Help me cut down the costs of the horse

I'd give it a crack with taking the shoes and see how he gets on providing farrier doesn't have any concerns. One of mine had hers whipped off for a winter since she wasn't doing much - hack/ showjump- and never took a lame step (I don't do a lot of hacking on roads however, however she was also fine over stony ground). I didnt do anything fancy (she was on a basic feed regime - balancer & hi fi lite) and she was absolutely fine. I only put them back on when we started eventing in late spring because she slipped a couple of times slightly and then I couldn't get over the psychological aspect to ride forward on the XC. If I wasn't hunting I'd do the same again this winter, I've heard it does their feet good to 'have a break' and it saves some ££ win win! I pay £65 for a full set here, but I noticed you are in Gloucester & when I was at college down there I had to pay around £75- £80 (around 5 yrs ago) for a set, and I know some who paid round the £90 mark! So it does seem to be an expensive area. Such silly prices I used to bring my horse home with me, have a lesson & arrange my farrier for that wknd since it irked me so much paying out more for shoes, particularly since the shoeing wasn't as good as my farrier at home anyway.
 
Charnwood Milling £30 for 20kg delivered. you MUST buy non mollassed chaff
Non molassed s beet is cheapest fibre hard feed but you also need balanced minerals.
When I went barefoot I stopped all cereals and this mean branded feeds.
you can hunt barefoot see Rockley Farm
 
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I'd give it a crack with taking the shoes and see how he gets on providing farrier doesn't have any concerns. One of mine had hers whipped off for a winter since she wasn't doing much - hack/ showjump- and never took a lame step (I don't do a lot of hacking on roads however, however she was also fine over stony ground). I didnt do anything fancy (she was on a basic feed regime - balancer & hi fi lite) and she was absolutely fine. I only put them back on when we started eventing in late spring because she slipped a couple of times slightly and then I couldn't get over the psychological aspect to ride forward on the XC. If I wasn't hunting I'd do the same again this winter, I've heard it does their feet good to 'have a break' and it saves some ££ win win! I pay £65 for a full set here, but I noticed you are in Gloucester & when I was at college down there I had to pay around £75- £80 (around 5 yrs ago) for a set, and I know some who paid round the £90 mark! I don't know if thats representative & its an expensive area? I used to bring my horse home with me, have a lesson & arrange my farrier for that wknd since it irked me so much paying out more for shoes, particularly since the shoeing wasn't as good as my farrier at home anyway.
 
Yeah farriers do seem expensive around here as we seem to be paying the going rate, he is £22 for a trim I think.

I'm thinking graze on is non-mollased. So I could try feeding him graze on and linseed for a little while then take the shoes off so he has better feet.

I already use all the cheap stuff for myself (while my horse lives in luxury) my wellies are currently duct taped together and have been for the last 6 months :p thank fully Louie has enough tack/ saddles/ rugs etc coming out his ears so I shouldn't have to pay for anything like that.

I don't pay for parking at uni, I am considering taking the bus but not sure if it will be cheaper to take the car as I'm going to start car sharing so will get petrol money. I rarely go out and if I do my oh will pay for me.

Going to have a good look on money saving supermarket as there are loads of tips for saving money on there. :)
Thanks all for advice, has been very useful.
 
wench said:
I've used mole valley farmers feeds before and they were good value for money, as well as being competition safe!

Personally I've found no difference in using cheap and cheerful pony nuts instead of conditioning cubes. Couple this with the cheap sugar beet you soak for 24 hours, and cheap feed ahoy!

You could also consider using a balancer, depending on how much work he's in. Bag seems expensive but they last a long time!
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Yes the s/beet nuts are cheaper but totally not compatible with barefoot as the molasses makes the hooves sensitive.
30-40gms of minerals like Pro Balance are used to boost hoof quality, sole thickness etc, but obviously takes a month or so to work. The Linseed meal is unprocessed so better than oils.
 
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cambrica said:
Have a look at BHS gold membership as it covers for public liability and is not expensive, that way you can dramatically reduce you insurance.
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That works until the horse gets ill :(

None of mine have shoes on and their hooves are like little rocks of granite. All I can put it down to is micronised linseed.
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It wouldn't explain my barefoot horses' feet being rock hard, they've never seen linseed in their lives :)
 
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Whatever you do just be careful of making big decisions and massive changes at this time. If you are happy at your current yard and Louie is doing well and you have support of friends then that counts for a lot right now.

