Hypothetical cost of horse ownership :)

[stephwin]

I know the prices will vary based on location and individual vets/farriers/etc., but I would like to get a general idea of costs per year for a horse. Just for a reference, I’m located in Texas north of Dallas. I already have tack and grooming supplies, so I’m not really interested in up-front costs, just more of the ongoing costs with just owning a horse.

I’m in no hurry and I will definitely not get a horse for a few years at least, but I’m a big planner and I like to know what I’m potentially getting myself into. I started riding at age 6 and rode up until about 16, when I got busy in high school. I did ride during the summers after that and taught at a horse camp during the summer. I’ve never owned my own horse so I’m not sure what to expect in terms of cost.

What I do know:
Boarding – Pasture boarding in this area ranges anywhere from $220 - $400 per month. This includes all feed and use of any facilities. So for my example I’m going to choose the $400 board just for a worst case scenario.

Lessons – Range anywhere from $30-$50 each. For this example I will just say $50. So $200 for the month at 1 lesson per week.

So as of right now I’m looking at $600 a month, or $7200 a year. My car payment isn’t even that much! But again, that is worst case for my area.

The unknowns:
Farrier – I am interested in knowing the price with and without shoes. Hopefully my horse wouldn’t need shoes but that’s not a guarantee.

Vet – Like the cost of annannual exam, shots, teeth floating, coggins test, and things like that. Has anyone ever had an emergency visit, like for colic, and how much did that end up costing?

Insurance – is it worth it? What does everyone pay?

Anything else I’m missing?

Not applicable:
Trailering or showing costs

Finally, just as a personal question. Say you live in a different city than where you will be boarding your horse. Facility A is about a 20 minute drive and is $400 a month for pasture board and group lessons cost $50 each. Facility B is about a 40 minute drive and is $300 a month for pasture board and group lessons are $30 each. Assume I would take lessons 1x per week but probably visit the barn 2x a week. Both facilities have equal amenities as far as the arenas and overall condition of the barns and pastures. Which would you choose?

Thanks!

 

[SallyQZ]

I think you're smart to estimate at the higher range for board. There are plenty of "bargains" out there, but you usually get what you pay for with regard to horses. The more expensive barns are safer, feed higher quality food (hence less risk of colic), and have good quality trainers associated with them.

Vet & farrier costs can vary from person to person, but here's what I'm paying:

Farrier - two of my horses are barefoot, so I pay $60 for a trim every 6 weeks. One horse wears shoes, and that is $175 every 6 weeks.

Vet - Your horse will need a variety of shots & immunizations. IF the vet is coming out to do multiple horses in the barn at once, you can save money on the call charge. Here in CA, esp. being in a training/show barn, we do a LOT of shots. Influenza every 2-3 months, west nile twice per year, plus all the regular ones. My annual shots (Influenza/Tetanus/EWE/Rhino/West Nile) cost $115. Strangles was $35 (twice a year) and the shots they got every other month (influenza plus deworming) were $60. But this is a big show barn, where we had no choice - had to use our trainers vet, pay their inflated prices, and get shots we didn't need (rabies, potomac, etc).

Dewormers - needs to be done every 2 - 3 months, depending on how many horses are in the facility. More horses means more exposure to worms. $7 to $16 if you buy yourself at the feed store, $25 if your barn owner or trainer makes you use their vet to deworm (it happens - I hated it).

My jumper had a mild bout with colic last year - it cost $373 to get the vet to make an emergency visit, give him some Banamine, and tube him with mineral oil. If he had needed surgery, that would have been close to $10,000 - luckily he didn't need surgery.

Dental - horses develop sharp edges/hooks in their mouth which will affect the way they react to the bit in their mouth. They need annual dental exams/floating to keep their teeth in good shape. I paid $ 227 per horse to get this done (they need to sedate the horse prior to sanding down the rough edges).

Various vet - in the past 2 yrs, one horse had at least 7 vet calls for eye infections, scratches, and habronema (tiny insects that lay their eggs in the horses eye, which then need to be dug out). Every time the vet came out, it was between $200 and $300.

Lameness - dealing with jumpers, we had occasional unsoundness issues. Luckily I had medical insurance for my horses. Diagnostics for the lame horse are VERY pricey. Xrays run $40 to $60 per view, ultrasound will run you $200 - $300 for basic exam, and it goes up from there (nuclear scintigraphy, stem cell treatments, IRAP, etc all cost thousands of dollars).

Liability Insurance - this one is VERY important. Horses are considered an "attractive nuisance" which means that if some one goes up to your horse in it's pasture, jumps on it's back, then gets bucked off and hurt - they CAN sue you! It happened to me - someone cut the fencing and my horse got out onto the highway where she was hit by a car. The owner of the car threatened to sue me for damages to her car, and was claiming whiplash. I was only 20 yrs old, had nothing, but it was still got pretty ugly before it was resolved. My current liability insurance covers me for up to $2 million, and covers all my horses. The premium was $200. You may get it cheaper - everything in California is stupidly expensive.

