Cost of loaning RS horse to owning own

[joanie]

:) Hi, I am currently loaning a RS horse called Polo who is a lovely chap. Bit spooky, but generally honest and safe.
I have really got the bug, and I thinking how much would it cost to buy and keep my own horse.I would want a horse/pony who could also take my 11 year old daughter, who is much more confident than me. It costs me £229 a month to loan Polo. That means being able to ride him Wednesday to Sunday, when he not being used in the school. I tend to get about 3 days a week where I can spend quality time with him, not just riding. The school absorbs the insurance costs, vet bills, farrier etc.

Also, I am a novice and my knowledge of horse care needs expanding. I would need to be sure that I could care for a horse properly before having one of my own. May be the BHS Horse Owners Cert?

Any advice would be greatly received.

WHY are horses such an addiction??:p

[joanie]

Hello, any advice ?????:confused:

[MrDCBags]

This may give you a guide of costs- it was written 3 years ago tho so things will have changed a bit!

http://www.homeofrestforhorses.co.uk/pdfs/beforeyoubuy/affordahorse.pdf

[CurlyWurlyRach]

my horse costs about £200 a month on DIY livery.

[vonandiz]

:) May be the BHS Horse Owners Cert?


I'm also a novice and I'm about to start sharing a horse. I've nearly finished the HO Cert (exam on Tues) and have found it quite helpful with regard to some aspects (horse health/feet). Unfortunatly, there isn't that much practical stuff and some sections are interesting but not that relevant to actually looking after your horse (such as horse breeds).

Other people on my course are a mix of experienced horse owners, new owners and people like me who knew very little. i think we have all learnt something and enjoyed the course, so maybe worth seeing if somewhere local does it.

[Joyscarer]

my horse costs about £200 a month on DIY livery.

I too budget £200 a month on average for grass livery in the south. It all works out in the end.

[Stella2]

Where are you based? You may be best to put your own horse on full or part livery, at least initially. In the South Full livery can be £600 or more a month but includes exercise and grooming as well as everything else. In the rest of the country everything except grooming and exercise (i.e. mucking out, turning out, bringing in, rugging, unrugging, feed , feeding, hay/hayledge and straw or shavings) is understood to be full livery. In the North that costs approximately £80 per week. Part livery means you will do some of your own mucking out and perhaps buy your feed (don't worry about that, loads of advice out there) and that is approximately £250 per month.

You don't need to have a huge knowledge, but you have to be willing to read, listen and learn and you definately need to be very careful not to over-horse yourself. Be careful who you take advice from. Lots of people out there talk a high level of skill are are incompetent idiots - even though some of them have been in horses for 20 years! Don't naturally equate years of experience with expertise, it might just be years of experience in doing things badly!

When you do get your first horse, establish your boundaries on the ground with some ground work and keep a careful eye on your horse's manners as they will ask in little ways ocassionally whether they can creep up the hierarchy. I recommend reading Kelly Mark's book Perfect Manners and some of Richard Maxwell's stuff in preparation. If you get the right horse - one without a dominant temperament, doing the exercises they suggest isn't difficult, its fun :)

Hope that is some help.

[c2b]

I worked out with everything that I can plan for, diy livery, wormers, shoes, dentist etc my girl costs me averaged out over the year less than £140 a month.!!! I ride 6 days a week most weeks.

I too needed support when I first bought her. I have two very good friends who were there mostly on the end of the phone for those panic moments. Nearly 2 years on we can go anywhere, with anyone or on our own. I haven't killed her (or me) off. It's everything I dreamed of and more.

[stormandsummer]

I loaned my lad from a RS before i bought him :D i thought it would not cost me alot more than i was loaning and he would be all mine, i hated seeing him ridden by others, but there was a good reason for my loaning, i have a bad back and was worried that daily care of a horse would be too much for me, and although i do struggle alot with my back it was good experience to loan first :D


although once there your own, i think everyone will agree you really learn every day some thing new and it is great :D

It depends where you live to the true cost, here everything is expensive and i am on a small private yard and more expensive however i get help when i need it :D

I dread to think how much he cost me i would say average 80 to 90 per week :rolleyes: but he is worth it :D

Good luck if you decide to buy :D

[fairlady]

Gosh ,it amazes me how much these horses cost people.

I pay £15.00 per week on a small yard with four horses. You obviously then have to work out the cost of insurance (mine is £36.00 a month with PP), Shoeing, (Morse is only 2 so not paying that as yet, and thats if I decide to have him shod), worming, feeding (both hard feed and hay), bedding (if horse is going to be stabled) Rugs, both outdoor and stable, etc.

Now obviously you get a bit what you pay for, the bigger yards are hopefully going to have far more facilities than I have available to me, however the bigger yards also have a lot more people and horses with a YO trying to keep everyone happy.:rolleyes: However, there are lots of different ways to keep a horse and I guess there are quite a few horses who are well kept on less
than I am paying. My friend and I used to rent a largish field with a shelter and keep both of our Arabs there for £25.00 A MONTH between us:) I think he only charges £35.00 now!!! So look around at all the options, the cheapest is not necessarily the best option, but believe me, the most expensive isn't either. Obviously if you are planning on competing at a certain level you need all the facilities, but if you are just planning on happy hacking, some local shows etc, you do not NEED it although you may choose to have it:)

[Bobbi's_mum]

From £229 i would have a lot of change and i have 2!!!!

