How much does your horse cost you a month?

Lillybob

Lillybob

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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? :)
 
Prob gonna regret adding this up!!

Livery - DIY but includes hay & straw £133
Feed £15
Insuarance £43
Farrier £20 (as £40 every 8weeks)
Teeth £10 ( tho done every 6 months)
Wormer / worm count £5 a month

There my basics... £226 a month Added on top...

Lessons £100 a month
Pony club rallies £30 a month
Horsebox insurance £30
Horsebox tax £25
Fuel in lorry....


Possible things that I've forgotten- it's 4:30am!! Lol
 
Approx £260-280 everything included insurance etc.

That's full livery 2x a week and part livery the other 5 days.
 
We've owned our horse approx 9 months and this is what I budget for:

Full grass livery - £170
Insurance - £32
Farrier - £15 (£20 per 6 wks)
Teeth - £6 (£35 twice yearly)
Saddler - £20 (£60 x4 per year)
Back checks - £20 (£60 x 4 per year)
Clipping - £5 (£25 twice yearly)
Worming - ? Can't remember as added to my livery bill
Vaccinations - ? Having these done next week
Extra feed/haylege over winter - £20

Then there's riding lessons (£100), pony club membership (£5), pony club rallies (£20), competitions (£25), camp (£30), horsebox running costs (£70) - averaged out to approx monthly costs.

And then all those little bits and pieces I seem to have to buy every time we visit the tack shop - first aid items, shampoo, fly spray, plaiting equipment, licks, calmers ...

First time I've actually added it all up and I'm quite shocked!
 
I did a detailed post on this on a previous thread, but it's about £500 all in (lessons, competitions, tack shop bits etc) on part livery. If you want to add the cost of the loan that's paying off the 4x4 and trailer, it's over £700 a month. That's an honest count-up of everything.
 
Diy livery £90 per month
hay on average £20 per month
bedding on average £5 per month
farrier on average £10 per month
physio on average £8 per month
feed on average £8 per month
insurance on average £6 per month

total for essentials £147 per month

extras lessons £80 per month

ETA dentist £40 every 9 months as he says she does not need doing any more frequently than that
 
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Theocat said:
Presumably that's per week?

If not - how is that possible?! :D
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No I have a good deal at work, I say part but its me working the 5 days so he's included in my work ones to do. If I ride in my own time during work I take an hour off. The other two days I don't work so he gets mucked out fed turned in/out etc. If needed I pay a bit extra for him to be exercised etc also. :) per month. He's a cob so not much in the free department and only just started having fronts every 7 weeks at 20 a pair. Insurance 26 a month. Not included vaccinations as they're a yearly thing. Very lucky, as he is entire as well so couldn't ask for more!
 
Step away from the keyboard. Shocking amounts as I'm in the SE on full livery and have just bought a second horse. Thank goodness I have no other life, as I wouldn't have the money for anything else! And a v understanding OH and no kids !
 
Kat said:
Nooooooo!!!!!!!!!

The first rule of horse ownership is NEVER add up the costs!
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I agree with Kat, as I just started to add it up and now I wish I hadn't :(
I buy in bulk so I have large costs a couple of times a year but then it always seems like they are really cheap to keep after that :)
 
I would say average month £250. Sometimes more, sometimes less depending if buying wormer, tack, rug etc or if its the month where the farrier isn't visiting. (Not including any lessons/competitions in that figure).
 
its varies greatly. This mont hthere has been a rug bought , horse feed,the farrier calling, and wormer. Next month it will be buying fertilizer. Some months I spend as little as £20 and others it can be £500.
 
On average (not including worming/vacs/etc as they're not strictly monthly) about £150. I work in return for shavings and feed so that lowers it quite a bit. I always keep a bit on the side for extras eg transport/goodies but rarely goes past £180 :)
 
In the South East on diy...

Stable, grazing & hay 250
Bedding 45
Feed 25
Supplements 25
Insurance 42
Farrier 60
Vet, dentist, saddler etc 35
Lessons 100

Think I'll stop there and not fess up to the tack shop purchases, entry fees and the rest but about 600 / month - eek!!
 
Mines difficult as I rent some land for £250 a month and could take on liveries or sub let. I prefer to keep it for myself though and have four on at the minute. It costs around d 85 per horse per month to keep, without tack and rugs etc.
 
Learned my lesson this year and will be putting at least a couple of hundred away each month over summer!

Costs have been as follows averaged out per horse per month over winter:

Livery £80
Hay £25
Straw £10
Feed £20
Farrier £15
Wormer £6
So they each cost me around £160 a month.

