Cost of horse at grass

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RidingAndDriving

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Hiya,

I'm planning to get a horse to be kept at grass. What are the rough costs per week, month or year? I am buying a stable (for harsh winter nights) and a field, but unsure of the cost of the horse!! Stupid, I know!!!!

thanks
 
It will depend on many things. The size of the field you are buying. The soil type and quality of grazing. What type of horse you are buying and what you plan to do with it. Are you planning to keep the horse alone?
What experience do you have of looking after horses?
 
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As a rough guide, I pay £300 a month for 2 ponies for basics. I work my year on dividing the annual injections, hay etc over each month rather than having to suddenly find £100 for vet or £350 for hay.
This inclues £96 livery, Hay, Feed, Injections, Dentistry, feet trimmed plus one pony with full set shoes, worm counts, wormer (this one is average on what I think they'll require) and horse insurance.
They both have rugs, grooming kit etc although need to sort youngster out with saddle but this gives the month to month care of 2 ponies at grass. Also, by the end of December, if all goes to plan, then I'll have around £500 extra.
 
My thoughts as well.
Here's the thing Op, if you have a lot of horse care knowledge then you can probably answer your own questions about buying a horse at market cheap, how to get something bombproof at Holmfirth, and you would understand why some questions are being asked about your land and the type of horse you plan to buy. Saying it's for for "hacking and popping jumps" doesn't really help.
 
i pay £15 a week for grass livery for two horses, although that is 'mates rates'. haylage which we mainly feed in the autumn and winter, we bulk buy and divide between the four of us - i think it works out about £30 a bale and we are currently using about three bales a month. we also use some straw for field shelters - which i think is about £15 a bale, but this tends to last longer. both my arab's are unshod and are barefoot trimmed - which is £60 for both of them, every ten-twelve weeks. my two don't get much in the way of hard feed - a bag tends to last about two weeks between two of them. supplements - both of mine get aloe vera in feeds (about £18).

for field maintenance - 'smaller' jobs we tend to do ourselves, or rather sweet talk various other hands into helping out with. bigger jobs, we have a lovely local farmer who will help us out and we split the cost between us all.

other costs that i can think of off the top of my head; insurance - only one of my horse's is insured, (one is uninsurable) & the cost will vary depending on who you insure with, what insurance bracket you want to insure for, value of the horse etc etc. wormers - we worm count and then worm accordingly - which not only has the added bonus of being cheaper, also means less chemicals in the horse. rugs/tack - will depend entirely on the horse (& some extent personal preference) and likewise with tack - you can spend as little as £300 on a saddle or you could pay £3,000 for a saddle! with things like rugs and tack my advice - would always be; buy the best you can afford, generally speaking good quality tack and rugs that are well cared for will outlast cheaper, lesser quality equipment. dentist - we have a check up for ours every six months, off the top of my head, i think it is about the £50 mark per horse. physiotherapy - one tends to get by with a check up every six months-year, whilst the other needs slightly more regular 'keeping an eye' on, that is £45 a session. grooming kits/first aid kits - again, it can be as much or as little as you like. initially, it might take a bit of ££ to set up a first aid kit, but once you have one - hopefully it won't need adding to or topping up for a long time!

i also pay extra for things like clinics and lessons - but to be honest, if i'm having a skint month, then i'll bypass a lesson!
 
If you're buying the field, there's a lot of costs for installing/maintaining fencing, water supply etc. If you have a lot of field then you could save money by getting the hay cut & bailed, but you'll need storage.

I reckon including all costs of the ponies, insurance, wormers, injections, + lessons more-or-less weekly for daughter, competition entries and pony club things we spend an average of just over £200 a month for 2 ponies.
(I've not included the costs of the trailer & car, and we own our own field, bale some of our hay and buy the rest in)
 
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