How much to own a horse?

[ilovedolphins]

How much does it cost to own a horse? There are some neglected ones that are being given away because the owners haven't fed them. I live in town so I know I would have to board it. Just curious as to what the costs might be yearly. And no I have never been around horses. My brother took 2 of them.

[mmhmm]

I know from nothing about owning horses, but I did find THIS.

[Deleted]

It's like a kid.  You can spend a fortune or not much.  But, if you have to board, it's probably going to be on the high side.  Impossible to say how much because again it's like a kid.  Some parts of the country you can get daycare for 5K/year, others pay that much a month. 

I spend about as much as I would on a good sized dog, but they're at home and I plunked down a small fortune for the land, barn and fences initially.  I also grow my own hay.  The neighbors cut and bale it and take half the crop in payment, but there's plenty enough left over for my horses and goats.  I never buy hay.  I can tell you a full sized horse is going to eat about 6 small bales of hay/week.  Last year prices were through the roof at $6-$8/bale.  Mine also go through about 100lbs of feed a month, but I feed very little, they're mostly hay fed.  The grain is just to make them happy to come in.  You're going to need basic farrier work done at least a few times a year at around $50/pop.  That's about the minimum you'll need.  The skies the limit after that.

I would say if you had to board and buy feed here, you're looking at $200/month minimum. 

[busymom]

A friend of mine has a sister who takes in abandoned horses (at least, as many as they can afford), while they try to get them healthy, & find new owners. It is SHOCKING how many horses are left to their own devices as owners find they are more expensive than they anticipated. There are stories here every few months of horses discovered on farms that are starving to death, or already dead, because the owners can no longer afford the expense.

[justme]

Knowing boarding can be expensive - at least around me - a few of the stables around here actually lease horses. It's basically a timeshare of horses! I forget the exact way it works, but something along the lines of you pay for anywhere from having the horse and you pitching in a lot of the work, to the stable doing it but you get to ride the horse really frequently. It's an interesting idea...that has nothing to do with the topic lol

[phil5185]

Our horse (AZ) lives on pasture grass for the summer months, and we buy hay for the 4 to 5 coldest months. Hay costs about $60/m for one horse. Plus $45/ 8 weeks for hoof trim. And a vet once a year for shots. We had a rescue burro for about a year, that adds about 50% to the hay bill. Sometimes we have a couple steers - two steers eat about the same as one horse.

[DVM gone riding]

official average yearly cost is 1700-2300 assuming nothing goes "wrong." I recommend going to the "unwanted horse collation" its ran by the AAEP which is the vet association for those that work on horses. it has a booklet for people who are thinking about owning and how to go about that and things to consider.

Give me a minute I will see if I can find the link

The other resource I recommend is "the horse" .com

Ipay 200/mos/horse for board which is ok in my area. In Seattle area--like the boondocs of King county. it can be 400/mos/horse and 700-900/mos for a "nice" place.

Then there are shoes and shots and "stuff" on top of that and that is all before anything goes "wrong"

We have a saying with horses "if you wrapped them in bubble wrap and placed them in a padded stall they would eat the padding, colic, and die"

The other is only the horses you hate (for those that have a slew) and would shoot if they got badly hurt do NOT hurt themselves. I am their freaking vet!! And one year my mare was on antibiotics three times sowed up two cuts and took one set of xrays and that can be nothing for some horses!

[DVM gone riding]

Can't tell if the link worked.

www.unwantedhorsecoalition.org/?id=3

[resolution]

My SIL pays about $300 a month for boarding and was paying another $200 a month for dressage lessons. However he developed an eye infection and cyst so the lessons have stopped and the twice a day medical treatments have started.

I look at having a horse in this area like having a car payment, if you don't have enough land to support the horse without boarding. It can be worth it to some people and not to others.

[moon/Laura]

This comes from a friend of mine who reads the board but isn't a member.

