STOP FEEDING HORSES THAT ARE NOT YOURS

[Pineapplechickenpizza]

Unbelievable that this is still a problem after all the hype on social media and the news but unfortunately it is.

Why do people think it’s acceptable to feed an animal that isn’t there’s? I don’t care if it’s an apple or carrot or just a few blades of grass. They’re not your horses- DONT FEED THEM ANYTHING.

If you feed horses in fields that are not yours, honestly, why do you do it?? Do you realise how your ignorance could make someones horse unwell?

Dreading summer holidays when more people are out for walks and think it’s acceptable to feed the horses in the fields

horse owners seem to get an extra “chip” added to the shoulder - you’ll always be deemed as Uber rich, snobby etc! Often far from the case, but no point outlining why.

While you don't have to be ultra rich, you do need to have a fair bit of spare cash to keep horses properly - I don't know why so many people on this thread are so keen to downplay that. You may not think of yourself as well off, but you are a lot more fortunate than most if you can afford to keep a horse of your own.

You need land to keep them on (or the money pay for land or livery), you need to pay for their food, their tack, insurance, riding clothes for yourself, farrier, dentist, medication, lessons if you need them, a horse box for transport...

I think the average cost to keep a horse is about £3-400 per month that's not exactly small change!

I've kept a horse, and kept him very well, when I was earning £20k pa. That's a little over half the average full-time wage. By some people's definition it might be well off, but actually by most people's I don't think it would be.

He was my absolute priority and I gave up a lot to keep him. I was by no means wealthy. And I was paying rent out of that money, I did not own my own property.

Out of sheer nosiness, what were your other outgoings like to be able to pay out for a horse on that kind of salary?

Being well off isn't solely to do with your income - your outgoings play a much bigger role IMO.

I have horses and I have dogs. My dogs cost far more to keep than the horses. Dogs usually eat a meat based diet that costs much more than my horse food. My horses live on grass - I am not rich but for most of my life I have been lucky enough to have access to cheap grazing. I do insure them, but the insurance is less than my dog insurance. If I go away, it is cheaper to pay someone to look after my horse than it is to pay them to look after my dog. Finally, these days, dogs seem to cost more to buy than many horses. If you can afford a dog, you can afford a horse!

But you've said it yourself - you're lucky and have access to cheap grazing. Most people don't have that and will need to pay livery costs - and even DIY livery can cost several hundred a month.

I have a dog and I certainly can't afford to keep a horse! My dog costs me probably £75 a month, including all his food and insurance. There is no way I could keep a horse for such a small amount of money - that wouldn't even cover a weeks' worth of DIY livery around here.

You also only mention food and insurance - what about the farrier, the dentist, the saddler, all the tack you need to ride including clothing and protective equipment for you, insurance to ride in public in case your horse causes an accident or injures someone, transport in case they need the vet...

I know a few people in low waged jobs that keep a horse, they usually don't really have or do anything else, no nights out, no holidays, no beautician appointments, no new clothes/shoes except essentials, battered cars, and choose cheaper yards with less facilities and do everything themselves.

I do live in the country side and in a relatively deprived area in general, housing compared to many places is cheap, one person I know rents a large field (I don't know how much but I don't think it's that expensive as she's not well off) has built a field shelter herself, gradually buying the stuff she needed, carries water up there in her car, there's no electricity so she has a head torch and battery operated lights in the shelter, she repairs fences as she goes and has electric fence with a battery and energiser for separating paddocks.
She keeps everything in an old caravan that someone was scrapping and she patched back up. They are insured against vet bills and public liability (although they don't leave the field and they aren't ridden or have a PROW near, there's always a risk) and she works 40-50 hours a week as a care assistant.
Hardly a well paid job, but she literally does nothing else, she rarely goes out, she doesn't have holidays, she doesn't have beautician appointments and gets her mum to trim her hair when it needs it, she quite often jokes she looks like a tramp because she's forever patching clothes and coats to make them last.
Some might think she could have a 'better' life without them, but she's happy, she's not interested in anything for her spare time but her horses, if she's not at work and I want to see her that's where I go as that's where she'll be! Her horses are her life.
She's not rich, she has different priorities to most people that's all, and she doesn't have children. If you know what you're doing and are happy/able to sacrifice other things then yes, you can keep a horse well on a low income.
The problem is that people assume that no one would want to make those sacrifices for a horse, so they think of the average person and what they spend on and then add the cost of a horse on top when a fair few don't have things others consider normal or essential, but have a horse instead.

