Household income and horse ownership

[Daytona]

Me- 40k, OH - 100k. I have one horse on full livery. We drive a Y reg estate. Live in a tiny 1 bed flat, I save Zero, blow most of it on my horse and crap. My OH is currently saving for wedding and a deposit for our first house. We also have a sportsbike each but he pays all costs for them ( they pretty dear as well to keep on road, £60 a day on fuel in summer we use) , to others we prob look like we have nothing but we ate not flash Harrys, our holidays are mostly tours on the bikes which although you think would be cheap a 5 day trip to Ireland cost us £2000. We do waste alot of money eating out etc as well. No kids as yet but once we buy are house next year I will start to be more responsible with my money. My OH complains alot about how I manage to still be skint at month end and asking him for money. Also he works month on month off overseas offshore so only home 6 months of the year. So when he home he has like two months wages to spend if that makes sense.

 

[BentleyBelly]

We earn a decent amount...around the average from the poll...but are struggling moneywise. I have a very cheap pony kept in a local field/disused farm I rent with my friend and could afford no more. We moved to our dream location last year and are mortgaged to the hilt. On paper we look relatively well off with two properties (my old flat that I rent out and our new house) but we are quite cash poor. This is our choice though...we have our lovely house and we do alright with the odd treat to the pub and I am very good at budgeting....hoping things will get a little easier over the next few years.

 

[1Lucie]

Interesting the variation in different parts of country and how people manage money!!

We earn £67k before tax but we both have huge pension contributions! We have a lovely (morgaged) 4 bedroom house and run 2 newish (57 plate cars), we have also got married this year and i purchased my first horse. I am pretty lucky as my friend lives up the road and keeps my horse on full livery for £175 per month. We are both good at saving money tho and we have no children.

BUT i seem to work all hours god sends and have a very stressful job!

 

[maggie123]

I'm 24 and earn just under £25k, with (hopefully) somewhere between 1.5k and 3k in 'performance related bonus' at the end of the year. I would hope this will rise a fair bit in the next couple of years.

I live in a nice London suburb in a rented flat shared with 2 friends. I keep a horse on grass livery in Surrey and run a small, old car. I do watch my money but manage to eat out, go to the pub, theater etc prob a couple of times a week, maybe more. I haven't yet managed to save or go on holiday but hopefully the end of year bonus will help with this. I'm banking on getting pay rises / a new job to enable me to upgrade the car, save for a deposit, maybe travel.

Like a lot of others I pay student loan repayments and a pension as well as having an expensive commute but still have a really good time, even in expensive London

 

[Keimanp]

We have a combined income of 63k and an additional rental income of 8k and ebay income of 6k. We were lucky/unlucky and inherited the family home, which in the 60's were converted into flats, we have one and an annexe and two are rented out. A further one flat is derelict and currently undergoing work. In addition we also have 2 further cottages which are both derelict and awaiting work. The easiest thing would be to sell off the derelict properties but due to the delays with probate we are having to cover all the costs this means we are paying 4 lots of council tax which really hurts.

Between us we spend approximately £800 a month on fuel just to do our jobs, we've been on a mixed refuse collection for years as the council wouldn't collect wheely bins as we were too remote, they've just changed us to wheely bin collection and it has cost us just short of £600 to get the appropriate bins and modify access arrangements for them.

We run two cars as we both need them (there both estates one is 10 years old the other 3.5 and they have just short of 350,000 miles on them combined)

The roof leaks and there are buckets to step over to go to the bathroom, its difficult to heat and we try and only keep 4 rooms warm (17 - 18 degrees).

Were begining to see progress though, I started an ebay business to increase the income and were both as of this month out of our overdrafts and credit cards are clear. My student loan is coming down and I am focusing on having no debt by the middle of next year. From March, money, time and effort will be thrown at the one derelict flat and will hopefully be on the market by the middle of next year which will make a huge difference and then we can concentrate on the roofs that need to be replaced.

I am however wanting another horse, to add to the 1.5horse herd to be able to compete and have some fun as all work and no play makes day to day life hard!

 

[Shooting Star]

Interesting topic!

