£200 a month to keep a horse? Really?

Think I may have managed to get it to average out at that when I first got mine 6 yrs ago (£40 per week full livery feed, hay and bedding inc in winter, £20 per week inc feed in summer, thus put away £50 per week and the extra was saved to pay vets fees, shoeing, worming etc), not including insurance. (dunno what that was back then) Dread to think what it's going to cost me when I take mine back off loan, I'm going to guess at double that if I want to include everything...
 
My monthly standard cost for Seren average at about £250pcm, this does not include everything, just the basics
She is a hardy native and does not require too much really, she lives out mostly but does come in occasionally.

A standard month costs;
Livery £134 pcm
Hay £20-40pcm depending on weather/time of year etc
Shoeing £45 pcm
Feed £25pcm

This does not include anything extra like shavings, vets bills, vaccinations,worming, new rugs and tack, new gear for me to ride in, wellies, yard tools etc, special horsey boots/trainers for seren!

When we kept them on our own land many years ago our costs were so much lower as you would generally hope/expect. Oh how I would love to have a house with a paddock for my pony....bliss :D and cheaper ofcourse :D
 
Grass livery 60
haylage (ad-lib) 20
insurance
(insure him for tiny amount 22
mostly for vets fees)
Feed 20
Shoes (Ave every 6 weeks) 40

Total £162 per month

Obviously this doesn't cover rugs, lessons or vets fees which may arise.
 
i think its possible. I have 2 so 1 month in winter would be;-

Rent £40 (I rent a yard)
Hay £60 (in depth of last winter I went through a £30 round bale a fortnight so this could be reduced for the not too bad months)
Feed £30 (Hi fi lite, fast fibre)
Carrots £6 (1 bag a week)
Supplements £5 (averaged out for year as have same all year round)
Bedding £5 (used 3 large bales at £10 a bale last year plus free paper)
Farrier £40 (Usually £60 then £80 every 8 weeks so did an average)
Vet Bills / teeth £20 (split annual bill vaccinations & teeth)
Worming £10
Insurance £10

About £226 for 2 so £113 for 1. in summer no carrots, much less hay, no bedding so all works out cheaper.

Lessons and competing on top but these are luxuries. Then rugs etc but these are generally mended and cleaned so prob ablout £100 per year. Then any extra vet bills which arise.
 
Grass livery £240 inc hay and feed
Trimming £10 (every 8 weeks at £20)
Supplements £5
Vet £10
Insurance £20
Wormers £5
Chiropractor £10

= roughly £300 per month
 
My Winter bill per month:

Hay - £0 - make our own would be about £24 (~2 bales/week)
Turnout - £0 - kept at home
Bedding - £0 - out 24/7
Shoeing - £35 - done ~every 2 months
Feed - £2.50 - got a 1/4 scoop of pony nuts a night (£5/bag) last year.
Insurance - £0 ...
Vet bills - £0 hopefully!! (jabs in the summer)
Wormer - £24 (ish?)
Rug re-proofing - £5 (say £20 one-off but / by 4)

So... £90.50 a month

Erm can't think of any other expenses... don't replace tack / grooming products etc very often!
 
It absolutely depends on personal circumstances I guess. My horses live on my boyfriend's farm for free, eat the hay from the farm over winter and survive on grass in summer. In fact, my only real cost is trims, shoes and wormer and a few bags of feed in winter (and occasionally backs and teeth). Insurance is 3rd party through BHS gold membership. Believe me I know how lucky I am! :o :)
 
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?
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You're paying far too much for your haylage and bedding.
Do you really give each horse £80 worth of haylage er month?
A big bale of haylage costs me £30 and lasts 3 horses at least a week.
We've gone back to straw beds for 2, a big bale costs £30, not sure how long that will last but it's bound to be cheaper than £200 per month on shavings bedding for 4.
The Westphalian has to have shavings as if she eats straw she gets colic, so unfortunately she will have to have Bedmax at about £8 a bag. I expect to use no more than 3 bags per week.
Only one of ours is shod all round at a cost of £35 per month, one has just fronts and the other has a trim as necessary (£20).
Then a bag of Graze-on (about £8) lasts just over a week, grass-nuts £7 every 2 weeks, Pink Powder £27 every 3 weeks or so, Flexijoint for oldie £18 per month (I think).
We have BHS Gold insurance, so £90ish for the lot for a family membership.
The horses are at home, if I counted the cost of the extra mortgage we pay for living here, as opposed to on say, a housing estate (shuddder!), I'm sure I'd think they were expensive to keep but as it is, I think we keep them fairly cheaply.

So, without wormers/vaccs and any other vet bills approximately £100 per horse per month. The oldie eats the lion's share of the bucket feed/supps but doesn't have shoes, so it probably balances out.
 
