How much does your horse cost you a month?

On average £550 a month not including vet, rugs, boots, matchy matchy, lessons, competing and BD membership. That is on DIY...

Winter costs
Livery £162
Hay £100
Straw £45
Feed £80
Insurance £65
Wormer £8
Shoes £40

Plus vaccinations, teeth, physio, services if I am on holiday etc...

I have a high maintenance horse. Summer costs are cheaper but I tend to get all her rugs washed, have more lessons and buy things that I need for the winter in the summer to spread the cost out.
 
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I spent £493.00 on mine last month ( i have a app on my phone) but that includes insurance for the horses and the lorry plus lorry tax. I keep mine at home so I'm lucky i don't have livery costs. This is for 2 horses and one cheap to keep/budget pony. My main costs are hunter shavings. I get through 6 bales a week at the moment. Roll on summer when they can stay out longer!
 
I have a share horse two days a week (on DIY livery) who costs me £120 a month. More than what some of you pay for a full-time horse of your own :O and I thought he was cheap! But glad he doesn't cost nearly as much as my mortgage as I know that's what I'd end up spending per month if I owned one myself.
 
Oh crap just added mine up nearly £800/ month
Livery £150
Services £100
Feed £5
Supplements £30
Haylage £60
Bedding £20
Farrier £70 every 6 weeks
Lessons £120
Pay yard to ride £120
Insurance £35
Teeth £10 done every 6 months
Saddler £12,50 done every 4 months
worming not sure its on my livery bill
Physio £50 every 4 weeks due to an injury
Vacc including call out £7
 
Mine is about 175 per month and that includes DIY livery, feed, hay, bedding, supplements, wormer, fly spray. I spend about 150 per year on vaccinations and teeth.
 
Wow you guys spend loads!

Livery DIY £100 plus £20 to park the trailer.
Hay, we have bought in bulk so far spending £200 this winter.
Straw, same thing I have bought two big bales that have lasted until this week actually £60 in total.
Feed has cost me approx £40 a month lets say.
No shoes in winter, just had them back on and is usually £70 every 6 weeks and usually the odd tenner here and there for putting lost shoes back on.......
Lessons, once every 2 weeks from spring to autumn £50/ month
BE membership hmm is it £200 ish? I can't remember.
Competing lets say £150 a month maybe.
Dentist £25, physio £30, saddlery (?), vaccinations £40 as and when needed. He is not insured.


So winter: £225/ month
Summer: £350/ month ish

Yikes I don't like doing this!!!
 
Oh no - I feel like I need to add this up but need to forewarn I am based near London so this is going to be massive!!
£660 livery
£80 farrier (£120 every 6 weeks)
£200 training
£60 lorry insurance and fuel
£30 supplements
£60 insurance.
That's £990 per month )*faints* and doesn't include any trips to tack shop or competition entries...... Blimey I need to lie down!!!!
 
Lillybob said:
I'm planning on moving my mare later this year and I've looked at all the costs myself. As i'm a uni student, I know that I am 100% going to need to be working quite a bit to cover my horse ontop of my student loan but it got me wondering. How much do you all pay monthly for you horse? I've included livery, feed, bedding, farrier, and insurance etc but I noticed that there are a lot of things that I do or do not have for my mare that others might and I thought it would be interesting to see how people differ.
So on AVERAGE how much do you all spend on 1 horse monthly? :)
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£140 per horse - includes DIY livery, trimming, bedding, hay, and additional feed/supplements, as well as fund for BHS Gold Membership, wormer, jabs, and dentist. Haven't added additional vet related stuff as that's really too variable.
 
Right now £80 a month, and that includes daughters lead rein / horses companion pony! Thank you, I knew there was a reason I moved to a semi-derelict smallholding in Ireland and you have just reminded me of one of them. That is:

£60 feed and supplements
£20 other one-off things (like worm counts, dentist etc.)

No livery, made our own hay, trim them myself. Some things are very cheap, I fed barley straw with the hay as getting too fat, bought from neighbour at total cost of €20 (about £15).