I would make simple changes first like vets fees only on insurance and buying cheaper equivalent feed maybe using micronized linseed to keep weight on rather than build up cubes. Taking shoes off may work very well but it isn't always plain sailing (from reading on here) and there may well be a period of adjustment at a time where riding may be your only release it may be not be right for you.

It maybe worth looking at whether you would be better getting a sharer or a extra few hours work a week as this could be worth a lot more than any minimal savings you might make on cutting out a few things. You say your current sharer cannot contribute but maybe that needs revisiting and she may be able to just a little.
 
Even if the girl who rides can't contribute financially, can/does she do the horse on the days she rides, allowing you to skip going to the yard and maybe pick up an extra shift or two at work?

You could just have the saddler check him as normal and then only have the back woman out if the saddler thinks it necessary.

Share vet visit costs with others on the yard or neighbours. Or save even more by taking the horse to the vet, saving on the call out - if you don't have your own transport maybe there's someone you could share with?

Re micronised linseed, farmandpetplace.co.uk are a bit cheaper than Charnwood and delivery is a lot cheaper at only £2.99.
 
What phone contract do you have? You can get some free minutes / text for 10 pounds per month on a PAYG sim card. If you can't afford to top it up one month you go without. It's better than a contract if you're skint, unless you have a very good contract.

Definitely swap shoes for hoofboots, you'll save hundreds per year. If you write out the maths and show it to someone, they'll hopefully lend you the initial purchase price, knowing you have the ability to pay them back quickly.
 
Your student loan repayment seems awfully high at £50 a week. Normally it's a % of salary and by my reckoning this level of repayment would be on a salary of over £40k. Unless of course you have a private loan? I would check this out. My info is based on one of our employees earning £30k who pays £113 a month
 
This must be so hard for you just now. I think it's important to keep Louie in your life and not make any rash decisions. Looking at own brand feeds is certainly worth doing as is a chat with your farrier who you obviously have faith in. Insurance wise don't scrimp on vet's fee cover but consider lowering the sum insured and removing loss of use if you have it.

Without prying try not to panic yet about finances, depending on circumstances it maybe that life assurance and pension payouts amount to more than expected eg pay off a mortgage etc so the family situation may not be so bad as anticipated. Whatever the situation it's early days so take time to consider any changes fully, you are obviously a smart young lady so probably don't need me to tell you this but sometimes it helps to have things reiterated.
 
Koko can he go on grass livery and have a chill over the winter?
Take off his shoes and let yourself get sorted out. I'm so sorry for your situation xx
 
Re transition to barefoot, I agree there seem to be a lot more problems than one would anticipate, but often the feet are not prepared by a sugar free , hi fibre , and mineral feeding regime, the farrier removes the shoes and trims [frogs and soles] as if for shoe preparation.
The owner also has to be prepared to alter their exercise regime.
 
I think your doing quite well as it is in terms of paying out. Ditto grass livery if possible, also I would definitely consider an experienced sharer. I'm hoping to go back to uni for a msc so may have to consider this also. As much as I don't particularly like the idea. it would mean I can keep my horse & start a new career. Would help me in terms of money & also keep my girl fit so shel be in good shape when I want to ride/compete win/win! Sorry you've had a terrible year Koko, things can only get better. Here's to 2014! x
 
As far as uni books go - often they can be bought secondhand (as I'm sure you know!) but if you have a kindle I found a fair amount of my textbooks were cheaper on there.

I would definitely look for a paying sharer if possible, or see if the girl can contribute. If not financially, maybe she can muck out etc on extra days as 'payment', so you can save petrol money on going up there?
 
I'd cut the back person fully, unless he has a history of back problems that is currently unresolved... Even Reg, who had quite long-term problems, only gets seen every 6 months unless Al feels he's off.

And I'd be brutal and cut the sharer who can't contribute financially. You need money more than she needs a free ride. Plenty more fish in the sea...
 
insurance sounds a lot? have you looked into bhs gold cover, and removing public liability cover from the policy you have? I've just changed all mine and its saved me a quite a lot a month but I do have 3 to cover!! otherwise theres not much you can really reduce!
 
