How Much Money do you Spend on your Horse a Year?

I spent a little over $1,200 on my 2 horses last year. We kept them both on our own property, and the ferrier and hay we got cheap, so we did not spend that much.

I do know that some people spend well over $10,000 on horses per year. Since I moved though, I get board and lessons free so for 2010 I estimate to spend $1,800, instead of $8,805.

Horses are EXPENSIVE!!!

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Permalink Reply by A_Sassy_Temptation on February 9, 2010 at 10:35pm

thanks..I have been to forums where everyone is dead serious!

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Permalink Reply by SUSIE-SOLOMON-MABE on February 6, 2010 at 3:56pm

hmmmmmmmmm how much- more than we will ever know, and this is for sure. But they give us something to work for and do and live for and enjoy so no price, no amount of money can be suggested to cover that.
My parents never understood this. I ignored them .

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Permalink Reply by SUSIE-SOLOMON-MABE on February 6, 2010 at 4:09pm

When I was in NJ, in the 1990's, I spent $400 per horse per month on board,
excluding all the extras and this was just board- so they cost me at least $500.00 a month and i ordered all vaccines and they were trimmed every 6 weeks and if they had no health problems then I was ok. I also had them insured,,,,,,, and then the saddle for each and tack and clothes- both english and western type, , lol and without showing- I bet I spent back then 13,000 to 14, 000 every year on my 2 horses and me.
Then I bought the big truck and the trailer.
Ok so now in Ca- I board free on 10 acres and to have this I buy all the hay for the 6 horses - 3 here are mine and my friends' 3 and we have 3 foals due in 2010. I get all the shots and wormer- we split it and I do all the above.
Two mares I also have are at another farm to be bred to andalusians this spring. Then they will come home to me.
Farrier does trims every 8 weeks on the herd.
Big expense- we re did paddocks, round pens , and got 30 x16 foot panels, and 30 x12 footers and railroad ties for the stallions paddock and all new insulators and 150 t posts, etc...... and so that was a chunk of change too.
It is easier now- I think the money is closer to 5k a yr- most of this for hay - I bring in 350 bales for the winter months when there is no grasses. last yr my first batch of alfalfa was $10.50 a bale- killer prices for me- and I bought a stack of alfalfa and of wheat , oat, and pasture .
So far this year I was able to buy wheat for 110 a ton- which was great so I took 5 tons immediately.
I don't really care. They are my horses.

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Permalink Reply by Jennifer Lamm on February 7, 2010 at 12:53pm

I love spending the money on my property though, upgrading my stalls and stuff.... it adds value to the property to improve the horse facilities... look at this photos, omg, the horses look so happy.... thanks for posting this... :) I am in California too and my hay bill is $100 a month per horse, because bales are 18.50 a bale..... so I thought I'd try and cheer you up a bit... you get to have more horses than me, LOL..... can't wait to see the Andalusion foals.... my horse is a mustang but my trainer keeps wondering if there isn't a bit of Andalusion there..... :)

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Permalink Reply by SUSIE-SOLOMON-MABE on February 6, 2010 at 4:11pm

lets play tag

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Permalink Reply by Mandy on February 9, 2010 at 10:23pm

My friend who loves math once calculated board, farrier, average vet (no emerg. calls) for a boarder who wanted to pay everything a year in advance. This came to about 5000 dollars, roughly six years ago. Since everything has gone up since then, this number would be higher. Add in lessons, showing, emerg. vet calls, and shopping sprees (come on, you know you do it) and your looking at nearly 10 000 a year.
Horses are expensive. No one could ever say they aren't worth every penny, but I mean, come on!

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Permalink Reply by Jennifer on February 11, 2010 at 2:30pm

I would say $7500 per year and that doesn't including the 6 shows i hope to get to this year :)

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Permalink Reply by Debra McDaid on May 15, 2010 at 3:06pm

Hi

I had a shock when I came back after 11 years away as to just how much everything cost. I used to be able to spend no more than average 100.00 per month per horse per year, that meant things were cheaper up north (Sudbury area Canada), and more costly "down south", meaning Southern Ontario. We cut grass for the horses with the scythe in the summers and bought one entire silo of shavings which lasted us from spring to fall, which was 50.00... so that left the winter 'down south' as more dear but it averaged out... when I came back, everything had changed... the purses in Ontario were up, but so were the prices of EVERYTHING... so that meant if you weren't racing you were still paying the huge costs... and if you are... you still don't do well since the box is full and you can barily get in... and the times are wicked fast... 11 years ago really good 4 claimers went 2:00 over a half mile, and now they go 56 to 58... a 2:00 minute mile almost puts you on the list!!! This all means the horses don't last at those fast speeds, which in turn means that your horse can't make as much even though the purses are higher...

I spent on $3000.00 on my yearling purchase, but the first 2 months I had to re-buy all my equipment, and start over since I had sold everything years ago, so I spent 8000.00 on this, the purchase and keep. That was from Oct. 26 to the end of Dec. Last year I spent well over 16000.00, and that is with us doing everything ourselves. My husband even shoes, so we don't pay a farrier, just the cost of shoes alone have climbed, I used to spend 3.50 a pair of full swedge, now for front and back I spend almost 20.00, and this is for just simple full swedge... what it is for more expensive shoes I don't know! Stall rent used to be 50.00 a month where I am now stabled in the 90's, now it is 130.00 a month and you have to take two stalls... you have to remember this is just for the stall, not for board... I then have to keep my horse in feed etc... I try to stay out of the tack shop, but that is a huge bill as well... plus if you want to turn your horse out in a paddock you pay another 130.00 for the rights to it...

I don't know if the mark up for show horses is as bad, but for race horses it is very noticiable.

Even with all my years experience, when I sat down to figure out what the costs would be, even with a lot of research, I wasn't prepared for just how expensive everything has turned up. It would be rough to be just starting out and trying to figure out just how expencive everything would be... good luck to anyone who is...

The costs will go down slightly for me when my horse 'retires' to showing, but until then I better hope he gets to the races and soon!!! And when he does get there he needs to be very, very good or it isn't worth it! lol lol

deb