Lots of people get sharers to assist with the cost too

Out of sheer nosiness, what were your other outgoings like to be able to pay out for a horse on that kind of salary?

No family or children. For a long time no car, then a very old car. Rent for me but in a rural area, so lower than elsewhere. Insurance through British Horse Membership so no insurance for vet's bills, but third party. He was hardy and needed very little veterinary attention. No holidays. No haircuts. Second hand clothes. Very little budget for going out. Basically everything cut to the bone for me, but he didn't want. I went hungry but he didn't.

When I bought him I was earning more but fortunes change and sometimes a horse isn't sellable. But people do find ways of keeping horses on far less money than you would think. Cycling everywhere, for me, was a massive saving. Stuff I needed for him I could often have delivered and it's surprising what you can move by bike if you need to. He was well kept and it's incredibly insulting to suggest otherwise. I wasn't well kept but that was my decision because he was absolutely my priority.

Thing is, stories like yours and of people that I know, even me - I don't have financial responsibility for 'my' horse but it's me that does colic watch, or manages the laminitis, or the bargy behaviour etc, don't support the 'rich, posh, entitled' stereotype, so they're disbelieved and mocked or it's assumed you don't treat them the way they should be treated.
I honestly do think, through 30+ years experience both professionally and personally, that a lot of the issues around people insisting on feeding horses and others like not passing them safely on roads, boils down to the stereotype.

I don't keep my horses to ride so don't need a saddler. Foot trimming is much cheaper than shoeing and less regular. Costs about the same as taking my dog to the groomer. I don't need any special clothing to look after my horses. I am in a very high cost area of the south and DIY livery at a stable yard is maximum of £150 month. If you rent land from a farmer and don't have a stable (unnecessary to have one for a native type) then it is a fraction of the cost. Plenty of people around here pay £25 per week or less. A bale of hay a week costs me £4 a week but I only feed that in winter. It all depends whether you want your horse at a posh yard or are prepared to just rent a field with no facilities. Third party insurance is included with a British Horse Society subscription so no extra cost involved. I have a friend who keeps her horse locally who pays nothing in rent as she looks after the land owners horse in return. There are many, many people in the horse world who just about hold things together and go without other things in order to ensure their horses have the best possible care.

At the other end of the scale, I have friends who pay £250 per week to have their horse looked after for them at a posh yard. Most real horsey people are not snobby about where the horses are kept - respect is earned through knowledge and experience, not the amount of money spent. Many of the best horse people I know don't have any money.

people very definitely do think that all horse owners are rich and snobby.
they aren’t cheap to keep, but I’m not well off, I just make huge sacrifices to care for them. I don’t go on holiday, have nights out, buy clothes, drink, smoke, eat out. None of those things. My family work to pay for our horses livery and feed.

You need land to keep them on (or the money pay for land or livery), you need to pay for their food, their tack, insurance, riding clothes for yourself, farrier, dentist, medication, lessons if you need them, a horse box for transport...

we work for our livery and hay. Feed we bulk buy as cheaply as possible, and because we have 24 hour turn out we don’t need to feed every day. The tack we have is second hand and taken care of, my daughters pony bridle is older than me, we fix rugs and make them ourselves a lot of the time (I realise that ability isn’t something everyone has). Farriers and dentists are probably our biggest regular outgoing. I don’t have a box, if we go anywhere we hack there. We don’t have posh riding gear. My daughter has a showing outfit that was put together from eBay and charity shops. We definitely don’t spend £400 a month. Not all owners are well off. I work a part time NHS job, and I’m a single parent.

I have friends who spend well over a £1000 a month to keep their horse on posh yards, exercised and pimped to the extremes in matchy matchy designer horse gear. I also have friends who keep their hardy horses in basic fields with very little in the way of additional forage required, no need for shoes, second hand tack well looked after and a make do and mend attitude to life, so their bills come in under £100 per horse. Other friends live in a caravan so they can keep their horses on a patch of land owned by their employer, in exchange for help looking after the land owners' horses and livestock. Lovely people, but about as far from rich as it's possible to be.

Stereotypes are as often wrong as they are right!

I don’t know what prices are like where you live. My income is less than £20k and my horses are kept perfectly well. They see the farrier and dentist regularly, I’ve no need for a saddler, and my tack is used and worn but well kept, if stuff needs replacing it’s second hand or saved for, I don’t have any specific clothing, except my hat which is also battered. My public liability is cheap, my vet comes out so need of a box, or a Chuck a mate £10. It’s doable. I’ve been doing it for 15 years.

