Am I being realistic?

[Willow123!]

Hi all,

New here, so apologies if I mess this up in anyway! Long and relatively boring post from an incredibly indecisive person...

I am a 26 year old that has ridden since I was around 8. I rode in a riding school until I was 14 when my mum and her friend bought a horse for me and her daughter to share. After a year or so things went downhill (I know, don’t go into business with friends!) and they bought our half of the horse. We went on to buy a 15hh Appaloosa who I had a lot of fun with. Unfortunately when I went off to university we sold her.

Fast forward six years and I’ve started to have some lessons at a riding school again but I’m bored out of my mind riding around behind someone else in a circle for 30 minutes and then watching everyone canter one by one. Despite my fitness which clearly isn’t where it was, I’ve found I’ve picked it up quickly and am quite confident.

I have been looking at part loaning but absolutely nothing suitable has come up in my area in the last six months.

A horsey friend of mine mentioned that once things have calmed down with coronavirus, it would be a great time to look at buying as people won’t have been able to sell for however long, and others may have suffered financially in the meantime.

I’ve been trying to cost up owning a horse as historically, bank of mum and dad always paid full cost. I don’t earn a fortune and at the moment I put away £400 a month into savings. So realistically that would be my monthly budget (allowing some flex). I’d need to take out a bank loan to buy the horse (looking online, a nice safe all rounder Connie type would cost me between £3k-£5k as I am not into competing, just hacking schooling and fun rides).

In an ideal world, I’d need assisted DIY as I couldn’t commit to rigid turn out and bring in times, but would want to do everything else.

I know this is a little bit of a ‘how long is a piece of string’ question but is my budget aligned with what I’d need? Is it realistic? I’m also slightly worried having been out of horse care for so long, I know you pick a lot up as you go and I can’t have forgotten everything but I’m not sure if I have enough knowledge anymore - wouldn’t remember how to put a poultice on without a YouTube vid that’s for sure! When we owned previously I was at college and working in a bar so a lot more flexible with zero financial worries.

It’s a massive commitment, so I’m wondering whether to hold out for a loan coming up closer to home or bite the bullet.

Any thoughts, comments or experiences of others greatly received! My mum is totally against this and thinks it’s a terrible idea and I’ll over commit myself hence why I’m asking for other’s opinions.

Forgot to add that I currently work part time as an assistant accountant but will be going into teacher training in September which is obviously a concern time wise (and being a change).

Thanks in advance!

 

[FestiveFuzz]

I don’t want to be the voice of doom but whatever you do don’t take out a loan to purchase a horse. Horses are costly beasts and you could quickly find yourself in financial trouble if god forbid they run up a huge vet bill before you’ve paid off the loan, with the added stress of still having to pay off the loan even if you lost the horse.

Sadly I speak from experience having had the most expensive horse I’ve ever purchased suffer a career ending injury in the field in the first month of owning her, so whilst rare, these things can and do happen.

 

[Willow123!]

I don’t want to be the voice of doom but whatever you do don’t take out a loan to purchase a horse. Horses are costly beasts and you could quickly find yourself in financial trouble if god forbid they run up a huge vet bill before you’ve paid off the loan, with the added challenge of still having to pay off the loan even if you lost the horse.

Sadly I speak from experience having had the most expensive horse I’ve ever purchased suffer a career ending injury in the field in the first month of owning her, so whilst rare, these things can and do happen.

Thank you very much for that, I didn’t even think of something like that happening. I have a couple of grand in savings which I was going to keep as a ‘just in case’ pot but perhaps I’ll need to re-think timelines and wait until I could afford to buy outright.

Thanks!

 

[ownedbyaconnie]

I would def still look for a part loan just so you can get comfortable with the care side with a bit of a safety blanket. My connemara is on diy and I put aside £350 a month for her which covers everything (farrier, dentist, insurance, physio etc). I don’t know where you are in the UK so your livery might be a lot cheaper but I pay £150 a month and have no assistance and am not sure how I could cut costs more if I needed to.

