You can make keeping them at home very cheap. On the other hand you always have the option to spend more if you need to. I think it’s being able to do it your way that makes the difference.
Board around here is $600+ per month, our budget for keeping all 14 of ours at home is $1200 per month (hay, shavings, feed). They are out 24/7 99% of the time.
Just don’t look at the 500K barn and indoor arena, 400K land, 100K fencing, 100K tractors and other equipment…
On the bright side, it saves a few bucks a month not having to drive to the barn.
It is a lot of work, but well worth it.
This thread is pretty well answered but I’m adding my two cents since I moved my horse home last July after boarding for almost 20 years, and I have been tracking expenses in a spreadsheet (yes, I’m that type of person).
My answer is that if you don’t assign value to your time, your monthly costs (feed, hay, bedding, etc) will likely be significantly lower than your board was. I save several hundred dollars per horse every month (board in my area is quite expensive).
However, depending on your setup and existing infrastructure your start-up costs may be so high that it takes many many months to pay them off. In my case it will be almost 10 years before the monthly cost savings pay off my infrastructure investments. I built/bought/installed pasture fencing, water lines, an Amish prefab barn with stall mats and finished tack room, a standard size dressage arena, stonedust pathways, a widened driveway, drainage improvements, a retaining wall and ramp for my manure dumpster, a tractor and drag, a dry lot, etc. etc. etc…
You will also find that even when you think you’re done spending money on infrastructure an unanticipated problem arises and you need more money to solve it. You can let things go, but there will be trade-offs. I could have saved a few thousand by ignoring the marsh at the bottom of my field, but it reduces usable turnout area, which stresses the remaining pasture, not to mention the environmental and insect consequences. I could have not put in a dry lot, but again that would require me to stress my sole 4-acre pasture.
I will also add that I have not found myself less able to ride at all, as some people suggested. I have not gained commute time because I was only living 5-10 min away from my boarding barn before, but I find the time elsewhere. I am so so happy to be taking care of my horses the way I want to that it’s worth it. (Plus I couldn’t have afforded to board two horses but I can afford two at home, plus a mini donkey companion.)
We bought a house in a horse community. We only have an acre but we have 2 nice big stalls that open to decent sized paddocks. And those open to a turn out area where they can play. We also have a tack and feed room. So we didn’t have to put in any money to the place to keep horses. Our mortgage is X. Board for two horses at the local equestrian center would be close to half of our mortgage. I think we are saving a lot of money keeping them at home and I love being able to kiss my horse on the nose anytime I want : ) And they get carrot feedings twice per day. It takes me about 20 minutes am and 20 pm to do chores on weekdays. On weekends I do a bit more. I am also saving gas money since I don’t have to drive anywhere to see my horse. There is no barn drama, no one “borrows” my stuff. Things are clean and need. We also have a good horse sitter so we don’t feel like we are stuck here- we can actually go on vacation if we want- and we do. I like keeping them at home. And it’s priceless to look out the window and see them playing out there.
I moved my mare and my mothers gelding to my house back in November.
My house(15 years old that i bought last July) with 76 acres and an older garage a 10 min drive from where i grew up was about the same price as the same house on a 1/2acre lot near my childhood neighborhood.
Not including the cost to build my 12’x24’ run in (including a 6’x12’ tack room), fencing, footing for the paddock and paying someone to pull the stumps and level the area where i put my paddock. (about $3500 total doing all but the stump pulling and leveling ourselves). I calculated it out it costs me about $130-$160/ month per horse to keep them home including all feed, trimming and yearly vaccines. Of that cost i’m looking at about $60-$90/month for hay vs the $250/month i was paying to board them out. I don’t yet have pasture to turn them out in so that cost will come down when that gets established. In the summer months i was putting about 600kms extra a month on my truck and about 300km/month in the winter. So having them home is definitely saving me money in fuel costs ($50-$100/month). That’s with two thoroughbreds who aren’t easy keepers. I only pay for my mare and my mother pays her geldings costs.
Time spent at home vs time spent at boarding barns. At the barn i boarded at i ended up doing lots of the stuff the BO should have been taking care of but would take forever to do so other than throwing the hay out 2x a day and filling my trough 2x a week during the non winter months it doesn’t take me any more time than i would have spent at my previous boarding barn. I spend about 5 mins feeding in the morning and about 1/2 hour in the evenings. On my days off i spend an hour or two once a week cleaning the shelter. I have the ability to section off half the shelter for now if a horse gets injured and needs stall rest. I boarded about 1/2hr from where i live, visited about 3-4 days a week to groom and check on them in the winter months and daily in the summer when i had to grain them myself(BO wouldn’t grain when they were out on pasture).
Getting everything set up has been no small task and there’s a never ending list of projects, this year a hay storage barn and riding ring, next year or the year after a barn, pasture space either this year or next. Luckily my SO is an electrician and not a bad carpenter, i can run a chain saw and am fairly handy myself. My mother’s future brother in law has a tractor with an excavator attachment so I can get work done from him fairly reasonably. So we’re probably going to continue to be able to do everything ourselves without having to hire many outside contractors which saves a ton on costs.
To me even with the horrible winter we had this year its worth the work of having them home and I truly enjoy working around the farm and being able to build things the way i want/control how my horses are cared for.
