Is owning a horse realsitic for 'ordinary' folk?

[dianchi]

I didn ;t know you were a boy, Adorable Alice! That horse is stunning, a true credit to you, and your hard work !

Er might need a re-read

Poor Adorable Alice

 

[JennyNZ]

Yes you can. In New Zealand.

I live in the centre of city of 350,000, earn an average wage and have a mortgage, but am single with no dependants.

We don't do livery here, it is more normal to pay adjustment and of course you get to look after your own horse. Most horses here live out 24/7 365 days a year.

I compete in endurance up to CEI3* level. What I cannot afford to do is travel to events in the North Island - that little stretch of water is hideously expensive to cross and of course international competition is way out of my league.

I know plenty of riders from average backgrounds with families who manage just fine here. Lots of immigrants from the UK find that their pounds go a very long way here and they are able to have the kind of lifestyle here they could never have at home.

 

[ShadowFlame]

All depends on what you're willing to sacrifice yourself (i.e. other luxuries). It's more than viable, if you compromise elsewhere.

 

[indi4]

I think it's possible, but depends on how much your willing to give up, I earn no where near 20k but had very little overheads at the time, but all my money went on the horse, I know have a child and if I really wanted I could proberly just about afford one now, but know if I did my daughter would miss out on doing things, wouldn't be able to have nice holidays ect, so while she's young I'm putting her needs first, and just making do with riding friends horses to keep my hand in.

 

[Jango]

I earn 20k and live in a shared house, I manage to afford my horse on a decent diy yard with a lesson every fortnight and I have a sharer who does 2 days a week and contributes. I can afford to hack to local shows and go out to a unaff show or xc schooling catching a lift with friends maybe once a month. But I couldn't afford a box or even a 4x4 and trailer as I drive a lot and im 24. I also couldn't afford affiliated fees, but I did my first BD on a ticket last month and my lovely mum is going to pay for me to compete affiliated once a month, which is amazing :-D and Im so grateful.

 

[EnduroRider]

Yes definitely, but forget having children, do not smoke or drink or go out more than a handful of times a year, drive a 20 year old tank of a car with an exhaust in several pieces as it is able to tow etc

Where there's a will there's a way!

 

[cptrayes]

Could Mr or Mrs Average not only keep a horse but compete at a high level? (Perhaps not getting all the way to the Olympics, but beyond local shows.)

Showing yes.

BD just about.

BS maybe.

BE not a hope.

 

[cp1980]

Thank you for your ideas and examples.

The general line seems to be that keeping a horse or pony is realistic on a low income if you can get access to cheap services. But competing is a bigger challenge due to costs such as transport. How unfortunate that you could be the best horse/rider combination in the country but you aren't going anywhere unless you can afford very expensive transport. (The likes of Jessica Ennis or Bradley Wiggins could make do with public transport to get to events.)

 

[vieshot]

I don't get how it's possible. Yes if your living in a shared house or own our own land but how is it possible without? Even if your mortgage is small- say for £100k over a 35 year period then it's still Going to be more than £500 a month, then add on council tax, then water, then gas and electric, tv license, cost of food, cost of commute to work etc. I guess it could be doable if you don't run a car but even then it would have to be on the cheap.....

Alternatively you could just go on benefits then it will be easy ;-)

 

[Scarlett]

Of course you can - it just depends how hard you want to work to achieve it. You won't be handed it all on a plate....!

We live in the SE, neither of us got a further education to enable us to progress in our careers any quicker, but both in ok jobs (although OH now earns more than me), though I work extra hours at the weekend for some extra pennies, and we have 3 horses and a foal on the way. I also have a trailer and go to unaff comps and lessons, if my boy is ready to compete next year then I will find the resources to pay for it, plain and simple. I have nice horsey clothes but buy my work clothes in Sainsburys, I've never been out of the UK on holiday, we've been engaged for 4 years and are no where near able to afford a wedding, my car is old but does the job. However I have good quality tack that fits, my horses eat well, I have regular lessons etc etc. I'd love a lorry one day but I can't see that happening for a while, however when the time comes I will find a way to finance it.