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Pearlsasinger said:
The horses are at home, if I counted the cost of the extra mortgage we pay for living here, as opposed to on say, a housing estate (shuddder!), I'm sure I'd think they were expensive to keep but as it is, I think we keep them fairly cheaply.
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I'm hoping that comment about the housing estate was intended to be lighthearted. It could be seen as quite offensive and incredibly snobby.
 
Yes, I reckon it's about £200 a month easy....

However, I don't buy designer shoes, handbags, clothes etc. I live in a HOUSING ESTATE!!!! But I don't have mortgage :D

I shop at oxfam or on ebay or whatever my rich sister throws out and fits...

I do however drink barrels of beer and sherry with all my lovely horsey friends and none of us spend money on rugs and stupid stuff that horses don't need. Maybe some hay so they don't "starve" in the snow but y'know.. or else the snobs would report us.

I still manage to win rosettes at shows and win at the local hunter trials - yay!

I'm happy so I couldn't really care less................. :D:D:D:D:D:D:D
 
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Total budget for my 2 fuzzies is £2k per yr for both, not each - for: keep/maintenance (not travel/jollies/vet emergencies or spur-of-the-moment-shopping on items I don't really need ;) etc)

That keeps big one in winter bedding & shoes, little one in trims, both in hay, hard feed, flu vac and wormers. Also includes the water bill for the yard.
The budget also includes some finance for rug repairs at end of winter (about £50), also some for field maintenance - like replacing fence posts etc (£100 or so)
No livery to pay (wipes forehead in relief)

I 'self' insure & have an emergency contingency fund for major vet or paddock disasters (eg:3 yrs ago a huge conker tree came down & destroyed over 100yrs of fencing & it also needed to be removed quickly).
 
I live in Jersey, Channel Islands where most things are more expensive than the mainland and this is what I pay for my TB

Livery £165 pm
Hay £110 pm - Grazing land is in short supply over here so I have to feed hay most of the year
Shoes £ 90 - every 6 weeks
Feed £35 pm
Shavings £ 40 pm
Insurance £41 pm

EEEEk £ 481 pm !

I have a sharer who pays £173 pm towards everything so I only pay £308- although that doesn't include petrol for getting to and from yard

I don't have a trailer so if I want to go to a show I hack there. I buy most things from Ebay / secondhand where possible.

My brother who also lives over here is buying some land at the back of his house so I will be moving horse there next year which although I will have to get a shetland or similar for company will probab;y still work out cheaper.

I have always loved horses and taken a break from them & tried other hobbies but never stick it out and always go back to horses so I thats how I justify spending the money on it each month.

Although OH doesn't know exactly how much I spend on my boy each month he does know that I do go with out other things so I have the money for my horse !
 
hi!

Rent - 96.00
Haylege - 35.00
Bedding - 10.00 (big bale straw)
shoes - 60.00 (barefoot on winter)
insurance - 25.00
lessons - 30.00 1 a week
feed - 15.00 ish (every 6 weeks ish)

urm thats pretty much it unless im competing. = £271 :)

x
 
Livery - £138
Shoes - £40
Feed - £100
Insurance - £50
Lessons - £70
Competition Fees - £100
Diesel - £50

Beer money - £0
Nice dinners out - £0

(Wouldn't change if for the world though - gotta luv em!)
 
My boy costs me the grand total of.....£150 a month.
£120 DIY livery that includes hay & straw
£20 a month on feed
£10 the odd tenner for things I need (if not put towards the "vet bill" savings!!)

My boy is barefoot & we trim him ourselves.
 
by heck get a doer gooder lol my lass is £180 a month (livery hay straw feed and trimming)£200 bank so i have a back up amount - lol she is my never sorry sick happy little mare and best £200 a month i could ever spend :) i dont moan about a penny :)
 
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?
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Basic costs for my lad are just over half that figure each month.That includes all the usual things,but doesn't include routine vets bills or tack/equipment.I expect though that even including everything it wouldn't work out even close to £200 per month,so yes definitely for real!!

Guess it depends on how you keep them and possibly what area??
 
Pearlsasinger said:
You're paying far too much for your haylage and bedding.
Do you really give each horse £80 worth of haylage er month?
A big bale of haylage costs me £30 and lasts 3 horses at least a week.
We've gone back to straw beds for 2, a big bale costs £30, not sure how long that will last but it's bound to be cheaper than £200 per month on shavings bedding for 4.
The Westphalian has to have shavings as if she eats straw she gets colic, so unfortunately she will have to have Bedmax at about £8 a bag. I expect to use no more than 3 bags per week.
Only one of ours is shod all round at a cost of £35 per month, one has just fronts and the other has a trim as necessary (£20).
Then a bag of Graze-on (about £8) lasts just over a week, grass-nuts £7 every 2 weeks, Pink Powder £27 every 3 weeks or so, Flexijoint for oldie £18 per month (I think).
We have BHS Gold insurance, so £90ish for the lot for a family membership.
The horses are at home, if I counted the cost of the extra mortgage we pay for living here, as opposed to on say, a housing estate (shuddder!), I'm sure I'd think they were expensive to keep but as it is, I think we keep them fairly cheaply.

