Anyone out there own a horse???

sophiesmum_2

Hi
My daughter has been riding for 9- 10 years at a riding centre.She goes a couple of times a week and also spends most of her weekends and holidays there mucking out/grooming etc. she is 15 now and would dearly love a horse of her own, this request has been coming regularly for at least 5 years:rolleyes:
She is at the age now where i would rather she spent her free time with horses than getting involved with gangs on the street corner, drinking , smoking etc. OH has tasked her to make him a report of all the expenses which may be applicable if she has a horse of her own and then he will consider whether it is feasible.
At present she has £80 a month for horseriding lessons which would obviously be put towards livery etc if she had her own horse. Just wondered if anyone had any info about average livery costs, equine insurance,vet bills etc. i have guestimated it will cost about £2 - £3,000 a year, but i am not sure.
If anyone could give me some real costs i would be really grateful.

allycat999

Does it have to be livery, if you live somewhere rural do you not know a friendly farmer who will let your horse graze in one of his fields?
Mine used to share a field with some cows, grazing was free.
Vets costs can be really high, best to get the horse vetted before you purchase to spot any obvious injuries you may miss. Used to get vet work done by my boss for free, you would need to find a good horse vet preferably someone who specializes in it.

sophiesmum_2

Thanks Allycat
we live in a town but there are some rural bits on the outskirts. i know horses would be okay outside during the warmer months but thought they would need stabling during winter.Also looking for somewhere closer to home so she can get there daily by herself. She has found a stables near her school but not found out any costs yet.
I would def be getting it checked over by a vet before buying, thinking of around £2000 mark so wouldn't want to get stuck with something useless. Sort of like having a car checked over by the AA:D
Have just been looking at insurance that would cover some of vets bills as well as public liability and other stuff, I thought it was pretty reasonable.

sophiesmum

Bossyboots

In a bid to prove to a young relative that her parents can't afford a horse, we have just been given a list by someone who does own one of the on costs.

Full livery - £80 - £120 per week

Stabling - depends on the size of the horse

These costs should include - mucking out and changing bed every day, (there might be an additional charge for using shavings instead of straw), turning the horse out into the paddock and bringing them in, grooming, feed.

Other costs -

Vet
Farrier - about £56 every 6 weeks but could be every four weeks if the horse is heavy on its feet
Worming - every 8 weeks £6
Tetanus and Flu vaccinations by vet £60 - £100 per year (dependant on size of horse)
Tack
Rugs
Possibly training equipment


The more facilities offered by a livery yard the more you will pay.


Hope this is of some help. Just need to cut and paste this now to send to the said young rellie.

MissMoneypenny

Have you thought about taking a horse out on loan for a while? It is very hard to sell a horse once it has become a family pet and girls fall in love with their horses. If you had one on loan, it wouldn't be too bad (still sad, but not too bad) if the horse went back to its owner after a set time. Our local shops often have cards up for horses for loan or share. I had to sell my horse when my job took me all over the country and I was away from Monday to Friday. I felt so ill after I sold him that I was ill in bed for a week. I have never felt that bad when I have split up from boyfriends:D

I use to keep my horses out in the summer and in a livery stables in the winter and I lived in the SE. However, my thoroughbred use to jump out of the fields so I had to keep him in all year, which added to the cost of keeping him. Best to financially plan for the worst.The stables had an indoor school and floodlit paddock, but it was worth the extra money. I have never regretted the money I spent on keeping the horses.

sophiesmum_2

Thanks Missmoneypenny,
DD has mentioned a loan or part loan of a horse if it is not feasible to buy and keep one. The time may just be right though as we are totally debt free, no mortgage etc and DD is only child living at home. We can probably afford it just wanted a better idea of costs. Anyway she has tracked down two stables/livery centres not far away and is going tomorrow night to look at them and ask about costs etc.One has a large menage as well as turn out paddocks and they do different packages for stabling and livery depending on what you will be doing yourself, so it sounds quite hopeful.
If all else fails will try the loan thing as i would like her to have the experience and responsibility. She will be getting some money of her own at 18 and since she was about 8 has always said this is to pay for her horse and to keep it, so it will only be for a few years anyway.

sophiesmum

Wirenth

Hi sophiesmum,

I seem to recall that a user on here named Jay-Jay has several ponies. She's very nice, so don't be afraid to ask her.

Wirenth

Jay-Jay_4

Wirenth wrote:

Hi sophiesmum,

I seem to recall that a user on here named Jay-Jay has several ponies. She's very nice, so don't be afraid to ask her.

