How much per year to comfortably afford a horse...

but in answer to your question, I wouldn't have thought anything less than £30k if you're planning to work in london.
 
maletto said:
I ended up moving out of london precisely because of the time/money/cost conundrum it entails.

I have to say I agree with the previous poster who says that the more you earn the more you spend- every time I've got a pay rise, I've ended up feeling as stretched as I did before within a matter of months!

horses are damned expensive.
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Amen maletto. Solution (which I see regularly round my way) is a rich husband or wealthy parents. Sadly I have neither. Any offers? Adoption? Marriage? All considered.
 
My OH and I pool our cash I earn more but together its about 33k live in a cheap area one horse on assisted livery and compete in the summer. I always feel poor but I'm rubbish with cash!
 
Gosh! After reading all the posts, I feel really lucky! My hubby is on £40 - £50k, I have a mortgage and I have 5 horses, a mixture of old and young!, and only hack. I pay £900 a year for 20 acres on which I have my own stables. I have my trailer and I don't pay for hay and straw as my husband makes it. I gave up work a month ago because I felt I had no time for my horses, so what was the point of having them! In a few weeks, I am renting a yard and have a few liveries lined up, hope to make enough to pay the rent and maybe make a few pounds for my self!
 
I think it depends on so much like what type if horse you have for a start (my 17hh warmblood costs a lot more to keep than my friends 14hh native). Wot type if livery you want, field kept is obviously goin to be cheaper than a stable kept. And where you want to keep it London being a lot dearer than the country side. Plus also depends on what other bills you have to pay. If you have no other outgoings then you obviously won't need to earn as much to keep the horse.
 
I earn between 20-25k a year and have a 14hh native on assisted DIY. I don't compete per se but do have regular lessons & go to clinics & fun days. I could keep horse more cheaply, but time vs work means I need more assisted & I'm paying to be at a yard with off road hacking (which we enjoy).

I have a good social life but still live at home with parents - I pay rent & food etc & am completely financially independant & saving up to move out.

I live in West Sussex/Surrey boarder though in commuter belt ... So it is expensive area!
 
Hmm, I live in Scotland, just my husband working, earns £50-£60k, we have 3 children, 1 retired IDXTB who still costs as much in feed/rugs etc as he did when in work, 1 welsh sec A and 1 NF type, none are out doing anything at the moment with strangles etc close to us, all on grass livery with a stable. We have a lovely cottage on an estate, 4x4 and I will be going back to Uni soon I hope.
 
I would say it depends on area of the country you live both in terms of livery costs and salaries, whether you're at a yard and what you get for your money there or just rent field/stable somewhere and also if you are on your own or have shared costs on property/rent/bills etc.

All I know is having lost my job 4 years ago and being on my own and earning up to £10K less per year since then as not been able to get back up to my former salary level I am really struggling with one pony. And that's with a good doer that lives off fresh air.
 
LynneT said:
Gosh! After reading all the posts, I feel really lucky! My hubby is on £40 - £50k, I have a mortgage and I have 5 horses, a mixture of old and young!, and only hack. I pay £900 a year for 20 acres on which I have my own stables. I have my trailer and I don't pay for hay and straw as my husband makes it. I gave up work a month ago because I felt I had no time for my horses, so what was the point of having them! In a few weeks, I am renting a yard and have a few liveries lined up, hope to make enough to pay the rent and maybe make a few pounds for my self!
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Get out =p

This is why I could never live in London. I just couldn't justify paying those kind of prices, even if I could afford it!
I live in the northwest and even when things were pretty bad money wise for me, I still managed to keep two horses on DIY on less than 5k a year. Granted I had no money for anything else and went without food for a long time before my youngster sold but I did it.
 
2 ponies on DIY and living out 24/7 summer and winter. compete locally every fortnight on one.
Between us, me and fiance are on about 30k per year.

I have £400 per month to spend on the ponies and this covers:
dentist annually/annual vaccination/Insurance/Livery/Farrier/Feed/Hay over winter plus £90 per month for competitions/Lessons.
 