I'm sure I've missed something out though!
 
for my ridden horse

£130 livery - DIY
£60 hay
£60 bedding
£17.75 - vet care plan, covering Annual vaccinations, teeth including sedation, 1 worm count, and one equest pramox in November. + 50% off all additional call outs and 20% off additional teeth appointments.
£80 every 4-5 weeks for a set of front shoes (remedial)
£25 feed
£240 for schooling/lessons (2 per week £30 a time)
£38 insurance - following a claim

Retired mare

£90 grass livery
£30 hay
£17.75 vet care plan
£151 - cushings medication (last 41 days)
£20 every 8 weeks for a trim
£55 feed
£5.25 BHS Gold cover

Mini Shetland

£20 grass livery
He shares my mares feed so about £5-10 a month, same with the hay
BHS cover gives public liability insurance for all 3 horses
His feet are trimmed when he can be caught so maybe £40 a year!

Also in the process of paying off £750 of vet bills from the ridden horses claim!! I have £150 left to go
 
My OH tried to get me to add it up last year - big mistake!! Just budgeting for the basics was OK-ish, then i added up the running costs of the horsebox, BD membership, competition entries, lessons, diesel and it pretty much doubled!! Now i try not to look!
 
I'm in the lucky position to have an older horse who lives out, so get away with a lot of costs!
Field rent £60
Ins £20
Shoes £20
Feed - nothing but a bag of AlphaA all summer, but average £50 hay plus £30 feed and supplements in the winter.

I have a sharer who gives me £40 a month.

We only hack, so no lessons or transport costs, although hoping to do a few shows this summer. Pony-on-a-shoestring!!!
 
I have an app that does the budgets for me. Last year, I spent a round £500 per month on horse-related stuff. However, a lot of that went on vet treatment and eventually PTS for my old companion pony (about £100/month) and another big chunk on activities with my riding pony (lessons, competitions, travel to and from, another £100/month). I also indulged in a few biggish investments (e.g. clippers for £250).

If I had to stick to a budget, I think I could manage with around £150/month:
Grass livery £50
Winter hay £8
Vit and mins/feed £15
Farrier £55
vet/worming £13 (for annual jabs, teeth, 2x FEC and Equest/Tapes)
BHS membership £6

I don't insure my horse currently since I have the savings for emergencies if needed. If I didn't, I think I'd insure for vet costs, which would add another £40-50/month. But I think I'd have quite a bit less fun if I didn't have lessons and never went anywhere with my horse.

I think the lesson I learned when I first did a budget is that the real cost of horse ownership aren't in the basic livery/feed etc. but in going to horse-related activities and unexpected purchases/vet bills. I takes a lot of discipline not to indulge in non-essentials.
 
DIY livery, hay, worming and services cost me about £270pm.
Feed £25pm
Trimming is £20 (£25 every 5 weeks)
Insurance is £45pm
Trips out/lessons/competitions about £50pm - they vary depending on finances each month!

Still cheaper than my kids combined nursery fees!
 
Ok this is going to be painful...one horse on 5 day full livery in Surrey.

Livery (inclusive of feed/bedding) = £400
Shoes (every 5 weeks) = £60
Insurance (including BHS Gold membership) = £43
Lessons (once a week) = £80
Comp fees (based on competing fortnightly) = £72

On top of that I easily spend an extra £80 or so on random bits and bobs - matchy pads/bandages, rugs etc.

Fortunately I'm single and have little life outside of my horse so it's not too bad. I also work two nights a week at a pub on top of my day job to fund my lessons and competing.
 
A few years ago, I wrote everything I spent on the horses down, just out of interest really and to prove to my OH that his cars cost more than my horses! In a year, I spent about £3,700 so just over about £300 a month. This included everything except fuel (both for daily yard trips and towing) as it was impossible to calculate as I use the Landy for everyday driving too.

It's enough but not excessive, I thought. I'm not extravagant and buy only necessities (a Horseware Newmarket excercise sheet is a necessity isn't it?) but equally I don't skimp on anything.

Livery (DIY) is £100 every 4 weeks and haylage £60 for the same period in winter only (Archie only)
Shoes £70 every 8 weeks for Arch (lucky he can go that long) £65 every 6 weeks for Monty.
They don't cost much in feed (I buy feed as M wouldn't need it if I wasn't riding) and rather than pay insurance, I pay £70 a month into a savings account.
Worming programme (Archie) £11 a month
Offset with £60 a month from sharer

Everything else is ad hoc as I don't do anything regularly enough to calculate it monthly, I'd say another £100 on top on average.
 
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