mum on benefits can afford to keep her dds 2 horses

[jugofwildflowers]

This is a lovely mum by the way. She has never married but been with the same partner for 25 years and they have 3 dc. He works and has another home but stays in family home often, although because she is 'single' and on benefits, she gets everything paid for and her dc have free school meals. I assumed that as the mum was on benefits, she wouldn't have much money.

They have 2 horses and she spends a lot of the time with them. We have a mortgage and after all the bills are paid we don't have enough to keep one let alone 2 horses! Comes across as sour grapes, doesn't it? Sorry but

[fickencharmer]

Overpaid banker....should only be allowed to keep two ferrets, a non-speaking parrot, and a mistress who is at least 90 years old.

[ragged]

sorry for random 6s!

[ragged]

Actually, I was thinking of something with 4 walls & a non-leaking roof, Tenderly. Something that would need mucking out regularly6. I didn't think horses were really hardy enough to be healthy if out in all weathers year round in the UK. Nobody I know who keeps ponies just relies on trees or a mere roof shelter with no walls for shelter; they all bring their ponies in at night... I think. Wondering what Redwings does because they have a LOT of animals 6 & I didn't see enough shelter for all. Happy to be corrected.

Plus if they're out in open fields that aren't horses much more vulnerable to attacks or being stolen?

[nickschic]

I think chickens are acceptable they could use spare feathers to stuff sacks and make pillows and blankets as well as the joy of owning a pet they could also enjoy the chicken after its death,dogs are another thought though....they have no 'real' way of earning their keep they just drain finances -cats however catch mice and a v poor person could make a mouse stew and feed at least 6 families with that.

[redpanda13]

Everyone on benefits should only be allowed to keep a few chickens as pets. There benefits could be cut since they have eggs to eat and they can eat the chickens when they stop laying. In certain cases they could also keep a pig for slaughter.

[nickschic]

People on benefit own fields?????

Bjesus.

.

are there no really poor people??

[TenderlyLovinglyByAGoat]

Like a field shelter or some trees do you mean?

[ragged]

Don't horses need cover in the worst weather?

[Southwestwhippet]

I have two ponies out 24/7, unshod, good doers in rented field. One is a RS allrounder (dressage/XC/hunting/SJ), other is a lead rein/companion.

grazing - £15 p/week
trimming - £15 each every 8 weeks
hard feed - £7 a bag (ish) every three months
Plus twice years worming, annual teeth and annual boosters (probably around £100 p/pony)

competing will seriously ratchet the price up if you go affiliated but unaffiliated stuff can be done quite cheaply and on an ad-hoc basis if you have the spare money for a 'treat'.

It's not that expensive if you are careful, have the knowledge/experience to do most of it yourself, have hardy good doers and are happy to do without stables/schools etc and just make do. Livery is what really piles the cost up.

You say you have a mortgage though, I bet your friend does not own her house, she would not get assistance to pay for it and probably therefore could never see herself in a position to own her own home. I know I would give up the ponies if it meant I could get a mortgage but where I am at the moment, it is just not going to happen.

[ThePathanKhansWitch]

Perhaps someone else pays for the horses.

[Saggyoldclothcatpuss]

Right. I pay a bit more for the six ponies at the moment, to keep them close to home, £50 per week for six acres and 4 stables, (which I rarely use). I may occasionally buy a bale of bed or a wormer syringe, but there is rarely any other cost involved. All our kit, and we have some lovely stuff, including the full show turnout, has been bought from eBay, or our twice yearly equestrian boot sale and accumulated over time. None are shod, and I file their feet myself, but they could all manage to hack out 2 or 3 times a week at least and ride regularly in the field. I picked up a small trailer for £100 a couple of years back and save here and there to renovate it. My Citroen c5 tows it. So, barring the odd extra, no more than £50 per week. Ok, maybe more than the average persons alcohol budget, although I know plenty of people who do a bottle a night, and/or smoke a packet a day, but still not a huge amount. They could easily live in a smaller paddock without stables and cost me even less. The cheapest I have paid is £15 a week. So yes I can so it cheaply.
Competing does take costs to a new level, but if you choose your shows wisely, still not that much.
As plenty of others have said, you don't know who is paying for her animals, or how much they cost.

