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Discuss horse riding and ownership on our Horse forum.

My first horse - how can you afford it?

42 replies

andreapendle · 08/11/2018 15:02

I am saving up for my own horse, next year spring sometime. DH is not happy. I have children but youngest is 14 and not so dependent on me now and my 17 year old is into horses so thats good. I would like to know how much it would cost monthly/weekly if DIY, i also work full time. what type of horse would be suitable ? for my needs. Hacking, hunting, possible dressage (way down the line). I have been waiting for 41 years (im 51 now) so i think ive been patient long enough. Anyones advice would be very welcome.

OP posts:
andreapendle · 10/11/2018 13:39

Daughter is totally into it and would do stable duties whilst I ride and we both have insurance as like you said what happens if I fall off and cannit work - I have most of the gear ie grooming box plus other things which I have accumulated over the years - I have loaned part share over the years so am more than aware if pitfalls etc and horrid winters - @VintageFur hubby and I have been married for 30 years nearly and he knew I was into horses before I met him so he has resigned himself to this fact - I also got him to ride a horse for the first time last year - the only problem that side is money which is always a worry - he’s also aware firmly mental health it’s good for me - I think loaning full is a good idea and am currently looking at horses4home site (I know some horses do have problems and are a bit quirky) but I’m more than experienced to deal with this - I have a good 12 months too to save up as I’ve extended this due to everyone’s posts - (smile)

OP posts:
puppymouse · 10/11/2018 14:11

I waited until mid 30s to get my first. Here's my download:

  • I wouldn't do DIY if you work full time. I've just moved mine after 18 months doing him myself working 3 days a week and a 4yo DD. I was shattered, frankly. Trying to keep him in a routine and keep DD warm and safe... at least go part livery so you get some help. If you haven't looked after one full time before it's very physical and as it's coming up for winter try to ease yourself in gradually.
  • Everyone will tell you to get a nice cob. I didn't I went off piste and got an ex racer. Everyone told me I was an idiot. But I'd say the thing with cobs is they don't tend to be sharp but when they say no to something you tend to have very little say in it. They can be very stubborn and hard to move so manners and good training is everything. I'd be looking for something kind and experienced - an all rounder. And if you can I would give yourself a decent budget. Under 5k or so you may struggle to get anything decent that isn't a thoroughbred.
  • identify who your experts are before you buy. People you trust to give you advice, come with you when you try the horse and advise you when you first get it. It's s minefield out there and it's way too easy to be taken in.
  • I don't know if you have a yard yet but if not, ask around and join some local horsey FB groups. The wrong yard will ruin your horse and you potentially.
  • Get a stack of £50 notes ready to set fire to. Horses hemorrhage money. DHorse costs me £410 a month plus supplements. That includes his feet as my yard is run by his podiatrist (no shoes). But he usually "needs" something or injures himself. Plus the lessons I can't afford at the moment.
  • Find a good instructor as it will keep you on the straight and narrow 

Good luck!

VintageFur · 10/11/2018 16:42

Also join the "dodgy dealers" page on FB to get familiar with the names you need to run a mile from. But sweeping generalisation.. most of the dodgy fuckers look dodgy in their photos and I'm surprised anyone would trust them to sell a bag of chips never mind an £xk animal.

CountryCob · 10/11/2018 18:18

Diy - 240 for 4 weeks, in winter add £15-30 a week for the odd day livery, this is all inclusive and a good deal but it true diy and need to muck in with fencing etc
Shoes £40 every 6 weeks plus )10/15 when shoes pulled off - can be about once a month in the mud, October it was twice!
Insurance £52 a month
Teeth £50 a year roughly
Inoculations £50 a year roughly
£30 each lesson or if I have him schooled or jumping etc trip out
£250 spent this year on trailer
Recent extra costs: £13 hay net this week and yet another rug c.£40 as lightweight, have 2 summer rugs in to clean and reproof will be about £45, hoof dressing due about £15, that kind of thing really, each competition probably costs £50/60 (can often be more though) I do dressage mostly
I spend a lot on kit as I like to have good quality things for him and me so saddle was £3k (recent check only cost £40 though)- I love it though and expect for have it for over a decade am very long term commitmented to my horse he is 10 and had him since he is 4 absolutely love him and am very lucky. He cost £3k lightly started and I had him professionally schooled once a week for over a year and had lessons as well every week, we still rely on that training which was before I had children. Have a three year old and have kept him on diy through that time very close to home, husband supportive, I work 3 days and flexibly. I can manage diy but it is exhausting, brings us very close together though keeps me knowing what is going on and means I can occasionally buy us nice things and have training. My dd loves riding is a cracking little horsewoman and can point out a curry comb! The fact that she is so passionate about horses helps me a lot. I do avoid bringing her down to do jobs though as much as I can, so I get to the yard before 7am to do him at the moment, as the light goes that gets harder and harder and think I cannot do it any more then summer comes and he goes out again! Good luck be picky with the horse mine is forgiving and trainable and loving and if he wasn’t such an angel I would really struggle with it and I don’t think it would be worth it, all about whether that horse is worth it to me!

