How much do your horses cost you?

[Freddiebump]

I've not had my own horse for several years but I am getting to a position where I may be able to get one again at some point.

The yard over the road from me does stable and grazing for £24 a week including straw and hay which seems cheap to me?? I know I then have vaccinations, insurance, farrier, dentist, vets bills, tack, hard feed etc, so how much on average does all this cost you?

I will be looking at getting a hardy cobby type, about 14.2-15.2hh, so shouldn't need a huge amount of hard feed (I used to have a tb and she cost me about £30 a month in hard feed over winter) and I am budgeting about £400 for initial tack/rugs etc.

Not looking to do this until my job situation has changed, as I currently work a 50 hour week, but this means I am currently able to be completely debt free and saving a bit towards my horsey fund :) I'm just trying to get an idea at the minute as I know things have changed since I last had my own.

can you even get a secondhand saddle for £400? I think you might need quite a bit more than that to kick off with, especially if you need rugs, grooming kit, haynets/feed and water buckets, poo picking and mucking out tools too and maybe clothes/boots/hat equipment for you?

other costs are impossible to guess at in advance I think, usually my horses live out for next to nothing but then suddenly one little hoof abscess and £700+ in vet (it didn't 'present' much like an abscess to begin with) and associated costs in just a few days

My friend has her horse on grass livery for £55 pw... So yes that's cheap wow.

She also has a synthetic memory saddle from eBay at about £150 for her youngster and I must say, it's very comfy.

If its just a pleasure horse then there's no need for it cost a bomb, mine never did.

I could get a new saddle for a lot less than £400! I've still got buckets, haynets, grooming kit etc from last time, and I have all my riding kit still. I've got a couple of bridles knocking around as well, plus an assortment of bits, lunge lines etc! bit of a horder I'm more looking at weekly costs for worming, farrier etc as I'm a bit out of the loop with how much this stuff costs. I know when I had mine it was about £50 every 6-8 weeks for shoes, £80 a year for vaccinations, £30 a month for insurance, £15 every 3 months for wormer... Is this still about right?

oh I think mine are funny shapes for saddles - one has v high narrow withers and the other is flat entirely lard

wormer I think I paid about £90 each for an annual programme (we don't poo pick, farmer just harrows now and then), shoes are £35-£40 a pair, the pony insurance is cheaper than £30 but I cancelled the horse at £70+ a month and just put money aside as and when

can't remember how much vacs are, only do flu and tet, so flu is annual but tet only every other year I think, my lovely vet who did it practically at cost (about £10) is dead :( so will probably get fleeced by new expensive vet soon

I suppose you might also want to factor in back and tack checks once a year, and dentist. I just try not to think about how much these things are, but where possible I split costs with my sharer and that helps!

How much does a dentist cost nowadays? The yard I used to keep mine at was owned by a dentist so teeth checks were included in the livery fee so never had to pay it!

I don't even know and had pony checked fairly recently

I just pay without thinking/looking, it is the only way I can cope!

prob not going to get a medal for being most helpful person on this thread

I've just had my horses teeth checked for £40 each but had to pay cash unless i could generate 4 or 5 horses to be done at the same time. I'm in herts and my DIY is £30 a week this is not including any hay / straw thou. Wormers vary depending on make / type - we work every 8 weeks and wormer range from £6 to £12 each. My vacinations are £30 plus call out so £60 unless i have it done on a free call out day or share the visit. I pay insurance yearly approx £400 per horse. Would love to know where you get your saddle and shoeing done so cheaply! My farrier is £75 for a full set every 6 weeks and my saddle cost be £900 8 years ago!

I got a stubben on eBay.de for 300 euros... but I already had a new stubben (1600 8 years ago) so I knew exactly which size.

Full livery 260 euros + hard feed 30ish, barefoot trimmer 50 euros every 5 weeks, wormers online 10 a pop, dentist 75 (always needed sedative), vets bills cheaper than insurance.

All in approx. 400 a month incl. Petrol.

We rent a yard with water, paddocks,stables,tack room,haystore and school for £25 a week for 2 ponies.Insurance is £500 a year for the 2 of them [one is 22 so can only be insured for injury],wormer £24 every 6 months,shoes,£90 for 1.5 sets every 12-16 weeks,feed £5.99 every 4 months or so,supplements £29,lasts about 4 months,hay £2.80 a bale,1 pony was going through a bale and a half a week in winter,back and teeth £25 a time.

My yard is £115pcm per horse livery Inc hay & straw (but facilities are rubbish as it's a farm) allthough it's not much more at the beautiful yard down the road @£37pw

The ponys insurance ace £12pcm each but don't have loss of use, and the horse is about £24pcm (again no loss of use)

I got most of my tack cheaper than that from out saddler second hand and dun dun dun the dreaded wintec was under that too (brand new)

Don't forget to budget in rugs, and all the other crap that goes with horses

Pay about 15 per horse per wormer, and £6 for worm counts when we do them. (had an outbreak of pin worm not too long ago so have worm counts now)

I buy fairly expensive feeds,low calorie balancers and the like as well as anti-lam so about £50 ish per bag but they last three months at a time, then just nuts on top £6.00 per bag & chaff £11 per bag

Shoes are £67 per set, or £20 a trim.

