The cost of horse ownership

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Annagain

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During 2010, I recorded every penny I spent on my boy and my share horse. I've just gone through it all and added it all up. It's a quite scary £4,255.61.:eek:

This includes:
DIY Livery, haylage, bedding, feed, shoes, jabs, teeth and saddle check for Archie,
Shoes and feed for Monty
Insurance for both (which includes trailer and tack) back checks for both,
Lessons, entry fees, tack and clothes.

The only cost I haven't included is fuel when towing the trailer and getting back and fore to the farm as it would be quite hard to estimate. but that would add at least £500 I think. Luckily the only trip to the vet for both horses was for jabs, although 2011 has already seen a trip for Monty :(

October was the most expensive month, mainly due to new rubber matting - otherwise January would have been. August was the cheapest, mainly as my instructor was on holiday, not many events that month and the boys were in the hay fields so weren't having any feed.

Although it's scary to see that in black and white I think I keep my horses relatively cheaply compared to some. I compete locally, just riding club stuff and this also includes a riding club camp at Stockland Lovell and a weekend away at the Gower.

Has anybody else added EVERYTHING up? How much do you spend?
I think knowing that I had to write it down made me question whether I really needed things so it could have been higher!
 
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You're a braver woman than I, I try not to think about it.


eta just did a really rough calculation

Solo pony- £2000
Bella TB mare - £5000 (inc remedial farriery and big vet bills some of which is claimable on insurance)
 
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I'm afraid I don't have the guts to add it up! As long as I can afford each month, enough for vets fees and extras without worries then that suits me ok!
 
I did wonder how wise it was but there was an ulterior motive. OH spends far more on his Landrovers. Unfortunately I use said landrovers to tow the trailer so can't complain about them:rolleyes:
 
I've got no desire to add it up! As long as he's happy and healthy and I've got the funds to look after him I don't mind! I'd only waste the money on crap anyway!
 
All our horses are covered under the business account and I cant recall other than the new lorry putting any funds from our joint account into business so technically we are covered.
However, some of liveries have 2/3 horses with us, and one has 3 on full livery, her monthly bill from us so not including her shoes/training/vets insurance/supplements/events etc etc is around £2400 a month...
 
I was having a conversation with a friend the other day about how much I would sell my horse for if I had to sell her. We came to the conclusion that it would be really quite a lot (well to me anyway) especially compared to how much I bought her for. I was quite pleased by this!

I mentioned this to my OH and he just started laughing at me. He added up in his head roughly how much I've spent on her including the purchase price, in the time that I have had her and it is a bit more than what I in theory would take as a minimum for her.
He found this very funny for some reason!!

I don't care, every penny is well spent as far as I am concerned and wouldn't have it any other way. But god, it is an expensive hobby!
 
far too much considering.... i bought a new 4 year old in Jan, a new ifor williams 511£4500 in Oct!! Never mind everything else!!!!!
 
£3204 ! that's a guess - for mare and foal all in feet feed bed etc the bit that shocked me most was adding up my hay bill!!! Don't make me do this again please :-)


...... now to destroy this bit of paper so OH can never find it !
 
Sorry this is a bad idea for me take too much enjoyment out of it for me I've got two as well lol on diy livery I had a quick calculation for stable for so many months was 3k my diy includes hay and straw the clever way would be to buy my own field and stables long term lol
 
smac said:
All our horses are covered under the business account and I cant recall other than the new lorry putting any funds from our joint account into business so technically we are covered.
However, some of liveries have 2/3 horses with us, and one has 3 on full livery, her monthly bill from us so not including her shoes/training/vets insurance/supplements/events etc etc is around £2400 a month...
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Can I ask how this works? I was looking into this for a friend and thought you would have to disallow a proportion of expenses as private use (as your own horses are not part of the business and do not meet the 'wholly, exclusively and necessarily' rule). Have I got this wrong?

Would be interested to know . . . PM if you'd prefer.

Haven't dare add up how much mine cost me. OH and I keep talking about having the kitchen done (it's desperately needed!!) but we just can't get the money together. I imagine what I spend on the horses would be enough to pay for most of it!
 
Like a good friend said to me the other day (while I was balking at adding yet another horse to the collection), at least our equine habits are cheaper and healthier than a coke addiction :) Always look on the positive side!
 
its been a bit more than normal for me this year as i bought another horse to compete, for the last 5 years i just had my 12.1 and a shetland!

So obviously i had the cost of the horse,

I bought a Pessoa Legacy XP3 saddle yes its expensive but one of the only saddles thats forward vut enough to take my long thighs and fit java without going onto his shoulder,

I have had to start from scratch with everything as I have about 3 full sets of Pony Size gear, but now I need cob full!

So yes it been an expensive year and I think I will total my amount up!

I did work out I had spent about rather a lot on just basic things for java
 
ihatework said:
Like a good friend said to me the other day (while I was balking at adding yet another horse to the collection), at least our equine habits are cheaper and healthier than a coke addiction :) Always look on the positive side!
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Yup, my cheapest month was £137 I've known friends spend that much on one night out...without the coke, just booze, clubs taxis home etc. I never do that so have the money to spend on the neds.
 
I've had to estimate how much mine is going to cost to keep as I'm thinking of going back to Uni for a year so I'm putting money to one side to be able to keep her. Worked out she cost me approx £3500 a yr without competing or fuel to get to yard or anything, just basic costs. Quite scary! She's on DIY livery too- but not the cheapest as it has an indoor school and all yr turnout.
 
ihatework said:
Like a good friend said to me the other day (while I was balking at adding yet another horse to the collection), at least our equine habits are cheaper and healthier than a coke addiction :) Always look on the positive side!
Click to expand...

Seriously! My sister in law and her boyfriend go out every weekend (as do some of my husband's work colleagues) and they think nothing of spending £100 on one night of drinking at clubs. You add that up for 52 weeks, you get £5200 and I don't even spend that on Hattie!

People at my husband's work say that we must be rich since we have horses (and he has a sail boat) but we're not, we just forego other things to pay for them. I was supposed to go out for after-xmas lunch with the other dinner ladies I work with today but couldn't go as the farrier was coming out to do Hattie's feet. As much as I would have liked to go out for lunch, I couldn't afford to do both. That £20 I would have spent eating, went towards the farrier bill and I wouldn't have it any other way (instead for lunch, I had pot noodle!)
 
Over the years Ive had horses just the livery has come to over £30,000. I could have bought a couple of acres for this a few years ago, and still had the land whereas Ive actually nothing to show for the money
 
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