Last years average was £430 a month (no pony):

£110 livery + £80 optional extras (assisted DIY)
£40 supplements
£50 hay
£40 bedding
The rest for one-offs, wormer, dentist etc. including a £400 vet bill and quarterly check-ups from my trimmer.

Edited to add: this includes everything! I'm OTT that way (comes from first job working for accountants) and keep a close record of what I spend putting everything against a budget code so even a bag of carrots in with the weekly groceries gets logged against the horse. If I had just added it up looking at the known costs I would have probably said £100 a month less last year.
 
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Nutsaboutnags said:
Oh no - I feel like I need to add this up but need to forewarn I am based near London so this is going to be massive!!
£660 livery
£80 farrier (£120 every 6 weeks)
£200 training
£60 lorry insurance and fuel
£30 supplements
£60 insurance.
That's £990 per month )*faints* and doesn't include any trips to tack shop or competition entries...... Blimey I need to lie down!!!!
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Argh!!! Forgot monthly physio £75.... I'm just off to sell a kidney to pay for all if it 😋
 
Thank god I am not the only one paying a fortune. Two horses, first around 700 for full livery (including riding, insurance and shoes) and second about 550 for assisted livery (including insurance and shoes). Anyone want a horse?
 
I've added up my 'bare minimum' costs & they are just over £250. However, realistically I have lessons, replacing equipment & not to mention physiotherapy, chiropractor etc means he comes in closer to £300-£350 on an average month.

That's for DIY livery for a native pony - to be fair, we are Sussex, so it's an expensive area!
 
shadeofshyness said:
I have a share horse two days a week (on DIY livery) who costs me £120 a month. More than what some of you pay for a full-time horse of your own :O and I thought he was cheap! But glad he doesn't cost nearly as much as my mortgage as I know that's what I'd end up spending per month if I owned one myself.
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Ha, I am the same and was just thinking this! Louis is a kind of loan/share he costs me;

120 for "livery"
17 Farrier (£20 trim every 5 weeks, if that)
15 Feed (micronized linseed and vits and mins- his owner buys basic feed)
6 Dentist - twice a year - worked out monthly cost
10 Physio - twice a year - worked out monthly cost

Lessons, competitions, BD membership, worming on top of that - I guess in my case even if I had livery somewhere and owned him, I would need a lot of services to help so it would work out loads more...I don't have to muck out 6 days out of 7 either. However I would have a lot more lessons if I could have a suitable arena...I probably only work out to have about 10 per year in reality...plus I get transport to shows which I wouldn't afford elsewhere.
It is all a bit of a compromise even not owning him!
 
£150 per month for two. This includes everything except school hire/lessons (not really happening atm), wormers/FEC and feed supplements for the one with arthritis. They live at my parents' place so no livery costs and only two shoes between both of them.
 
Kati*89 said:
Ha, I am the same and was just thinking this! Louis is a kind of loan/share he costs me;

120 for "livery"
17 Farrier (£20 trim every 5 weeks, if that)
15 Feed (micronized linseed and vits and mins- his owner buys basic feed)
6 Dentist - twice a year - worked out monthly cost
10 Physio - twice a year - worked out monthly cost

Lessons, competitions, BD membership, worming on top of that - I guess in my case even if I had livery somewhere and owned him, I would need a lot of services to help so it would work out loads more...I don't have to muck out 6 days out of 7 either. However I would have a lot more lessons if I could have a suitable arena...I probably only work out to have about 10 per year in reality...plus I get transport to shows which I wouldn't afford elsewhere.
It is all a bit of a compromise even not owning him!
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How many days a week do you have him? Full time? I'm very lucky in that I can have lessons in an indoor, although I didn't factor that into my monthly cost and I have to pay to hire the indoor too - it probably works out about £150 a month with that added in. I wish I had transport and could compete a bit but he doesn't load and there isn't any transport to try to teach him to anyway! I can't believe some people are paying less than me for 7 days a week owning a horse full time, when I only do 2 and pay more haha! But, if I had my own it'd have to be on full livery 5 days a week due to work so I'll justify it that way :D
 
Around £150 a month, give or take. That's shoes, livery (which is very cheap so not the average), feed and bedding. On top: Lessons £15/£30 depends on who I have every other or few weeks. Goes up in winter and I compete more in summer so an additional £30 every other week ish. I do horses on a budget and I'm not overly well paid.

