The costs of a horse - have I thought of everything?

I am so pleased I live in Leicestershire and have my own land!

For comparison, a bale of haylage is £35 and lasts 3 fully stabled competition horses a week, hard feed we buy in bulk £13 a bag feeds same three horses for a week, straw for bedding £10 a week for the three (free paper used for the others!!)

Dentist £15 each per year, Osteo £ 30 when needed (usually twice a year), saddle fitter £25 usually once a year, remedial shoes £50 a set , varying between 4 and 8 weeks. Worming £15 every quarter.

Works out at £130 per horse per month!!

Vaccinations at £20 (we take horse to vet) and on average about £100 per horse per year for vet problems ( not insured) Sometimes we get a bill for £1000 but most months no bills at all!


RS horses and the others in light work need no feed/bedding in summer (about 7 months) but we do spend about £400 with local farmer to roll/fertilise/ mineral balance etc fields every year to produce good grass.
 
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Rosie is on DIY on a large yard.

For livery, including stable and grazing in a mixed herd is £27.50 per week.
Solo paddock is £10 a week extra if wanted.

We buy hay and straw/chippings/ hard feed (delivered twice weekly outside stable door!)
£2.50 straw, £5.60 hay. I'm getting through 2 bales of straw a week and 1 hay at the moment. Easily 4 of each in Winter in a week.
For the livery and hay/straw/feed I pay 4 weekly.
A the moment bills (livery/hay/straw/feed) are always under the £200 mark. In Winter, £350 ish.
When they are out 24/7 (Should be happening any day now!) I end up paying just over the cost for the stable alone per 4 weeks, so not much over £110.

Insurance is £50 per month.

Rosie was shod all round when I got her. I had one full set at £65 then went on to just fronts which is now £43. Every 6 weeks.

There is a tariff for stable duties if needed.
Mucking out £4.
Turning out £1.
Bringing in £2 (Field is massive and it's a much longer walk to get them in!)
Full Livery per day, including all of the above plus feeding/hay £7.

It so varies what I pay for that each month. Depending on time of year and what shifts I'm working. £9 was the cheapest in a month. £72 was the most expensive.

I am a novicey owner, first horse. I wanted the support of a big yard. I also assumed that I'd HAVE to have Rosie on Full livery. Ended up on DIY and I love it! There is always, help and support at the drop of a hat. Quick text and job done.

Mary Poppins said:
All of the above (apart from the grooming kit) are provided for by the yard. I have another budget for the cost of the horse and the one off like saddle, rugs etc. I am hoping that for £5000 I can get the horse I want, plus everything I will need to go with it.
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I think that's sensible and was exactly the figure I had. Rosie was £3000. 5 stage Vetting was £210. Mucking out tools and bits and pieces all add up.

I had a budget of £1,200 for a saddle. Well chuffed to find a really nice one for £650! Went on to immediately blow the money I'd "saved" on other stuff in the tack shop! :giggle::wub:

Dentist, £35 every 6 months.
Saddle check £35, every 6 months.
Both of the above is with call out charge shared with other liveries.

Worm egg count. £12 every 6/12 weeks. Wormer £12-£15 a time.

What an expensive hobby!!:bounce:
 
Stable £100 per month
Haylage £56 per month
Feed £4 per month
Shoes £35 for front set every 6 weeks
Dentist £60 per year
Vet £70 vaccinations
Wormer (costs varies per brand) £9-20 every 9-12 weeks (depends on wormer or worming program (you might want to look at worm count programs)
Insurance (Petplan)£40 per month

Total
£345 per month:smile:

I might spend between £70-100 on rugs in a year, depending whether he wrecks his current ones..
 
Skib said:
Very useful post MaryPoppins.
However, are these actual current livery costs where you live? They sound lowish by Surrey standards.
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I know where I don't want to keep a horse now, if what MP is saying is cheap::eek:! Livery on my current yard is £80 per week, and that really says something! And I thought livery HERE was steep! LOL:giggle:
 
Wow guys you are paying a LOT of money!