As phil said, it depends. Do you know friendly farriers? Are your local vets also large animal vets? Do they make house calls like ours does? We had several horses/ponies over the years and friends still do and it's not bad at all IF you have easy access to feed/hay at decent prices and services for large animals. If you're in a largely urban setting where those services aren't so common or reasonable, it's not so cheap. We had a time when the local farrier left, and it was months before we got another. It was expensive to get caught up on what was needed. And if you don't get the right feed, horses are notorious for foundering if not fed properly. They will literally eat themselves to death.

[skubikky]

I pay $300/month to board my horse.
That includes hay, grain(she gets very little) and "lodging".
She is turned out in a 3 acre pasture with 2 other horses from about April to October.
Then they are turned out in big paddock with a good size run-in shed.

Even with boarding there can be a lot to horse ownership.
The price of hay which can go up as high as $8-$10/bale depending on your location.
The cost of trimming.   I pay about $80 for a trim and additional costs for special shoes.
You can certainly find cheap farriers but sometimes they're hacks and don't have the skill or
knowledge to trim your horse to what they need based on pastern angle and hoof size and health.

Having a good equine vet available and willing to come out is a big, big deal as well.
I use a local vet who can be at the barn in 10 minutes.  And when you have a horse with colic who needs to be tubed,  it
can be the difference between getting through it or having to put the animal down.  And until the doc shows up, you'll need to be walking the  horse so they don't go down.   For this mare, anything that can't be done for her at the farm is out of the question.  Out this way there is a saying......"take 'em to Cornell or dig the hole". 

I use a vet 2 counties over who diagnosed and has been treating my mare's navicular disease.....successfully I might add.
It's cost $100 just for him to pull in the driveway.   Like anything else you can spend as much or as little as you want.  But you need to know what you're doing.  Horses in many respects are sturdy, resilient animals.  But, they are also vulnerable.  They actually a preyed upon animal.  Except, they're often fast enough with a major ability to kick out in defense.

Injuries based on just every day screwing around out in the pasture happen all the time.  Horses can be mischievous.
Most often they're no big deal but you get a horse with an abscess in their foot or deep wound somewhere else and you'll need to spend a good amount of time doctoring them.

Adopting a horse isn't like a cat or a dog.   You need to get some knowledge before you do this.

People are idiots who have bred and taken on horses that they really couldn't afford to properly care for.  IMHO very, very often these poor beasts are better off being humanely euthanized than neglected as so many are as this one that the OP is referring to.

[skubikky]

Feb 18, 2015 23:20:04 GMT -5 DVM gone riding said:

Then there are shoes and shots and "stuff" on top of that and that is all before anything goes "wrong"

We have a saying with horses "if you wrapped them in bubble wrap and placed them in a padded stall they would eat the padding, colic, and die"

The other is only the horses you hate (for those that have a slew) and would shoot if they got badly hurt do NOT hurt themselves. I am their freaking vet!!

You got that right doc!

Some are smart....some are as dumb as bag of rocks.  And yes, the ones that are the major behavioral, riding, PITAs usually are injury/disease free.

I did forget to mention as the doc had already done so, the shots,  Coggins(if you want to transport a horse in some states:  The Coggins test (agar immunodiffusion) is a sensitive diagnostic test for equine infectious anemia), wormers,  and remember this is just the basic stuff. 

[skubikky]

Feb 19, 2015 6:24:27 GMT -5 moon/Laura said:

This comes from a friend of mine who reads the board but isn't a member.

As phil said, it depends. Do you know friendly farriers? Are your local vets also large animal vets? Do they make house calls like ours does? We had several horses/ponies over the years and friends still do and it's not bad at all IF you have easy access to feed/hay at decent prices and services for large animals. If you're in a largely urban setting where those services aren't so common or reasonable, it's not so cheap. We had a time when the local farrier left, and it was months before we got another. It was expensive to get caught up on what was needed. And if you don't get the right feed, horses are notorious for foundering if not fed properly. They will literally eat themselves to death.