Not sure how relevant it is really, how much it costs to keep a horse. It could cost millions and only rich people be able to do it. Irrelevant. Just don’t bloody feed a horse which isn’t yours! Simple!

Come on!

SOME people definitely have a knee-jerk “chip” reaction to anyone owning a horse. I’ve seen it pretty much on any horse thread outside of the tack room board.

A lot of horse owners forego stuff that others might see as normal outgoings. They won’t do regular hair/nail appointments. They won’t go on holiday. They’ll make do and mend re clothes. They won’t have a new car on HP. They won’t be out socialising multiple times a month.

most horse threads I’ve seen in AIBU will always have a large undercurrent of “horse owners are snobby/elitist/entitled/rude/etc”.

Not a horse owner here. But, as I said before, I’m still amazed by the amount of people defending/doubling down re feeding random animals that don’t belong to you.

Put signs/fences up is definitely the new cancel the cheque on this thread!

Yes, I totally agree

I also think a lot of the issues riders have with drivers on roads are down to stereo types that were all rich and snobby. Any post on social media on passing horses safely outside of my usual horse community groups and pages always go the same way. People defending their terrible driving because we’re rich and snobby and deserve it. A recurring insult when i politely ask people not to feed them is that I'm stuck up or snobby

DH and I earn average salaries, have 2 kids and run an average home in our area. We manage to keep 2 horses well by making sacrifices and savings in other areas. I’m not going to suggest they’re cheap to keep, but we’re on DIY livery and do everything ourselves, both ponies are good doers, DD doesn’t have an expensive matchy matchy obsession, she’s not mad on competing so no competition fees, we don’t have a box - every vet round here comes out to the yard and we just use a transport company if we need to get them anywhere, buy second hand rugs. Our yard makes their own hay and sells it to us at cost, DD’s tack came with her pony so we only need a saddler to check fit - we organise a whole yard visit so it’s massively discounted - same with the dentist, the farrier and the vet also comes out and worm counts/vaccinates the whole yard at a hugely reduced rate

Our biggest expense is insurance - I insist on really good insurance, I never want to be in a position where I can’t afford to pay for treatment so good insurance is a must for me.

We only have 2 because we still have DD’s first pony on retirement and she’ll stay with us until the end of her life. I absolutely cannot stand it when people try and get rid of their old, unridable ponies, they deserve so much better.

Agree with the above posts re. saving money so you can keep a horse. The place I most often bump into other horse owners I know is Lidl/ Aldi. Horse owners shop at discount places. And there is also a huge market on Ebay for 2nd hand equestrian stuff, plus FB marketplace in rural areas and equestrian car boot sales.

I kept livery costs down by working at yards. Never had my own transport for him. Legislation has tightened up in the last few years but you can still lift share. Last time I transported my old horse anywhere it was £50 for a 45 minute journey with a professional transporter. Couldn't have got a cab for myself for much less. It would be more now because of the cost of diesel.

It is true they do cost money, of course. But the more you do yourself and the less you pay other people for the cheaper it is. If you're on UC, in the midst of grinding poverty and choosing between heating and eating then no, you're not going to be able to keep a horse, or any other animal. But if you're on less than the national average wage and prepared to make sacrifices then you can keep a horse on far less money than non-horsey people realise.

Yes, doing the hard graft yourself does save a lot, keeps you fit too :). I'm like Wisherwood, everything else cut to the absolute minimum so that I can continue to keep my ponies now that my financial circumstances have changed.
I do this because I like the ponies and I want to keep them around until their last days.
I also agree that keeping a dog costs as much if not more than keeping the type of pony who can live out all year round (mine are like that).
But I'm still not going to add up how much I have spent on them - I think I'd need a lie down in a darkened room :)

Just bumping this thread, after posting something similar in my local SM.

Do not feed birds because of the avian flu.
Don't feed animals that are not yours, including the friendly neighbourhood cat.
You could harm them or yourself.

I was thinking about this the other day as I picked up a load of veg peelings out of my field. It's that time of year again.

Luckily they're in plenty of grass and aren't giving us humans the time of day right now so they'd ignored them. Assume that's why they'd been chucked on the floor and the gate been messed with as the chain was twisted and although still chained shut the bolt was out of the keeper too.

I would stop feeding other people's f*ing horses if their owners fenced them in adequately so the stupid things could not stick their necks over the fence and eat my flower border