I spend on my 3 horses what many people in the SE spend on one horse on full livery.

If you want something enough then you find a way, but you need to be prepared to make sacrifices and work your ass off to ge there.

 

[LouiseG]

My partner earns a significant wage, and my wage isn't too bad either, so in theory we should be living extremely comfortably! However, all my horse costs are much more than my mortgage, he is on full livery, and we haven't even started competing yet. I cant afford to buy a trailer, let alone run one... so I think unless we have a massive injection of cash from someone/something, then it's unlikely, but when there's a will there's a way!

 

[AdorableAlice]

Showing yes.

BD just about.

BS maybe.

BE not a hope.

Very very true. If you look at the entry fee for each sport there is a massive difference. County level hunter classes averaged £40 plus RIHS/Hoy's levy. The entry for HOY's itself was £85.00. I don't event but I understand your entry/start fees are huge. Horse/rider.owner registration was costly for showing and BD, but again eventing is far more. My horse was registered with SHGB and BD, and just those two were plenty of money, before even entering any shows.

I do think the organising bodies need to realise it is actually us ordinary folk that keep the horse industry going. The elite is a small minority far exceeded by pleasure owners and weekend competitors. Somehow I can't see anything improving.

For us, our success will just be a treasured memory. I bought the horse in 2004 from a very large international dressage/dealer yard in the South of England, he was 11 year old and a sour dressage horse. Pricewise he was peanuts the pony compared to all the other horses on that yard and he had reached his limit with them. A massive change in lifestyle, ie, a field and time to relax resulted in a very different horse to the one I had bought, it took two years for him to relax, let down and enjoy his work. He was bred to be a showjumper, Selle Francias with Alme/I Love You pedigree.

He loved being shown and the judges loved him, even though the judges had no idea just how old he was and only one judge correctly guessed his breed. Our success was a lucky fluke. The horse is now retired and sadly, injured. We have returned to riding club level with a cob, but the memories of what we achieved, learnt and enjoyed will live on forever.

 

[Victoria25]

I dont know as we dont go beyond local level (well maybe in the future we might - never had the right horse)

I earn just under £30K and can afford my own house, horses (x2 - with foal due 2013), decent car, good social life so can live a nice normal horsey life but on my own wouldnt have a spare few hundred for top level training although saying that I'd prefer to know its all done myself and stick to lower level competing

 

[armchair_rider]

Even if you could find the money for competing at a high level you'd be lucky to find a suitable horse at a low price

 

[*Maddy&Occhi*]

I think it is possible, you just have to be realistic and able to budget. I'm quite lucky as I'm only 19- live at home and earn more than £20k per year (very good, but hard job), but I am terrible with my money and am always skint 2 weeks into pay day ...so I've roped in my mum to become my finance manager

In contrast, a few of my older friends earn similar to me but with way more overheads, they run a car, pay rent (with all other house bills on top), run a pony, and have a decent social life ...I definitley need to take a leaf out of there books

To sum that all up, yes it is possible (well for me impossible because I'm just a numpty when it comes to finance management

 

[noblesteed]

Me and hubby both have good professional jobs, above average salary and a decent family house in a nice area. In order to have a family house in a crime-free rural area we have a relatively large mortgage. We have one child, 2 cars (necessary for work) and one horse on DIY at a cheap yard. The only reason we still have a horse is because my parents do this childcare, otherwise he would have had to be sold to pay something towards the £35 a day it costs for a childminder.

