Curiosity… ownership costs

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Morton90

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Hi,
I’m an adult beginner rider, at my lesson today the instructor commented about people starting riding to maybe have their own horse one day.

Although owning a horse feels like a very (very) far away dream right now, I’m curious about the average monthly cost of owning/ caring for a horse- including full livery/ DIY? : )
 
Amymay Again said:
There are plenty of posts on the forum about this. But my standard reply is - think of a small mortgage plus extras.

People will tell you that they keep their horses for peanuts. They don't. It's one of the most expensive (and addictive) hobbies out there.
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Or they do but it's the horse that pays for it.

In addition to the threads on here OP, Riding with Rhi on YouTube has done a vlog about this from her survey of horse owners. It shows how variable it can be!
 
How long is a piece of string…..

Mine is currently on the lower end of the budget. He’s kept in a field that we own, so no livery costs. So all I’m paying for at the moment is feed, hay, farrier and insurance, which is about £150 a month.
But that is absolutely no frills, no lessons, no trips out.

And that’s not counting the unexpected vet visits/new rugs etc
 
Amymay Again said:
People will tell you that they keep their horses for peanuts. They don't. It's one of the most expensive (and addictive) hobbies out there.
Click to expand...

I do - I mean, not peanuts, but I pay less for 3 than many folk do for 1. But that's because my entire life is built around them. I moved to a place with cheaper land / livery, I have native types who live out, and I do all the grunt work myself. I don't have kids or do relationships (not because of the horses, but I couldn't do the horses this way if I did). Work works around the horses. Not many people can, or would choose to, do that. It's also only possible because I have decades of experience in horse ownership, and money in the bank for when it's needed. Oh and they're all retired or just doing "stuff" - if I had to pay for training like I have in the past, it would be infinitely less cheap.

So I would say, OP, horses will cost most of your wage, or your soul. Or both.
 
Morton90 said:
This feels like a curiosity killed the cat moment 😂
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I've had to do the maths - and then got a second job to pay for my horse...Without factoring in petrol, my basic costs without buying anything new are over £7.5k a year. And I think this is pretty cheap for where I live in the South East.

This is as long as he doesn't need the vet, and excludes all lessons and trips out. It includes DIY livery, feed, supplements, forage, bedding, vaccinations & worming, farrier (barefoot horse or you could add another £1,000 to that), saddler, dentist, chiro/physio and insurance.

I have easily spent another £5-6k on 'stuff' - all his tack, all the tack I bought that now doesn't fit or that I thought I needed but didn't, rugs, clippers, rugs to replace ripped ones, fly masks, muzzles, barrows & mucking out kit...it just doesn't end or stop!

It's a lot cheaper to keep having lessons at a great riding school! I don't even ride mine very often.
 
I have two natives on DIY. I budget £430 a month and without fail end up spending an extra couple of hundred on top of that each month, not including lorry hire and facility hire which adds about another £250 or so.
 
I think if you budgeted around £600 a month, for DIY and the bits and pieces you’ll need to get in (food, forage, farrier, etc.) - you’re probably not way off the mark.

Insurance seems to be all over the place. It’s not always sky high, until you put a claim in… If you budgeted around £70 a month, you’ll probably be able to get an acceptable level of cover for a typical all rounder type.
 
Amymay Again said:
There are plenty of posts on the forum about this. But my standard reply is - think of a small mortgage plus extras.

People will tell you that they keep their horses for peanuts. They don't. It's one of the most expensive (and addictive) hobbies out there.
Click to expand...

I used to keep mine very cheaply and still not scrimp on anything. You cannot do that anymore sadly.
 
I have 3 in South East. DIY livery with good facilities £250 each, shavings (by pallet), basic hard feed (no supplements own brands) and ad-lib hayledge brings me out at about £450 each a month not including extras.