Yup.  They can also founder(laminitis) if they get a fever, eat too much or eat too much moist spring grass.

[Deleted]

I have been very lucky in the health/injury department.  My 16 year old gelding has only had to see the vet once in his life and that was when he was castrated as a yearling.    His Momma used to colic periodically when she was younger, but stopping showing and getting her outside more took care of that.  I had her put down a couple years ago at the age of 27 and she hadn't had a colic episode for 10 years prior to that.

No injuries either, but I'm a stickler for good fences and buildings and keeping hazards out of their way. 

[CarolinaKat]

Feb 18, 2015 20:29:42 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

It's like a kid.  You can spend a fortune or not much.  But, if you have to board, it's probably going to be on the high side.  Impossible to say how much because again it's like a kid.  Some parts of the country you can get daycare for 5K/year, others pay that much a month. 

I spend about as much as I would on a good sized dog, but they're at home and I plunked down a small fortune for the land, barn and fences initially.  I also grow my own hay.  The neighbors cut and bale it and take half the crop in payment, but there's plenty enough left over for my horses and goats.  I never buy hay.  I can tell you a full sized horse is going to eat about 6 small bales of hay/week.  Last year prices were through the roof at $6-$8/bale.  Mine also go through about 100lbs of feed a month, but I feed very little, they're mostly hay fed.  The grain is just to make them happy to come in.  You're going to need basic farrier work done at least a few times a year at around $50/pop.  That's about the minimum you'll need.  The skies the limit after that.

I would say if you had to board and buy feed here, you're looking at $200/month minimum. 

Where I am, Board + special feed for M + Farrier every 6 weeks + Hay = approx $300-350

It would be more for me if I were not to board him. He's super social and enjoys having a herd. I would have to buy a companion horse for him if I were to move him onto my own pasture. His mental well-being is important to me. He has several good companions in his 'herd' and is always a happy guy being at this place. Also my pasture is not a good type of grass for M, he's a laminitis baby, and being at the barn with the summer only grass is better for him. I have the room, but I have a very lush fescue pasture, and he would have SO many problems.

As far as boarding, I pay $225/month. It's partial care, so I buy his hay and food. I also portion his food out so all the owner needs to do is feed him a bag. She puts his blanket on and off for me and he spends the worst weather in his stall.  My barn has mostly women in their 20s-50s who ride (one has a driving pony). Several of us have laminitis-prone horses. We all split vet visits and farrier visits, so the cost is much lower than if I were to have him on my own land. I also have a good farrier and vet who also have a working relationship, so it's a good support system for when he has an 'event.'

If you're interested in more particulars, I can share. I worked at a big barn that catered to lesson kids though HS. We got a couple of rescues that came through that we helped get back to healthy. 

[Deleted]

Feb 19, 2015 10:15:46 GMT -5 CarolinaKat said:

It would be more for me if I were not to board him. He's super social and enjoys having a herd. I would have to buy a companion horse for him if I were to move him onto my own pasture. His mental well-being is important to me. He has several good companions in his 'herd' and is always a happy guy being at this place. Also my pasture is not a good type of grass for M, he's a laminitis baby, and being at the barn with the summer only grass is better for him. I have the room, but I have a very lush fescue pasture, and he would have SO many problems.

Goats!  They make great horse companions and are really cheap to keep. 

My "pasture" isn't really a pasture.  It's only a couple acres, so just 2-3 head eat it down pretty fast.  I feed hay year round and they are stalled at night (during the day in the hot summer).

[wvugurl26]

Around here its high. In a place with a lower COL I imagine it to be cheaper. A friend of mine used to work at a boarding place. It was $900/month for the stall and someone to turn them out and back in. They had to provide the food. This was also in the county that's regularly 1 or 2 in terms of median income for the whole country. Horses are a big thing there and they have money to burn or a huge debt load.

