Thinking of owning a horse in the near future?

[astera22]

So I'm quite a new rider but I have COMPLETELY fallen in love with riding and horses, it's just something I'm sure I will do or at least try to do for the rest of my life. So...

Last summer (I was 14, now I'm 15 so do you think I started late?) I went for my first ever riding lesson. I've wanted to ride since I was around 9 but we didn't have enough money since a lesson costs around £20 and making that a weekly thing brings up the costs a lot... Besides the point, anyway I went for my first riding lesson which was private and lasted half an hour and then I got around 5 more so last year I got around 3 hours worth of lessons. I learned to trot but not amazingly, still needed practice.
This year we went on holiday again and I got lessons at the same place (the lessons there are a lot cheaper) and I ended up getting around 7 more hours of lessons. I can now trot really well and even started galloping. I definitely need practice on the gallop but I'm not too bad.

So the riding is going well but I'm still VERY new to the names of everything and the proper, good care of a horse and all that. I'm thinking that when I'm 16/17 I could get a proper job (earning between £200-£400 a month, possibly) and my ultimate goal is to one day own my own horse.

My dad is seeing how much I'm enjoying riding and the progress I'm making and said he could pay for a lesson a month, me paying for another with my allowance and the tiny amount of money I make on doing the papers so I could go for a lesson every two weeks. Over time we could probably stretch this to a lesson a week.

Can somebody tell me the costs of owning a horse (I'm aware it's a lot, around 2-3k a year or something like that but I'm willing to do what it takes) and anything that would be helpful for me to know? I've done a lot of research into this already but still not enough. Also the basic care information like even your daily routine with your horses? that would be helpful.

Thank you and sorry this is long, also please remember I'm new to all this! Thank you!

 

[epeters91]

This is a very rough costing haha sorry!
Livery - £80 a month DIY, will be more for part livery where they can turn out your horse in the morning for you or full livery will be more expensive again but they muck out, turn out, bring in, stand with the farrier/dentist/vet etc.
Hay - Depends on horse but say you went through 2 bales of hay a week at £4.50 a bale thats £36.00
Feed - Depending on the horse you may need to pay for more feed
Lessons - 1 a week which is adviseable when you get your first horse £80 a month
Insurance - depends on pony I think mine is around £40 a month
Shoeing - £60 every 6-8 weeks
Dentist - once a year £40
Worming - depends on whether you get poo samples sent off for worm count or do a yearly program like equimax/eraquell which could be around £60 a year
Vets Bills - You need to be prepared for these
Travel - If you don't have your own trailer you'll have to either find a very good friend with a horse box or pay someone to transport your horse for you.
Grooming kit/rugs/tack/Hi-Vis for hacking - all things you will need to buy for your horse at the beginning.

If I think of anything else I will let you know haha probably missed something off! I would recommend doing some horse care courses too so your not going straight from lessons to having a horse and you can learn more about caring for them. My family weren't horsey so I know it's a lot to take on when your younger I started owning horses from 11 but if your on a good yard with nice people to support you and help you learn that makes everything better

 

[skint1]

Vet bills can be colossal, seriously, and even if you have insurance they may not pay out when you think they will. I have 3 horses and in the last week all 3 needed the vet, one of them twice and not out of the woods yet, I expect the bill for the 3 to be near £1000, assuming the horse doesn't need the vet again. I guess I am having a dark time horse wise and it's been that way for a while one way or the other. Everything that can go wrong has been going wrong, and I have spent literally thousands on vet fees in the last couple of years to no avail at all. I love them and they do enrich my life but unless you are a very wealthy person with your own land and staff having a horse is a massive responsibility and can require huge personal sacrifice not to mention the financial liability.

It's great that you're enjoying riding, and I hope that you get to continue on your horsey journey. Have you considered trying to find a part loan or share arrangement just to give yourself a taster before taking the plunge?

eta- sorry, I didn't mean to be so negative

 

[Lillybob]

I started riding at 13 but was taught by a friend at a livery yard, not given professional lessons, and when I was 14 I was bought a foal. Now at the time this was amazing but looking back was a REALLY silly idea. Thankfully I had a number of horses I was allowed to ride as often as I liked and a number of people with decades of experience to help me with this foal. Thankfully I learnt very quickly and had 3 years of riding practice before having to work on riding my own so my experience is very different to yours and I am now studying an equine degree!
I would say that you shouldn't put a number of years on when you should get a horse, but on your knowledge and how well you feel it could be cared for and financed. My current costs work out to around £250-£300 a month in summer and more towards £350-£400 a month in winter. This doesn't include a fund for any emergency vet bills. But like I said, learning things like when to call a vet, how to assess a diet etc is all just as important as having the money to feed and home the horse. What epeters91 said about a care course seems like a brilliant idea and you definitely have the right attitude for it! Good luck

- Forgot to mention the possibility of loaning? Can be a great way to learn these things before investing EVERYTHING you have.

