Costs of upkeep & buying first horse - advice needed?

violethillx

violethillx

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Hi, would really appreciate some advice on this. I've been helping out with a horse who was being loaned to someone and the owner has suddenly demanded the horse be returned to her so she can sell her. This is a massive shock and everyone is gutted. I'm considering buying her as I can't bear to see her go to a new home where her potential will be wasted (teaching someone to ride - she's really strong and very cheeky!). However I'm only 19 and in my first year of uni, and to buy her would have to use savings, then get a job to pay for upkeep, which is of course a massive commitment at a far from ideal time.
I'm just wondering what the cost of upkeep is for all of you? From experience I've paid about £170-£200 a month depending on the pony and feed etc. though last time I had a horse was a while ago. I've calculated about £200 (in winter) for this horse which I think is do-able.
So basically just wondering what would you do? I have to make this decision quite quickly so have no idea what to do :( I have had 4 horses in the past, but 3 were on full loan and the other one my dad bought when I was young and he is no longer here to help. So although I am fairly experienced I don't know much about buying horses, but have known this pony for long enough to know what I'm getting and have lots of support on my yard.
Thanks for any advice xx
 
You will probably want to allow nearer to £400 to keep one, unless it's on DIY. and to be honest just buying a horse to stop it going to a bad home is not a very good reason to buy one. What happens if the horse needs an expensive operation? The next purchaser of the horse may turn out to be rich and spoil horse rotten.
 
My advice would be don't do it I'm afraid.

Horses are a massive drain on time and money, and when you're at uni you'll be pretty short on the latter.

£200 a month should keep the pony on DIY livery, but won't allow for extras such as lessons, competing, insurance or any unexpected bills.

This horse might well be sold to somebody perfect for her.
 
i spend about £100 in summer and £220 in winter on my horse, thats not including shoeing, insurance, vets bills, lessons, equipment thats needed.
There is no way i could have done this whilst at uni! and money aside you are at uni to work hard and come out with the best you can achieve, horses take time, patience and cause no end of stress!!!!
think carefully!!
 
Let's see . . .

£170/month livery (includes stable, grazing and access to all weather, outdoor arena)
£30/month straw
£40/month hay
£40/month hard feed/supplements
£25/month farrier (pro rata as he's shod every six weeks and only in front)
£25/month insurance

If you also factor in insurance, fuel to get to and from yard, ad hoc expenses like rug cleaning/repairs, vet visits, dentist, physio, saddler . . . I'd say I'd be hard-pushed to get away with less than £450-odd a month and that's being conservative.

P
 
I wouldn't. I pay about £250 for DIY a month, and thats our good months. That is excluding shoeing, vets bills and the other little things...

For every month I budget £400 so I know everything is covered.
 
I keep Mollie DIY and it costs at least £200 all year round when you consider the travel too and from the yard, farrier, paying someone those odd times I'm stuck at work and all the other extras. And that's with almost all her daily care being done by me, and she's unshod, a good doer and has almost no hard feed. So I'd think again about your maths.

Sadly I think this isn't the time for you to be getting a horse. Sorry. :(
 
Think of a number and double it!
Which probably isn't much help but unfortunately you really can't keep horses on a shoestring. Yes, you can economise in lean times but you can't really plan on keeping horses cheaply. Could you and the current loaner share the costs in some way?
 
No advice I'm afraid, but wanted to let you know I just had almost the exact same thing happen to me last week, I am still so upset about losing the horse. I did have the option to buy him, but wasn't in the position to do so right now, so had to let him go. I am sorry.
 
I'm not sure that the first year of uni is the best time to buy a horse, both financially & time wise. And I doubt the horse minds if her potential goes to waste.
Mine cost very little to keep.£20 a week for both diy and hay & straw for a few months of winter. Farrier trims both, & I use a few bags of hi fi lite a year in token feeds. I have enough experience to deal with most stuff myself, & have insurance for anything serious. Teach daughter myself & only do local stuff within hacking distance. But still have to factor in costs of teeth, jabs etc, replacing or buying basic equipment, extra costs like box rest if required, saddle fitting, even if you only want to hack you might need an instructor if you run into problems. Too many 'extras' for it to be a good idea for you right now imho.
 