Mortality/Medical Insurance for horses is VERY pricey. If you have a valuable horse, and can afford it, it's great. When my horse was lame, I had some of the top vets in Southern California looking him over and only had to pay a small deductible. Of course, the next year the insurance company excluded that leg in my coverage and kept the premium at the same rate. I'm currently paying $1,300 for mortality/medical for this horse - but am thinking of dropping the medical this year. Not sure yet....

Tack - you NEVER have all the tack you need! Sometimes you want something new & fun, sometimes your trainer (actually, lots of times you'll hear this from your trainer) will tell you that you have the wrong bit, the wrong saddle, the wrong leg boots, etc. It depends on how strong-willed your trainer is - some will insist on imposing their opinions on you, others will help you make do with what you have. But this goes back to the boarding issue - once you find a good trainer, you usually stick with that boarding barn. I've had some horrible trainers - makes me wonder why I'm still in the sport!

Supplements - you'll find that everyone has an opinion of horse dietary supplements. My bunch is currently on a variety of supplements. Farrier's Formula (for strong hooves), Cosequin/Grand Meadows HA (for their joints/tendons), Probiotics/Prebiotics (to prevent stomach issues, ulcers, colic). My one horse is on a magnesium supplement for cresty-necked horses (to prevent laminitis) and a coat supplement (to make him pretty & dappled in the summer - LOL) Supplements can range from $25/month to skys-the-limit/month. Plus, if you want supplements fed every day (and they are only effective if they are fed daily), you usually need to pay an extra fee to the boarding barn for this service.

Blankets - if you want to blanket your horse, this service is usually extra at the boarding barn. I've paid up to $45 per horse per month, for blanketing.

Looking at all this $$$, I'm now hoping that my husband doesn't see this thread and start adding up the bills. My horse expenses per month are higher than my mortgage pymt - that's a frightening thought!

 

[macawpower58]

lmao...That just cured me of one of my fantasies!

 

[OSUtoo]

Well they definitely aren't cheap!

Loree covered it pretty well, especially the Liability Insurance, which is something that many "recreational" horse owners tend to forget about. Those who are in horses as a business have it (or should) but often people who have them as a hobby don't think about it. We are leasing some land currently to pasture board our horses (used to own our own land but had to move, boo). Just this past summer my mom and I were unloading some hay into the barn and all the sudden see a man and two young children walking through our pasture, and when we stopped and stared (in shock that someone would just randomly do this), he looked at us and just kept on going like he owned the place. I mean the horses were locked in a separate section while we unloaded hay (nosy things) but still, it blew my mind that he would just walk into a horse's pasture with two small kids. Our horses aren't aggressive by any means, but of course how would they know that, and anything could happen, even if accidental! We asked him what he was doing and he said he wanted his kids to see the horses. Ok....did you not think to ask?! It really amazes me what people will do!

Anyway, as for the other stuff, like I said, Loree pretty much covered it all so no sense repeating. I will say that it's the EMERGENCY vet stuff that can really be a kicker, so having some backup funds is a good idea. Like she said, something like colic surgery can get pretty expensive. Anything intrusive that requires an actual surgical procedure tends to be pricey due to the sheer size of the animal (and other things obviously, but size contributes).

I have a 6 year old who needed non-emergency surgery on his legs when he was young. He was injured and needed corrective surgery because of the effects. I thought it was "cheap" at $1300 (could have been 3 times as much at our university vet hospital), and he had a relatively "minor" procedure (cutting the check ligaments)!

So I guess just hope that if you do get a horse that it's not prone to injury...some of them really seem like they constantly get hurt on air, while others it seems like you could throw them into a junk yard and they'd come out without a scratch (not that I'd recommend that obviously!).

I know a woman who has a horse that she bought for about $800. In the first year she had it, he had severe colic and needed surgery, which cost her about $6000 at the time. After that they told her that he would probably be prone to colic from then on, so it's always something she's worried about (and he has colicked several times since, just luckily not as bad). A few years after the first colic, he was tied out on an overnight trail ride and was STRUCK BY LIGHTNING! Crazy stuff. He survived but had quite a bit of recovery after that to go through.

 

[JLcribber]

I think I'll just buy as new car instead.

 

[Annamacaw]

I have 2 horses and a mule.... it costs ALOT to keep them... I am afraid to figure it up and then, I too, wouldn't want anybody to see the total....

 

[SallyQZ]

LOL! I didn't even mention the flushing away of $$$ when my warmblood was NQR (Not Quite Right - incredibly frustrating words to describe that your horse isn't lame enough to diagnose WHY it is lame, but it is not moving in it's normal manner. Hence it is NQR which also translates to your vet ordering a new boat, or sportscar)

Courage started taking the odd hitching step while going counter clockwise. Then he started dragging a hind leg upon landing over wider jumps. Multiple vet checks, xrays, and nuclear scintigraphy (horse is injected with radioactive dye, then they scan the entire horse for areas that show excessive uptake of dye indicating recent injury/healing). Nothing was obvious (except for the vet's new sportscar) so he got a month off work, then was slowly brought back to work. We suspected front leg soft tissue injury, possible early arthritic changes, maybe shoulder stiffness. So we injected his front left ankle, and hoped for the best.