You just need to shop around and get the best for your money.

Im lucky because i keep mine at home so it cuts the cost of livery, they are also barefoot. I have a fjord and a shetland so they dont get any hard feed either, only hay when the grass is all muddy.

in all it works out monthly like this:

Insurance - £27 for fjord £12 for shetland
Farrier - £12 fjord shetland free, (every 6-8 weeks)
hay - we grow our own but it would work out at about £9.00 a week

So about £87 a month but then your got vaccinations, teeth etc so you should be fine.

[Mehitabel]

it also depends on how the loaning works., we tend to do it as 'real costs'. it's often parents seeing if their child is ready to own, so we give them a real idea of what it would cost them, just without the outlay at the beginning and of course the option of giving back if it doesn't suit for whatever reason.
so our loaners pay the going rate for livery (which at ours includes all feed and bedding if horse is in) and are treated exactly as if they own the horse - so wormers, shoes, jabs, insurance etc is for them.

[Joyscarer]

From £229 i would have a lot of change and i have 2!!!!

You just need to shop around and get the best for your money.

Im lucky because i keep mine at home so it cuts the cost of livery, they are also barefoot. I have a fjord and a shetland so they dont get any hard feed either, only hay when the grass is all muddy.

in all it works out monthly like this:

Insurance - £27 for fjord £12 for shetland
Farrier - £12 fjord shetland free, (every 6-8 weeks)
hay - we grow our own but it would work out at about £9.00 a week

So about £87 a month but then your got vaccinations, teeth etc so you should be fine.

Whist that's great for you that yours are so cheap, it's hardly representitive of the majority. Most have to pay for livery of some kind, shoes and some sort of feed.

I think when considering whether you can afford to have a horse you need to consider worst case senarios.

[jenmac_85]

I did think about loaning for a while, but was reluctant to not have full control over what happens to the horse I was riding.

Costs me about £450 a month for full livery, shoes, vets fees, rugs etc if split up over the each month. Thats not including Insurance which cost me £400.

I agree with Joyscarer in that you should think of the worst case scenerio and think about whether you coudl handle that. I have certainly learnt a few things since I bought my boy on ly a few months ago!!! I think that the worst things is the unexpected vets fees lol. Tyler has not had any problems so far, but after discovering he had some thrush I went to pick up the treatment to discover it was £25!! Didnt realise how much thses things cost - now I am prepared lol

I didn't sit any horse ownership exams, but went on my experience from working in a RS and reading as much as I could. Hoping to sit BHS Stages next year once I finish my nursing course.


Good luck with whatever you decide to do :D

Jenny and Tyler
x

[sancho]

Hi, ours cost £65 pmth each for livery plus hay/straw which is neglegable at the moment and if my memory serves me well about £20 pmth during the winter.

Every 6-8 wks they are shod at £50 each with stud holes. Food costs arent much really and insurance is about £28 ea.

A good medium rug (rambo for us) and a cheaper light rug (amigo). Saddle check every year now (I dont scrimp on tack) and made to measure bridles which are fantastic quality even now after 3 years! Dentist every 7 months. Anything else as and when they need it or if I can afford it! :D

[fairlady]

You know, re reading this thread, you are not doing at all badly for what you are paying. You can ride him 5 days a week if you wish. You do not say if you do the general stable management on the days you have him, i.e. mucking out etc.

Owning your own horse means twice a day 7 days a week for a start, unless of course you are sharing a field with somebody and can share the chores.

If you are thinking that you need another horse that will be suitable for you and your daughter is there not something else there you could come to the same arrangement about.

I am not trying to put you off owning your own horse by any stretch of the imagination but you have said you are a novice and your management of horsecare needs expanding. Don't rush into it, what you have now is a great way to ride and learn:)

[joanie]

:) Thanks everyone for all your advice. There is a lot to think about for sure. Livery in Kent is expensive, especially if at a reputable yard. I would ideally need full livery as I am a nurse and work 13 hour shifts 3 days a week, and then I can't guarantee I will finish on time! :mad:

Maybe it would be an idea for me to commit to loan the RS horse for at least 3 to 6 months to give me more of an idea of meeting this cost each month. I do manage to ride at least 4 days per week and am also having lessons (on other horses too), but I find I really just like riding Polo. I adore grooming him, being with him, and all the mucking out etc.

More research with other RS/yards also an idea. I certainly wouldn't want to jump into horse ownership before I am confident that I can the horse the best life he/she deserves. :)

Will let you know how it works out.

[Sp1cer]

Hi,

I have two boys on full livery, with my package my livery costs £400 per month per horse. For this I get the following:

Per Horse:

14 lessons or horse being exercised per month
hay or haylage
2 x feeds per day
turnout

In addition I pay about £25 insurance, approx £50 every 6 weeks for farrier, £30 for wormers every few months, teeth/sheaths about £100 every year.

I had shared one of them before I bought him, and it was so much easier owning for me than sharing or loaning.

Can't you get a full loan to start with where nobody else rides your horse?


Pam