Wirenth

Thanks

Where to start

If your daughter is going to be willing to go out twice a day in wind, rain and snow, if she is willing to pass up invitations of weekends away, days out with her mates and she's not the type who you will have to nag to see her nag then you may be in with a chance of her taking the whole thing seriously. Christmas day is no exeption and in a few years when she has a hangover she will still have to haul herself out in her wellies and waterproofs.

That's the standard Mum lecture over with

It would help if you were willing to help her out because as commited as she is right now the responsibility is very similar to her having a child. When I was 15 my Mum actually did the bulk of the care for my horse because as a teenager it's very difficult to understand the amount of care a horse needs, not the physical care but the emotional care. There are so many horses dragged out of their stables for a ride, shoved out in the field and brought back in overnight, what they need is some time and love and I, as a 15 year old, gave my love to the 19 yr old lad around the corner

Loan or buy?

For you I would certainly suggest loaning at first for a whole host of reasons. The first being that if it doesn't work out you can come to some arrangement with the owner.

Cost, well if she's going to be doing it herself then DIY livery between 12 per week and £40 per week. Part livery a little more and full livery a lot more but then if she wants a horse on full livery what's the point? The whole idea is that you do it all yourself as that's all the fun.

Hay, £2 -£3.50 per bale for hay or she may have to have the hay/haylage from her yard.

Feed, I pay around £20 per month for my feed and supplements

Insurance, I pay £30 per month

Trimming - My horses are barefoot so I pay an Equine Podiatrist £40 per horse every 5 weeks.

Tack - English leather basic bridle £35- £40, snaffle bit £15

English leather saddle £500 - Girth, stirrups and leathers £70

Headcollars, lead ropes, feed buckets, scoops, haynets or haybars, grooming kit, paraphinalia - £200

Rugs - Turnout £100, Stable £50, Lightweight Turnout £80

Wormcount - £9.50 4x per year with worming regime dependent on results and time of year but typically £25 for an effective wormer if needed. Tapeworm, encysted redworm and bots need to be treated anyway so £25 for that.

Tuition £25 per hour at least once a week forever and ever because nobody is too good for tuition

Now to the nitty gritty.... what will your daughter do if the horse comes in with laminitis, navicular, tendon injury etc? Has she the expertise to manage a laminitic horse who needs restricted grazing, remedial farriery/trimming, supplementation and careful management fro the rest of it's life? What about if the horse goes lame and cannot be ridden for 6 months? What if you can't find a saddle that doesn't affect the horses gait? What if you buy a horse and it chucks daughter off leaving her scared? These are all things which have happened to my friends in the past week or two, not rarities. These are not things that will necessarily show up on a vetting so you need to aware what to look for when you view horses.

Of my three horses I currently have one hopping lame who has not been ridden for 7 months, one who has not been ridable for 6 months and one who is ridden (by someone else) only twice a week. I myself have not ridden for 7 months yet I go down twice a day and spend 2-3 hours doing dirty, hard work in the foulest of weather. How would your daughter deal with it?

I don't want to put you off, I want you to be sure that your daughter can hack it (joke there see!!! ) when it comes down to it because while riding a horse is lots of fun, owning one is expensive and sometimes it's completely crap.

If you can find a horse for loan at a local yard (so the horse is going to stay there) then I would say GO FOR IT! If you're thinking of buying I would advise caution unless you're willing to take the horse on yourself if the going gets too tough.

The main thing is not to overhorse your daughter. While she might like the look of a 16hh Dutch Warmblood or a Purebred Arab I would suggest that you look at something more nativey that she can have a bundle of fun on it rather than having to re-learn how to hang on.

laikadog

just to add that jay-jay has gone for the top price of stuff,

UKTigerlily

Excellent post Jay Jay & i'm happy to see the OP really looking into this, too many get an animal whether cat/horse/parrot etc without any experience & knowledge! I used to work with horses & left 10 years ago (I feel so old now!) & I miss it terribly, but Jay Jay has covered everything I had to say & covered it well! Yay for horse lovers

Morglin

Juts make sure you have it vetted first and that you insure it against vet's bills.;)

A friend of mine has just had a bill for £8000 because her horse had to have an operation in a "horse hospital" for a colic-related ailment.

It didn't survive, but at least the horse was insured.

My daughter had a horse when she was young - and the costs don't end with buying/keeping - you just wait until she she wants to go to gymkhanas etc.,.........then she'll want you to buy a horse box to take her.........:eek:

The expense never ends, but they are nice to own.

Lin