CountryCob · 10/11/2018 18:57

Also in last week £30 clip and £10 lead rope - although I got that free with points for spending £££ over the years in that shop! Will probably need another clip this year again usually do around 2/3

CountryCob · 10/11/2018 18:59

This reply has been deleted

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CountryCob · 10/11/2018 19:03

This reply has been deleted

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Moanranger · 10/11/2018 20:16

Chesney Stunning, I do bet you miss him. I have hunted Arthur but my photos not nearly so stylish :\

DingoNuts · 10/11/2018 22:12

Horses are money pits. Mine has racked up £18k of vet bills this year! She has ulcers which are back again so that's another £800 to treat, plus special feed and a pricey gastric supplement.

My full livery is £90 a week + extra bedding. Insurance is around £60 a month. You need a healthy bank account unless you want to have loads of stress.

Asdf12345 · 10/11/2018 22:24

We budget £9k a year for one all in right down to the last drop of petrol going to and from the yard each day. We live somewhere very cheap for keeping horses at the moment compared to some previous places also. Taking up hunting would increase the cost for us considerably.

Sparrowlegs248 · 10/11/2018 22:33

How long us a piece of string? 10 years ago I was paying £25 per week livery (diy) x 2 horses. 2 full sets of shoes (one with crap feet so extra for specific shoes) at £135 a go. Bedding, both on shavings so £15 a week. Livery rule was to be stables overnight all year. So hay on top regardless of time of year. My TB caused me a monstrous feed bill, medication, supplements, vets fees etc.

Currently, I pay £100 per month and keep 2 natives. Both unshod, both live on fresh air, out 24/7 all year so I buy a few bales of shavings a year for bedding. I will use maybe 40 bales of hay over the winter. The difference is staggering.

andreapendle · 13/11/2018 10:24

@VintageFur - this is really good to know about the dodgy sites. will put that onto my facebook page defo. Theres a couple of dealers i am aware of whom i have rode their horses in the past (one was bought from them who i loaned for 18 months) and they were really good dealers but some i know can be lethal. @Nottalotta - natives are really good, so i would be looking on that side for the breed. I know a few people who say that it only costs them £200 a month but i cannot see it being lower than £400/500 a month for me but hopefully if i get certain things before hand to help lower the bill that should help, hopefully the tack will come with the horse, but i would like to buy him new rugs so this would up the cost. I can depend on my daughter as she is into horses in a big way and she is really dependable. My dream will come true going to make sure of this even if it does leave me bankrupt (smile). Had a good chat with husband and he is in agreement at the moment (wink) lol.

OP posts:
MakeAHouseAHome · 29/11/2018 07:59

My monthly costs are:
£450 - Livery
£65 - Shoes

Then £50 Annually for Jabs, £80 Annually for Teeth, £50 Annually for worming.

He is retired now but when I was competing my costs were conaiderably higher!

When I loose him I won't get another one. Love him dearly but costs are excessive.

backinthebox · 29/11/2018 09:41

The 'bare bones' budget just above really is bare bones. For someone to be budgeting just £15 per month for hay means they are only getting through 3 small bales of hay a month at current prices. My horse would get through a bale every 3-4 days in the winter and about a bale a week in the summer (he gets a slice in his stable no matter how much grass in order to stop him being bored, and we travel more in the summer so hay taken to shows etc.)

I keep my horses at home so don't have livery fees, but what I save in livery I spend in fencing, fertiliser and grass seed in the spring, hedge trimming etc. Land costs money whether you are renting it or owning it.