So, without wormers/vaccs and any other vet bills approximately £100 per horse per month. The oldie eats the lion's share of the bucket feed/supps but doesn't have shoes, so it probably balances out.
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Thanks. You probably have better grazing than me as your haylage usage per horse is far lower.

My haylage is quite expensive at £42 a bale. I get through a bale every 2 days for 8 horses, so yes, £80 a month. I only use top name suppliers for haylage as I have had problems before shopping around for cheaper deals and finding weeds (including ragwort) in the odd bale and inconsistent quality. So went back to a supplier who supplies nationally and to top racehorse stables. So yes, I know it's expensive.

Bedding is expensive as I use megazorb and wood pellet, not straw and take all droppings and wet out daily.
 
i think it is certainly possible - I could do but don't as competing and lessons, tack and rug purchases, fly sprays and other goodies push the price up but if I could do if necessary.

I think I could get it down to £201 at current yard.

livery £135 living out and this is not the cheapest livery in the area as he does have a stable if I want to keep him in.
insurance £36
worming £5
vaccinations £5
shoeing £15 fronts only every 5 weeks and sometimes backs do not need trimming for ages. he could probably go barefoot
feed, hay £5 - he is a very good doer pony (though there are quite a few people on my yard that do not feed any hard feed at all)

£201 there is a cheaper grass livery that is £100 a month so I could actually reduce my costs to £170 if need be.

I think living in puts the costs up plus if you compete and have lots of lessons or if you do not have all the tack rugs etc that you need.
 
Livery 105 per month including a stunning large stable.
Trim every two months so 12.50 per month.
Hay evened out over the year 20 per month.
Insurance 16 per month
No feed or rugs as is a native.
Vaccination over 12 months is 5 per month.
I allow 30 for odds and ends
So total is less than 200
 
Livery (inc stable, bedding and haylage) £186 a month (£6 a day)
Shoes (Every 6 weeks) £40
Feed £15ish
Insurance £35 (3rd party and vets bills)

thats for my pony :D Don't know prices for my horse
 
Monthly winter Costs for an extremely good doer out during day in at night...

DIY Livery: £108
Hay:£10
Bedding £15
Hard Feed £3 v conservative figure Im still on at 11.95 bag of feed i bought 4 monthes ago!!! :eek:
Shoes £50
Insurance £36

Total £222
 
per pony:

£96 p/m livery
£100 farrier
£235 per winter = £19 per month
£50 insurance
£16 p/m Vaccinations
£8 p/m dental


£289 per month for two natives so £145 per pony for yearly essentials :)

neither needs hard feed.
 
sheep said:
I'm hoping that comment about the housing estate was intended to be lighthearted. It could be seen as quite offensive and incredibly snobby.
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Well, yes it was, to a degree:D

But the point I was trying to make was that we pay a huge amount each month to live here, so that we can have the horses at home but I haven't counted that in the costs per month per horse.
We moved from a far more populated area to a hamlet on the top of a hill and I really do shudder at the thought of ever having to move back down to a more populated area again - not particularly snobby, more misogynist, really.
 
Well I think you are all doing well. I own my own stables and land (8 acres) rent 9acres, well my soil is pure sand, so if it comes dry no grass, the 9 acres I rent I put my 2 mares on, but have had to bring them in as no grass(and I mean no grass). My hayfield has been a no go this year, as had to reseed twice, so no hay. Up to this week I had only 4 horses and now I have a foal (bought) and I'm buying in Horsehage at 8 bales a week, it's expensive, but the horses love it and no waste. So with their straw 22bales roughly a week that I buy in, plus £57 short feed + Horsehage per week £140 3 trims and 1 shod every 6 weeks and dont forget the carrots, I think I'm doing pretty well.:eek::eek:
 
Um, three horses, all live out, on our own land, can't remember how much the insurance is for the field and barns etc, but say £50 per month.

Land ins £50
BHS Gold £5
Wormers £20
Trims (all barefoot) £30
Feed - they are all good doers, so only get fed rarely, and then it's what's out of date!
Haylage - just bought 6 x £30 large bales of haylage, say another 30 x £3 for hay, that's £23 per month over the year.
Tack, rugs, odds and sods, but I do have everything they need now, and only one is rugged anyway.
So, £128 per month for three. I could add on my cob's hoof boots, but one pair have done him for two years now and are still going strong!
 
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