Is anyone else always totally flat broke because of their horses

Bojingles

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I've had the awful realisation that in the last year I've been out of my immediate area (I'd say a radius of 5 miles) only TWICE! I have nowhere to go that warrants spending the petrol, I can't afford to go shopping and I rarely eat out. I never ever buy clothes unless they're for riding. I never ever go on holiday. My horses are literally eating and wearing all my money. Any scraps that are found down the back of the sofa are spent on the dogs ;). I'm not even young or a student; I'm just perma-skint. Wouldn't have it any other way, mind. Anyone else find themselves in this situation?
 

FfionWinnie

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No. I couldn't live that close to the edge happily. If I was that broke I would cut my cloth to fit the circumstances and cut down on horses.
 

Antw23uk

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Erm yes but only at the moment. New property, own land and stables so in theory I will be saving money as no livery bill but there is a lot of initial out spend to bring the place up to scratch. At the moment though I am very poor ... but it will all be worth it ... I just need to NOT collect horses because I have the land to keep them on! It will be tricky and I have no self control! :(
 

FestiveFuzz

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Nope and similar to FfionWinnie, I wouldn't feel comfortable being that stretched. It was bad enough when I bought Pops and had to budget for a month but I personally really value financial security and get a bit panicky if I don't have a couple of hundred left over at the end of the month for any unexpected costs that invariably crop up. Each to their own though...
 

Limbo1

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Yes and no. We have a strict divide on money, what I earn pays for the horses and land maintenance. What hubby earns pays for everything else. So I am always skint - no new clothes, have to save up for tyres for car etc. But family life is fine. My husband knows the dangers and so have a `fire wall' between main finances and horses. I would collect them otherwise! Do want a trailer not sure how I am going to manage that, start saving or begging!
 

LHIS

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I don't like being hand to mouth, I had a few years in my early twenties where I had 3 jobs and still no money, I lived off toast and though my life wasn't bad (I didn't have a horse though :( ) I'm so glad it's not like that anymore. I don't like spending money on myself generally, but occasionally have a little spend, I bought myself a new pair of riding tights yesterday. I like to have a nice little nest egg and live quite frugally in general. I was brought up that if I can't afford it I can't have it! That's stuck with me and I deliberate over buying non-essentials for weeks usually before I make a decision.
 

wyrdsister

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Yes, to my frustration. My amazing LP tortured my bank account with her chronic, peculiar, & ultimately untreatable medical conditions but pootled on happy in herself until I lost her in March. Orange mare, who I had on loan (& budgeted for) developed hock arthritis & that cost a bomb until she eventually went home to be a companion. The young mare I bought to succeed both of them (with LP as a companion) ended up having major surgery & being pts a year ago. And my new youngster (I'm down to one because of all the costs) has just blown her collateral ligament fooling about in the field. They were all fully insured, but that never covers everything necessary & while I'm not in debt things have been fairly precarious for a long time now. Am sick of it!
 

Shadowdancing

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Yes but just over the past few months, buying a little horsebox taxing insuring etc. and then having to pay for teeth blood tests and then a pouch wash prior to moving yards... I've spent a small fortune. Ouch. I'm now living off tins of beans until I can regain some form of balance.
 

JennBags

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No, sorry, like some of the others I'd cut my cloth to suit. I would hate to love like that, and would rather be horseless than that skint. I don't know how many horses you have but I'd certainly be cutting down and trying to enjoy other things too.
 

Equi

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Yup. I live in my overdraft. But then again this is my first month full time hours before that I was banking what I could get. I splashed out and bought a notebook for myself in a sale for 100.

I'm incredibly lucky I still live at home so cheap rent and no livery for my minis and I have a sharer who pays half my horses livery
 

pippixox

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there is a balance. I am not completely broke at the end of the month, but I don't have much left before pay day. I do have enough that is I really wanted to go to the cinema or a meal with friends it wont bankrupt me! I have a low wage as I work as a support assistant at a school and a charity, so both are low hourly rates, topped up with groom work. So really it is amazing how I make the money stretch! I have 4 horses, but they are currently living out and I keep them as cheap as I can. I have a mortgage now and a baby on the way :) so the horses can no longer eat all of my money!
 