 

[astera22]

Thank you for all the replies! They're all very informative an helpful. Can somebody explain the sharing/loaning thing? I'm not really sure what that is except just a vague idea which might not even be correct, thanks

 

[Lillybob]

The idea tends to be that you contribute to care and usually a section of the finances. The specifics of this are decided between you and the owner/sharer. So for example, they may ask you to pay an amount each month in exchange for care and riding several days a week or something like that. You don't own the horse, but you pay whatever amount is decided and in return you get to ride and care for the horse for a number of days a week. Some agreements work slightly differently but that's the general idea.

 

[astera22]

That sounds like a good proposition for somebody like me. Any idea how I could find somebody willing to do something like that?

 

[skint1]

Join a horse related facebook page for your local area and see if there is anyone advertising for a loaner or sharer- if not advertise for one yourself

 

[astera22]

Thank you so much!

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

I will have a go: many owners share the riding, and the daily horse care of their horse, so that for eg 3 days of the week you can agree to look after him in exchange for riding and a portion of the cost. This would be ideal for you as you can give notice and stop if it does not suit you [more later]. Often the cost will be around £30 per week, though this varies. The owner then has all the main responsibility for organising feed, farrier, vet charges, horse insurance etc.
In your case there are two things which you may not have considered, but which the owner has to take in to account.
1] you riding skills are unlikely to be good enough to ride many horses unsupervised.
2] your horse care skills are unlikely to be good enough to allow you to take unsupervised care of the horse.

Now everyone has to start somewhere, but appropriate horse care and horse riding are things which are essential for any individual horse, it is likely that initially you will need a lot of training and supervision. This may suit some owners but not others.
Not many horses are suitable for a novice like yourself, even riding school horses can be the devil incarnate when allowed to get away with things they know they would not be allowed to do if the instructor was there.
What you need is a share of a "first horse/pony", something easy to ride, and look after and is willing to be your pal.
You are best to be in in a yard where there will be people around to help you if you need it, and the facilities must be safe, it is probably not safe to hack out on your own at this stage, but neither do you want to stay in the arena forever. As you will probably need to visit twice a day winter and summer on your "days" the yard must be accessible, and your parents supportive.

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

Even if you buy or share a horse you still have to pay for lessons, naturally it will help your riding to ride more, and you can put in to practice things you are learning, but there is a lot to learn: you need to develop an independant seat at the walk trot and canter, then you can think about little trotting poles, and cross poles to start you jumping. Enthusiasm is required, and is free, everything else costs a quite a bit of money.

 

[alice.j]

Depending on where you're learning to ride, they might allow you to loan one of their riding school ponies when they think you're ready. I started to ride when I was 3 (I made my parents take me, apparently), and when I was 9 my dad said I could have a pony on loan for a year and see how it goes. Ended up having my first pony for 5 years, my second for 2, and then got an unbacked youngster and had her for 2 and a half until I went away to university.
Doing it through a riding school is such a good way to learn. They will help you with everything - from the basics like grooming and tacking up to more complicated things such as feeding, worming, basic 'vet' care like treating wounds, etc - and may even take you to shows and competitions with your horse. They will probably allow you a couple of days a week where the pony is 'yours' and the rest of the time it will be used on the riding school. Having ponies on loan taught me so much about the care of a horse, which is - realistically - the most time-consuming and important thing.
Owning or loaning (not through a riding school) when you are at such an early stage, I wouldn't recommend. You say now that you love it and you want to do it for the rest of your life - so many of my friends said the same at your age, regardless of ability, and now very few are still involved with horses. Life changes, things happen, and when you're so new to horses, making that huge commitment may be a disaster. As Bonkers says, a lot of owners wouldn't let someone so inexperienced ride and care for their horses unsupervised, because anything could happen. I'm fairly experienced, I would say, and I've had a lot of horse-related injuries. If I wasn't as confident, they could have been a lot worse.

If you are certain you want to care for a horse, loaning through a school would allow you to do as much or as little as you feel like. If you're ill, or tired, or need a day off, fine. With your own, not so much; I suffer really badly with asthma, and have had numerous chest infections over the past few months, and sometimes the last thing I feel like doing is going to check my pony is still alive (he's a little accident-prone!). But I have to.
Also, and I don't want to sound even more like a fun-sponge, but earning £400 a month will not be enough. I earn nearly £1000 a month, when I'm not at uni and so am working full-time, and if my pony was actually mine (I ride for a friend), after paying livery and hay and feed and shoeing and worming etc, I probably wouldn't have enough left over to buy petrol to get to the yard every day.

Especially if you're in a non-horsey family, try and learn as much as you can. Join the BHS and do some of their courses (I don't know how much they cost but I know they're very good). For now, enjoy your lessons, save up for them, and absorb as much knowledge as you can, so that one day you'll feel ready to own!!



(I'm not trying to sound negative, just realistic!)

 

[Barnacle]

Given your current level of riding experience and that it sounds like your parents are not horsey themselves, I don't think it's wise to plan to buy a horse any time soon.

