How much does your horse cost you?

WOW! Some of these are humungous! I'm very glad H lives out 24/7! He is on working livery at £180 pm (includes a feed a day and hay), he has shoes every 6/7 weeks at £75, insurance £32 pm, wormer (done by YO) - I think she charges £20 3x a year, vaccinations/teeth etc (not sure!). I don't tend to regularly put anything more by, but sometimes add some to a savings account in case of rugs required etc.

Then there's the supplemental carrots, of course!


I think he's a bargain! :D
 
£325 part livery pcm includes mon-fri care, feed, bedding and hay.
£20feet trim every 8 weeks
£100 for 3 lessons per month
£250 for one competition per month - BE plus hire of box and fuel
not to mention worker, back, insurance and jabs....

I don't keep a tally, I just work more when I want to compete, to cover the costs.

So £415 average, or £600+ for a competition month
 
Since I stopped putting shoes on, I have to say my bill makes me smile after looking at some of this lot :)
 
My horse costs me loadsamoney every month and I'm too scared to work it out properly in case I realise I can't really afford him!! :)
 
Around £100 - £110 per month. Incl feed, hay, straw, field rent, supplements & farrier every 6 weeks without fail (just a trim - barefoot). My girl is cheap as chips to keep. Before we rented a field and built our own stables and fencing (which did cost around 2k though, but between two of us) she was costing me around £400 for livery, then with supplements, farrier, wormers etc on top. So pleased I finally have it right and can actually afford to eat now. Haha x
 
Mine is quite cheap in terms of general upkeep - so for stable, 24/7/365 grazing in an 8 acre field with one other horse, hay and bedding I probably pay about £150 pcm in winter, and less in summer as I use much less bedding and hay. She isn't shod and is more or less self-trimming, so just £20 for the farrier every now and then to check how she's doing. But then I have to add on the (extortionate!!!) cost of Prascend and her joint supplement (Synequin), so suddenly not so cheap!!
 
My lovely girl costs every month
£120 DIY livery ( fantastic farm ride 6 miles with cross country jumps/ large sand school
£54 haylage (2 large bales)
£40 straw ( very messy mare but only £2.50 a bale)
£ 35 approx hard feed
£40 every 6 weeks for shoes and trim ( front feet shoed)
£30 insurance just covering vet fees
£ 20 every 2 months for vit supplements.

Plus any extras such as wormer, vaccinations etc as required.... Plus the added costs of feeding my addiction of spending money on buying numnahs/ boots/ rugs etc . Only had her 8 weeks and worth every Penny and a lot more too. Tries so hard and so deserves the best.

Forgot to add the added fuel cost... not part of my horses upkeep I do travel 25-30 mins to her yard (15 miles each way) and worth it to be on such a lovely yard with nice people too!
Are you looking to buy OP??
 
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Hmm.

Per month:
£130 livery
£40 hay
£15 shavings
£10 feed
£10 feet trim (£20 every 8 weeks)

£205, plus wormers when required, and spending lord-knows-how-much in the tack shop every time I walk in :o

*Note to self. Must. Stop. Buying. Stuff.*
 
Does it live in/out/both? In at the moment as the fields are closed :(
Full/part/DIY livery? DIY, £20/week
Do you compete? no but I have lessons, £35/week for dressage and £45/month for Parelli
Do you put any money away for emergancies and if so, how much? no
How much for feed and what is it? linseed, oats, speedibeet and lots of expensive supplements as she is 23. I'm not really sure but I think £50 a month as one of the joint supplements and the cushings medicine are quite dear.
Hay/haylage? On straw or shavings? haylage (copd) at £30/week and fibre bedding at £13/week

She is barefoot and her trim is £35/time so about £6/week. I think we are ready for a gold card with the vets as we haven't had a bill free month yet this year but I'm not including that.
Insurance is £50/month but my parents pay that as it's my childhood pony and a petplan policy, don't want it to change to injury only. I suppose I could pay them back but my dad is very generous :)

It adds up to £542.20, which is about a hundred pounds more than I thought it was. Oh dear.
 
jenbleep said:
Does it live in/out/both?
Full/part/DIY livery?
Do you compete?
Do you put any money away for emergancies and if so, how much?
How much for feed and what is it?
Hay/haylage? On straw or shavings?
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Totally missed the first post. It's been a long week :o

He's in at night, out in the day.
We don't compete (yet!).
Yes, I try to keep at least £1000 stashed, just in case.
Feed is only ever Dengie good doer, and Bailey's high fibre nuggets.
Hay, and shavings.
 
Well I'm really lucky as mine lives out and I don't pay for grazing/bit of hay.
She eats grass and a bit of hay but she gets obese just looking at grass so haven't fed her much over the winter- I'd say she was down to "slightly overweight" now...
She's barefoot so 20 quid every 2 months for a trim.
Wormer- forget how much it costs- 20 pounds a bottle?
Tack- I've had to buy everything and it's cost more than she did! But that's not a regular outlay.
I have savings for vet- she had an abscess 18 months ago which cost about £130. I could cover vet costs of a couple of thousand but if something cost so much she'd probably be in such a bad way I'd pts.
To be honest the main cost used to be train tickets to go see her at the weekends- 20quidish a pop so that counts as my livery cost! But I don't do that any more so it's just petrol costs when I'm too lazy to cycle to see her.
She's really very cheap and that's partly because she's such a good doer and partly because, well, free grazing really helps...
 
Livery 174 includes turning out, feeding, hay, straw. Horse in at night night.

Insurance 29.00 a month.

Feed- about 25.00 a month.

