How do you all afford it?!

[1life]

It's never easy and so many people assume that if you have a horse you must be well off. The simple answer to that is, 'If I didn't have a horse, I would be much better off!'.
Wouldn't change it for the world though . Some tips:

-Daughter's horse is on DIY
-Use Preloved and Ebay a lot for buying and selling all horsey gear (and other 'stuff')
-We don't drink or smoke
-I only buy clothing when it is on sale
-I will only ever buy hot drinks at a show, we take all other food and cold drinks
-Horse is on matting and semi-deep litter
-We use feed merchants own brand feeds and shavings
-Food shop online (you tend to only buy what you need) and compare offer prices
-Work all day, then do and ride horse and sleep like a log at night!!!
And finally, realise that while others use their hard earned cash on gyms, eating out, nice cars etc, having a horse and being able to compete is our luxury.

 

[Smith123]

Credit card is a life saver!!

 

[Super_Kat]

I look after somebody else's horses in exchange for free grazing / feed / hay for my 3

Don't feed unnecessary supplements! 2 of mine have a good joint supplement as they're ticking that veteran box but that's it.

If your horse has access to grass/hay don't bother with the chaff.

Don't buy hay/straw from a feed store!!!

Find a good Horsebox guy who won't take the pee.

Share lifts in the lorry, I travel far and wide for my sport and much as I dislike sharing my space and babysitting on my weekends away I save £100's per year in fuel sharing lifts to comps/training

 

[Highlands]

At new year I went to a friends, she had a friend there too who spent most of the time out smoking. Ok not anti smoking when when she kept going on how hard she was up and how lucky I am I to have horses.....

£400 goes on cigs..... Hmmm my two don't cost me that, normally keep on own land, feed by a bulk bin, saves hours and disel... Clothes ( cheap as a food tech teacher so too gooder clothes get ruined...)

Safe job, don't run expensive car ( although its nearly 3 years old) the other lasted 11 years and exploded.....

Horses, 2 nd rambo rugs.... Fly rugs in sales, preloved, eBay and tack sales!

 

[LittleGreyMare]

I have three horses, one in work who I pay for fully and a foal and retired mare (the mummy!) who I pay vets bills only (very expensive last year ).

It is a struggle and I scrimp and save, but very lucky to keep horses at home. I try not and buy them much and try and ebay as much as poss. I am very lucky that we have a family farm for hay and straw.

This year I have decided I just can't afford/justify BE so going to focus on dressage!!

I did manage to buy a house last year and only manage to pay for it by having a lodger.

 

[LittleGreyMare]

Also, people I work with wonder how I afford them... By bring lunch from home, not buying new clothes every week, not drinking everynight, not smoking etc

 

[kit279]

By having a high banded job with an impossibly gruelling rota that means I get paid a fair bit but have no time to compete the horses.. Also, having them at home is very helpful although doesn't save as much as you might think, once you factor in the cost of keeping the land and fencing in good order.

 

[Patterdale]

I married a farmer and I don't go out or but new clothes

 

[zaminda]

We rent a field instead of having them on a yard.
We don't go out, and plough everything into keeping the horses.
We drive an older lorry, and do a lot of the maintanence ourselves.

 

[foxy1]

I don't drink, smoke, buy new clothes, have holidays and I'm sat here eating value beans on toast for my dinner....

 

[Chloe_GHE]

prostitution and burglary

 

[Sportyspots]

A good secure job which involves long unsociable hours - hence in now doing 12hr nights over this weekend.
Caravan opposite stables instead of a house.
No social life - helped by unsocial hours and all holidays having to be used for competitions due again to unsocial days at work!!
Where there's a will there's a way!