To give you some idea, you really need to be comfortable walk, trot, cantering, with and without stirrups and popping a small jump IMO, before it's safe for you to be schooling a horse on your own, unsupervised. Beyond that, you need to be able to tack up, pick out hooves, groom and deal with tricky horses that simply refuse to pick up their feet or will spook when you lead them etc etc. Privately-owned horses are not like the ones at your riding school that are ridden every day. They are much livelier and can be quirky. And of course this isn't even thinking about knowing what to feed, how to see when the horse is unwell, knowing about shoeing and so forth.

I think the suggestion of a share is your best bet. To sell the idea to your parents, it's WAY cheaper. I don't know where you live but around London (which is probably going to be more expensive than anywhere else), you can get a decent share for as little as £15-25 a week for two days a week unlimited riding. Some people will even give you informal lessons on top. And you learn so much more if you share than in a school - and much more quickly too.

A lot of people expect the sharer to do a few chores as well but it's not as demanding as if the horse was your own. You'll learn to muck out, groom, tack up etc and may need to tie up a haynet etc but you won't have to worry about when they should be rugged, if they should be turned out, when to get the vet or what to feed cause the owner will deal with all that and tell you if you need to do anything.

A lot of owners won't want someone very young as a sharer but there are exceptions so don't feel like it's impossible. Particularly if you are willing to take lessons, a lot more people will be open to the idea as then you won't go unsupervised and the horse will get some exercise.

 

[Kat]

I would suggest looking up any local equine or agricultural colleges and investigating the courses they run. Often they are cheaper than a riding school and you can get tuition on care as well as riding. For example when I did my BHS stage 1 it was an 8 week course and cost about £17 a week for two hours including horse care and riding (the exam was extra). Once you are at stage one level you would be competent to have a safe horse on share I would expect. Doing a course like this would teach you the safe way to do all the basic tasks for a horse.

In the meantime join your local library and borrow all the horsey books and read them so that you start to learn the theory. Maybe ask for a good book like the pony club manual for Christmas too. You can learn loads from reading.

 

[ShadowHunter]

I agree with all thats been said already, take a horse on loan and see how it goes. I started riding 15 years ago and have just completed a 2 year equine college course however my first horse came only three weeks ago. Its quite a commitment and can be daunting at first too. Horses are very expensive to keep; rugs, tack, feed, farrier, vet, livery, lessons etc... everything adds up very quickly. Don't rush and get loads of experience first, privately owned horses are so different.

 

[sunshine100*]

ditto to what everyone else says--loan one first--who will look after it when you are ill or want to go on holiday?? if your family are not horsey...also look to blue cross website for loans or rspca--so many need a good home and you can loan and they will help out with advice---good luck

 

[astera22]

Its not that my family isnt very horsey, guys! They are supportive of me riding the problem is just with money because horse riding is expensive.
Also all the information I'm trying to find out now is for the near future, perhaps when I'm 18 or even 21.. Whenever I'm financially stable and when I know enough, that's when I'll be looking into buying a horse seriously. I'm planning on sticking with riding school for now, at least for the next 2 years I would say so that I can learn as much as I can. Afterwards I'll probably share/loan a horse to get an idea of the commitment and if it's something I'm 100% ready for!
Thanks for all the answers, they're very helpful

 

[impresario08]

I have nothing too major to add. Just that vet bills can completely cripple you financially! My old boy ran up a £5.5k bill that took me 2 years to pay off (I had no horse at the end of it, just a massive bill).

Save save save save for a rainy day.

 

[nato]

I won't reiterate what others have said here but the costs of keeping a horse are MUCH more than £2-3k a year. Considering livery, farrier, vets, dentist, physio, lessons and competing (I dont know many people that don't want to get out and do things on their horse even if its not competing), 'stuff' like rugs, tack repair/replacement, boots etc and all equipment for the horse, I spent c.£7k a year on my horse. I am sure it can be done for less but I live close to the city and compete every few weeks. That also is including zero vet bills - I've been lucky with my horse so far.

I am on what I consider to be a very good salary and I really don't know how I could do it if my salary was reduced. If you're struggling to afford one lesson a week you are not going to be able to afford to keep a horse, sorry. With your experience and finances I would look at a share as its less commitment and you will learn loads - safer all round.

 

[brighteyes]

Could you not look for or advertise as wanting horse care and riding tuition locally in exchange for hard graft and help? I've helped (and vice-versa) at least five teens learn about horse care and riding and all but one have gone on to successfully own and succeed in the horse world and I'm still in touch with four of them! It's a bit like sharing with complete supervision at all times until you reach competency with each task. It's very hands on but be sure to sort out rider insurance, get your parents involved and have meetings with the horses and owner. Be aware that not everyone is scrupulous with their intentions, but I did already know and was local to the parents of my girls and we had loads of fun. They got lots of tuition on safe ponies and I was helped out massively and was very grateful to them all.

 

[Henbug]

Have you considered asking if you can help out a your local riding school. Lots of people learn this way, myself included. You work hard but you learn a lot, meet other people with the same interests and best of all get to spend time with the horses! Occasionally you might get a ride in exchange for your work but even if you don't the amount you can learn and pick up just by helping out is invaluable. I'd ask around and see what you can find.