Can I be cheeky and ask the people of The Tack Room what you do for a living and how you afford your horse?

[Ghosty1985]

Ok so here goes. It has been a lifelong dream to have a horse but as a child my parents were not horsey and did not share my interest, then I was at uni and a poor student.......

Now I have finally been working for a good few years but I am still not in a position to have a horse. I am a solicitor, but in a small firm (I do not earn City megabucks). My working hours are long enough that I would struggle to keep a horse on DIY (I am out the house 7am -7pm on an average day for commuting and working, sometimes longer) but I have done my sums and I cannot afford full livery either, despite having a relatively decent salary. Admittedly I am in the South East where livery is more expensive than some places and as I am a novice I would want to keep the horse somewhere decent with experienced people around etc.

I know I could look at sharers but I would not want to have to rely on that in case I could not find one etc. I am quite a sensible person so would not buy a horse unless I could 100% afford one.

I have a share at the moment which is great, but I just wonder if I will ever be able to have my own? Things will only get more difficult (time and money wise) if/when we have kids.........

Oh I would also like to add that I don't have an especially glam lifestyle either - DP and I have one small second hand car between us, travel most places by bike to save cash, shop at Lidl, haven't turned the heating on yet etc. Most of our money goes on mortgage etc. We are not walking around in designer clothes and holidaying in the Bahamas!

So horsey people, what am I doing wrong? Can I ask what you all do for a living and how you afford your horses?

Meant to add, most of the people on my current yard where my share horse is kept at are either yummy mummys who drive brand new 4x4s and don't seem to need to worry about money or alternatively have normal jobs like teachers (leave work at 4pm and head to the yard - can pick up any marking/prep after doing the horse) or police (work shifts so have some free time during the day to go to the yard) so whilst they may not have loads of cash they have the time to do DIY etc.

Senior Pharmacist but I work part-time hence can do diy. I'm in the east and the cheapest you'd get full livery round here is about £450 per month

Yes I would be looking at about £500 for full livery around here - plus everything else on top of that.

Gardener here.I used to rent a private yard and it cost £100 a month for 2 ponies.I work part time as a gardener so it was easy for me to DIY. In January the owner wanted the yard back,so I moved the ponies to my dad's farm a mile away,where I have a couple of fields to keep them on.He doesn't charge me anything but I work on the farm as an when needed in return.I also get free hay,so it makes a big difference.DH earns quite good money,but I pay for shoes,worming,pony club,any pony stuff myself.That way he can't moan about it.

I admit that I shop at Aldi and rarely buy new clothes or go to the hairdresser as all my money goes on the ponies.

IT contractor in Investment Banking. I'm generally away from home 12 to 15h per day. We have multiple horses / ponies all at livery. They live out for as much of the year as possible, which helps keep costs down & means we can get away with riding only at the weekend.

Product Manager in healthcare. Although I'm not in the UK, I usually have a horse on full livery, with a view to doing so again in the future. To be fair though, I couldn't have afforded a horse straight out of uni either. It wasn't until I had finished my second degree, that I had the time and money to devote to a horse. And that was after I had set myself up first some other goals which required a hefty financial investment. My job isn't conducive to diy, otherwise I would love to do that too.

Thanks - am not straight out of uni though - I graduated in 2005 and started my proper career job in 2006 so have been working for 7 years now.

Self employed accountant. I work generally 8 - 10 hours per day, but bar having the occasional meeting with a client, I can work the hours that suit, so can get to do the ponies in the light and work in the evening. They are kept at home though, so I have no livery costs, bar an extra field I have just rented down the lane.

When I was in your situation, just married, no kids, not much money and a full time job, I owned my own horse. I kept him at a DIY livery yard which offered 'extras' which were just paid for as you needed them.

So in the barn, they kept a diary with a page for each horse. I would go through the book for the week ahead and tick which days I wanted him turned out, exercised, lunged, brought in or mucked out. AM feeds were included as all got fed at the same time, you just left it ready the night before.

This way, I wasn't paying for anything I didn't need - eg in the summer he could stay out longer until I got there, but they would fill in the gaps for things I couldn't do, like turn out in the morning. When I went away on business trips they would do everything for me.

There were times when I wondered why I had a horse, especially in the winter when I didn't see him in daylight from one weekend to the next. I did have a sharer for a while to help me exercise him during the week, but that didn't work out for long as she wasn't a great rider. With the hours you work & commute, I think you may find it a huge burden to have your own horse given your current situation. It's not just about the money, there really wasn't room for much else in my life. Which I didn't mind at the time, but looking back I'm amazed DH put up with it. Although I had the horse before I had him, so he knew what he was getting into .

There's no easy answer to your dilemma, but it sounds like you are thinking it through very rationally and thoroughly. It's great that you're not rushing to buy one - it is very very hard to sell a horse these days if it doesn't work out.

nanny I work 12 hours a day although only work 3 days a week now.

I used to work 5 days (12hrs) and it was hard work juggling work, horse care and riding.

my horse is now retired and lives out with a huge field shelter (is better for her arthritis) which keeps costs down.