I personally don’t think £400 is enough as you will be repaying the loan out of that too I imagine? Also think of hidden costs like how much petrol will you use driving to and from twice a day.

I also personally wouldn’t use a loan to buy as I like to keep my credit options open for emergencies like huge vet bills. Speaking of which, I recently paid a £500 excess for a vet bill, so you’d need back up funds.

My point is (sorry rambling on) that I wouldn’t want to only just afford it (I’m basing my assumption on you saying you save £400 a month at the moment so apologies if I am barking up the wrong tree!).

If I was you I would keep looking for a part loan. Maybe pop an advert on a tack shop notice board, check preloved and all the local Facebook horsey groups.

Good luck ?

 

[Willow123!]

I would def still look for a part loan just so you can get comfortable with the care side with a bit of a safety blanket. My connemara is on diy and I put aside £350 a month for her which covers everything (farrier, dentist, insurance, physio etc). I don’t know where you are in the UK so your livery might be a lot cheaper but I pay £150 a month and have no assistance and am not sure how I could cut costs more if I needed to.

I personally don’t think £400 is enough as you will be repaying the loan out of that too I imagine? Also think of hidden costs like how much petrol will you use driving to and from twice a day.

I also personally wouldn’t use a loan to buy as I like to keep my credit options open for emergencies like huge vet bills. Speaking of which, I recently paid a £500 excess for a vet bill, so you’d need back up funds.

My point is (sorry rambling on) that I wouldn’t want to only just afford it (I’m basing my assumption on you saying you save £400 a month at the moment so apologies if I am barking up the wrong tree!).

If I was you I would keep looking for a part loan. Maybe pop an advert on a tack shop notice board, check preloved and all the local Facebook horsey groups.

Good luck ?

No no you’re not rambling that’s great advice! You’re right, the £400 is essentially all of my spare money each month, so the loan would at least have to partially come out of this.

I didn’t realise the excess on vets bills could be that high, is that the norm?

I’m up north and I’ve spoken to a couple of local yards and DIY seems to be coming in at around £35 per week. Not sure if that includes hay, but I’m presuming not!

Yes I think you could be right, I’ll keep my eye out on the part loans. Nothing will be happening until we are out of the sticky coronavirus situation we’re in regardless I imagine!

thanks again!

 

[ownedbyaconnie]

There were two options when I got mine through petplan. £500 and I think £350 or something like that. The £500 had lower monthly payments and I gambled on having more money each month to put away before I ever needed to claim! Unfortunately I lost that gamble!

 

[FestiveFuzz]

Thank you very much for that, I didn’t even think of something like that happening. I have a couple of grand in savings which I was going to keep as a ‘just in case’ pot but perhaps I’ll need to re-think timelines and wait until I could afford to buy outright.

Thanks!

No worries at all, it wouldn’t have immediately crossed my mind myself until it happened a few years back, but these days I’m a lot more cautious because of it.

I like to have a ‘just in case’ pot to dip into for smaller vet bills, new tack, physios etc. And then have a credit card with a reasonable limit for if I needed to cover something bigger in an emergency, but I try my hardest not to use it otherwise.

 

[Shay]

The BHS have some good advice on the financial costs of horse ownership here http://www.bhs.org.uk/advice-and-in...uying-a-horse/cutting-cost-without-compromise

I would say a loan, part loan or share might be the better option to get strated with. Everything is hard right now but once the CV19 thing starts to ease up there will be a lot of owners looking for someone to help with finances. Yes purchase prices will drop, but more loans will become available too. We also have the time to dream ATM so you might also want to check out things like "Right horse right home" or your local equine charity if there is one to see if there is an option other han the capital cost of purchase. But a loan / share would be a safer way to strat as, if the money runs out, you can just end the arrangement. Not an option if you own the horse!

And yes - vets bills are that high!

