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I think your budget sounds okay, assuming you have a boarding barn in mind and are using an actual quote they have given you. I would get a quote from a second barn which you like. If they are not within a close amount of each other then budget for the more expensive one in case the cheaper one turns out to not feed well, in which case you would have to supplement your horseâs rations and negate the savings, or in case you simply donât like the first barn.
The farrier fees are in line with what I pay for a barefoot trim. If you are going to shoe your horse, you need to find out what that will cost in your area.
Your plan to start an emergency vet fund is good. What I would do is supplement that with a credit card which you keep empty AND a decision in advance about the max you are willing to pay for an emergency or injury before choosing euthanasia. There are also some health insurance policies you can purchase. I am not familiar with them, but others on this forum are. Donât forget to research the cost of euthanasia and disposal as well. In my area, the costs were around $300 as I recall, but check with your vet and whoever does disposal (or cremation, burial, etc.).
Tack expenses will continue each year, not just the first year, and can be surprisingly dear. Iâm thinking of tack and supplies like bandages, fly spray ($55 for a gallon of Pyranha Wipe N Spray!!), vet boots, fly boots, masks and sheets, grooming stuff, etc. You can save money by buying used tack and new stuff in bulk, but still.
If you end up deciding to show, be sure to factor in those costs.
Having said all that, there is one issue that would give me pause: ownership between two sisters. What if one of you canât pay for whatever reason? Can each of you support the horse independently if the need arises? If there is a disagreement about purchasing or using tack or vet decisions or the division of labor, how will you resolve that? If one of you causes an injury resulting in the horse being laid up for a while, will the other sister wonder why she should be paying a full share when she didnât cause the situation?
I think it is much better to have one owner. Too many partnerships, not just in the horse world, have ended relationships and your relationship with your sister is very important, as is the welfare of the horse which could bear the brunt of disagreements over care or how much it is ridden or not ridden.
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First, I agree with @PeteyPie that sharing ownership is a bad idea. Usually with multiple owners/syndicates, the horse is owned by mostly non-involved adults, with just one owner riding/training, or even none of them (the horse is just an investment). In addition to the potential conflicts over care/tack or injury-expenses, what about conflict over sharing the pony? If both of you want to ride at the same time how will that be deconflicted? If one of you has more serious goals and wants to do more advanced training, how will the other feel about the more novice rider âmessing upâ the pony?
As for expenses, A LOT depends on where in the country youâre located. In many parts, you can get full board with decent care and facilities for less than 500. In DC, even scary-bad places are in the 4 figures.
Also, make sure you go check out the potential boarding barn before you move in. Just because you liked the care years ago (and presumably you were young enough, you might not even have recognized good vs mediocre care) doesnât mean itâs good today. Even if itâs owned by the same owner, changes in staffing and ownerâs life circumstances can have significant impact to standards.
Keep in mind not all ponies are fine barefoot. Vet emergencies can easily run well over $1K just to see what youâre dealing with. Tack is an ongoing expense.
It sounds like both you and your sister are novice re-riders at this point. Before buying a pony, perhaps committing to a weekly lesson is good first step. You can get back into riding, make new friends, and decide if the barn and coach are a good fit before bringing a horse into the equation. Also, how are you expecting to find the perfect pony? As a novice rider whoâs been out of the community for a while, youâre not in the best position to horse shop. Once you have a relationship established with the right instructor, he/she should be able to help you find the right match for your interest/skills/goals/budget.
A half lease or share board option might be something to look into. You can groom and handgraze as much as you want on âyourâ days, you (probably) donât have to go buy ALL the tack and equipment right away, and if you and your sister can half lease different horses, you can ride together, hangout with eachother and the ponies, and avoid the kinds of hard feelings that could develop when you share something youâre both emotional about.
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Your budget is higher than mine, but I keep my horses at home. That does sound reasonable.
I pay $200 to $250 for hay every month, year round. $13 per bag of alfalfa pellets. (About $400 yearly). $250 for peanut hay yearly. $100 per year for vaccines. I plan on $1000 for vet bills. What doesnât get spent rolls over. Farrier is $30 per trim.
As for emergency vet bills, those scare me too. There are three options: 1) plan to buy health insurance for your horse 2) plan to euthanize if there is a catastrophic illness or injury 3) Have enough money to potentially spend thousands- most people use all 3 of these options when caring for horses.