I'm on DIY and easily spend £350 a month. Then add insurance, shoes, vet bills, physio, saddler, dentist etc. That's also not including the £70 a week petrol getting to and from the yard.
 
In the winter mine cost at least £350 a month. I also had a £800 vet bill. Summer is cheaper but I put money aside to go towards winter which is extremely expensive.
 
Mine used to cost me £100pm plus wormers, trims, winter hay and equipment for the field...so maybe £160 pm...but I did everything myself.

I then stopped having the time and had to opt for assisted livery - more like £300pm.

Then ended up on full livery £430pm plus ins,shoeing,wormers,vets.

The problem is...you can keep them cheaply if you have time...but you wont have time whilst at Uni....horrible situation.

If the support network is good enough you may be able to manage or perhaps find a sharer to help with cost and time issues...just bear in mind that this will not work if your horse ends up out of action for any reason.
 
Just to put a positive note on it :) I had my mare on loan and the owner offered her to me for sale or would take her back before I went to Uni. There was no way I was parting with her so I used my savings sold my car and bought her in the September, she went out on loan to a family friend in the October when I went to my first year of uni, then the loan fell apart, loooong story. And I put her on retirement livery for the winter as she was lame, it was pretty reasonably priced, £175 per month for everything, feed, hay, worming, farrier etc all I had to pay extra was her insurance (£11).

I soon realised I missed her far too much so January this year took her up to uni from Nottingham with me, tbh its been relatively easy, I have had no help from mum or dad, (apart from dad towing her up there) I have paid for it all myself. I got a part time job and cut back on going out clubbing etc. It helps I managed to get a really cheap livery (£60 per month) and she is barefoot and only gets a trim every 8 weeks. I budget £150 a month on Rosie and generally stick to that, and to be honest I could even lower it to £100 if I needed to and cut back on extras such as new bits and bobs. O I should add that she is a TB so they are not all expensive ;) (I also have weekly lessons but don't factor that in as that is an extra :) ) I have a small run around car that I bought out of my savings that I use to get to and from the yard as it is a 20min drive.

Time wise it's easy, I only have 12hours of contact time at uni a week, so the rest of time is free and shes out on grass 24/7 so I only have to go once a day. I have also learnt an awful lot at my yard and mad some good friends.

So to be honest its not that much hard work, its not a strain on my finances as I have a p/t job but would not be able to do it on soley my student loan. I love getting out the city of Nottingham for a few hours a day to spend it in the countryside! I'm moving her back for the Summer as I've got a placement at home next year, but I wish I didn't have to. O and btw I found livery yards in Kent for £100 a month so not all yards are dear!

Just don't expect your flatmates to understand why your doing it ;)

Wow that was a ramble, but I hope it sort of makes sense! Its do-able :)
 
I pay £176 a month livery DIY for 2 horses.

They mainly live out so during summer no feed/hay/bedding.

Winter I use big hay bale about every 4 weeks - £20

Feed, both good doers so about 2 months - £15

Then insurance roughly for both each month - £55.

Then trim every 6-7 weeks - £40.

So half all that for one :)

I must pay around £250 a month now for both. When I had one I paid about £150 ish a month... But the big killer is vet bills! :(

Plus any extras like dentist, tack, rugs, lessons etc...
 
Why don't we look at this as a glass half full situation (something I am criticised for doing - always!)

You obviously find some kind of connection with the horse otherwise you wouldn't think of doing this. Go with your gut instinct, everything else is just hard work but can be worked around.

Yes - it's time - do you want to give it up?
Yes - it's money - can you earn it?