 

[Optimist]

prostitution and burglary

** **

 

[Sol]

I buy hardly anything now, since I moved out. Luckily, both me & Rob still get some support from our parents, but I take on as much work as I can. Dante is on livery which includes bedding/haylage in price (godsend considering how much he goes through in winter!) and he's out 24/7 in summer which saves money on fuel & feed. The two ponies are living in a field that I rent, it's got a shelter which stays very dry, and is sandy, so I'm not putting bedding in it as I don't feel it's necessary, and I don't want to encourage them to use it as a litter tray as it'll just cost more & make more work! They currently don't get haylage/hay either, it's 3 acres & there's enough for them to eat, so they can bloody eat what's there! I buy what I need, but when I do buy things I try to buy what will last, and things I wont get sick of seeing within 6 months, and are easy to wash/care for. If I can find it on ebay or on sale somewhere, I will buy it then, and try to get rugs in the sale & buy good quality so they're less likely to rip. The ponies don't have rugs & Dan doesn't wear rugs in summer except his lightweight occasionally. I've now got a treeless saddle too, so I can just shim it if necessary, as I couldn't afford to keep buying new every time Dan changes (which he does a lot!), and there are no good secondhand fitters near me. I'm also tight about who I have lessons with now, if I don't think they're good enough the first time, I don't go back to them

 

[Daytona]

Sounds good to me where did you find him?!

On the Internet lol

Plentyoffish . Com ;-)

 

[showpony]

Rarely buy any new clothes for myself
Use a cheaper brand of Make up & suffer because of it
Rarely go out
Havent changed old Jeep
No mad fancy holidays
Moved closer to yard to save of petrol
Sell off stuff that isn't needed.
oh & have a very nice YO who doesn't freak if livery a bit late

Like many here ,people think I am loaded! couldnt be further than the truth.
We struggle at times but wouldnt have it any other way - kids don't want for anything ever (BUT if it got to that stage where kids needs weren't being met would have to rethink - but cant see that happening )

 

[Padon]

Its very simple:
Work hard and marry well....
Then wait 20 odd years- to be able to fulfill your dreams. It was worth the wait- Im having a lot of fun!.

 

[SpruceRI]

Budget budget budget!

I work out my average yearly cost of everything - feed, hay, vacs, shoeing, field rent, and then put by a set amount a month.... if anything untoward happens (vet or car breakdown) I then often can use the annual savings but then have to budget even harder to raise the funds for everything again!

Buy 2nd hand from charity auctions and tack sales. My best buy was a seemingly crappy underug for £2 made out of an old sleeping bag, but my god, that sleeping-bag rug has been soooo useful and is still going strong!

I have weaned myself off giving supplements, having always fed my competition pony hard feed through the summer I stopped in 2012 as we had such good grass and then realised that those supplements I'd been giving her and her shettie friend were pointless!

'Make do and mend' - fencing, stables, my clothes, horses clothes, house, garden.

Next thing on the list is to wean myself off the horse bedding! It was OK when they were both on straw. They're both very wet pones. Comp pony now allergic to dust so straw is out. Alternative bedding is costing a bomb. Both pones have fixed mats so really I need to just do the sprinkle of bedding rather than the deep job with banks. It seems a bit sad not to do that when comp pone appreciates somewhere comfy to lay her head!

 

[swellhillcottage]

This thread is great - I think the most noticeable thing in this thread for me is that horses are as expensive as you make them - Keep it simple after all they are horses and dont need all the crap we want to buy for them!

S x

 

[Davers86]

This thread is great - I think the most noticeable thing in this thread for me is that horses are as expensive as you make them - Keep it simple after all they are horses and dont need all the crap we want to buy for them!

I thought the same, and it's also reassuring to know that it sounds like the majority if people are in the same boat!

 

[Prince33Sp4rkle]

Work flipping hard!
I have a 9-5 office job and on top of that teach at least 2 evenings and one day at the weekend, and do a bit of re-schooling for other people.

 

[BeckyD]

I work hard and have a well-paid job and so does my OH. I don't really spend much on clothes other than work suits (Austin Reed and TM Lewin sales; I never pay full price for work clothes) - I do have a few nice casual trousers, jeans, skirts and coats but tops/jumpers/cardigans I buy cheap in high street sales or Primark. My OH is very understanding and pays for our (very infrequent!) holidays and treats like meals out. He does very little around the house and I do pretty much everything (shopping/washing/cleaning/house care/tidying and sorting out the house bank acount and bills etc). I buy occasional theatre/cinema tickets as and when I have spare cash. I do spend a lot on makeup/skincare but very little on hair care (rubbish hair - no point dressing mutton up as lamb!).