Use of field £50 pcm
Insurance £45 pcm
Shoes every 8 weeks £75 so £32.50 pcm
Worm count and one dose per year £2 per month
Dentist and vaccinations £80 so £6.66 pcm
Hard feed/hay in winter £10 pcm (if that)
Bowen treatment twice a year £6.66 pcm

£152.82 pcm average. With other bits and bobs call it £200 but thats still nothing like what you're paying

This leaves me loads of money to pay off the horse box loan at £200 a month but thats a luxury
 
I know I pay a lot but there is no way I could manage DIY with running my own business and travelling to Europe for work.

When I first got Izzy I would have struggled without help although I would manage now on DIY in terms of knowing what to do. But I just don't have enough hours in the day.

It is a bit irritating sometimes as I know Izzy is dirt cheap to keep in terms of livery - needs no hard feed just a handful of chaff, not much haylage, so I am in essence supplementing the poor doers. If I was paying for his haylage and chaff I would pay less, but that's the way part livery works.

Our livery yard is one of the more expensive around here but I love the atmosphere, the help and both Izzy and I are very happy there so it is worth it to me.
 
I'm glad I've got my 3 at home!! Although having said that the cost of smallholding to start with and then the cost of maintaining fences, land etc doesn't actually mean mine is cheap LOL.

Anyway.....

Depending on age of horse teeth might only need to be done once a year.

Saddle fitter and saddle reflocking.

Rugs.

I would say shoes would probably be needed every six weeks.

Other than that you seem to have more or less everything listed.
 
Mary Poppins said:
My search for my first horse is almost upon me. I have been costing out everything on a month by month basis. Are my costs realistic and is there anything I have missed?

Full Livery (including hay, bedding and hard feed): £105 per week - £455 per month
Insurance: £50 per month
Shoes: £40 per month (based on £80 per set every 8 weeks)
Dentist/back/vaccinations etc: £50 per month
Worming: £10 per month

That is a grand total of £605 per month!!!

Or, I could opt for DIY

DIY livery with stable:£170 per month
Hay/bedding/hard feed: £100 per month
Help with turn out/bring in etc. when needed: £50 per month
Insurance: £50 per month
Shoes: £40 per month (based on £80 per set every 8 weeks)
Dentist/back/vaccinations etc: £50 per month
Worming: £10 per month

That adds up to £470 per month.
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Livery you could struggle to reduce if you want a specific yard

If you can get good grass that will make a difference to your cost of hay/bedding/hard feed, at present mine are on a hand full of hi-fi and out 24/7.

I buy hay in bulk which cost last winter from Aug to March £150, Ive called around and got best prices to keep costs low. A heston of straw lasted me 3 months @£35 I do muck out everyday and deep bed. So over winter £30 a month on hay and straw so the other £70 a month on hard feed....thats a lot of feed !!!

In Deep winter I was feeding a bag of alfa a every month @ roughly 4 stubbs scoops a day.

Supplements is somthing for you to think of, I found research is key :giggle:

Shoes I would try to have front only. I Pay £38 every 6 weeks.

Insurance is very high, I pay £33 for my boy including tack.

Dentist/back/vacs again seem very high. Vacs and teeth £100 a year and back twice a year at £50, so totally £200. You have another £400 left over

Summer time my costs are
£100 livery,
£30 feed,supps, haylage.
£33 Ins
£20 shoes
£10 worm count/wormers
£17 vet/back

£210


Winter
£100 livery,
£60 feed,supps, hay.
£33 Ins
£20 Shoes
£10 worm count/wormers
£17 vet/back

£240

Hope that helps.
 
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annareeves0 said:
Wow guys you are paying a LOT of money!

Use of field £50 pcm
Insurance £45 pcm
Shoes every 8 weeks £75 so £32.50 pcm
Worm count and one dose per year £2 per month
Dentist and vaccinations £80 so £6.66 pcm
Hard feed/hay in winter £10 pcm (if that)
Bowen treatment twice a year £6.66 pcm

£152.82 pcm average. With other bits and bobs call it £200 but thats still nothing like what you're paying

This leaves me loads of money to pay off the horse box loan at £200 a month but thats a luxury
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Where abouts are you AR - do you have your own land? I'm Bournemouth too, on a yard which alone is £140pcm but that includes stable, 24/7 turnout (if required 24/7) sand school, lunge pen, endless hacking etc plus storage for hay in a barn as well as our own tack/feed area.