Go barefoot at least until the Spring.
Go onto Facebook and find a local barefoot group - there are many of them - if you feel you need boots, measure your horses feet and ask if anyone has any suitable boots you can try. Lots of bare footers (me included) have unused boots lurking in their tack rooms looking for a home!
 
Buddy'sMum said:
You could just have the saddler check him as normal and then only have the back woman out if the saddler thinks it necessary.
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I would do it the opposite round, the back person is more likely to be able to tell you if the saddle is causing problems as they will be able to pick up on any soreness/tightness through the saddle area.
 
Tha is all for advice have read it all and taken it in :)

Re the student loan it isn't a repayment that's what I'm getting atm as still at uni. It works out at just over £50 a week.

Will have a look at the cheaper alts for linseed as that could help loads. Obviously in the summer feed bill is a lot cheaper bit we have no idea what the winter is going to be like. Annoyingly he is half fully clipped (did one side on the day it happened and haven't got round to doing the other) as I could have got away with cheaper feed bills if I left him fuzzy.

Not keen on selling old rugs as they have come in useful as Louie can just about fit in Andy's stuff. I do have a couple of saddles to sell but they're a real niche market so not sure I'll get shot of them.
 
cheapest place for linseed is http://www.farmandpetplace.co.uk/

Frank gets a cup a day and we are still on the bag we started middle of october.. will probably do us until middle of January!

I wouldn't change from a farrier I was happy with tbh, I think that is one of those things it is worth paying extra for if you can and they are good.

My only thought before you move/through everything at it would perhaps be whether Louie would do ok living out? Only as he is a bit of a fine sort- only you can know that really but just wouldn't want you to move find he isn't ok and then not be able to go back to your nice yard.

Can girl who rides absolutely not contribute at all? I think if you could have a sharer even for say £20 a week that would help you out quite a lot.
 
I moved insurance from NFU to Amtrust and saved £16 a month for the same cover apart from that I decreased the value of my horse to £1000. On the premise that if he corks it I'd be too upset to buy another horse straight away anyway.
That's v expensive for the farrier, I was paying £40 every 7 weeks for just fronts and my farrier is very good indeed. Watch it with buying hoofboots though as their feet change shape - I ended up having to buy more.
 
With regard to the feeding, as long as you do your research into the various ingredients/values, you will be able to save yourself quite a lot of money fairly easily. Down here there is a brand called Heygates - its made by the same people who make Badminton feeds I think (THINK!) and while its very cheap (around 8-9 a bag for conditioning cubes compared to 12/13ish for branded) its exactly the same values. A few minutes research could well pay off in the long run. As will feeding at the correct values for the workload - lots of people think their horses are in hard work when they are only hacking out every day - hard work (as talked about on feed bags!) is horses in training and racing - or hard,fit eventers who are out competing all the time - most "normal" horses barely make it into "medium" and thats when they are competing. Have a word with some nutritionists - and if you get your hay in the rent, it would be worth utilising that and getting as much into him as he will eat - the majority of horses dont need anywhere near the amount of hard feed they get given!! All horses (if you arent feeding the correct recommended amount on the bag)will benefit from a multivitamin - and if you cut the feed right back then the others are right - a balancer is your friend.
Plenty of horses do really well on a fibre diet - sugar beet and chaff or similar (with the afore mentioned vitamins - things like equivite are really cheap and brilliant) with the addition of linseed to add calories without bulk.

Im another in the "if you are happy where he is and with your farrier stay put with them" camp - the last thing to cut back on is a place you and he are happy !!! Hes got no real outlay there other than the actual cost - Id love to find somewhere that includes bedding and hay, they are two of my most expensive bits!!!
Be careful with the insurance as well - I agree that you can probably get it cheaper than you have at the moment, but just check it does everything you want it to. You can drop most of the competition at this time of year Id have thought, and just add it on again if you want to later, but watch the small print.

Really really good luck - hopefully it will work out.

ps - I also think your "sharer" is getting a ludicrously good deal out of you - Id be asking her to contribute either cashwise (even just a little bit - if hes good with his shoes,maybe she could pay for them?) or with work - three times a week for you to not have to go there would soon add up.
 
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