Can I buy/keep a horse with a £28.5k salary in 2025?

It depends on so much. My boy is at home so no livery costs and I also get hay included that we made ourselves. I still spend a small fortune on him every month with bedding, farrier visits, feed, supplements plus factoring in any dentist, vet, physio visits and any new rugs etc he might need. I would struggle to have him on anything other than DIY now if I had to go back to livery again. It also depends if you can be prepared to sacrifice some of your money for socialising sometimes if necessary. I don’t earn as much as you and I make it work but I am not one to spend a lot on going out places and will cut back myself before cutting my horse on what he needs.
 
I think you could be cutting it fine for emergencies, but also totally depends on your lifestyle. But I think £600 is enough for you, I dont spend that much and I am full DIY 😍

If you could be tight with yourself and save for any emergencies etc then yes it can be done 🤗

My vets also let me pay £50 a month whenever I want as a little plan, that means I always have a little bundle for the dog or Orbi.
 
When I started owning, I earned much less than you... ever the optimist I was I think! Looking back over 20 years ago, some costs have not changed hugely... livery perhaps, vets and insurance have gone up for sure. I have learned things along the way and I can save and spend on different things than when I started out. If you want this enough, you will make it happen. Be smart, make friends, share costs where possible, learn to do hard things for yourself, teach yourself new things, read and take advice (from this forum!)... there's nothing on this earth like having a horse and all the wonderful things that come with it.
 
I'll echo TallyHo: try it, preferably with a loan horse since some can take a long time to sell and if it is too much for you the problems just keep getting worse.
For costings I always thought about the price of 20 cigarettes a day as being a reasonable budget.
When you do have complete control of where the horse lives aim for 24 hour turn out but with access to some kind of built shelter for extreme weather.
Buy rugs when they are on offer, or good condition secondhand. The horse won't care.
For insurance get BHS gold membership for its 3rd party cover and then shop around very carefully, too many companies refuse to pay out a second time.
 
I think it is do-able (provided you aren’t in a very expensive area and buy a low maintenance type of horse) but, it comes with a very big BUT ….
If you find yourself buying the wrong horse which is very much a realistic possibility it will be no where near enough to cover all the professional support you may end up needing. Also it’s not really enough for routine training/competing/transport if that’s what you are hoping for.
Irrespective- it gives you zero leeway for emergency costs either personal or equine ones - what is you back up plan or savings for that?
 
I have a similar salary and have 6 horses. Albeit 5 are mini and at home but still coat the same for dentist and farrier/vet etc. I have assisted diy and don’t really go anywhere (by choice not financial necessity) and my lad has everything he needs including his supplements and checks. Just don’t fall into the trap of buying the cheapest type of horse you can then realising it has a multitude of costly problems. I’m also in NI so overall costs are generally cheaper.
 
I also think it is do-able, depending on what you want to do. I don't think I've really ever spent more than £600 a month on my horse (not including if he has a vet bill!) but just general DIY livery with assistance, he doesn't eat much in the way of feed, doesn't wear shoes but has a trim. I compete or pay for fun rides etc most months and I have a horsebox.
 
It depends entirely on the type/size of horse, the livery arrangement, your expectations in terms of competing/lessons and in part the area of the country you are in.

If you were to have a friend with a field and a horse who is a smallish good doer and doesn’t need a stable or much feed, you’re not looking at too significant a spend. Perhaps £100pcm for the field space (or less depending on area), £80 for insurance for vet fees and third party if you set the horse value low, £30 for a token feed plus a share of a large hay bale in winter months. Farrier is £30-40 every 8 weeks if unshod. £50 a month for other odds and ends like worm counts. So approx £280 a month in summer and £380-400 a month in winter. We use the spare in summer to compete and save towards unexpected things and wear and tear year round.

That’s the cheap and cheerful experience though - where you have to hack to an arena or have transport and winter riding is mostly weekends or super early mornings.

A share could give you an arena, nicer facilities, no worries about unexpected vet bills and competition options, for less money.
 
I got my first horse on like €100 a week
Lived at home
Worked at the stables on my free time to help cover livery as she had to be on full for it to work (after school and work)
It depends how much work you can put in
28k was tight
42.5k comfortable but not flying (2 horses on part livery)
Euro
 
sarcasm_queen said:
Where in the country are you? Outskirts of London, zero chance. Up North, much more possible.
Click to expand...
I’m in Richmond, North Yorkshire. My riding school is a 10min walk from my house and 2min drive. Great hacking straight from the riding school and cheap local competitions/events, though I’d mostly be hacking. Part livery £265 and DIY is like £120. I’m mostly curious about costs outside the livery - bedding, feed, vet costs etc, on average across the year (I recognise they can massively vary depending on for example where your horse is shod, or if it suffers an injury etc)
sarcasm_queen said:
Where in the country are you? Outskirts of London, zero chance. Up North, much more possible.
Click to expand...
 
I've never been without at least one since I was 14 and am now retired. Money has gone up and down but I have always found a way to keep them even in the hardest times. If you don't buy a high maintenance type and stick to something like a native type or cross you should be fine. Take some time first building up some emergency savings before you buy. It is not necessary to buy things new, eBay is your friend.
 
gallopingby said:
Everyone seems to budget for lessons these days and obviously that’s great BUT there are ways around paying £60 or more a month for them. I suppose it depends what you want to do with the horse/pony once you’ve bought it
Click to expand...
See for me, I'd rather spend £60 with a really good instructor (mine is biomechanically trained) than other things as a second pair of eyes on horse and rider is invaluable to bounce ideas off, get a check in for minor changes in me and my horse - investing in good biomechanics has saved us money in the long run, especially when we are often in the saddle for hours at a time as we mainly hack.