I also spend more than £10pcm on hay - especially in winter. She *can* end up having half a bale a day, depending on circumstances.

I don't think I'm paying extortionately more than anybody else - in fact I don't think anybody on here is paying excessively, it just depends on circumstances. Full livery does hike the costs up loads but otherwise I think it all seems fair.
 
I've been double checking my figures as moving next week....in summer it will be a bit cheaper but over the year I'm going to be paying more for assisted DIY than I am at the moment for Full livery but the place and people are what are sealing it, not the money.

Guess its also about finding the right place.
 
Hebe has the farrier every six weeks - she doesn't work that hard, and she only has fronts, but feet still grow, and I wouldn't like to let her toes get too long for fear of lami.

Hay .. Say £5 a bale, and the two of them get through at least two bales a week in the middle of winter. But of course it's less if you average it out over a year.

You need to put some money aside for emergencies too - broken bridle, dog-chewed schooling whip, lost gloves, hurt horse, colic ...
 
LindaAd said:
You need to put some money aside for emergencies too - broken bridle, dog-chewed schooling whip, lost gloves, hurt horse, colic ...
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Yes & it's not necessarily disaster emergencies - Roxy got conjunctivitis last year which resulted in two new fly masks, a call out for the vet, the cost of medication from the vet, plus over the counter stuff I'd already bought, along with additional creams/lotions/potions because she then tried to scratch her eye on a post.

And chuck in at least one fly rug each year because they rip so easily. And fly spray! As well as the standard first aid kit, plus useful Sudocremes and other handy bits & bobs.
 
When my horse was shod he was every 5 weeks, 8 weeks is too long for most IMO.
Don’t forget supplements, tack, rugs, lotions and potions.
Dentist, saddle fitter and physio.

I budget £400 a month for one horse on DIY livery as follows:
£40 feet
£25 supplements
£15 hard feed
£120 DIY livery
£20 two days full livery
£40 hay
£20 shavings
£35 insurance
£5 vaccinations
£3 work counts
£323 a month plus the extra £70ish for various other bits he undoubtedly needs, thankfully now I’ve had him a while I’ve reined in my spending as he pretty much owns everything he needs, but even this month for instance he’s had physio, £40, saddle fitter £40, saddle is now going to be reflocked £95 and then £10 fuel for saddler to come back and refit it once reflocked, plus I bought a new bit £30 (a Myler at a bargain price thankfully!) so that’s an extra £200 without even thinking about it! I also get a good deal with YO, most mornings I turn out my horse and another, this means that when I need YO to turn out/bring in she’s happy to do it for free as I help her out.
 
I pay about £220 a month for two. But I self insure, and with living out that keeps costs down dramatically as well being healther for my two. And there are no field maintenance costs, that's all included.

Anna where you are, lucky to find a field for £50 a month ! :eek: Never heard of it so cheap over that way !
 
I'm about £200 all in. I have a VERY good doer, no rug costs, no stable costs. In fact, if I had a trailer I could probably make money out of him, there are quite a few gardens in the Perthshire area that contain Flipo fertiliser.

Agree with RM, its the niggly little issues you wouldn't claim for that cause the most money issues. I'm £40 callout and £15 consultation before they've even decided whats going on.
 
I think everyone has mentioned everything, but I must stress how much you will end up spending on rugs, rug cleaning/repairs, all the little 'extras' like fly spray, perhaps entry fees for any competitions/pleasure rides, and the big one: petrol/diesel for travelling to and from the yard. This is the main reason why I now have the ponies at home again.

Definitely go barefoot and stick to fibre feed (plus a balancer if needed). Turn out as much as possible, to reduce on forage and bedding.

Keep away from Ebay and Equestrian Clearance!

Remember to enjoy every moment - it is worth it!

Ali x
 
Mods please can you move this thread?

Mods - could this thread be saved for future reference please? May be moved to Mature Riders or something?
We really need the general section back so threads like this can be archived.
 
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