How skint are you/would you be to keep a horse?

[Nymphea]

We've decided to keep my son and daughters horses hopefully for the rest of their lives but it's crippling us financially. We have 3 children at university in London (we live in France) and life is difficult. We bought a house with land to keep the horses but as it's clay it's completely water logged and they've had to go to a livery. Every month is a struggle, we are overdrawn and have to watch every penny.
However, in my mind we don't have a choice. The horses gave my children the most amazing childhood and we have endless happy memories to look back on. I don't feel that they are a commodity that can be bought and sold. We owe them. We will keep them somehow or other. If there ever comes a day when we can't we will have them put to sleep.

 

[elliefiz]

Well I think I would be no. 1 in that I would be very rich instead of always broke if it wasn't for horses! I paid my livery bill the other day and realised that when I added my training costs, shoeing, insurance, etc it works out more than my monthly mortgage payment.

But I have a really well paid job , a big house bought by myself, a lovely car and a pretty nice lifestyle in that I tend not to deprive myself of anything nor do I think I make a lot of sacrifices to keep horses. I never seem to have a penny left by pay day but I probably could be reasonably well off if I was more financially savvy.
I am envious of anyone who has their own land to keep their horses on- if I didn't pay livery every month I would be so well off, but I could never imagine being without horses and if push came to shove would do whatever it took to keep them.

 

[Ceriann]

My OH and I are 14 months post buying a house with land. The size of the mortgage is scary but we manage. When we moved we got the stables done and had to fence every field. My bonus this year will go on fencing and hard standing and a new rainy day pot. I am lucky (my OH tolerates the horses) but I work very hard and have a decent job - the horses are my switch off. I justify a lot of the spend on the basis that the house is an investment and I don't spend loads on horsey extras. I used to spend a fortune on bags, shoes, clothes and nights out - now I don't want to. I would be much better off financially without the horses but I wouldn't be happy without them.