We can't afford a trailer, or lessons, or entry fees. Horse gets adequate care and all his needs are met but that's as far as we can afford to go. I used to compete locally before baby came along but could never quite afford transport, mainly due to our wedding and in order to afford an annual holiday, though I always paid the diesel when I got lifts.
The problem is owning a house - you need to pay for things like freezers, carpets, boilers etc. It doesn't leave much spare cash!
I would LOVE to be able to afford just a single trailer so I could scoot off hunting or competing or for a lesson, but it's a luxury we can't afford. It always puzzles me to see women who CAN afford these things and yet don't work or have part-time, low-paid jobs, yet they always have the time to go here and there competing - and with perfect hair!!!!
I must be doing something wrong here!!!!

 

[swintondesire]

So your telling me life will never get better for me the older i get, owning horses?!

Its all about whats more important;
Im 19 and dont go out with friends unless its a birthday ect.
My poor hair suffers having to dye black as everything else cost to much to keep on top of.
I hope that birthdays and christmas that i have new clothes, shoes ect bought for me as i never have spare cash around for anything.
I dont even have a house or children to pay for....
I have a car to run which insurance cripples me and petrol cost are sky high makes me think of buying a cart and using my horse for transport to work!

My horse on the other hand;
Best feed, biggest bed, good quality hay. everything he needs and i manage to get out competing after the winter. Whatever he wants he gets.

We must be mad!

 

[Tilda]

Thank god for you noblesteed I was beginning to think I was doing something very wrong as am just about struggling to keep my horse and my tow car running (own trailer with a friend to make it possible) on significantly more than £20k! But like you we have a mortgage, 2 cars necessary for work, essentials for the house, plus I also have some childcare for my son out of school hours and my husband has 2 older children he pays maintenance for.

I do think however I was much better off financially when I was earning c£20,000 but I also didn't have my son or a horse and had quite a boring life really!

 

[cptrayes]

Of course you can - it just depends how hard you want to work to achieve it. You won't be handed it all on a plate....!

If you want something enough then you find a way, but you need to be prepared to make sacrifices and work your ass off to ge there.

You need to look at the question though, Scarlett. It was "can you compete at a high level", not "can you compete".

No amount of hard work will put you in the right place at the right time to find a superstar horse at a price you can afford to pay. That's pure fluke.

So pretty much anyone could find and show a tiny pony to a pretty high standard, provided they knew how to spot one in the rough.

But you'd have to be very lucky to find a dressage horse that will be capable of even local level Grand Prix, incredibly lucky to find a horse that's going to be able to jump 1m 50 clear rounds, and you'd have to pray for a genie to appear to get you a horse for hundreds of pounds, not thousands, that will 3* event.

So even if you hold down 6 jobs and train it in your sleep, you still aren't going to make it without stellar good luck.

 

[Hawks27]

I earn 18.5k and am single have a mortgage and a car. I have to rent out a spare room in my house to help ends meet with the house. I work 2to 3 evenings a week at a local bar to help pay ofr my neds care and my car. Horse is kept local on basic diy yard evverything is done cheap and cheerful i even look after others horses to keep my livery costs down. I don't compete cant afford lessons and when it comes to backing my horse in the dpring i will ahve to pick more shifts up at my 2nd job to pay for it. So not very realsitic keeping a ned on my finances granted if i had another half splitting half the costs fo my home then it would be alot easier but such is life men suck and am an independent crazy doing it on my own. I have no financial support from anyone and i work my ass off to make sure my ned goes without nothing. hes happy healthy and will be a little western pleasure fun horse who will do the odd locla show with in hacking distance.
Bascially if you willing to nigh on kill yourself miss average can just scrape together enough for a neddy and he makes me happier than any lying cheating man thing

 

[Faro]

Keeping a horse can be done -but competing to a high standard has limitations.

I earn a little over 20K, OH is self-employed and only able to work part-time so brings in maybe £7k/year. The mortgage is in my name. So is the car (old K Reg), which we share. OH is basically a useless spare part (who I happen to love), so all financial responsibilities are mine. We live in a studio flat - i.e. no separate bedroom (bedroom is living room). I also have 2 ad-hoc part-time jobs.