When my dog became sick, the vet school offered to do dialysis for $20k. We euthanized and had a necropsy done. The necropsy showed an infection in his heart- he would have died no matter what treatment we decided to do. It broke my heart, but it was the right thing to not prolong his suffering. But if it had been just a kidney infection, that dialysis may have saved him⊠There are no good options in that situation⊠Having insurance is good when you know you cannot otherwise afford invasive medical procedures.
If you have no insurance and your horse needs $5,000 for surgery (like an eye removal), can you afford it? I would not want to put down my horse over a non life threatening injury.
Other people choose euthanasia - for example, horse gets EPM, improves on treatment and recovers, then relapses months later, and may relapse repeatedly after that if not placed on expensive medication constantly. Do you treat for life? Or euthanize? The horse may have permanent neurological problems.
Or your chronic lameness issues - pony gets arthritis and needs $1000 injections yearly, and will only get worse if worked. Do you euthanize, retire, rehome? Or decide to treat for the rest of the ponyâs life even if it means a lower workload? No more horse shows?
Chronic lameness issues are the most common horse related problem. Something everyone needs a plan for.
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Something to consider that was touched on above: You mention barefoot every 6-8 weeks - for some horses this works. For many, it does not. Sometimes barefoot horses need more frequent trims to keep some mild chipping/cracking in line. Other horses simply donât thrive on a 6-8 week trim schedule.
If this is going to be your plan, you need to specifically shop with this as a specific âmust-haveâ. There are barefoot houses out there who donât require a ton of micromanaging - but you need to ask the right questions (and have an honest seller) to get the answers you need to make an informed decision.
Beyond that: so much of what determines cost seems to be geographic in nature. Some regions you can have really lovely places for inexpensive pasture board (but still have access to an arena on-site). Others, you simply canât get an arena without a stall (and then anything with a stall requires a minimum of $800/month). If youâre willing to share your general region, it may help. The typical rule of thumb of course is that the closer you are to a major metropolitan area you are the more expensive things will be.
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Most barefoot type trimmers prefer to trim on a tighter schedule. My horses are on a 3 to 4 week schedule, for instance. One of mine gets underrun heels, though -if not for that we would trim at 4 to 5 weeks. 6 to 8 seems way too long for me. Otherwise, I think your numbers look pretty good.
Also, factor in fly spray costs. That was a major surprise for me. I can easily go through a bottle a week for two horses.
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OP, I think your budget sounds reasonable. My only advice is make sure you can have flexibility in your budget. Horses have a way of laughing in the face of our best laid plans.
I donât even mean big emergencies- things like CareCredit really help reduce the stress of those.
I am talking about the unpredictable little things that inevitably creep up. Barn raises board by $25 a month, farrier recommends a 5 week schedule for the pony instead of 6-8, a bad year for hay raises prices, pony has an itchy summertime reaction and needs some special topical or supplement. You sound like youâve tried to address that somewhat, but these types of seemingly minor âsurpriseâ expenses are real and add up quickly.
If you and your twin are too locked into a strict budget, you probably wonât enjoy the experience. If you are dependent on having a strict budget, then Iâd add an âincidentalsâ fund separate from emergencies.
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@chestnutpony1
Sounds to me like you & your sister have done a lot of good research & groundwork. :encouragement:
But, I agree with those saying be careful of co-ownership.
It might not seem possible now, but one of you (or both) could lose interest in riding or owning a horse.
Life happens. :nonchalance:
So if you do go ahead & purchase a pony, consider a written agreement between you - a âcontractâ that will spell out transfer of ownership.
Either to one of you ,or a buyer should you both decide to sell.
Include info about costs that will not be shared.
Say one of you becomes interested in showing.
How do show fees impact that ownerâs budget?
I have seen partnerships go South (myself included) when things were not spelled out & agreed by both parties.
In my case, I was fine with selling out my 1/2 + a share of costs, when partner decided she wanted sole ownership after a year.
We had bought the horse to flip, and I had 2 of my own at the time.
That friendship ended over her questionable treatment of what had been âourâ horse, ending in him having to be euthed at 5yo.
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@stb My 3 are barefoot & get trimmed at 6-7 weeks, sometimes even 8 in Winter.
I evented my TB barefoot over Training height fences.
My shoer is not a Barefoot trimmer, per se, just a CJF with probably near 50yrs experience.
@2DogsFarm, are you in the north, by any chance? I live in the coastal south and we have a long, long, warm to hot season down here. Maybe that is the difference. I could never go 6 to 8 weeks with either one of my horses. I often see people in colder climes talk about going long periods during the winter without a trim.