 

[Mahoganybay]

I would not advise a loan at this stage, like someone else mentioned having to take out a loan to buy a horse is not ideal and £400 a month is quite tight to keep a horse when you factor in all the outlay including insurance.

i bought my horse and paid a tidy sum (£7k) and in my first year of owning her I have spent about £4k in vets bills. No, I’m not insured and I can afford to pay the vet bill without debt, but I can imagine how I would feel if I had taken out loans.

 

[Willow123!]

The BHS have some good advice on the financial costs of horse ownership here http://www.bhs.org.uk/advice-and-in...uying-a-horse/cutting-cost-without-compromise

I would say a loan, part loan or share might be the better option to get strated with. Everything is hard right now but once the CV19 thing starts to ease up there will be a lot of owners looking for someone to help with finances. Yes purchase prices will drop, but more loans will become available too. We also have the time to dream ATM so you might also want to check out things like "Right horse right home" or your local equine charity if there is one to see if there is an option other han the capital cost of purchase. But a loan / share would be a safer way to strat as, if the money runs out, you can just end the arrangement. Not an option if you own the horse!

And yes - vets bills are that high!

Do you think a full loan would be feasible? From looking online these seem to have all of the costs of owning a horse, without the initial cost?

That’s a very good point, I hadn’t considered the knock on effect that there will be more loans.

Thank you for your advice it’s greatly appreciated!

 

[Willow123!]

I would not advise a loan at this stage, like someone else mentioned having to take out a loan to buy a horse is not ideal and £400 a month is quite tight to keep a horse when you factor in all the outlay including insurance.

i bought my horse and paid a tidy sum (£7k) and in my first year of owning her I have spent about £4k in vets bills. No, I’m not insured and I can afford to pay the vet bill without debt, but I can imagine how I would feel if I had taken out loans.

I had (stupidly) assumed that a loan was how most people bought their horses! I guess I just am not financially secure enough yet to be able to afford it, and be comfortable that if something goes wrong I can cover myself.

Thank you all for your massively helpful comments, even if you do all echo my mum! ;-) I think you’re right and that a part loan / share might be the way to go for the time being, and I’m sure more of them will crop up in my area eventually! (South Warrington, if anyone knows of anything!)

 

[Aoife 2020]

If you’re no financial secure then I would not be going down the route of buying your own horse. You could share a horse your only for paying half of the costs.

 

[FestiveFuzz]

This may be an unpopular opinion as I know it is possible to keep horses for a lot less than I pay for mine, but having kept horses on a shoestring in the past I can honestly say horses are a lot more enjoyable when you are financially secure.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved my horse when I was on a tighter budget, but everything was clouded by the stress of making ends meet if an unexpected bill cropped up which made it hard to relax and enjoy having a horse.

 

[Aoife 2020]

This may be an unpopular opinion as I know it is possible to keep horses for a lot less than I pay for mine, but having kept horses on a shoestring in the past I can honestly say horses are a lot more enjoyable when you are financially secure.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved my horse when I was on a tighter budget, but everything was clouded by the stress of making ends meet if an unexpected bill cropped up which made it hard to relax and enjoy having a horse.

Keep horses out 24/7 and having horses barefoot is meant to be way cheaper than having horses stabbed because you not paying for bedding and horses don’t need as much feed in the summer time.

 

[Willow123!]

This may be an unpopular opinion as I know it is possible to keep horses for a lot less than I pay for mine, but having kept horses on a shoestring in the past I can honestly say horses are a lot more enjoyable when you are financially secure.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved my horse when I was on a tighter budget, but everything was clouded by the stress of making ends meet if an unexpected bill cropped up which made it hard to relax and enjoy having a horse.

You’re right, it was a very enjoyable experience when I didn’t even have to consider the money ;-)

Can’t believe how lucky I was looking back on it. If I’d have known then what I know now I would’ve let someone else enjoy her while I was at university and kept her :-(

 

[FestiveFuzz]

Keep horses out 24/7 and having horses barefoot is meant to be way cheaper than having horses stabbed because you not paying for bedding and horses don’t need as much feed in the summer time.