I'm all for encouraging people to keep a horse on a strict budget, but you do need to go into it with realistic expectations. The first thing that jumped out from your OP was that you wish to a) be barefoot to save money and b) go hunting. The two things are incompatible. You might manage to find the only person on the planet who does hunt barefoot successfully, but for a regular hunter you need shoes. Just the amount of work needed to keep a horse fit for hunting will wear their feet down. A friend of mine decided she was going to go barefoot and still hunt. I remember spending ages with her every time she went out looking in the deep mud for her very expensive boot that had come off within 6 minutes of leaving the meet. Every time! Even if you decide to no hunt, correct nutrition for barefoot horses and a decent barefoot trimmer trimming your horse's feet at the correct intervals, plus the expense of the boots for if you do need them to ride in, will not come in much cheaper than shoeing. And it will limit the horses you can look at. If you keep one thing in your budget, I'd make it shoes - no foot, no horse it the old saying.

As to livery costs - you can do things the 'lots of money' way or the 'lots of work' way. True DIY livery can be found for less than £120 a month for just a field and stable, but don't underestimate how much work you have to put in yourself. If you go to a yard where they have a school, with lights, and a groom who will do the odd turnout for you, the price will be higher but you life a little easier.

Feed is a massively variable price, and will be hugely affected by the amount of work it does and the type of horse it is. My horse (small Irish cobby thing, hunts twice a week in the winter and does long distance competition in the summer) is not a good-dooer and works hard. He gets whatever he needs to keep him in top condition, but I've still searched out the most cost effective way to do this. Per month he will eat on average a back of basic sugar beet (£8), 1-2 bags Alfa-A (£12.50-25) and 2 bags of Top Spec Turbo (£28.) I tried him on straight oats and micronised linseed as that would be cheaper but he likes the Turbo best! So I can keep a fussy horse hunting fit on simple feed for about £60 a month. My daughter's pony (14hh Welsh Pony Clubber hunting weekly and doing rallies and shows in the summer plus a few long distance competitions) makes much better use of his feed and gets through a bag of Allen and Page mash a month at £14. We give him a handful of Turbo the day of a show to wake him up a bit. And that's all he needs!

Decide early on how you are going to deal with vets fees. Make a plan and stick to it. You can pay insurance but if you are keeping costs down don't be suckered into paying for loss of use. Alternatively start with a contingency pot and add to it each month. Put it somewhere you can't get at it, even to borrow a bit from it. Colic surgery can cost £5000. I bought a young horse, put a bit of money aside each month for him and after 2 months of owning him (when I had a contingency pot of only £60!) he was diagnosed with a very rare malignant tumour which cost £3300 to fix. Otoh, my previous horse had cost me £6000 in insurance premiums over the years I'd owned him and I only ever claimed treatment worth £200. Imagine if I'd put that in the bank!

So after livery, feed, shoes and insurance/contingency, you've got bedding, routine healthcare, equipment and fun to pay for. Bedding is going to cost you about £30 a month in winter if you use shavings, pellets, hemp, etc, slightly less in summer, if you are careful and frugal with bedding. The only way to get it lower is with straw. I tried straw as an experiment last winter and rapidly went back to pellets! Far too much work and stinky as hell! Routine healthcare - check with the local vets for if they do free callouts for routine work in exchange for you being flexible. Mine do free visits on a Tuesday but you have to take the time they give you, but I get all the teeth and jabs done at the same time once a year. Everything is cheaper (saddlers, physios, vets, dentists, etc) the more horses they are coming to see so team up with other liveries if you can. Equipment - buy a single good quality bridle that you like. The difference between a good one and a crap one is only about £50 so buy a good simple cavesson bridle in good quality leather that fits and only ever buy one bridle. Buy a decent saddle that you find comfy and look at adjustable ones (Kent and Masters are very good.) Then when the horse changes shape you won't have to shell out for another one. Buy a decent rugging system and maintain it, and you won't need millions of rugs even if your horse lives out. Each of mine have 2 Premier Equine outers and a set of liners, and a Thermatex. Expensive rugs, but I don't have dozens of different weight turnouts and stable rugs and a thick fleece and a thin fleece etc Hmm that some people seem to accumulate. 3 rugs per horse and a couple of liners. That's it.