I think you are OK as long as you understand that all horse âbudgetsâ are just starting points at which horses laugh. 
That said, I think your guess sounds fairly reasonable. I do 5 wk trims with my barefoot guys (who do get shoes when they need them) , but my farrier is a little cheaper than your estimate, so end result similar. Barefoot is also easier these days with the wide variety of hoof boots out there (assuming horse can be comfy in pasture without them). But also be open to what the horse needs - there are also plenty of options in shoe world, including polyurethane, glue-on boots, other versatile solutions.
For the pleasure / trail rider, tack can be as simple or as complicated as you want to make it - Iâve done a fair bit of trail riding in a bareback pad & a bridle I found in the trash, so thatâs pretty cheap, lol. Definitely shop around Craigslist, consignment sales - I buy used a LOT. I donât have much in the way of âtackâ costs these days now that I am on 3rd horse. I donât buy expensive stuff but I try to get things that look reasonably durable & are easy to care for. Bonus points if it can be hosed off (eg synthetic girths). I have some $20 half chaps that are old enough to drink in the US, heh.
Also, you can save a ton of money being smart about sales - for example, I usually buy winter blankets when they are on clearance in July. I have a $150 blanket I paid $65 for, among others. Fly spray is also much cheaper in bulk, just refill the spray bottle you already have.
For ponies, be aware that you may or may not need tailored turnout situations as they can be prone to laminitis & metabolic issues that may not allow them to just go out on a grassy field. It could simply need a muzzle or it may need a dry lot. This is why I canât have a pony buddy for my older horse, my 10 acres of lush grass would probably kill the poor thing, sigh.
Vet bills are always a wild card, but youâve already gotten good advice. For a âcheapâ horse (which mine are), itâs more practical to just have a savings account of your own than try to do official insurance. Vet costs vary widely by region & by individual vets - I like my vet of long experience who goes for âpracticalâ first instead of jumping into a million expensive diagnostics & he has all kinds of clever hacks.
Management costs do generally go up the more you ask of a horse - I competed in the past (eventing), but just bringing along a youngster at home on my own right now & enjoying the substantially smaller overall expenditure!
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I would add, get a pony or horse that is already doing the job that you want, and if barefoot matters to you, get a horse that has already proven he can go barefoot walk trot on gravel and hold up to some trail riding. Even if the horse is cheap, you want to get a vet Pre Purchase Exam. You will not be able to go barefoot successfully if the horse is prone to laminitis, has chronically weak feet, or has a sunken coffin bone from founder.
I would also suggest investing in some hoof boots for the front feet which can help if your basically OK barefoot horse has to do a long stint on unusually difficult ground.
Also, get your farrier to show you how to rasp a bit between trims. If your horse is not wearing his feet down between trims you can help keep them balanced this way on your own. it can also help with the fit for hoof boots.
If you get a sound, healthy, happy, well trained pony and keep him that way, you will have a better chance at low vet bills than if you are trying to rehab a horse with chronic physical or behavior problems (which often reinforce each other).
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Back to the partnership thing: have a discussion with your sister about how you will dissolve the partnership because it will end eventually. How will you determine what the process will be if one of you wants to sell the horse and the other one does not? Write down what the plan is, in essence, a contract, for several different options such as both of you selling the horse, one buying the other out, retiring the horse, euthanizing the horse, and any other eventualities you might think of.
Itâs really important that you set up a criteria for standards (other than the two of you voting on it, for obvious reasons). For example, decide on a third party system to valuate the horse in the event of a sale. It could be done by a professional appraiser, the opinion of your trainer, or you could average the sales prices of several horses on an internet sales page, say, five horses which are the same sex, age, quality, training level and in the same geographical region as your horse. Keep in mind that with this last method, you are using the asking price, not the actual sales price, so you may want to reduce that average by an agreed-upon percentage, like ten or twenty percent. But decide in advance on the method you will use to assess value in the event of a sale.
What if you decide to retire the horse and your sister wants to euthanize? Who makes the call if you are in conflict? You could agree to go with a vetâs opinion, a trainerâs advice or a coin toss. The important thing is to decide that ahead of time.
You have made it pretty clear that you believe your relationship will never change, but things happen. There are happy things like marriages and children, and life changes like job loss or having to move with a job. You are young so you donât believe in accidents, illness and death (those things never occurred to me when I was a young adult!) but they happen. And speaking of accidents, dealing with horses is actually one of the more dangerous sports you can engage in. I would challenge you to question your trainers and friends who ride about which of them has not had a horse-related injury which resulted in an emergency room visit or lost time from work or school. It happens all the time, so discuss this with your sister â what will happen if one of you is injured and canât work? Discuss a financial plan for a short-term recovery and also consider a long-term recovery from an accident.