[CarolinaKat]

Feb 19, 2015 11:15:19 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Feb 19, 2015 10:15:46 GMT -5 CarolinaKat said:

It would be more for me if I were not to board him. He's super social and enjoys having a herd. I would have to buy a companion horse for him if I were to move him onto my own pasture. His mental well-being is important to me. He has several good companions in his 'herd' and is always a happy guy being at this place. Also my pasture is not a good type of grass for M, he's a laminitis baby, and being at the barn with the summer only grass is better for him. I have the room, but I have a very lush fescue pasture, and he would have SO many problems.

Goats!  They make great horse companions and are really cheap to keep. 

My "pasture" isn't really a pasture.  It's only a couple acres, so just 2-3 head eat it down pretty fast.  I feed hay year round and they are stalled at night (during the day in the hot summer).

His current barn does this. It's been good for him. The stalls all also have a window, so he can 'visit' with the horses who are around.

He was at another barn and they were doing some breeding so M didn't have a pasturemate. They tried sheep then goats for M. Although watching M playing with the sheep was funny. He'd 'herd' them. He ended up in with their pet steer. There is such a difference in his attitude since he's left the place with the cow. I know it sounds stupid but I've had M for 12 years now, and he needs other equines. He'll take a cat in a pinch, but he really prefers horses (or mommy).

Also I just can't have him on fescue, He'd need to be stall bound 22 hours a day in the spring and fall. and it's currently fluffy and green even while under like an inch + of ice. He also has destroyed any grazing muzzle I've ever tried. It blows having a smart horse. 

[happyhoix]

I would add, though, dolphins, that it kind of depends on what you plan to do with the horse.

If you only want to help the horse out and want to give him a comfy home where he will be 'retired' the costs would be less.  Minimal vet care required, may not have to shoe him if you aren't riding him. Around here, you can pay to have your horse live in someone's field year round with a shed for protection from the weather - less grain and hay costs than a horse boarded in a barn.

If you want to 'work' him the costs go up - if you want to 'show' him they go REALLY up. 

Before you adopt one, though, I would be sure to get a vet to check him out. There are some serious and/or long term diseases horses can get that cost a lot to treat, you would want to know for sure what you're getting into. It's one thing if the horse is just malnourished and thin, another if it's sick. 

And let me add that I think your desire to help the poor horses out is wonderful.  

 

[Deleted]

Feb 19, 2015 12:27:03 GMT -5 CarolinaKat said:

Feb 19, 2015 11:15:19 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Goats!  They make great horse companions and are really cheap to keep. 

My "pasture" isn't really a pasture.  It's only a couple acres, so just 2-3 head eat it down pretty fast.  I feed hay year round and they are stalled at night (during the day in the hot summer).

His current barn does this. It's been good for him. The stalls all also have a window, so he can 'visit' with the horses who are around.

He was at another barn and they were doing some breeding so M didn't have a pasturemate. They tried sheep then goats for M. Although watching M playing with the sheep was funny. He'd 'herd' them. He ended up in with their pet steer. There is such a difference in his attitude since he's left the place with the cow. I know it sounds stupid but I've had M for 12 years now, and he needs other equines. He'll take a cat in a pinch, but he really prefers horses (or mommy).

Also I just can't have him on fescue, He'd need to be stall bound 22 hours a day in the spring and fall. and it's currently fluffy and green even while under like an inch + of ice. He also has destroyed any grazing muzzle I've ever tried. It blows having a smart horse. 