Which brings us to 'fun.' Hunting is awesome. It keeps me going though the winter. I have to go and muck out 3 in this wind this morning but it's OK because it's hunting season! If you hunt you will need to either subscribe (£250-1500 per season or more with a fashionable pack!) or buy tickets (ie buy a number of days out in a bundle.) It is possible to just pay caps, but many hunts will frown on a person who turns up sporadically through the season and doesn't commit to support the hunt. However it is acceptable to be a serial visiter and go for a couple of days each with a number of different hunts while you are starting out. You may like the long days and steadier pace of foxhounds, or you might prefer the manic pace of drag hounds. One pack may jump lots, another might gallop a long way to avoid a fence! After a while you'll find a pack you like and then a sub is sensible. You'll need good transport too for hunting, so figure out where that is coming from. You'll need transport for most outings though, but that's something that can come later. Fun though can come in all shapes and forms, but most of it costs. Competitions, fun rides, lessons. Worth considering because everyone starts out a happy hacker and eventually wants to do a little bit more!

One final thing to consider (and to keep from your husband) is that horses expand to fit the budget available. I have 3 and am considering a 4th because my kids ride too and it's not fair for my little horse to have to do all the hunting and competitions (I was 2nd in a national final on him last year) and my daughter is eyeing him up for schools showjumping too! He needs back up! We stay away a fair bit now so the trailer will soon need upgrading to a lorry. And I just started out a happy hacker too Grin. I also have a friend who started out with one brown cob and kept buying horses that looked the same so one was always in the stable and the others in the field behind the big hedge. She got more and more successful as a show horse owner (eventually winning HOYS) that by the time her husband noticed she'd bought a grey hunter she actually had 3 brown cobs and 2 grey hunters! Grin Grin Grin

backinthebox · 29/11/2018 09:53

And just to show that you will get different opinions from horsey people on just about everything, I'm going to disagree with every single thing in this paragraph from Puppymouse:

Everyone will tell you to get a nice cob. What kind of cob? A show cob? A hairy vanner? A Welsh cob? All different kinds of horses! I didn't I went off piste and got an ex racer. About as many different types of racehorses out there as there are cobs. A retired steeplechaser? probably been there done that got the T-shirt, laid back as they come. A sprinter? 4 years old and had a bucket of oats every day since it was backed at 18 months old, had both it's front legs pin-fired, needs peeling off the ceiling. Everyone told me I was an idiot. I'd say brave, but I don't know you. But I'd say the thing with cobs is they don't tend to be sharp but when they say no to something you tend to have very little say in it. Yes, but what kind of cob? There are so many different sorts and they are all different. My Irish cob is sharp and clever and quick and trainable. They can be very stubborn and hard to move so manners and good training is everything. Seen this with institutionalised ex-racehorses too. Good training applies to all horses. I'd be looking for something kind and experienced - an all rounder. And if you can I would give yourself a decent budget. Under 5k or so you may struggle to get anything decent that isn't a thoroughbred. Would agree if you were talking about £2k, even £3k, but plenty of good horses out there for under £5k. But you do have to look with caution, no matter what your budget.

Jappydooda · 29/11/2018 10:10

I got back into horses after a 3 year break last year, buying a 15-month old cob.

He is on DIY to keep the costs down as all he is going to be doing over the next couple of years is growing up!

Costs so far are:
DIY - £108 per month
Hay - 2 bales a month £60 - however, hay has been more this year as he has had to have hay in the field all summer due to the lack of grass, so probably an extra 1 bale a month.
Straw - 2 bales a month £40
Feed - he gets a balancer and hi-fi/fast fibre twice a day which costs around £30 per month.

As I work full time he gets fed and turned out, mucked out (YO just mucks him out and fills water bucket - I put the bed down and sort out hay nets when I get there) and brought in for an extra £7 per day Monday - Friday, October - April, and then he goes out 24/7 over the summer. I do him at the weekends.

It averages out at about £380 per month, which isn't too bad when I think my last horse was on part-livery in the South East and his bills came to around £700 per month!

He's had a couple of vet visits for minor things and a visit from an IH trainer to help me out with handling issues.

Other than that, just a couple of rugs as he's out grown the ones he had at the beginning of the year - he's gone up 3 rug sizes in 7 months - at least I know all that hay is doing him some good!

puppymouse · 29/11/2018 17:33

Hahaha I can agree with @backinthebox that everyone will have different opinions. Choose your cob wisely. Fair point.

I won't bother picking out the bits of your post I don't agree with Grin

OP find people in real life you trust and enjoy talking to about horses and your journey will be your own. It's tough to hold your head up some days in the horsey world until you find that support. I'm lucky to be on a yard with some mostly like-minded horsey people but relieved to have left everyone who foisted an opinion on me behind.

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