Few months later, he's NQR again - same direction, same problems. More xrays, more ultrasounds, a-ha! We discover fracture of HIND coffin bone (really bad fracture - piece actually broke off) Yet all his NQR movement indicated his front leg, or possibly shoulder pain. So now we have something to work with! We harvested stem cells (cha-ching!) and then did two rounds of stem cell treatment to fuse the bone (further cha-ching!). Almost a year of rehab - absolutely no change in bone (but vet has new boat now). He was sound, however, so we returned to normal riding.

One month after returning to reasonable work, my barn owner turned him out in the arena against my direct orders (I was on vacation). He was NOT allowed to be turned out - he only had vet permission to canter under saddle, very controlled. He ran like a crazy horse and injured his suspensory. More xrays, more ultrasounds to diagnose. It took almost 9 months to rehab him for the suspensory (cha-ching cha-ching).

Today he is sound (knock on wood!!!!!) and I'm afraid to add up the cost of the past three years of lameness issues. Even with insurance, a lot of that wasn't covered. But I love my horse!!

 

[Mizzely]

Well, at least now I know my mom and dad weren't just being mean when they said I couldn't have a pony!

 

[cosmolove]

Farrier I pay $35 for just a trim or $70 for just front shoes and a trim or $120 for a whole set of shoes.

Vet not including emergencies. I pay $180 in the spring for shots and coggins, then $80 in the fall for fall shots.

I don't have insurance although I am considering it now that my horse is worth more. Any horse worth more than $5,000 its probably worth it.

Outside that you're forgetting tack and replacing it. Which is CRAZY expensive. I reccomend buying high quality stuff lasts longer and is better for the horse's back (saddles)

 

[stephwin]

Thanks for all of the feedback. I knew it was going to be pricey and it just seems like the more I research the more I realize I forgot to factor this or that in. The insurance does sound like a good idea and I need to research that more.

I don't necessarily want to board at a big fancy show barn because I don't see myself showing a lot, but there are several barns like that close by (and of course they are the pricier ones). The smaller more intimate barns (aka, cheaper) tend to be a further drive so it's something I will need to consider. But I've got years to figure this stuff out. Or maybe I should look into leasing instead.

 

[Lauren and Jack]

lol soooooo much!

 

[OSUtoo]

Looking into a "free lease" might be a good place to start. You essentially own the horse without owning the horse, if that makes sense. You're responsible for feed, vet care (certain things like emergencies or major problems will probably not be your responsibility unless you somehow caused it, lol), farrier, board, etc but legally you don't own the horse. This usually also means that, within reason, you can do whatever you want with said horse. You and the horse's owner would come to an agreement on things like that though...sometimes owners require you to keep the horse where they want (ie where the horse already is) and not board it elsewhere, but you can come ride and do whatever with it. Some allow you to ride the horse whenever you want on the premises, but hauling somewhere else (like to a show or trail ride) might have to be worked out with the owner. But, at least this would give you a taste of what it takes to care for one "on your own" before you take the dive.

Remember, the cheapest part of owning a horse is the purchase price (much like anything else I suppose!).

Also, looking for a cheaper barn to board at is fine, but remember to look into the quality of the care at any boarding barn you check out. Even "fancy" barns can be less than stellar when it comes to the actual care of the horses, regardless of how nice the barn itself is. Just do your research and get references no matter where you plan to go. Do the horses look happy and healthy? Are the facilities clean (well, as clean as they can be for a horse barn, lol) and SAFE?, do they feed quality grain and hay? Are they provided with fresh clean water at all times? What about the barn staff? Your gut will tell you a lot when you look at a barn.

 

[SaraR]

i don't wanna tell ya'll what i pay! you'll be mad.....lets just say compared to you guys it's RIDICULOUSLY cheap to keep my TWO horses.

 

[SheldonTheMagnificent]

If you're only looking at visiting twice a week, you're better off looking for a partial lease. When I owned my horse I was there minimum 5 days a week, and that was when feed etc. was included with my board.

 

[Tay05]

I don't even want to begin to add up what i've spent over the last 10 years owning a horse

Also something to think about...both my ponies have to have special pads and one has special shoes which are CRAZY expensive. It wasn't always like that but my little white footed paint and his contracted heals and the QH and his overshowing before I got him are adding up quick.

 

[Brooke]

All these expenses makes me realize i'm so lucky.
My aunt has 10 acres of land and has about 8 or so horses. She used to let her best friend (at the time) train her clients at her barn as well let them board, there was about 20 horses at that time. They worked out a great system. Then I came along and have always been in love with horses. I was allowed to ride and have classes for free. I never had a horse but I just rode my aunts. I had to pay for shows of course, but I never had to pay for board, lessons, feed, vet, or the blacksmith. In return I would feed the horses in the morning and at night, it worked out because I stayed with my aunt during the summer. She only lives about 20 minutes away too

 

[minirachie]

Don't.Ever.Speak.Of.The.Horse.Bill.
It is to forever remain a secret...for our own good!

 

[Christina71]

lmao...That just cured me of one of my fantasies!

Me to! I've always wanted a horse and have wondered what it would cost to own and board one...yep, I better just let that one go..