TelH

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I'm not completely broke at the end of the month- I do find a bit left to save each month and I have no debts, but my horses and dogs spend everything else. I go out for dinner with my Dad twice a year(!) when he is in my area but the only other times I go out as such are to shows, sometimes I show my ponies, sometimes the dogs. I guess I could do other things if I wanted, I could miss a show one weekend and use the diesel money/entry fees to do something else. But I kind of like it the way it is :)
 

rowan666

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Yes I am now, i recently moved into a bigger house in a better area and I'm really feeling the effects (it was ment to leave me better off moving in with OH but ended up the opposite anyway thats another story) I did put one of the ponies up for loan it didn't work out for a few reasons so we have now decided he will have to stay and the only other option to part with is my riding mare which will be a real kick in the gut but the others are not loanable (1 unbroken youngster, 1 only field sound and my daughters pony who seems to only behave for her!) I had my old fella PTS last month. It's awful living hand to mouth but I know it's only going to be in the relative short term, if I thought there was no end in sight then I would sell/PTS the lot of them, call it a day and just help out with friends horses to get my fix
 

splashgirl45

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yes I am permanently broke and have large credit card balances. its all very well to say cut down and live to your means but I am a single person with a work pension and the state pension and if I didn't have the horse or my dogs I would be solvent, BUT what the hell would I do,i wont get rid of my dogs and horses have been in my life for almost 60 years and I am used to no holidays or luxuries etc. when my horse goes , age 25 and has cushings, I shouldn't get another if I am being sensible but I cant see my life without them so keep doing the lottery and keeping my fingers crossed.
 

case895

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If I could not afford horses, I would not have them. I have never borrowed money (barring mortgage) and have always lived within my means.
 

Abi90

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I always run out of money by the end of the month but that's because I fritter away my disposable income on "stuff", I tried to live really frugally this month and at the end of the month I had enough money left to buy an expensive pair of wellies, all the stuff I needed for my impending puppy, and some make up and a tyre... So I'm not skint because of horses but I just spend all my disposable income because I can. I also save £100 a month.

I was once in a position (without a horse) where I used to dread that time of the month because I couldn't afford tampons and I always had to squeeze the last drop of toothpaste out of the tube instead of buy more! If a horse put me in that position I would sell it.
 

mariew

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I have always said i'd reduce the cost and reassess if it really started to impact my day and i'd end up with absolutely no contingency if it wasn't a very short term thing. For those that say "what would i do" - you could always share :) there are plenty out there and it would be far cheaper. I've just gone through the baby thing, and wish i had the foresight of loaning the baggage out for a couple of years, as unless you have some amazing life with lots of support and don't have to work, you are very unlikely to manage 5 days riding per week. after about 1 1/2 years i can now mainly do 2 / week, 3 if i am very lucky.
 

{97702}

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yes I am permanently broke and have large credit card balances. its all very well to say cut down and live to your means but I am a single person with a work pension and the state pension and if I didn't have the horse or my dogs I would be solvent, BUT what the hell would I do,i wont get rid of my dogs and horses have been in my life for almost 60 years and I am used to no holidays or luxuries etc. when my horse goes , age 25 and has cushings, I shouldn't get another if I am being sensible but I cant see my life without them so keep doing the lottery and keeping my fingers crossed.

This completely sums me up.... :D
 

Gentle_Warrior

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Yes. I have an elderly horse that I can't sell and currently not poorly enough to pts. I work, have a mortgage and debt. I don't drive I don't compete I don't have lessons. Hubby has not been able to work due to ill health for just over a year . So live on my wage. Was not foreseen when I bought horse 13 years ago. So I am stuck.