Horse-wise I could afford one horse and do it well or 2 horses and would have to scrimp and scrape, so I have one and do it properly. I buy everything I can do in the sales, and I can't think of anything other than saddles and bits, oh and stirrup leathers, that I ever have paid full price for. I have a lot of tack but it's all been bought in sales, including bridles, girths, reins, numnahs, all rugs. Like someone above, if I know I want something and it's a bargain in a sale then I will buy it there and then even if I don't need it yet; it's better than having to pay full price when you do need it and it hasn't yet backfired on me. I bought a stud girth reduced from £250 to £99 as I knew I would need it in 2-3 months' time once my saddle had been fixed. I buy a high-quality joint supplement as cheaply as I can find it online and I bulk-buy it. Most of my horse expenditure relates to livery but I'm at a good yard and everything is done for me. I also ebay anything I don't need.

I save up for things I want and I don't buy things I can't afford.

 

[Copperpot]

Am lucky enough to have a well paid jobs which means I can keep 2 and myself.

I still have meals out, smoke and buy loads of horsey stuff. Tend not to shop for "normal" clothes too much.

I am also rubbish at budgeting so don't even try to. I also have a good OH who if I am desperate for cash for something expensive will help me out.

I did recently get rid of my 7.5 tonne lorry thou as felt the cost of maintaining it etc wasn't worth it. So got a trailer and saved some money there.

 

[little_flea]

I absolutely can't afford it. I have one on super expensive full livery and pay a small amount of upkeep for another, plus lessons, shows, shoes, clips... I am single and have a London mortgage. I make decent money but am constantly so broke its not funny.

Heard somewhere that it costs around £10K a year to run a show jumping horse that competes... probably about right. Saying that, I must have won a hundred quid in the last year so well towards equilibrium

 

[zizz]

I keep a spreadsheet of all my expenditure and each month try and spend less than the month before! But I am an accountant so I am pretty anal about keeping track of my money.

I am also very lucky that I keep my horses at home so there are no livery bills, although all they are rugged stabled and have hard feed. My three cost me £2,906.72 to keep and feed last year (although shoes come off over winter), with an additional £2,413.17 spent on clinics and competitions (including fuel) for the one I compete.

Compare this to the £244.41 I spent on clothes last year and you get the picture.....!

 

[Polotash]

I don't drink, smoke, buy new clothes, have holidays ....

Snap! Or have a social life, but who has time for that with horses anyway eh!?

Also - second hand but good quality tack which I look after, new good quality rugs but via ebay or in the sales, and feeding ad lib forage which keeps feed costs down (24/7 grass in summer, 12/7 grass and 12/7 ad lib haylage in winter).

The one thing I haven't worked out how to reduce is competition entries, BD is expensive, but I do only travel locally to keep the lorry costs down.

 

[el_Snowflakes]

I work my backside off normally working very long and unsociable hours, OH has a very well paid job but his is much cushier than mine in terms of hours etc! Had my horse nearly 3 years and still dont have my own transport yet but Im working on that for this year! Got out competing several time last year which was fab and made possibly by some very kind and generous friends who took us in their lorries In the winter I find taking my mares back shoes off saves me quite a bit. Shes got good feet & has more traction on ice/snow with them off so shes happy enough!

 

[Jango]

I moved out in August this year and I've had to cut back quite a bit, firstly I live in a large shared house, I could never afford my own flat and my horse, then I have a sharer to help with money for competing and extra's, she pays £80 a month and hacks him twice a week which seems to be a good arrangement for both of us! I also look after another livery's horse 2/3days a week and get around £40-50 a month for that. Then in summer I waitress at a few weddings for luxuries money. I'm also quite lucky that I can borrow money from my parents then pay back in installments (for example when my car died and I needed another one! I always pay back every penny though!). I do feel quite sorry for the people who have no social life though, I don't smoke or buy many clothes, but I'm always out and about with friends, we just do it cheaply! For example taking turns cooking a meal for 3/4 of us, dvd and wine nights, orange wednesdays at the cinema with supermarket bought sweets! Another money saving idea is getting big items as xmas/birthday presents or work bonuses!

 

[ilvpippa]

Rarely spend anything that's not fuel/car/bills/horse.
I treat myself sometimes, but I save & get something 'big' rather than loads of little things.