How much does it cost to keep a pony?

[Marne]

Hi,
Thinking of getting a shetland pony for the dd's (ok, for me), i have some where to keep it but how much will it cost a week to feed, shoe etc..?

Any horsie mumnetters?

Any advice please?

Used to have ponies when I was little, but I do know that they cost alot. My dad used to spend all his time muttering "bloody horses" under his breath.

Not just cash, but also time! Look up advice from the Pony Club or similar.

Sorry not to have more direct advice. Good Luck.

A lot of willpower, stick in a savings account...boom boom

Ahem, sorry

Livery is the most expensive thing, haylage and hard food not that expensive, vets bills etc you can get insurance all in for about £12 per month, bedding is between £3 and £5 per week.

Shoeing...shetlands don't need shoes, just their feet trimming every 8 weeks ish, cost £20 each time.

HTH

you dont necessarily have to shoe it if you are not doing much road work

they get lame v quickly if they have too much grass so you need to be able to restrict its grazing

tbh they dont cost much until they get ILL then £££££££££££££££££££££££££

Time wise, is a pain imo, you need to go down twice a day, etc etc.

You would be better off doing a share or part loan first of all and see how you get on first, you can get a share for maybe 2/3 days a week for about £15 a week and no financial burden or responsibility then

The expense will come in when your dd's graduate from the Shetland to something bigger that needs shoeing, new saddles, bridles (dif saddles and bridles for dif activities) a float for transporting to pony club, coats for winter, clipping, lessons etc etc

Is the most fantastic fun though!

Thanks for the advice, livery/grazing will be free as i can keep it where i work, im at work most days so can see to the pony before/after work. Vet bills are my main concern.

Marne you can get a good insurance which covers vet bills for about £15 a month tops you just have a excess of say £100, can cover illness and injury.

There is Petplan equine which is one of the best....

here

Not sure of the website but I insure horses through NFU which are v good at horses.... OOhh am so excited for you - really hope my baby likes horses.....

Hay and feed are likely to be really expensive this year, due to our abysmal weather this summer.

A shetland won't need much though.

Like others have said, a shetland won't cost that much to keep, it's what it leads to......!

Make sure you buy proper helmets too - not just the old fashioned velvet ones. Also, but a Thelwell book so you know what you're in for with a shetland!
Ooooh I do love those little bastards!

That was meant to be "buy a Thelwell book"

I don't mind if it leads to a bigger pony/horse, thats my plan , ive wanted a horse for a long time but can't realy afford it (says dh) if dd1 enjoys ridding i am planing on getting something bigger that we can both ride.

Have your dd's shown any interest so far - had lessons etc??

Well then, Shetlands cost not much, but be aware that a bigger horse will cost thousands - you wouldn't believe the kit involved once you get past paddock ponies!

Dd helps me look after my boss's horses/donkey and goats and loves the ponies, shes only 3.5 so i'm not realy sure how long she will be intrested for. She has an imaginary pony in the garden

It does worry me that we will get atached to the pony and wont want to sell it on when she outgrows it. Hopefully by the time she wants something bigger i will be earning more money to pay for it (smile)

If you do keep the Shetland, just be aware they can live a LONG time!

Beware of shetlands. Many of them are lovely, but most of the ones I have owned/known/friends have owned, have been nasty and bitey. You would probably be better getting a welsh section A as they have nicer temperaments, make good showing ponies and would also be an adequate size for the littlies. I have welsh Ds myself, and each horse costs from 150-350 a month to keep, depending on vets bills etc.

Sorry, should probably itemise some stuff:

We are on DIY which is £60 a month, but that is very cheap, even for DIY, as it is a farm, not a livery yard. Part livery is usually about 40-50 a week and full livery can exceed £100 a week.

Then there's hay at around £1-2.50 a bale, depending on where you are and how available hay is that year and whether you take it off the field or have it delivered etc. You may want to feed haylage but that depends on the type of horse. We will not feed haylage to ours.

Hard feed, again depends on type of horse and what you do with it. A shetland would probably live out all year, unless you wanted to keep it in, in which case it doesn't really need anything but hay and grass. Bags of HiFi are around 10, then the nuts are around 10 a bag and then you have things like cod liver oil, garlic, carrots, all that. Feed supplements.

Vets can be as little as 200 a year for the jabs, but can be higher for injuries and if you have an older pony.

Farrier varies but is around 50-60 if you have a set of shoes put on (and we also have road studs put in). Again depends where you are).

You will probably want to think about insurance; even if you don't hack it out, it could still bite someone or injure someone or get hurt itself, and all these things can mean big bills. Ours is about 300 a year per horse.

Then you may want to transport it to shows. If you don't own a lorry/trailer like us, you can hire them or pay a friend who will need to alter their own insurance to cover you.

Oh and there's the bedding if you stable the horse. That depends how wet your horse is. Mares are usually wetter, but our gelding is actually wetter than the mares. You can use rubber matting on its own, but other stable users will complain (as we found with just having matting and banks). That's about 400 for a stable.. Then there's shavings at about 6.50 a bag and you will probably use a bag a week averaged out over the year. Straw at £2 a bale you will use similar amount but it isn't as effective and greedy horses eat it. I use megazorb which is 4.85 a bag and I use half a bag a week. There's also paper and other variations of wood bedding.

There are other expenses like lessons, and we take ours away on holiday a lot - a weekend a month and then 2 weeks in Sept, and also to shows and workshops.

One of mine gets sweet itch and I manage it with a masta or weatherbeeta fly rug/sweet itch rug and killitch. If you get a hardy horse there shouldn't be much in the way of vets bills. And even things like mud fever can be treated by you if you are knowledgeable.

Forgot to say that farrier is at least 6 weekly, jabs are 6 monthly and yearly and feed is monthly.

Our yard has great facilities and fantastic riding, but it's primarily a farm where he raises cattle and he isn't that knowledgeable. I love the social side too, although sometimes people inevitably fall out over silly things. I love riding club and taking them to shows. We spend lots on ours because of showing and holidays, and we have a nice trailer. But we could get by with just the livery (60 per horse pm), the hay (1.50 pw ph), the farrier (55 every 6 weeks per horse), the vets (300ish per year per horse) and food (15 per month per horse).

With a shetland you are pretty much garaunteed to get regularly bitten, kicked, shoved into fences, knowcked off on low branches, feet stomped on etc etc. They are truly evil little creatures (seriously buy a Thelwell book) but that's why they make fantastic first ponies. If you can ride and handle a Shetland you can handle ANYTHING!
At least when they buck you off (and they will) you don't have far to fall.