds)

Also worming, dentist, daughters lesson £15.50 per week, £10 rally fee if we go to Pony Club, oh yes PC subs, and Horse & Hound weekly........I better stop counting!!!!!!
 
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