I count comfortable as being able to afford:

  • A mortgage on a reasonable (not lavish) property - I have a two bedroom terraced house in a middling area, which is fine for a young professional but would be tight for a family with anything older than infants, so your age and circumstances dictate "comfortable" when it comes to what you live it
  • Travel / commuting, however you need to
  • Pension (boring, I know, but without it I wouldn't be "comfortable" and if you don't get employer contributions you're meant to pay in (warning generalisation alert) about 15% of your salary. I honestly wouldn't have a horse until I had some sort of pension plan in place :(
  • Food - and not baked beans five nights a week
  • Bills
  • A holiday once a year (doesn't need to be mega bucks, but I do think you need to be able to get away ... I usually go for a £400 package holiday type thing)

You'll also want / need clothes, socialising, other hobbies ...

If you work, and start to earn a reasonable salary, you might find it hard to stick to DIY livery because of hours and responsibilities.

You'll also find as you have a bit more coming in that you tend to want a bit more from it - I spend a lot more on food now than I did ten years ago; still not a stupid amount but much more than I absolutely need to.

I have a horse on part livery, with weekly lessons, low level competing, and I run a 4x4 and trailer. Excluding the cost of the car loan, my horse costs me about £500 a month, and I don't even have a matchy-matchy habit :p

I think to be "comfortable", you're probably looking at a £40K-£60K salary band outside London. I'm at the lower end of that and I still have a housemate to help with the bills, and I'm scraping together holiday money for my first holiday in two years after a very expensive few months (houses fall apart, horses outgrown saddles ...)

But lots of people do it for a lot less than that. A lot of it comes down to priorities. I love my horse, but I know I'd love horses and riding a lot less if I could only afford DIY, lived out of tins, never had money for anything else and never, ever had even a cheap holiday. Other people love it enough that they're happy it's the only real luxury in their life.

As a rule of thumb, your salary is always slightly less per month than you'd need to feel entirely comfortable, no matter how much you earn :D
 
Depends very much on your chosen career and what sacrifices you are happy to make in other areas. For example if you are starting out on your career you may be happy to live in a shared house or flat which could take your rent down to £500 pcm.
You may not see your horse every day, if you are starting out you may be expected to put in long hours, so accept you will have to hand over day to day care and find a ym you like and trust.

You can get 5 day part livery for just over £400pcm if you know where to look and this can work out the same as trying to do diy and paying for services and transport.

If you are at a yard with reasonable facilities and have a straightforward horse then I think it is slightly easier to get sharers as there is a pool of people from all over the world, competent horse people who are not in a position to have their own horse. However don't rely on this, do your sums and make sure you can manage without if you have to.

I was doing it fairly easily at under 30k but had no responsibilities other than the 4 legged one. Mortgage was about £650, council tax £120, energy £50 and another £100 on service charge on my flat. I don't bother about holidays as I travel for work so don't fancy more travel in my time off. Pension £100, water £20. Travel about £150. Zone 3 or maybe 4 are a good compromise, easy commute but on the edge for getting to the horses.

I know people who earn alot less and manage on diy but they keep their horses further into London but they make sacrifices with turn out and hacking that I would not.

I now earn a fair bit more but have 2 horses so still have no money ;)
 
I think the problem is you can keep horses cheaper when you have time to do DIY but you then tend to earn less, or you can earn more but spend more on livery.
I used to live in west London, my horse lived on livery first in Harefeild/Ruislip area, and then Chorleywood, bucks. which was a 25 mile drive, on m4 and m25, so took 45mins when traffic wasn't bad, or could be done my tube as Chorleywood has a tube station... so it is possible. I know someone there who works in a hospital in central London, commuting from Chorleywood area. however, of course it is more expensive being in commutable areas. I was paying £45 a week just for stable and grazing, £35 for grass livery a week. I obviously couldn't go twice a day as didn't have time and the travel costs where more than paying them to do the horse. because I worked at a school, ending at 3.30, the traffic was not rush hour, if I finished at 5 I would be stuck in traffic for hours getting there. if working late you need facilities like flood lights.
the only reason I could afford it was because I was living with my parents so had no rent (salary in 10,000 :( )
I now live in west Berkshire, and rent land that is very cheap, only 2 miles from my house. in my job you earn no more in London, as I'm a support assistant. I love not living in London, but understand for careers its often the only option.
I don't think there is a comfortable salary you need as costs vary sooo much. I have 2 horses, both full set of shoes, (which is my biggest cost each year, actually more than my land rent) occasional shows, lessons, school rental, and it costs max £5000 a year for both, every cost included. it is a lot of money!!
 
About 11k a year.