I'm mid 30's live on own in the south east, own car & house (although bank manager would disagree on the last one) earn around £45k p.a. and because I've no horse at the moment the bank balance is very health but hopefully soon it will be a lot less so!!

Had a retired horse for the last few years so only costing around £250 a month as yard with just stables & turnout (no school / decent hacking - but not needed, plus no shoes, no competition entry etc. etc, soon adds up!) & lucky to have a variable rate mortgage so ridculously low at the moment.
Fully expecting horsey to be closer to £500-600 once I find my next one so will then definitely be living less comfortably again but much rather that than being without a horse.

That said though have kept horse & house on a lot less than this - around £20k when I first brought a flat & had a horse (albeit some years ago) but if I had to make the choice the house would def be sold before the horse!

 

[MizzPurpleKitten]

My OH and I definitely live on a sheostring budget, we don't own a house (we rent), we only managed to afford a car last year (which has since been stolen and so we're car-less again), we never have holidays, new clothes (we rely on christmas and birthdays from parents and family for these!), needless haircuts and beauty treatments, we never go out except for the Yard Christmas Do once a year and a night out for our bithdays (so 3 nights out a year in total if we're lucky) and we always make do with what we have.

Having said that, our animals are treated like royalty, the cats and dog are always fed and watered, groomed, seen by the vet regularly and enjoy a life of riley. Our horses (kept at DIY Livery) are pampered to the hilt, they get everything they need and more, they never miss a teeth check, physio appointment, vaccination or tack check, there's always hard fee and haylage for them and cat food and dog food even if there's nothing in the firdge for us!

Yes it's a struggle, yes we're always broke, but I look at it firstly as a lifestyle choice (as without the horses we could certainly live a more elaborate lifestyle with regular holidays, shopping trips and nights out) and secondly as, the animals did not choose us, we chose the animals and thus they have to come first and foremost...which they always do

 

[Bertolie]

I would say me and OH would ne classed as in a low income bracket with a joint income of about 27k per annum. We live in rented accommodation, OH has a company car (for which he is taxed to the hilt) and I don't drive. Daughter lives at home but doesnt pay rent (otherwise she couldn't afford her horse). I have one horse on DIY livery and help with some of the costs for my daughters horse. We don't go out much, only buy new clothes when required and don't have holidays, though we never really did these things before I got my horse. We have no savings and no spare money at the end of each month. That said, the horses never go without anything and OH still finds funds for his photography hobby.

 

[superted1989]

OH and myself combined, just a smidge under 30k (hubby only has disability payments). We live in a HA, rented house, run one car, have one horse, full Sky subscription with multi room and do everything 'cash'. We have a small amount of savings and do a few schemes with the local credit union so that we get lump sum payouts at certain times of the year. We help support one son at uni, one is still at school and the eldest still lives at home paying peanuts!
Prior to OH getting ill, I earned 50k plus (he earned considerably less but had a fully expensed company car and could do the childcare whilst I worked). There was too much month left at the end of the money, so, we had no savings. I used public transport for work so no need to run our own car. No way in the world could I have afforded to have a horse and care for it in the way that I like to. We also owned our house but the mortgage was less than our rent is now.
Nowadays, we have less income, looks like more outgoings and yet we have more 'spare' cash! We don't go out very much, we used to and the average day trip wouldn't see much change from £100!

 

[Toffee44]

My OH and I definitely live on a sheostring budget, we don't own a house (we rent), we only managed to afford a car last year (which has since been stolen and so we're car-less again), we never have holidays, new clothes (we rely on christmas and birthdays from parents and family for these!), needless haircuts and beauty treatments, we never go out except for the Yard Christmas Do once a year and a night out for our bithdays (so 3 nights out a year in total if we're lucky) and we always make do with what we have.

Having said that, our animals are treated like royalty, the cats and dog are always fed and watered, groomed, seen by the vet regularly and enjoy a life of riley. Our horses (kept at DIY Livery) are pampered to the hilt, they get everything they need and more, they never miss a teeth check, physio appointment, vaccination or tack check, there's always hard fee and haylage for them and cat food and dog food even if there's nothing in the firdge for us!