This isn't such a doom and gloom situation. Of course it can be done. Would you kick yourself if you didn't give it a go? I don't mean that you would head out with the intention of only having this horse for a year but if you really tried to make it work would it be such a bad thing for her to then have to be sold? That doesn't mean take her on with the view of selling her - it means what is the absolute worst that can happen? There are two negative scenarios here - you don't try it and you kick yourself forever and in 5 years we read a thread from you titled 'please help me find this horse....' or in a year we read a thread that says, I gave it my absolute best, did everything I can and it's not working out.....

Go with your gut.

x

Oh, I forgot to say - as did everyone else 'how exciting that you might be getting your own horse after all these years - eeeek!!'
 
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I spend close to £600 per month on my horse!! That doesn't include competitions but does include 2 lessons per month and absolutely everything else imaginable (except for vet fees)... I was sure I could do it for half of that... so yes think of a figure and double it! But I wouldn't change it, he's worth every penny.
 
Tbh I think horses cost as much as we let them cost us. I keep my 2 on around £350 per month but I could easily spend loads more if I had it/ wanted to.
If you can find a relatively cheep yard with 24hr turnout then I personally don't see why it's not possible but you need to be prepared to make sacrifices to be able to do it. It just depends how much you are really prepared to give up.
 
Can you live without this horse?
Is it exactly what you would buy if you were looking to buy not on the spur of the moment?
Do you have a supportive family willing to finance you in part some of the time, especially around exam time?

I had a horse whilst at uni, kept on full livery near home. I saw him once a fortnight. So it is spanked, with support.
 
I have never worked out what my horse costs me per month, this could be scary!

£100.00 field rent
£20.00 (approx) feed balancer
£20.00 (approx) supplements/herbs
£25.00 trimming
£25.00 hay (only in the winter)
£45.00 Insurance
£10.00 Intelligent worming

£245.00 per month basic

Plus I spend loads on fun rides, clinics and lessons! Not to mention bits and pieces like Sudocrem, Pig oil and Sulphur, Coconut oil, Neem oil etc! And then of course there are annual vaccinations, dentistry, and any other vet visits! Then any new tack or rugs we might need. Eeek!
 
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I think it will be really hard while you're at Uni. Is there any chance that your sharer/part loaner that is involved now would continue if you bought this horse?

Its easy for everyone to say what they're spending - you know the horse in question and the area...

Ring a couple of insurance companies and get quotes for that horse.
Find out how much your farrier charges and divide it up into weekly amounts.
Find out the livery charges -add them in.
Find out how much hay/feed the horse needed last winter.. add that in.
Add another £25/month for misc. costs - ripped rugs that need replacing, bits of vets bills that you may have to pay before the insurance kicks in..

Work out what tack and rugs you would need to buy.

Lessons and shows are extras, and you can live without them.
 
Thanks for all your comments :) I have decided to go for it as I think part of me had already made my mind up to be honest! I think it is do-able and will do whatever I can to make it work having calculated all the costs from the people who have looked after her for years. Ooh also probably should have mentioned that my course only has about 11/12 contact hours a week so although I will still have to do the work it's not as bad as having to be there from 9-5 every day. Thanks for all your help - wish me luck...xx
 
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Yay - very excited for you. I wish more people would make themselves happy - life is short. Focus on the good bits, not the cost but all the rewards!!! x

Pics soon please.
 
violethillx said:
Thanks for all your comments :) I have decided to go for it as I think part of me had already made my mind up to be honest!
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:D Haha, when your mind's made up no amount of advice to the contrary matters!

I hope it works out really well for you. Enjoy being a horse-owner. :):)
 
Can the person who loans her now help you out with a share that way they stil lget to share her and you can have help with running costs and stable duties. Get good insurance incase of illness or accidents and just make some cuts.
Its possible good luck.
 
violethillx said:
Thanks for all your comments :) I have decided to go for it as I think part of me had already made my mind up to be honest! I think it is do-able and will do whatever I can to make it work having calculated all the costs from the people who have looked after her for years. Ooh also probably should have mentioned that my course only has about 11/12 contact hours a week so although I will still have to do the work it's not as bad as having to be there from 9-5 every day. Thanks for all your help - wish me luck...xx
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You don't need any luck, its so do-able!! xxx
 
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