These problems are not insurmountable and they are no reason to avoid going ahead with your plan to buy a horse, but please, please have a detailed and methodical discussion with your sister about these situations so that you are both on the same page. I agree with 2DogsFarm that a contract or even just a written list is a good idea. It forces you to be businesslike.
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I personally think your budget is more than generous. I have never had much money but have always been able to keep a horse or 2 since I was 14 and they never lacked good care or what they needed ( i did). I have been blessed with few real emergencies and thankfully they were spaced far apart.
I always keep money in savings so that is something you should plan on. Having an emergency fund that you both set money aside for. Also plan now for how much you will spend max per incident. We all have our limits. Better to have it in writing and know what you will and wonât do. (hospital stays, expensive surgeries etcâŠ)
I also think that a schedule for who rides when is a good idea. If people can be happy sharing a lease horse I donât see why 2 sisters sharing a horse would be any more difficult.
I always keep my horses on an 8 week foot schedule ( trims or shoes) It was the way it was when I first got a horse in 1976 and it has worked for me ever since. I see no reason why a good footed horse canât be fine on the 6-8 week schedule you plan on.
Good luck with your search!
The only wild card (since it happened to me) is if said pony turns out to have some quirks that you canât handle on your own and need to invest in training? Maybe factor some training costs in, too.
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@stb I am in the Midwest.
We had a horrendous, long, wet Spring that was cooler than normal.
Now Summer is still over average in rain & humid has arrived :disgust:
We generally have high humidity July through early September.
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Iâd seriously consider taking some riding lessons and some horsemanship lessons to refresh those skills before you consider shopping. Iâd also budget for some training and/or lessons, at least during the first year. Also, I understand you want a barefoot horse. Keep in mind that this may work out great, and you may wind up needing to put shoes on at some point. You may buy a horse that can live on 24/7 turnout, and he will later develop insulin resistance and need to live a grass-free life! Nothing in horses stays the way you intend it to.
Thank you very much for the insight everyone. Definitely keep it coming!
My sister and I have been volunteering / helping out at a local stable, so we are involved with horses. Not a ton of riding, but lots of time spent mucking stalls, feeding, turning out, cleaning up the stable, grooming, and handling them.
Our family pony years ago did need his feet trimmed every 6 weeks. We quickly learned with him that 8 weeks would be just too long. He had Cushings disease, so we were very careful with keeping his hooves maintained properly. This also meant no grass turnout for him. We also treated him with Prascend to manage the Cushings disease.
These comments are great insight. If anyone else wants to share their annual costs, that would be very helpful as well. Also, if anyone has kept track of their annual costs over a span of 2 - 10 years, that would be awesome as well.
Our accountant believes if we do decide to go the owning route, we should assume $10,000 per year in ownership costs to play it safe. Does this sound like a more adequate buffer?
Forgot to address insurance - prospective pony may be aged out. If we did go the ownership route, we would most likely look for a pony over the age of 15.
We definitely are all about providing quality care and attention. My major concern is how much money is too much? If said pony needs injections, medications, etc. eventually, when is it time to consider euthanasia? Does anyone have experience with older horses / ponies and their budgets? Do you have a limit to how much you will spend? Of course if the animal is in acute pain / prognosis is very poor, then of course the decision may be clearer.
Maybe I am overthinking things, lol! I just want to make sure we are prepared emotionally & financially. And since I know we will get attached to said pony, I also want to make sure I prepare for hard decisions before we are forced to make them.
We would of course be working closely with a veterinary clinic we have chosen. I also would love insight on how much horse experience one should have before owning. We both actively read / watch videos on horses, but of course there is always so much to learn.
@chesnutpony1 Re: how much money is too muchâ
There isnât a right answer. It is going to vary situation to situation.
Also, I learned in personal experiences that setting a hard limit on what you will spend in an emergency doesnât always work. Itâs hard to predict what you will do in the moment, especially since every situation is different.
But donât stress too much about that. If you want to embark on this adventure, donât let the âwhat ifsâ stop you. Itâs amazing how things have a way of working themselves out if they are important to you.
Since you and your sister are getting back into this as a hiatus, I do recommend finding a coach or mentor. Itâs good to have that âbeen there done thatâ person for asking questions and bouncing ideas when you are new to horse ownership.
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