[Peachy]

Ah just read jogof's last post

When I see moral conscience equated with working and no regards to teh diversity of situations that could be at play, my bile rises. And today I am tired, have aching shoulders and glittery hair (don't ask) so will bow out.

[ragged]

Saggy have you been back? Can you say your actual figures on what you pay for those 6 ponies per week? I would assume is an avg. weekly personal budget for booze for "everybody" is about a fiver, so you didn't really mean less than a fiver, did you? Including the land where they graze? If they aren't shod does that mean you can barely ride them on the roads? Do they have anywhere indoors to shelter? I can't believe you're really do it that cheap.

WildFlowers Resentment could eat you up... just beware where you're heading with this.

I keep thinking about transport, to get those ponies around for competition, means a minimum 4WD+a double trailer. Or one of those great big horsebox cum caravan things. Those have to be parked somewhere. Then there are competition fees and all the right kit needed, and lessons and where do they practice jumping or eventing (or is that all lessons)? And costs of long journeys, and...

Competition is a whole new set of large expenses, I'd think. Well beyond just having expensive pets.

[Dawndonna]

and you only get CA for one member of the family, so if like me, there are four disabled members of the family, you still only get £55.00 per week, no matter how many hours you dedicate to caring, as long as it's over 39 hours per week. Wow, wish that's all I did! Oh, and a percentage of that 55 quid is removed from income support because it's counted as money you already have coming in.
Life of Reilly, here!

[Peachy]

(and presumaly you are aware that MAXIMUM CA payout is £55.60 pw)

[Peachy]

Carer's Allownace isn;t means tested on a family income: just the reipients income so if her partner is paying in that becomes irrelevant. That's why CA is a taxabl;e allownace under law, with slightly different attributes (eg taxable, not a 'passport' benefit)

[oohlaalaa]

Not that unusual. My friend has her horse on a livery yard, and apparently most of the ladies are on benefits. Apparently they have other income streams.

One of the girls has recently been reported, she has disability benefit (bad back), cash earnings and a horse. Another receives a carers allowance for child with ADHD, and with long-term partner helping out, she has two horses.

We can't afford a horse, and DH and I both work full-time. After paying all the bills each month, there is no money leftover.

[TenderlyLovinglyByAGoat]

Are you allowed to keep horses, and compete a little, if you get non means tested benefits like DLA and ESA (but no child tax credits, council tax or other housing support or free school meals or prescriptions largely because you can't be bothered to find out if you are eligible) and you don't have your own lorry and are not even interested in dressage? And you invest quite a lot of energy trying to keep your sex life from turning into a committed relationship of any sort?

Specsavers said I was entitled to an NHS voucher to help with cost of my glasses though. I didn't get designer ones which is just as well as they fell off in a dark barn when I was stuffing a haynet and haven't been seen since.

[AlpinePony]

My horse costs me 3k a year plus to run (I don't compete and I do things cheaply) not including running a car.

If any of you taxpayers would like to contribute to the costs I'm more than happy to accept. :)

[littlemisssarcastic]

As I said not too long ago Neuromantic ....."And before anyone says that common sense would prevail...I'm not convinced everyone has common sense tbh.
We can't rely on someone's common sense to decipher whether someone is commiting benefit fraud. Surely all we need is clear guidelines, not wishy washy vagueness which can be twisted any which way whichever DWP official looks at your case sees fit??"

Itchychin says quite clearly that she received a letter saying that, so I'm not sure why you're saying the letters don't say that.
I may not have received one, but Itchychin has.
I never used to be confused as to whether I was in a couple or not, but am getting more confused as time goes by.

Also, not everyone at DWP is sensible. So it seems simple to me, make the rules clearer.