Feed is only about £15 every 6 weeks or so.
Hay is £224 6 monthly?
Shoes £35 six weekly, however as I am riding much more frequently in the summer he currently has all fours so it's currently £55.
£25pcm insurance.
I honestly cannot remember bedding. :confused: That's worrying.
My sister pays his DIY livery on a private yard with school and great hacking £125pcm.

I get by, only been in my job a short while, things are getting easier now I am on more money. I occasionally have money for shopping, dinners and even shoes if I am lucky!

I'm 19 by the way, and pay for my car, phone, rent as well as regular commutes to London to see my OH.

Based just outside London in Surrey.

Being able to give my pony a great quality of life really inpires me to work harder and earn more money, don't think I am doing too bad considering I only left College last year!
 
I'm on less than 15k a year (although have a second job too earning about 1.5k on top), and I do manage to keep my poor-doing TB as well as get lessons and do some low level competing. However he is field-kept, on what is technically DIY but in actuality is slightly assisted DIY (we help each other out), and I live with my parents and hardly ever buy new clothes/spend much money going out socially! I'm also lucky that my sister is learning to drive in my car, so I'm getting some help with the insurance etc too...

So I manage, but it's hardly what I'd call comfortable!! I'm just horse mad and can't function for long without one...
 
madmav said:
Amen maletto. Solution (which I see regularly round my way) is a rich husband or wealthy parents. Sadly I have neither. Any offers? Adoption? Marriage? All considered.
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No offers here sorry :( but I am a part time North Londoner as well so just wanted to say hi ;-)

Too much... I looked at the prices of livery out of curiosity as I have a North London home.

Full livery started around £750 per month so I guess a £1000 per month just to own a horse.

Here in France full livery £120 per month ! However my boy is at home so the cost are marginal. But as some other posters have said the more you have the more you spend.
 
I keep my pony on grass livery in Chorleywood and get to the yard by tube, the thing with horses is that when everything is fine then the costs are ok it is when things go wrong and they have a tendency to go wrong esp if you are short of time and money!

I would not feel comfortable being in a situation where I am just about getting by as if anything goes wrong then you have a real problem. My pony got injured and had to go on very expensive rehab full livery for 7 months, luckily I had the savings in place to pay for this.

Having said that I know a few people who have had horses living out in the same field as my pony who have not needed the vet ever and who are keeping their horses very cheaply and they look really well, though they don't compete and have lessons which keeps the costs down.

pippixox said:
I think the problem is you can keep horses cheaper when you have time to do DIY but you then tend to earn less, or you can earn more but spend more on livery.
I used to live in west London, my horse lived on livery first in Harefeild/Ruislip area, and then Chorleywood, bucks. which was a 25 mile drive, on m4 and m25, so took 45mins when traffic wasn't bad, or could be done my tube as Chorleywood has a tube station... so it is possible. I know someone there who works in a hospital in central London, commuting from Chorleywood area. however, of course it is more expensive being in commutable areas. I was paying £45 a week just for stable and grazing, £35 for grass livery a week. I obviously couldn't go twice a day as didn't have time and the travel costs where more than paying them to do the horse. because I worked at a school, ending at 3.30, the traffic was not rush hour, if I finished at 5 I would be stuck in traffic for hours getting there. if working late you need facilities like flood lights.
the only reason I could afford it was because I was living with my parents so had no rent (salary in 10,000 :( )
I now live in west Berkshire, and rent land that is very cheap, only 2 miles from my house. in my job you earn no more in London, as I'm a support assistant. I love not living in London, but understand for careers its often the only option.
I don't think there is a comfortable salary you need as costs vary sooo much. I have 2 horses, both full set of shoes, (which is my biggest cost each year, actually more than my land rent) occasional shows, lessons, school rental, and it costs max £5000 a year for both, every cost included. it is a lot of money!!
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I have 2 horses (cobs) 3yr old and a 5yr old. 2 children and a 5 month baby :) OH self employed for around 12 months now and luckily is doing very well. I am on maternity leave - also self employed.
Luckily have our own land (4 acres) no stables/facilities or water just the land with alot of natural shelter. I pay for their insurance, shoes for the 5yr old, saddle fitter every 6 months, dentist, wormers etc - hay in the winter can be expensive but in the summer they hardly cost anything.
Do the occasional local show and fortunate enough to live a 2 min walk to a livery yard with fab facilities which are available to hire. I will have the odd lesson, planning 1 every month :)
There both good doers - this to me is important as they live out 24/7 :)
 
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