The cost of keeping competition horses

Worked my monthly total out for just the pointer on the way to buy feed the other day and though eek! But am quite lucky compared to some of you with costs!!

£31 a week livery Inc. Hay
£25 a week for feed
£10 a week for shoes

So with few extras £70 a week or £240 for the month roughly!


Reg fees are quite a lot but IMO better value than BE and entrys are £30 tops and you can get up to £25 if you win best turned out!
 
this for me would be a typical march-october month.. winter is ALOT cheaper!!

THE BASICS
£30 - set of shoes (2 months 1 full set! :D)
£40 - hay
£30 - hard feed
£30 - shavings
£35 - insurance??

TRAINING/MEMBERSHIP
£60 - lessons -
£100 - 1x Intro inc diesel, start fee, lunch

there is BE membership at the beginning of Jan but thats my xmas prezzie
spose there is that odd shop at the local tack shop :/

it works out okish for me..
 
I too keep a spreadsheet of my costs but for some reason don't include the costs of running the lorry - I think that was a subconcious decision!

My competition horse costs about £4,200 per year to keep including new purchases (excluding big, one off purchases such as saddles, etc), veterinary costs, supplements, competition entries, memberships, etc but excluding running the lorry. They (ie including the companion pony) are kept at home.

Unfortunately my horse only goes out for 2 to 4 hours per day (and not every day in the winter) so he costs me far more than most of you in haylage and bedding! (I think it works out at about £170 a month for haylage and bedding alone!)
 
wow like you say it is scary but will try

monthly

140/175 4 or 5 wk month livery inc haylage
55 insurance
30 bedding
15 feed
10 farrier (presently unshod)
10 chiro
8 dentist
10 vet
30 lesson
40 comp entries (during winter these are at yard) more in summer but varies as to what I can afford
6 wormer
40 stable help (turn out)


Lorry

20 tax
30 plating and service
25 insurance
+ any repairs
45 average fuel to summer comps

I'm just too scared to add it all up :rolleyes:
 
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But the majority of costs aren't specific to competition horses, so unless you gave up horses completely, you wouldn't save 9k a year by not competing.

Life could be worse, you could be into sailing, now that's expensive (or so I was told, whether it's true I dont care, I'm clinging to that small positive!)

I always told my parents they should have encouraged my basketball and swimming more! :D
 
I wish it could be done for 8k around these parts.

The cheapest livery I've found (an hour north of NYC) is $1600 a month. DIY is unheard of; everything is full livery. Most barns charge $2-3k per month per horse, then weekly lessons with the barn trainer are $150, and that's before you even get to shoeing and competition fees (probably $500 a day, after you've paid your entry fees, trailer fee, stall fee, etc.).

Which is why, when I'm ready, I'm going to buy my own place and keep the (future) horses at home.
 
wowww. that is alot of money! thankfully we do v well at keeping our costs very very low so no where near that :p unfortunatley it means less lessons, competing, tactical choice of farrier ;) - we used him before he was qualified when his prices were cheaper and he hasnt raised them for us now he is qualified as we have got him SOOOOOO much business! Luckily we were ok at avoiding the vet last year (for once!!) so only needed vacs teeth and had chiro 3 times for him. Feed - cheap as chips, bedding is taken off what im paid from my boss, haylage is £22 per month if we but it directly from the yard (which we do) and lots of other little things that weve avoided spending loads on :) if we didnt cut everything down we wouldnt have him :p
 
Its scary to think about, someone asked me the other day and I comments she doesnt cost that much, then I thought about it She Does!!! I love my lessons and they are not cheap at £40 a time sometimes I have 3-4 a month, but my livery is £20 a week, the hay is cheap and brilliant quality, she has never looked so good and she has no hard feed at all over the winter!

But what would we do without them?
 
Errr I hope my horse doesnt cost this much to keep/run! I think my costs are lower due to keeping them at home and very low haylage and straw costs. My parents pay for the lorry and I pay for my horse which helps :)
 
Gamebird said:
I do hope to be rich soon. I sent my last remaining savings to a really nice-sounding chap who emailed me from Nigeria with an opportunity too good to miss. Hoping for a windfall any day now - just off to check my bank account again :p
Click to expand...

Thats interesting - I met a Nigerian vicar on a scout camp who told me he was in love with me... maybe they might know each other???
 
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