Mumsnet Talk

Hi , I had a horse years ago but things have changed. What are you paying for cost of buying a pony, stabling, food, vets and farrier etc and do they have insurance now for vet fees.

There are vet insurances out there but they will only insure them for vets bills up until they are a certain age, after which they will no longer in sure them. I think a full set of shoes is 40pound, 30 to trim and put back on if shoes are okay 20 just for a trim, with no shoes. Stabling would depend on full, part or diy livery, the part of the country you are in. Stables tend to charge various amount depending on the facilities they have there. x

I have a pony that lives out permanently, unshod. Grass livery is £120 a month (could get cheaper, but other facilities good), he has hooves trimmed at £15 every 6-12 weeks, food is about £5 a week.
Obv a stabled horse gets lots more expensive

Ellen, you are lucky if you can get a full set of shoes for £40, my sister pays over £70. My horse isn't shod so I get away with £23 for a trim.
There's an old thread here that might give you some ideas.

Hi just to give you an idea this is the rough costs for my two ponies.We are in Surrey
DIY livery £30 a week
Shoes (only in front) £40 or £30 is removes Trim is £20 Every 6 weeks
Haylage is about £24 a week in the winter when they are in a lot more and have haylage in the field and a lot less in the summer.
Feed is about £15
Bedding is about £14 a week in the winter and less in the summer
Insurance is £20 a month each
Then you have got worming every 6 weeks or i worm count so a bit cheaper and then worm if necessary. Then you have also got vet fees. It cost £60 for them both to have their vaccinations every year.
I think i better hide this from Dh he will be if he know how much they cost.

Horses can be as expensive as you want or as cheap as you want. We rent out our 5 acre field to a woman for £25 a week, there are no facilities apart from water but the hacking is excellent. Farrier for mine is £20 for a trim or £50 for a full set of shoes. Vets fees is such an unknown quantity I'd definately recommend insurance to cover them. My horse got injured when he was attacked by other horses when he wasnt insured and the bill came to £1200! I only paid £350 to buy the bloody horse.
We pay £15 a week for DIY livery thats for stable at night and grazing through the day.
I havent bought a pony in a long time but I'd guess you'd pay about £1500 or there abouts for a first pony.

Our pony eats air and grass, we buy hay but to be honest he hasn't needed it. Our paddock and field shelter are free. He costs £40 a month to insure fully. Front shoes and back trim are £66 every 8 weeks (i know I know I have the world's most expensive farrier). Rug cleaning and reproofing costs £12 a time and I get it done quite regularly as I am anal . Bits and pieces I have bought this year include: £40 on haybale covers to turn them into jumps , a new poo picking skipper thing (£17), new girth (25), new hi viz jacket for dd1 (20) and I need a new hat (£+++) and chaps.

A really good first pony here costs 3000+. Anything that cost 1500 would need experience to get the best out of it.

Ours is about £350 a month I think. Main costs are:

130 grass livery + hay
50 insurance
50 petrol to and from yard
30 feet (40 foot trim every 6 weeks)
50-100 lessons (I underestimated this one but it's a life-saver!)

Hmm, I'm already on 310-360 and haven't included vet, tack and clothes (ongoing replacement costs), feed and supplements, occasional show entries...

Do you really want to know? (laughs manically)

Livery (diy) 30 a week - stable and turnout
Haylage (one of mine coughs) 30 a week (average)
Bedding -straw 5 a week
Feed - 5 a week roughly
Farrier - 40 every 8wks for front shoes and hind trim
Vet/worming/vaccines - I am very lucky here due to DH

Those are day to day costs.

Be careful with insurance. If you are going to ride you need some kind of public liability (bhs cover this in their membership, so do lots of other horse 'clubs')
With vet insurance, they will often pay for surgery even if you are unlikely to be able to use the horse again, but if you decide to put horse down when surgery (to save horse, not necessarily to be useful again) is an option they will not pay out for your horse. Just make sure you see what is/isn't involved.

Tbh, horses are expensive, and you can get the costs down a lot, but you then end up spending all of your time doing the horses, the more you spend, the less time is involved iyswim?

Just beware that it can spiral.We bought dpony 6 months ago for the dds to share,we pay £15 a week for sole use of a livery yard,menage ect,so are very lucky.We found out that we have public liability with our house insurance which cut down the insurance bill,but there are shoes,wormers,feed supplements ect to pay for.Then dd1 wanted to go to pony club,so I had to pay for that,then bought a trailer to get her to pony club,am now buying a 4 x 4 to pull the trailer.At the same time,DD2 is too small for dpony,and two children sharing isn't working,so we are hoping to have a loan pony for DD2 shortly,which will be another £10 a week livery,plus insurance ect.Oh yes,forgot that an instructor comes every week to give them a lesson.

Then the dds wanted to know why I don't have a horse,because their friend's mum does and rides with them.Because there is no money left,that's why.

Oh yes,dpony is a veteran,so her insurance only covers vet treatment for injuries,not illness,so when she got colic on a Bank Holiday,4 weeks after we bought her,guess who paid?

On top of all the above I find that I'm forever buying new bits of tack, equipment, riding gear (though I don't know if jewelled brow bands were a total necessity!!!)

We have one of our ponies produced and it costs 120 a week as basic rate. He'll come up to a yard closer to us in the Summer and they charge 90 a week for show livery.

The ones we have at home are pretty cheap to keep by comparison - we pay 450 a quarter for fields and 400 a quarter for stabling plus shavings (in bulk at about 7 quid a bale) and hay (expensive this year but they aren't getting through it).