Oh absolutely, like I said lots of folks keep their horses for less, but often those that can be kept barefoot and out 24/7 need a firm eye kept on their waistline which is trickier to do if you don’t have the freedom to create a track system or the option for stabling for part of the day.

Also whilst you’re right it is a cheaper way to keep horses, I don’t think it’s a good idea to base your numbers on that alone as it only takes a kick in the field or a damaged tendon to quickly find yourself looking at months of box rest and the added costs of bedding and feed.

 

[wren123]

Also once you get a horse you might want to start competing, it's good fun and however good you are it's really helpful to have regular lessons. Like everyone else says, save up as hard as you can so you can buy a horse, then have a budget for tack, rugs, etc., plus a bit of money as a safety blanket.
Good luck, nice to have something positive to think about.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

A slightly different voice of reason, whilst horses can fit very well into a qualified and experienced teacher's life because apart from the core school hours you can arrange horses and marking etc to suit yourself, don't commit to one while you are training. You will have more than enough to do during your training period and NQT year.

 

[ownedbyaconnie]

A slightly different voice of reason, whilst horses can fit very well into a qualified and experienced teacher's life because apart from the core school hours you can arrange horses and marking etc to suit yourself, don't commit to one while you are training. You will have more than enough to do during your training period and NQT year.

Agree with this. My friend is a secondary school teacher and it suits her day really well in that she does jobs in the morning and gets to school earlier than most get to work so misses the traffic, then finishes work around 4 so again misses the traffic coming back.

I on the other hand am doing my ACA and CTA exams and I do find sorting the pony on top of working 8:30-5 and then studying in the evenings is sometimes just a little too much. But I am lucky in that my last exams were in winter so I didn't desperately need to exercise everyday and my mare is the same whether she has 2 weeks off or is ridden every day energy level wise.

 

[SpringArising]

Like others have said, definitely no not take out a loan to buy a horse. You might take out a loan of 5k, and have it drop dead in the field the next day. Or it goes lame and needs £££ ploughed into investigations. If you have £400 disposable you're going to really really struggle to keep it all going (tbh I just don't think it'll be possible).

I paid 3.5 for my Connemara who was just backed and riding away at the time of purchase. He's barefoot and eats basically nothing aside from hay. Assisted DIY costs me £450 a month. Then £25 for a trim every six weeks or so, £75 for the fitter every six months, and £65 for teeth every six also. Bag of grass nuts £12 every month or so. Wormer £20 every six.

Then the vet bills that come just when you think you're going to have a month of no additional expenses. As an example my horse kicked himself which meant emergency vet app on Xmas eve, then have weekly appointments for the next month after that. That was ~£600. Two months before that, he got injured in the field and needed anti biotics and sedating to clean it out, that was £370. The month before that, I spent £700 on my car.

This month he was due X rays which would have been about £350.

After all these expected unexpected bills, factor in your petrol to get there and any lessons you might want.

 

[fredflop]

This may be an unpopular opinion as I know it is possible to keep horses for a lot less than I pay for mine, but having kept horses on a shoestring in the past I can honestly say horses are a lot more enjoyable when you are financially secure.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved my horse when I was on a tighter budget, but everything was clouded by the stress of making ends meet if an unexpected bill cropped up which made it hard to relax and enjoy having a horse.

Keep horses out 24/7 and having horses barefoot is meant to be way cheaper than having horses stabbed because you not paying for bedding and horses don’t need as much feed in the summer time.

in regards to both of the above... if you are lucky enough to be able to find a cheap grass livery yard that’s great. However they are often cheap for a reason, either lack of facilities or poor management.

i have been on a grass livery yard, and whilst it had many advantages, I can count on one hand the amount of times I rode my horse in a year.

 

[Willow123!]