Barefoot so trim every 2 month's-10.00 a month.

Lesson-40.00 a month. 6 month's competing about 100.00 a month.

Wormer and vaccs maybe average 10.00 a month.

Save 35.00 a month into horses account.

Don't want to add it up!
 
Does it live in/out/both? Both
Full/part/DIY livery? Full during the week, DIY weekends - £430pm
Do you compete? No due to no transport but that should change soon
Do you put any money away for emergencies and if so, how much? No
How much for feed and what is it? Topspec Comprehensive Balancer £37, Happy Hoof £12
Hay/haylage? On straw or shavings? £30pm on haylage, £35pm shavings

I also spend about £150 per month on lessons/training/clinics, insurance £50pcm, farrier £88 every 6 weeks, physio usually every month £50... the list is endless

I have a spreadsheet and on average it's about £750 per month on a reasonable month... which is SHOCKING!!
 
Up until about a week ago, about £450 PCM.

He was on full/part livery.

A week ago I moved him back to a yard v near home, total DIY with just the odd TO or BI.

He should hopefully cost me about £250 now which is going to make a big difference, I should hopefully also save around £80 a month in petrol.

He is on shavings though and that includes shoes and insurance. Doesn't include competing as at the mo we're not but when he's back in full work and I am having lessons/competing it may be nearer the £350 mark but we'll see.

ETA- sorry I didn't answer all the Q's. No I don't put money away a month really, just tend to pay for things as and when they come up. Feed probably about £13 a month (he's a good doer) he's on fast fibre, alfafa a, a scoop of protexin and Topspec calmer.
 
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I have 4, 3 live out all year round at £25 a week each with ad lib hay. The other is in on assisted DIY which includes hay, straw, turn out / bring in and change rugs at £55 a week. Then probably about £100 a month for extras.
So about 600 a month. Good god I didn't realise it was that much!
 
I worked it all out a long time ago & it frightened me & it's more expensive now. Once you've added up the costs, & calmed down because the amount frightened you, you need to work out how much fuel you use each day going down to the stables in the morning & evening. Then work how much it costs you to tax & insure your lorry. How much to maintain it & test it & then how much fuel costs you to go anywhere. These are the hidden costs of ownership.

To be honest I don't know how much it costs & I don't want to know. It's a great part of my life & very important to me & I will continue to enjoy my horses regardless of the cost. One day when I have incredible difficulty paying the bills I may be forced to re-assess it all but until then...... ;)
 
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Toby_zaphod I'm going to look at it that way as well or else I might cry lol. I'm very lucky hubbie is a farrier so I don't have any shoe bills and I also work at the yard a couple of mornings a week to help. Phew horses are an expensive luxury!
 
I don't think it's an expensive hobby...

My friend is a keen golfer and I know spends a fortune each year not just on green fees and clubs but all the golfing holidays and tournaments! Rest assured its well over £5k...

Just accept that unless you do it for a job, whatever hobby you choose will cost you money.
 
coffeeandcake said:
Are you looking to buy OP??
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It's a bit of a long story, but I may be able to have a horse for next to nothing as he has a lot of issues (sarcoids, windsucks, melanoma etc) and was wondering how much you all pay! I had a horse on loan over 18 months ago and she cost me about £150-£200 per month at the very most, but I didn't have to pay livery/field rent.

This horse would be kept out and fed on pony nuts and chaff with PP, I would like a stable for awful nights to keep him in but was hoping to keep him for about £300 per month, I wonder if this is do-able? I would like a lesson once a month too ;) Local comps and hunting throughout the winter.

How did you go about finding a suitable field and shelter?
 
God im too scared to think about it, here goes...

£80 for our land and stables from my neighbour
£55 insurance for both
about £60 on feed and £64 on shavings in the mid winter, £20 in summer
Hay is brought in bulk for about £300 in the summer

I dont compete or put any money by.

So in the winter it works out to be about £300 and in the summer about £155 a month.

Oh and feet trim at £15 every 6/7 weeks and shoes for the other at £50, and vet call out with jabs once a year at about £100.

Christ my husband better not see this! lol :/
 
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Per Month:
£91 - Grass Livery (including any extra hay/hayledge)
£32 - Shoes (shod approx every 8 weeks)
£21 - Bute
£30 - Join Supplements
£50 - Insurance
£5 - Hard Feed (she literally has enough chaff/nuts to get the bute and supps down)

I then put £100pm approx away for vet bills.
I also try and have a riding lesson every 2/3 weeks at Ingestre so say £60pm

AKA not a cheap hobby!
 
Native Pony said:
I agree with this too. I reckon on spending up to £3,000 per year on average. That covers price fluctuations of feed, hay, straw and so on. Also the vet, trimmer, dentist....
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Gawd, just worked out that my semi-retired horse cost about that :o and she's on grass livery! Really need to have a look at my insurance but it doesn't run out till August.
 
jenbleep said:
It's a bit of a long story, but I may be able to have a horse for next to nothing as he has a lot of issues (sarcoids, windsucks, melanoma etc) and was wondering how much you all pay! I had a horse on loan over 18 months ago and she cost me about £150-£200 per month at the very most, but I didn't have to pay livery/field rent.

This horse would be kept out and fed on pony nuts and chaff with PP, I would like a stable for awful nights to keep him in but was hoping to keep him for about £300 per month, I wonder if this is do-able? I would like a lesson once a month too ;) Local comps and hunting throughout the winter.

How did you go about finding a suitable field and shelter?
Click to expand...

I reckon you're looking more £350/400 with comps/hunting/lessons...
 
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