I keep him as cheap as I can for now. With even cheaper options in reserve prior to pts.

You do what you have to do. No one can judge or say it's wrong.
 

Queenbee

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Nope, but I have been there!! Lets face it, we will just about do anything to ensure that we have our animals around. Thankfully I am in a much better position financially and having spent many years juggling funds for 2 horses, I find juggling the finances of 1 much better, I can comfortably afford to go out to events 3/4 times a month and pay for YO to do Ben. I do find myself making do sometimes, Im never so quick to splash out on things (for example my long boots were cracked to bits before I replaced them), but I am finally in a position where I can feed myself, insure my horse... buy some of the nicer things for him (PE rugs, Le Mieux boots and saddle cloths) and still see a healthy balance in my bank... only taken 35 years though!!
 

AShetlandBitMeOnce

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I have enough money to have the horse, car and live comfortably. I do however live at home, and whilst I pay rent, it is nowhere near what a 'real' rent would be.

I do admit that I am very conscious that I should be saving up for a house deposit, as at 20 it will be time to move out soon enough, and I cannot afford a horse and rent. But at the end of the day my horse makes me so happy, so often I am completely torn.

However I do have career prospects and am hopeful that I will progress upwards before I am put in that position. Just me and mum at home so don't mind living here for the foreseeable future.
 

KittenInTheTree

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Half the world's at war and the rest has spiders that can kill you, so I've no interest in risking life and limb on holiday! That said, I'm not living beyond my means either - I simply choose to spend my disposable income on things that bring me joy. The fact that those things have hooves and a keen interest in the vet is incidental...!
 

Kezzabell2

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I'm not but I'm still living at home and I'm over 30! there is no way I could afford to move out, on my own and I have a very good job! I think once I've not got my old girl anymore I might be more likely to be able to afford it but I will wait until she is ready!
 

TheSaddleLady

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Not really no, which is lucky because I work a stressful job in central London and trying to launch my saddle fitting business too, keep The Horse on 5 day livery & keep him in one of the most expensive areas in the UK, and have money left at the end of the month to put in savings account.
However I do watch what I am spending throughout the month. Take lunches to work etc. I have been all out broke and could never do it again, too nerve wracking every month-end!!
 

AppyLover

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Depends on the month this month I had 92p to my name before pay day but that's cause I kept buying things and not thinking it through but oh well all my bills were paid :) from the age of 18 to 23 I went to the states minimum 2 times a year so all my money went on that cause I knew i'd get something nice in the end, I have credit card debt and the only savings I have a tiny and pony related but at the end of the day I'm only 25 live in an over priced flat, drive a nice newish car, go out shopping once a month/go out to eat with friends or night outs and my horse has everything he would ever want so at the end of the day its worth it :)
 

Farma

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I grew up in a hand to mouth home and when I moved out I became savings obsessed and have to have reserves for every possible worst case scenario and would rather work myself to the bone than get into debt.
I would stress beyond belief to live in debt and so tight on money but I do wish I had a more relaxed attitude as often if I really want something I would rather save and see money in the bank than buy something!
 

tristar

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i have sold my house five times to get money for the horses, when i was stoney broke, but i no longer work, so property has been an income that has kept me and the horses, it took away the need to make money from horses or run a business, i owe a great deal to luck and circumstance when i went from skint to rolling in it.

the half owner in one of my horses has just bought a million euro stud farm, where i can leave him and other horses, i agreed to sale as it secures the future for that horse and the other owner adores him, it was like a dream come true, but i could never imagine life without horses and somehow always it has come good, i think you need to have the nerve to hang on, things are pretty good at the moment, which makes it all the more sweet.
 

Michen

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Oh yes. I have 6k in credit card debt and a 15k student loan. I earn above well above the average UK wage yet still am always broke at the end of the month. If the horse needs something I don't even stop to blink and he won't get a cheap version either!!!!!
 
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