Extras I would throw up if I had to add up-

Farrier
Vet bills (I don’t insure)
Teeth
Physio
Saddler
Lorry MOT/tax/insurance
Lessons
Show entries
BS membership fees
Holiday cover

I have existing tack and rugs already but if you wanted to really think about it could go as far as accounting for sharpening clipper blades, rug washing and repairs, basic medical supplies, washing supplies…

Hang on just threw up thinking about it 🤮
 
Depends what part of the country you’re in, what type of horse you have, if you have your own land and what you intend to do.
A native pony without shoes and out all year will cost at least a third of the total for a TB x on full livery requiring to be fully shod and eating loads of carefully balanced food. Basically it evens out in the end because the well schooled native pony will easily cost you more to buy than the TB x that requires regular vet visits and a special diet.
 
Morton90 said:
Hi,
I’m an adult beginner rider, at my lesson today the instructor commented about people starting riding to maybe have their own horse one day.

Although owning a horse feels like a very (very) far away dream right now, I’m curious about the average monthly cost of owning/ caring for a horse- including full livery/ DIY? : )
Click to expand...
Have a look at the website ‘Equestrian Money Diaries’.

You will see that all horse ownership is expensive, but it ranges from less expensive to extremely expensive.
 
Once you have a bit of experience, sharing someone else’s horse might be something you could look into.

If it works well, you get the experience of looking after, and riding, the same horse, on a regular basis. There is usually a financial contribution but nowhere near the true cost of keeping the horse.

ETA for two of my shares there was no financial contribution: for the owner it was the two days ‘off’, plus trustworthy holiday cover, which was priceless. Now that I have a horse, I can see why! <g>
 
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I’ve got two ponies, both cost under £1000 to buy, I pay £100 a month to rent a field and £50 a trim every 6-8 weeks.

So cheap.

Then again, my stables cost £10,000 to build, my trailer £4,000, feed bills with a poorly pony this winter have been about £300. Vets bills about £2,500 and that’s after £5,000 of insurance.

Some months they can be under £300, other months can cost thousands!
 
Expensive! Just insurance would probably be about £80-100 per month for a horse. Id say a good share or riding school lessons at a good riding school is just as good. Then you're not on the hook if the horse gets injured and you can't ride, temporarily or permanently. But we still do it 😜
 
These are just the basic monthly costs:

£625 - 5 day part livery
£23.90 - Horse insurance
£102.50 - Farrier (every 5 weeks)
£29.80 - Feed (bag of chaff, bag of low priced mash)
£30.99 - basic vits & mins because he'll otherwise chew the fence, 3 months' supply
£15.75 - Marigolds supplement, 1 month supply (lympatic support)
£30 - bodywork session to make sure all okay

Then also the not every month costs:

£95 - saddle fitter (6 monthly)
£45 - 45 min lesson (weekly for me)
£65 - dentist (annually)
£117 - vaccinations if not on a zone day, £50 if zone day
£50 - trailer storage for the month
£5 - turnout or bring in at the weekend
£18 - full weekend day if needed
£10 - extra shavings bale if needed on top of livery
£320 - annual trailer insurance

In the two years since I bought him there has been maybe 2-3 months that he cost me less than £1000
 
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Morton90 said:
Hi,
I’m an adult beginner rider, at my lesson today the instructor commented about people starting riding to maybe have their own horse one day.

Although owning a horse feels like a very (very) far away dream right now, I’m curious about the average monthly cost of owning/ caring for a horse- including full livery/ DIY? : )
Click to expand...
It varies hugely, depending mostly on where you are and how much time you have to do things yourself.
I think this ⬇️ is the most up to date thread on it but really you'd have to compile a list of everything you need & then cost it for you, in your own location & preferred livery etc.

How much does it rwally cost to own a horse??

In the past couple of years I've shared horses, but my latest share just came to an end due to the owners giving my space to another person while I was on holiday. Such a shame, as I had agreed I didn't have to pay for the month and a half I was away, and they still gave away my spot without any...
forums.horseandhound.co.uk forums.horseandhound.co.uk
 
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