The Positive: I have 5 horses, 3 of which are in ridden work and 2 of which I compete in Endurance at Advanced level. I am able to keep my horses because I rent land privately, they live out 24/7/365 and I have no facilities apart from storage!

The Negative: One of my two endurance horses is ready to qualify for 1* FEI rides, but I have decided that competing at FEI level is simply beyond me. I can happily carry on doing a selection of rides at Advanced level, but I would be unable to bear the additional costs of competing FEI. There's the additional registration, the additional entry fee, the extra distance to travel to FEI rodes, the extra overnight stabling fees ... the list goes on. It's not something I could even seriously contemplate.

So, we make very sacrifice possible - and I do compete regulary throughout the season and with considerable success, but being financially strapped does definitely mean that there are limits beyond which it would be impossible to go in a competitive career.

 

[EstherYoung]

Showing yes.

BD just about.

BS maybe.

BE not a hope.

Endurance very possibly and lots of people do.

Depends on where you live too - I was very lucky to move to Yorkshire at the 'right' time when houses and land were very very cheap. I was able to have H at advanced level endurance with a battered old car and trailer, while I was living on my own with one very modest income. We now have two incomes but more horses...

 

[DGeventing]

With conversion rates I make on average£25k on my own. I live alone, own a car, trailer, and right now 9 horses. Some years I make more, depending on what the horses I produce make, this year I've made £37k+ because I've bought and sold a few good horses.

I event at affiliated and FEI levels almost every weekend during the season, hunt every meet over the winter - very expensive hobbies to keep! But I keep up by teaching/riding clients horses etc 14+ hours a day, producing and selling to a high standard etc.

I have enough disposable income to live comfortably (for the moment!) I don't scrimp on my own clothes, haircuts, luxuries like manicures etc, nor do I scrimp on the horses.

 

[Keen]

Only if you have something else in your favour, e.g. bought your house for peanuts in the 1980s, no commute, no 8:30-6:30 office job, generous annual leave, generous friends with horsey experience, no one else who demands your time, a skill to sell, living in an horsey area of the country, recieved a legacy, and a good level of knowledge to start with ...

For example, I don't think it is realistic for a partnered, recently mortgaged, child-owning, family-oriented, admin assistant who has to run a car to get to work and who starts to learn to ride at 29 will have a whole lot of joy...


... though I realise now I have written that, some one will say 'that's me'!

 

[mandwhy]

I think children are the most expensive hobby of all!

I live in hacking distance to an equine college, so I can at least do some BD, which for me is quite exciting as I have never been able to afford transport

 

[BigRed]

I think that owning a horse is fast becoming too expensive for the average person. I keep mine at home and this year things seem to be going quite mad. Shoeing and bedding are getting to be very expensive items.

 

[AJ & Kiz]

ok i earn ALOT less than £20,000 and I have a horse and Mortgage yes im on a budget and no i dont spend money on luxuries but im managing x

 

[mrsk29]

I have just one horse on diy(high maintenance tb) as a family with one child we earn well under 20k a yr, both work, and claim no benefits horse is on DIY (hubby lost his (good) job last yr and got another but pay is rubbish!! ) I compete at local clubs but that's as far as it goes, been told horse has potential but currently its a no go... ..I think anything is possible you adjust to what you can do... but sometimes you do have to give up other things... Things change all the time and sometimes it's who you know (friends with transport etc)

I def agree children are the most expensive hobby of all!!!!

 

[AJ & Kiz]

hang on i was meant to say not much more than £20k not alot less lol sorry!!! i dont even earn 12k after tax and i fund the horse myself and pay half of everything for the house...little wonder im broke i also had a car blow up on me and my bfs car got damaged so yeah that didnt help at all x

 

[Twinkley Lights]

Lovely story Adorable Alice can we pls see that stunning horse muddy from the field just so we know he is real