I appreciate it's possibly fairly privey but I definitely save money by not being easily influenced on other stuff and am happy to be largely function over looks - my native has thrived quite happily with the same headcollar he's had for years (only fairly recently replaced when I had to get the baler twine out ...), I make my own fly spray, I use rug liners for my turn out rug rather than needing multiple turn outs of different weights, he wears his turn out rugs in the stable instead of needing another set of stable rugs, has only a couple of mainly second hand saddle pads of a good quality make and I look on Ebay before buying. We do hill work, polework or splashing about ponds and streams instead of hydrotherapy or treadmill sessions - I have friends whose horses forever seem to be off to a treadmill, have piles and piles of rugs, a collection of Le Mieux headcollars and enough saddle pads to choose a different colour for a few weeks and they always seem to 'need' something - we definitely save money over them 🤣 I'm not saying there is anything wrong with that but it's not necessarily always necessary.
 
Last edited:
amelia_megan said:
How much more do you reckon is needed per month to afford one comfortably? I live in North Yorkshire where it’s pretty cheap for livery, plus I wouldn’t be competing much/ever.
Click to expand...

Let’s say livery is £300 a month includes bedding and hay/lage (basing that on mine previously and included the same benefits).

Shoes?
Feed?
Wormer/poo test?
Bag of treats?
Fly spray?

Pushing towards the £400/450 mark already.

In this hypothetical month let’s say we go to an unaff sj at £15 a round? How are you getting there? Fuel? Lorry hire costs? Even if you chuck a mate a tenner to hitch a lift, it’s still using up a majority of that £600 a month budget. And you’d probably want a lesson of some sort before going out too?

And that’s provided the horse doesn’t lose a shoe, break a rug, pile through your fencing and need more posts/tape, need the vet etc.

Owning horses to any degree is hard, I’m not saying don’t do it on £600 a month but just that there are a lot of hidden costs that bite us all quite firmly in the bum that means that £600 doesn’t really go that far sadly.
 
Tiddlypom said:
You will definitely need a substantial financial buffer before you buy even if the monthly running costs are comfortable.

‘Stuff’ happens, and it tends to happen at the most inopportune times.
Click to expand...
This 10000000000%

Recently had lorry MOT/service due. But it needed new brake pads/discs. And 2 new tyres. Then I needed a new car tyre. At the same time Rooni had routine and expected vets treatment. So nearly £3k in one go and over half of which was a nice surprise! Just needed the boiler to go to finish me off 😂
 
I earn a similar wage and manage to keep 2 horses (tb's) on an average of £585 per month including livery which is £300 for the pair.

I calculated how much i spend in a month mid winter and then calculated how much i spend in a month over summer (much less), i multiplied the winter cost by 6 and the same with the summer and added them together. I then divided the total amount by 12 to work out the 'average cost' per month. I got a seperate bank account for horse funds and transfer the 'average cost' (£285) i calculated every payday into that account. Everything i buy for the horses is done with that card and it means over summer i 'save up' to be able to bulk buy bedding etc which saves money. It also means i do not have a huge amount extra to pay in the winter as its already half paid for from summer.
 
Velvet turner said:
I earn a similar wage and manage to keep 2 horses (tb's) on an average of £585 per month including livery which is £300 for the pair.

I calculated how much i spend in a month mid winter and then calculated how much i spend in a month over summer (much less), i multiplied the winter cost by 6 and the same with the summer and added them together. I then divided the total amount by 12 to work out the 'average cost' per month. I got a seperate bank account for horse funds and transfer the 'average cost' (£285) i calculated every payday into that account. Everything i buy for the horses is done with that card and it means over summer i 'save up' to be able to bulk buy bedding etc which saves money. It also means i do not have a huge amount extra to pay in the winter as its already half paid for from summer.
Click to expand...
Thanks for sharing your costs - that’s really interesting. Does that include any lesson costs?
 
I want to add to mine. I have owned my mare for 14 years on under £25k per year. We’ve been on a few yards in that time, all have had schools. My current yard has all forage and bedding included and is <£200 pm. She is insured at £50pm. She is barefoot and has regular trims at £55. She has a feed every day, not a huge one. She has never gone without and I have always been able to give her special treats, all necessary treatments and she’s still in work at 19.

Maybe I am lucky, but I’d say a good majority of my yard earn under £30k per annum and keep horses on it.

I don’t compete or have lessons though, because I don’t want to.
 
Last edited:
My mare is insured but recently had a medical treatment, we maxed out the £5k insurance very quickly, 3 months in and I’ve gone about £2k over and she’ll need to be scoped (about £300) again after 6 months and possibly treated again (probably another £2k) not to mention hock injections which are about £800 a round, so far only needed once a year. Plus regular physio and I’m looking to spend about £1k on a new saddle. All this for a 21 year old pony that lives (mostly) in a field and goes hacking 3/4 times a week. I’ve had this mare 13 years and for the first ten she probably cost me under £300 in vet’s bills. In the past three she’s cost thousands (and that’s with £5k insurance cover) for “non-life threatening” issues.
 
Maybe try it. Put £600 every month into a savings account for 6-12 months. That way you build up an emergency fund and also work out whether you can survive on the rest. I'd say it's probably ok on DIY, just but you need to have a safety pot to fall back on. Don't forget your petrol bill will go up too if you go to and from yard.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top