Will I have enough money to afford a horse?

[Vodkagirly]

A friend has a budget of £300pm for her horse and is always stressed. Her livery is a bit more expensive than yours but not much. It's the small essentials that add up that cause problems for her.
Needed vaccinations from start so vets bills for that. He was putting on too much weight so has too come in at night, which costs more. Still too much weight so needed a green guard muzzle£70. Trashed a few rugs so needs replacements. Cost of clipping.
If your on a strict budget I would look for a share, then you will have money left to do the fun things.

 

[MotherOfChickens]

Im 16 and im going to be going to college in September. Im looking to buy my own horse early next year hopefully and was wondering if someone could give me either a cost breakdown or how much it would cost them. Currently i earn £200 pounds a month from my job and was wondering would that be enough.

The yard that I would be keeping it on costs £15 a week livery, £30 a month for hay and straw for £25 a month. Im thinking i need to cost for...

• Insurance
• Farrier
• Feed
• Tack repairs and replacements
• Livery
• Hay
• Straw

Have I missed anything else out and would £200 a month cover it?
Thanks

I wouldn't do it. A horse is a big tie at that age-they are not always that easy to move/sell etc when needed. One of the best things you can do as a young rider is ride as many different horses as possible so I would (and did) do that for now.

If your horse were to get injured and go on box rest, that would quickly blow through your budget on hay and bedding, plus as mentioned vets bills etc.

 

[hannahlow]

Im based in South West, and I spend £175 a month on livery - which includes hay and straw. Plus £40 for front shoes and a trim, bare in mind if you have a horse which is shod on all 4's you'll be looking at between £70 and £80 for that. Feed can be negotiated as you can buy in bulk etc, but he could just be on chaff, but some feeds are around £40 a bag! I'd just be careful that if he ever needed a back treatment or a unexpected vets visit. May be worth putting a bit of money aside before you get a horse just so you have a little help if ever you needed it. Remember the trips to the tack shop aswell! Always spend my money in there however much you tell yourself that you don't need it! Good luck!

 

[acorn92x]

Honestly, don't do it. You will be stressed and trying to cut corners and compromise all of the time to keep a horse on £200 a month. I'm not saying that it isn't possible but it's incredibly hard, you just need to think about the costs of little unexpected things as they all add up so quickly! Things like thrown shoes, unexpected visits from the vet, broken rugs, saddles which need adjusting, additional bits that need buying that get worn out or break are all things which don't sound a lot but accumilate very quickly over time with horses. You need to sit down and realistically reasearch the cost of the following and add at least 15-20% on top of the final cost to budget for emergencies:

- Cost of livery.
- Cost of bedding.
- Cost of hay.
- Cost of hard feed.
- Cost of supplements.
- Cost of your tack and what any costs of replacements or adjustments to it would be.
- Cost of insurance (Cheaper if you pay annually but obviously a high initial outlay).
- Cost of farrier (Obviously front shoes will be cheaper than a full set and no shoes is cheapest overall but this does not suit every horse).
- Cost of dentist.
- Cost of physio/back person.

The list could go on and on really...I know that most livery yards in this area (I know it's probably one of, if not the most expensive area in the country for livery) charge way over £200 for livery alone (Some DIY yards will obviously be cheaper but costs rocket if you require services beyond this).