Thank you all for your responses. Some things I definitely hadn’t really considered such as buying with a loan, having cash aside for if something goes wrong (not just horsey, but with the car/boiler/dog etc etc), new career direction (and a busy one), extras like lessons and lack of knowledge on the care side!

I am definitely going to keep my eye out on shares local to me (obviously for once life resumes as normal). A lot of the local livery yards to me have Facebook pages rather than websites, would it be worth contacting those pages to see if anyone on the yard might have been thinking about part loaning their horse?

Anyway, I just wanted to say thank you as although you’ve all echoed my mum’s views, I knew I would get honest response from people actually into horses!

 

[Willow123!]

Agree with this. My friend is a secondary school teacher and it suits her day really well in that she does jobs in the morning and gets to school earlier than most get to work so misses the traffic, then finishes work around 4 so again misses the traffic coming back.

I on the other hand am doing my ACA and CTA exams and I do find sorting the pony on top of working 8:30-5 and then studying in the evenings is sometimes just a little too much. But I am lucky in that my last exams were in winter so I didn't desperately need to exercise everyday and my mare is the same whether she has 2 weeks off or is ridden every day energy level wise.

Pre signing up for teacher training this September I was working as an Assistant Accountant studying CIMA in the evenings and weekends! I have no idea how you manage that with a horse as it’s hard going but fair play to you! Good luck with it!

 

[Apercrumbie]

Sounds like you've found your solution for now, and I agree it seems the most sensible option once you find the right loan/share. Can I say how sensible you are asking advice on this matter? I know a few people who just ploughed ahead (because eg. £400 per month is a lot outside of the horse world!) and got themselves into a bit of a pickle, and then became rather bitter about it.

 

[Willow123!]

Sounds like you've found your solution for now, and I agree it seems the most sensible option once you find the right loan/share. Can I say how sensible you are asking advice on this matter? I know a few people who just ploughed ahead (because eg. £400 per month is a lot outside of the horse world!) and got themselves into a bit of a pickle, and then became rather bitter about it.

Thank you ? I didn’t want it to be another ‘how much does a horse cost per month’ type post as I know they are how long is a piece of string.

While it’s a lot of money to me at the minute, particularly compared to the situations of some of my friends, I am still by no means comfortable once you factor in the ad hoc roof tiles falling off (me last month), dog needs anti biotics etc, it all of a sudden doesn’t seem like a lot spare!! It will hopefully feel a lot better when I’m financially more stable and can afford it comfortably!

Can I just say what a lovely group of people you are on this forum too! I’m on some interest type Facebook groups and some of the posts/comments are often quite rude so reading these open and honest responses has been great!

Thanks again!

 

[Apercrumbie]

Thank you ? I didn’t want it to be another ‘how much does a horse cost per month’ type post as I know they are how long is a piece of string.

While it’s a lot of money to me at the minute, particularly compared to the situations of some of my friends, I am still by no means comfortable once you factor in the ad hoc roof tiles falling off (me last month), dog needs anti biotics etc, it all of a sudden doesn’t seem like a lot spare!! It will hopefully feel a lot better when I’m financially more stable and can afford it comfortably!

Can I just say what a lovely group of people you are on this forum too! I’m on some interest type Facebook groups and some of the posts/comments are often quite rude so reading these open and honest responses has been great!

Thanks again!

Glad that you've had a good welcome here!

I also don't want to imply that everyone on here lives a life of luxury and therefore doesn't worry at all about the expense of a horse - I and many others on here have had them on a shoestring when I needed to and always chose horses where that kind of lifestyle would be possible (ie. not poor doers that need to be in every night and fed up to the eyeballs) - however I think most of us on here have faced really awful situations where a horse has needed a lot of medical care, or where everything has broken at once, or even they just need a new saddle but the only one that fits well costs £1500 if you're lucky. These scenarios aren't fun when you can flash the cash, they're terrifying when your money runs out very quickly.

Anyway best of luck in finding a loan or share, and in the long run I hope you can have your own as well!