That doesn't factor in dentist, routine vet visits, physio etc.
 
In warmer months when we have grass (Beast is on 24/7 turnout):
Livery £65
Insurance £25
Worming (not quite monthly but if he needs it) £5

Farrier isn't a cost for me. Things that aren't monthly or vary a lot such as dentist, vets fees, tack etc are obviously added on as and when. I also get free lessons and can hack to our local show so show costs are minimal.
In winter we go through one large bale a month which is £25. His feed costs me £15 in total and lasts about 2 months, so £7.50 per month.

I've probably missed things off as my mind went blank when answering but generally he's cheap to keep. This is really an approximate count-up, some months are obviously more expensive than others if he's due for things.
 
Per month:

Livery £75
Shoes £40 (£80 every 6-8 weeks)
Feed £20 (x1 bag Dengie Healthy hooves plus Saracen show improver nuts)
Hay/Verdo: £75
Insurance £80 (NFU, to inc tack, personal accident LOU and value)

Extras: school hire £12/hour
I budget £100 extra for bits I want to buy/lessons etc

Don't really want to add it up!
 
I have one 15.3hh 18 yr old TB on adlib hay, big straw bed and forage based feed.

Stable rent: £130
Hay: £40
Straw: £15
Farrier(every 8 weeks £40): £20
Speedibeet(every two months £12): £6
Graze on: £9
Linseed(every three months £24): £8
Probio(every three months £30): £10
Physio(every six months £60) :£10
Wormers(every six months £18) :£3
Insurance :£14

So a grand total in winter of £265 per month

Summer is the same but without the hay and straw so its £210 in summer a month
 
Mine are at home, so no livery, but I have to feed hay all year round and add a companion pony. Altogether, the basics (Hay, trimmer, routine vet/dentist, wormers, feed) average about 300/month, total for all 3. Lessons, competing, equipment, and random vet incidents probably add another 300/month. I can cut down on lessons/competing/equipment somewhat, but that's sort of the point of having them!
 
Assisted DIY livery = £173 per month inc turn out/bring in, hay & straw.

Everything else (including one lesson per week and my new trailer) I never EVER add up so I couldn't tell you ;)

I know you need to work out a figure to budget but like others have said, once you get a horse - don't add it up. It will just make you cry.
 
Livery (including all hard feed, unlimited hay, straw, huge stable, 40 by 60 school, wormer and supplements) £65 pm
Farrier £12 pm (24 every 8 weeks for a trim)

I don't budget as such for
vacs. I get them done with the dog. £30 quid a year.
Riding club £30 a year (is paid for as a Christmas present)
BHS gold £65 a year or thereabouts(as above)
Lessons I tend to stick to rc ones £15 but occasionally have at home £20 or thereabouts and it's only when I can afford the extra

Transport to shows is "free". I offer to pay for fuel/costs but it's never accepted. I pay all my own entry fees.

I'm very very lucky as I yard share with my mum, we private rent a yard. I help out with all maintenance. We cut our own hay and get straw locally (in exchange for our dung) I pay a set amount every month and if I'm working/having a family day with the kids they'll do the horse for me. In winter I also get the horse put in for me every night.

I work hard for them. Covering all their holidays (they're retired and love going abroad) riding 3 horses and showing my mums two. I also do various other 'jobs' for them and before they retired I used to work in their tack shop for nothing covering holidays etc (in addition to my own paid employment)
 
I'd say in winter c.£325 and that includes part livery (which accounts for over half of that total cost), hay, feed, bedding, insurance, farrier - but doesn't include vet jabs, teeth, wormer, any physio appt. It's probably bit less in summer due to less bedding and hay. Mine lives on fresh air so I don't have a big hay or feed bill in winter.
 
shadeofshyness said:
I have a share horse two days a week (on DIY livery) who costs me £120 a month. More than what some of you pay for a full-time horse of your own :O and I thought he was cheap! But glad he doesn't cost nearly as much as my mortgage as I know that's what I'd end up spending per month if I owned one myself.
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Wow that's an expensive share.
 
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