Yes it's a struggle, yes we're always broke, but I look at it firstly as a lifestyle choice (as without the horses we could certainly live a more elaborate lifestyle with regular holidays, shopping trips and nights out) and secondly as, the animals did not choose us, we chose the animals and thus they have to come first and foremost...which they always do

Sounds like me lol. Like most of us on here, its a life style choice. I would be lost without a horse and a few doglets.

 

[Mince Pie]

It's a bit difficult to know what to put really. I am currently signed off with a back injury so am on benefits, however even when I was working (on £10k a year) the only reason I could afford my horses is because my dad left me a flat when he died so I use the money I get in rental income to pay for them. So I guess you could say that my parent pays for mine although I ticked the first one.

As to how I manage I amazingly managed to find a 4x4 which is very cheap to run, live in a mobile home so rent is very cheap, and eat very cheaply as I have so many dietary requirements that it's easier to cook from scratch!

 

[SonnysHumanSlave]

£32k a year ish.... Think it's around that with tax credits etc.
We rent a 2 bed flat. Have 2 cars. 1 horse, 2kids. 1dog.
And horse is DIY.
And we don't go out, smoke or drink.
In fact we are meant to be going out this Friday. But that means me buying an outfit and shoes, when actually if rather not and would rather go to a show on Sunday instead.

 

[JustKickOn]

I have a horse on loan and am a student. I work at weekends, don't earn much, but do this for the horse I would rather this than spending my money ruining my liver I have worked since I were 14, and had a horse on loan for 2 years when I was 15-17 years old, and had my new loan horse since September. Money is tight for me, but you make sacrifices for something that makes you happy
Saying that though, my parents insure car, and help pay accommodation fees, if I were to pay for those things, I couldn't afford to have horse.

 

[Jenni_]

I'm 21, and earn a pitiful 13k a year in my main job ( could find a new job but love my work and promised a promotion after the year!) earn 400 odd a month from my part time pub job, and in the summer 200+ a month teaching.

I live at home but looking to move in with OH eventually. I pay 300 a month digs to mum however - she's a single mum after all. I drive a VERY nice car for my age (54 plate civic type r) which I scrimped for,I could afford a better car but the civic was preference. If I saved up i reckon I could have a horse on grass livery. I can afford to share / compete ( currently looking!) and can afford to go on holiday / weekends away.

Most of the reason I have so much money is that I have no time to spend it!!

 

[Dubsie]

It's amazing how non horsey people assume we are rolling in it because we have horses. But from the answers so far that seems far from the case (but I guess we all knew that - horses inhale money).

So true: mum of non horsey friend of daughter was a bit 'I don't know how you can afford the ponies, and all those pony club things your daughter does' so I asked how much their all singing all dancing 10 day summer holiday was costing, and I totted up all the costs for the ponies including farrier, jabs, pony club, fuel, competing, and hay for the ponies and the holiday was quite a bit more! Think she was a bit to know how cheap the ponies were compared to the holiday!

Daughter knows we have the ponies rather than go on holiday. In fact there's a school 'outward bound' type trip next summer that she wants to go because all her friends are going, but actually seems to involve all the things she can do here like camping outside, building rope bridges (plenty of trees) buliding fires and cooking outdoors, so have suggested if any of her friends are staying home (you wouldn't believe how expensive it is!) they can all come to us and do the outdoorsy things.

 

[EquestrianFairy]

If I was working I would be earning around £25k (currently I'm having a PT holiday as I suffered a small 'breakdown') My OH has set up his own business and in 3 months has earned near enough £8k. The bank manager said he should make around £50k by this time next year. (happy days!)
Anyway, house is mortgaged and is an average sized 2 bed in the valleys which has been nicely renovated.
I have two horses on DIY and 3 on grass livery which myself and my mum pay for as she owns two. The horses have everything they need, Physio checks/teeth/nice tack. I am lucky my OH pays all the bills, treats me to nights out and will buy me things if I need them (within reason) We are supposed to be going on holiday in January which he will pay for and he is buying 'us' a 4x4 in April which I will drive.
I will be in my last year of uni next year also, once that is done my income increases to £35k so I can at least start treating him like he does me.