I've always been diy, and anything the horses need I buy before I do shopping for the humans. I buy hay and straw in bulk which means it's only 1 outlay instead of trying to find the money every month.

money is tight but I've had my horse since I was 15 so she's part of the family (I'm 30 now)

Pony lives out on a yard where they are checked, given haylage in the field, and water done as part of the cost of £120 a month. When I finally get my horse, they will live out too. Matter of finding right horse for your circs - at our yard the vast majority live in big herd groups with 24/7/365 turnout so they hoolie around together, keep cosy etc

We afford the horse because we have paid off our mortgage. We couldn't have afforded it before though.

I have a well paid job (70k). My horse is on full livery as also work long hours and cant always be there. However, I drive a crappy car which cost under £1000, never buy myself new clothes or shoes unless I really have to and shop in Asda. With the part ownership of 4* event horse the cost comes to around £1000 a month. I don't have children however and live alone. There is not a lot of money left at the end of the month that's for sure! Wouldn't be without the horses however.

Work in it, 2 horses on assisted DIY on a competition yard, DH works away during week. Kids ride while I muck out etc, I ride when DH home.

Rarely get new clothes, shoe habit curtailed massively, don't eat out much, shop in adi etc etc.

Mine is a share but she's a competition horse, and I don't have limits on my days or what I can do with her so effectively I treat her as my own. Happy sharer, happy owner!

Management consultant, good salary, 2 horses on DIY, 1 TB , one WB. Am mucking out at 6am in the pouring rain and dark, before I get my DC up for school. We all help each other out at our yard and I pay a 15yr old daughter of horsey friend to muck out on days I cant.

When I was married (and had young DC), they were at livery, but after my ex left, as a single parent, it was either DIY of they had to go. So I started mucking out!

Have kept horses all my adult life but am sometimes wondering why I do it as in winter I never get time to ride

I have a share and am a SAHM - I have a very indulgent husband who is well paid....but even with help in the home (cleaning ironing), and only having the 3 days I find the time and the money hard. If I didn't ride, we could probably go skiing., having said that my son has a SEN, and the riding keeps me sane and grounded.
DS (the one with the SEN) loves riding too, and it fills him with joy, so we are thinking about getting a pony in march.....not quite sure how we will afford/ i will find the time, but will worry about that bait closer to the time.

CA, pretty good salary and not in London! Keep horses at home now, but always did DIY, except for a small stint at Full Livery which I hated.

I think you are being very sensible in the way you are thinking it through. Not sure what your ambitions are, but unless you have a hankering for a Full TB wimp then I'd suggest try to find somewhere that he/she can live out. With decent rugs and shelter, then most are perfectly happy. Not only will the cost be considerably less but with a decent headtorch (your best investment ever, I promise you!) then it doesn't really matter what time of day you check them. This takes away the pressure of having to leave work at x-time. In fact, my 7/8 TB is living out right now. And I'm in Scotland where it is very very cold all bloody year. They do however have a proper shelter that is essentially a stable, so I figure there is very little difference, and she seems very happy.

I remember when I was younger and me and my friends started to buy our first flats, a friend got very good advice from her Dad. They worked out how much her mortgage, council tax etc would be, then she was allowed to live at home rent-free for 6 months, but had to pay the equivalent £ to her parents for that time. She then proved that she could afford the flat, and got it back as her deposit. Worth trying?

I'm like mrslaughan, my carer's allowance covers my horse share (I actually own half a horse, bought with cashed in premium bonds). It's probably not meant for that but I feel I need to look after my own physical and mental well-being to be any good for ds so it's money well-spent! I'm sure I would have cracked up years ago if I didn't have dhorse. And ds loves ponies too, riding has been really good for him and the fact that it's something we can share makes me feel that we are a 'normal' family for once.

I'm a SAHM and our pony is on full livery at a very small private yard ,after 20+ years of horses on full livery it's the first yard I can honestly say look after the pony as well as we did when we were DIY ( pre children) . My husband would rather pay for full livery than go back to the days when all our time was spent looking after the horses.

Full time shift working London police officer here but on top rate so with London weighting just over £45k including overtime . Had a pony since I was 13 , which I took over paying for at 18 , which then became 2 horses at 21 . No overheads then as living with parents until 23 , when moved in with DH . Years went by , moved around the south east bouncing up the property ladder , until one day we realised that it was actually cheaper to move to Norfolk and buy a house with land and a stable yard , than it was to continue paying the mortgage and separate livery ( just the box rent ) . So we did . The commute is a complete bastard , but the trade off is so worth it . That said , we rarely go out , but who needs to when we live here ?

Carer on minimum wage I work 3 12 hour shifts a week
Dh earns more
She is full livery and rough costs are
Costs nothing to keep her at the riding school
Insurance £28 per month
Shoes only has 2 £60 every 6 weeks
Back massage £ 50 per year
Dentist £50 per year .
Vaccinations £ 45 per year and all her tack etc whenever she needs
I go and see to her and dd rides her every day I'm not in work

self employed single mother with start up online business with a pony for DD - grass DIY livery, second hand tack and equipment, insurance as part of Pony club sub...

keep ours at home
don't get back until 5.30 often when its dark
go and check them with a headtorch
they live out except one is on box rest at the moment (which is in the field shelter as we dont have a stable)
mucking out the field shelter with a head torch in the dark is the worst bit, just invested in a rechargeable lantern!

everything is from ebay second hand
we do nothing else
dcs will get pony stuff for xmas which is a bit depressing but better than not having ponies!