Get a family horse?

[Chocolatecakeandcoffee]

I love riding/horses and have ridden Since I was a teenager (44 now). Never owned a horse although I loaned a pony when I was younger. I’m now in the position to get a horse for me and my two daughters (They are almost 11 and 13) to share. We’d be looking for a fun ride 15hh cob. How much extra work would this be? The riding school we ride at charge £100 per week for full livery. How much extra would worming/shoes/insurance/bits and pieces cost? Thanks 😊

I’ve bought 3 horses over the last 18 months. First one was mis-sold and I had to retire her, 2 field injuries plus investigation and treatment of Kissing Spine and full Scintigraphy scan racked up vets bills of approx £8k, 2nd horse had a run of bad luck recently (sarcoid, atrial fibrillation, guttural pouch mycosis), vets bills approx £8k, newest horse we’ve only had 6 weeks, relatively minor field injury 2 weeks ago, small but deep but, vets bill already totally approx £1200.

Make sure you get insurance 🙈😬 although if you totalled excesses I’ve had to pay. It would still be over £1k for all the separate claims.

If you can look somewhere for DIY livery, which is assisted if you or daughter's are sometimes unable to go to stables, it will cost somewhere around £4,000 per year. this is how i worked it out from what I paid, but the horse was insured for loss of use, death, third part liability, rider accident but not vet's fees.
DIY livery/stable rental £200 monthly incl.hay
Farrier every 8 weeks £75 (fully shod)
Insurance (Petplan) £21 monthly
Feed £17 monthly

Re vets - I had nothing much for years, then in 13 months my horse had atypical myopathy (1 week in intensive care £4.5k), strangles £400 ( luckily asymptomatic, only tested as his field mate had it, could have been a lot more), and septic bursitis £7.2k (the surgery was the cheap bit, serious iv antibiotics were £360 per day). But thatvwasca pretty bad run.

@Chocolatecakeandcoffee

Hmm, all sounds good apart from the vet!! How often does the average horse need a vet called out?

I've been really lucky with my horses. They've gone year on year needing next to nothing. However, some horses can notch up 1000s of pounds every year and you won't know until you've bought it which it is. So to be on the safe side, either have a wodge of cash put by or get insurance, or put some money aside each month. (And obviously get at least 3rd party insurance).