I haven’t gone through all of the comments. The short answer as far as the per day actual fixed cost. Yes. But that is far too simple an answer. I “do” horses for a living. I am sure people have said fixed costs are one thing, the value of one’s times has to be factored in. Even more importantly the value of one’s FREE time. To be able to do as they please whenever they want. IMO opinion unless one has access to quality help, full or part time the “labor of love” will wear off for the vast majority of people. I promise you. Even with one horse for a lot of people. Finding a competent “horse/farm sitter” is not easy. Far harder than finding a baby sitter. Vacations, dinner plans, etc can and will be cancelled at the last minute. Unless your significant other has a pretty good interest in horses they can and will wreck a relationship/marriage.
Not trying to be a Debby-downer but a lot of people go into the self-care of their horses with eyes-wide-shut. I have seen it more times than I can count over a life time with horses.
IMO and experience only a fraction of horse owners are cut out for it.
[QUOTE=gumtree;8045155]
I haven’t gone through all of the comments. The short answer as far as the per day actual fixed cost. Yes. But that is far too simple an answer. I “do” horses for a living. I am sure people have said fixed costs are one thing, the value of one’s times has to be factored in. Even more importantly the value of one’s FREE time. To be able to do as they please whenever they want. IMO opinion unless one has access to quality help, full or part time the “labor of love” will wear off for the vast majority of people. I promise you. Even with one horse for a lot of people. Finding a competent “horse/farm sitter” is not easy. Far harder than finding a baby sitter. Vacations, dinner plans, etc can and will be cancelled at the last minute. Unless your significant other has a pretty good interest in horses they can and will wreck a relationship/marriage.
Not trying to be a Debby-downer but a lot of people go into the self-care of their horses with eyes-wide-shut. I have seen it more times than I can count over a life time with horses.
IMO and experience only a fraction of horse owners are cut out for it.[/QUOTE]
Yes, in my experience is having horses at home vs. boarding this is very true. Apples and oranges, as are the costs of time, maint., labor and often screwing up relationships with friends who don’t have horses.
But then, we see from all the threads/posts who don’t like the horse care and handling they are getting by boarding…it’s a conundrum.
If you want a freer life, board. If you want a life tied down to the farm and horses, then do that. It is not for the weak of heart or body. It is 24/7.
For me? I’ll do the 24/7 to make sure my horses get exactly what they need when they need it…even if it inconviences my Christmas or other holidays that conflict with human family. You have deal with that dependency, weather, maint. issues and help that doesn’t show to really have what it takes to do this and still keep a happy face and not lose your mind. :yes:
When I had my horses at home (3 at the time), I had it set up so I didn’t have to handle them at all. Open barn doors, they’d come into their stalls, while they were coming in, I’d check the trough outside the door, I’d shut the stall doors doors, dump grain in their bins (I kept enough hay in the stalls so they had something to munch on) and put hay outside while they ate. Then went back inside to finish getting ready for work. They munched hay while I got ready and then I put them back out just before I left for work.
At night, I’d let them in and pick stalls while they ate. Days they stayed out (they had a huge lean to outside so were out except for the worst of winter days) it took about 10 minutes to pick stalls. If they were in, it was about 30mins.
I had a riding area that doubled as a secondary sacrifice area comprised of sand and dirt.
At home is definitely better and cheaper
I LOVE my 2 horses being at home!! There is NOTHING like hearing them whinny when you drive up, and running to the fence for a treat as you pass on the way to the house. The cost is minimal for us, because we have 5 acres of pasture, divided out into 4 areas. A larger main area, and three smaller divisions in case someone needs to be alone. And the stall maintenance is easy because we let them go in and out of their stalls at will and they love the freedom and they eat outside if they’re hungry. When we got the Colorado compressed hay we fed ony 2-3 flakes morning and night just to have something to munch on in the stall. Two to three bags of pasture grass seed each fall and spring took care of keeping legumes in their diet and the pasture fully green all year. It takes us only about 5 minutes to feed and water, and then light daily pick up of the stalls, if there’s anything there. But we use the pelleted pine for bedding (its FANTASTIC) and we only have to clean the wet spots once a week! Yes, I said a WEEK. We keep about a foot of the bedding throughout a 12x12 stall–no mats. The pine pelleting expands when it gets wet, letting it air dry really easily. The pine keeps it from smelling. Once a week my husband lifts out the middle section (the collected wet area that got matted down by now) and just throws that out, rakes down the outer edges into the middle and replaces the top cover. Easy! Takes him about 2 hours on the weekend total. More time to spend with the horses if you are only removing the lumps! And whats better is that the pellets dont go out with the poop–just the poop itself. The pellets fall through the rake. So you are not dealing with heavy, wet, or lots of bedding with the pile. Really easy! They are about $6 or $7 a bag, depending on your area. Oh, and the best part is that once you have filled the pellets in the first time, it fluffs up as they crush it around making a soft bed to lie in. AND, you are only replacing the top layer so you use only about 4-5 bags every week or two, depending on if they pee inside or out at night. Love that bedding! Obviously the cost of building your barn & pasture is higher up front, but if you do it right, and you make the barn roof steep and water tight, the side boards tongue in groove SOLID, and put in a solid fence you won’t have much maintenance over time, it stays warm in winter, cool in summer and will save you on blankets etc. (We let their coats grow and never have to blanket even at 0 degrees because it’s 34 in the barn because no drafts or wind gets through the tongue in groove boards. The door stays open and their top stall doors are open on the non-draft side to keep air fresh, but it still stays warm enough. Even I take off my coat!) I’d get 2nd hand tools or freecycle.org for the barn. That’s free!
Good luck. I know you’ll LOVE them being at home where you can choose the feed, the bedding, and how they are treated. Cheaper and more peace of mind when they are close by. Have fun!