Ummmmm and ya know i have no idea about dentists & vacs - just kind of pay the bill without looking if you see what i mean, otherwise it hurts more lol.

I budget £200 to £250 a month, rent, shoes, feed etc. That includes lessons and comps.

Dentist last time was £40 that was about 4 weeks ago. Second hand tack you should easily get for £400 I can give you the number of s very good saddler!!

Pm me when you decide to go ahead as my sister runs a charity rehoming horses and many of them come with tack (recession). You could also get advice from her as she has several of her own.

Aw I love this thread. I used to be a horse owner in the late 70s. Back then I paid £5 a week in the winter as the farmer put hay out. Summer was £4 a week.

Farrier cost me £6 a full set, £4 for refits. If horse played up it could be £7 or £8 if he got kicked

We never heard of insurance or vaccinations back then!

HI
I have got a welsh A and a mini they cost me:
£160 a month diy livery
£ 56 hay ( in the summer more in the winter
£20 feed
£100 shoes/trim every 6 weeks
£60 insurance
£56 bedding
worm count every 6 weeks
Jabs and teeth £100 once a year
Plus any other vets fees etc and entry fees

I have 5 ponies and a very small budget.
Field, 6 acres and 4 stables cost £200per month to rent.
Only the 2 babies are vaccinated.
Not insured. I have Bhs membership for public liability.
Only 2 fed hard feed. £15 per month.
No shoes, no farrier, trim feet myself.
Teeth only when a problem looks likely.
Worm spring and autumn.
I round bale hay a month for 2 ridden, £25.
Deep litter cardboard bedding. £6 per bag. 2 per month per stable.
Tack/rugs: equestrian boot sales, eBay, tack shop bargain bins, auction, extensive internet search and comparison. Last saddle cost £8 at a local livery yard yard sale. Curent no fill amigo turnouts, rrp £45 ish, £26 inc postage. English leather show bridle, bargain bin. £15 new. My friends Stubben saddle was £45 at the local eq boot sale!
Small double pony trailer, £100, refurb/new floor £350.

interestin how much costs vary, especially for the shoeing.
I pay £25 a week for a place in a field with shelter if needed inc hay in the winter, with advice/lessons for my dd and some other riding for her.
shoeing - £45
teeth was £40
somebody gave us an old saddle held together with masking tape
bridle/headcollar from a tack sale for a tenner

Thanks everyone :)

So, my workings out say that if I budget £250 a month, that should be more than enough based on the yard near me including hay and straw in the costs.

£104 livery
£30 insurance
£30 farrier
£20 feed
£10 dentist
£6 wormer
£50 saved for tack/emergencies/vaccinations

Have I missed anything big?

I'm looking at spending a maximum of £1000 on a pony and £400 on initial tack etc. waiting to get one until I've got a) more time spare, and b) the cost of pony, setting up and 2 or 3 months running costs saved up. Trying to be sensible here, although everything is screaming "BUY THE PRETTY PONY NOW!!!!" lol

I'm not sure you even need to pay a grand right now. Had my horse pts this week and have already had offers of "free", people are desperate. We didn't get any money for the meat either as they're weighed under. Had a flip through H&H and people are utterly delusional about asking prices right now!

Yes I'm just looking on preloved now and there's loads dirt cheap.

Sorry to hear about you horse :(

freddiebump, you do not need to spend 1000 pounds for a pony at the moment, unless they have done quite alot. For a standard kind of pony, say been backed and ridden and not much more, you could/should be looking at alot less. Do not take the pages of horse and hound as typical, they seem to me to be overpriced.

way overpriced

If your going to do everything by the book, how about a rescue? There are plenty of them about. Last time I spoke to anyone, Redwings was on about 150% capacity!

Yes I'll look at rescues I think. Like I say, I'm not looking to get one yet, just pricing up to make sure it's not just a pipe dream, as I had to get rid of my last horse due to lack of funds after I split with ds's dad and wnt to make sure I get it right this time! At the minute I'm just trying to get some practice; more lessons and possibly looking for a part share or something to ease myself back in :)

Part share that you'd be able to have lessons on is a good option if you can find one :D
I did the same before getting back into it for the proper. then jumped in the deep end and got a nutty TB & wild pony

I spend typically around £400 per month on our pony. This is roughly:

125 grass livery + hay
50 insurance
50 petrol to and from yard
15 feed, carrots, supplements (e.g. garlic for flies, stuff to stop him getting green poos)
20-100 lessons (varies a lot depending how many we have)
30 barefoot trim
Varying amounts on saddle checks (he's young and growing), physio, yearly vaccinations and dentist, random vet callouts (not many of these luckily!), replacement tack/jodhpurs/riding hats/always something we need, small amounts on things like competition entry, or share of diesel money to go to the beach

Adds up very quickly!