It sounds like a good fit for him and you're happy with the arrangement. There are times I miss being a part of a big stable and all the social aspects.  My first job out of high school was managing an Appaloosa show/racing barn.  Worked my ass off and didn't pay for shit, but the happiest years of my life.  Then I bought my mare that I showed and was part of another barn as well as the one I worked at.  Always something going on and lots of socialization for the horses and me and no issues with lining up someone to do chores when I went on vacation.  I don't do nearly as much with my horses now as I did back then (part is the kids take up all my time), but, I do love having them in my backyard.  Sometimes I just go out at night after the kids are asleep and sit in the little mini's stall and try to convince him people aren't evil (he was a rescue) or scratch my geldings sweet spot until he's almost rolling around on the floor.  LOL 

[Deleted]

Feb 19, 2015 13:15:21 GMT -5 alwaysbeoptimizing said:

Feb 19, 2015 11:15:19 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Goats!  They make great horse companions and are really cheap to keep. 

My "pasture" isn't really a pasture.  It's only a couple acres, so just 2-3 head eat it down pretty fast.  I feed hay year round and they are stalled at night (during the day in the hot summer).

except they constantly try to escape and are goofy as all get out.

I remember in 6th grade, we had one goat.  Mom had spent all day cleaning her car, etc and had left the doors open to dry the carpets.  She was in side eating lunch and looked outside, and there was the darned goat, standing inside her car, with it's head sticking out of the sunroof.  She actually pulled a pistol out and fired a warning shot and chased it.  I've never seen her so mad!  (we lived way out in the sticks, so there was no danger from the well directed warning shot.)

LOL  Goats are awesome.   They're funny...but evil.

[CarolinaKat]

Feb 19, 2015 13:16:20 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Feb 19, 2015 12:27:03 GMT -5 CarolinaKat said:

His current barn does this. It's been good for him. The stalls all also have a window, so he can 'visit' with the horses who are around.

He was at another barn and they were doing some breeding so M didn't have a pasturemate. They tried sheep then goats for M. Although watching M playing with the sheep was funny. He'd 'herd' them. He ended up in with their pet steer. There is such a difference in his attitude since he's left the place with the cow. I know it sounds stupid but I've had M for 12 years now, and he needs other equines. He'll take a cat in a pinch, but he really prefers horses (or mommy).

Also I just can't have him on fescue, He'd need to be stall bound 22 hours a day in the spring and fall. and it's currently fluffy and green even while under like an inch + of ice. He also has destroyed any grazing muzzle I've ever tried. It blows having a smart horse. 

It sounds like a good fit for him and you're happy with the arrangement. There are times I miss being a part of a big stable and all the social aspects.  My first job out of high school was managing an Appaloosa show/racing barn.  Worked my ass off and didn't pay for shit, but the happiest years of my life.  Then I bought my mare that I showed and was part of another barn as well as the one I worked at.  Always something going on and lots of socialization for the horses and me and no issues with lining up someone to do chores when I went on vacation.  I don't do nearly as much with my horses now as I did back then (part is the kids take up all my time), but, I do love having them in my backyard.  Sometimes I just go out at night after the kids are asleep and sit in the little mini's stall and try to convince him people aren't evil (he was a rescue) or scratch my geldings sweet spot until he's almost rolling around on the floor.  LOL 

I'd love to have M in the back 40. I've always wanted to put a gazebo out there so i can hang out with him while he's grazing. I have room for a ring, roundpen, the whole works. if I win the lottery...

Anyway, now he's with his BFFs (B and C) and his 'fan club' (several mares think he hung the moon). The only horse there that doesn't care for him is the mini. He won't put up with her shit and she's used to getting her way. He's only 10 mins away and the barn owner WFH so there's always a person there. Her office is literally one end of the barn. It was really helpful during this fall's laminitis attack, she had a good eye on him for me.

[dannylion]

I like goats. They're a hoot. And friendly.

Friends who have horses say horses are happier and do better if they have a companion, either another horse or a goat or some other herd animal. One friend has a beautiful Belgian draft horse with its own pet sheep.  They are inseparable.

Horses are expensive to keep and care for properly, which I suspect is why the only people I know who have horses are among the only people I know who have lots and lots of money.   

I often think it would be fun to have some pet pygmy goats.  I'm pretty sure I could convince my clueless yuppie neighbors that they were an exotic breed of dog.