How much do you spend on ‘horses’ each month?

[spottedprincess]

SF Bay Area… super expensive

$1100 - board, includes hay or alfalfa, stall + daily turnout, 2x day cleaning
$720 - lessons / training rides at $60 each, 3x week
$94 - insurance
$68 - ration balancer + flaxseed oil + sandclear 1x monthly

Just the basics put me at almost $2k, and when I actually include vet, saddle fitting, etc it’s closer to $2600/month. The barn is nice but not a show barn - there are options nearby for ~$800/month but I don’t love the care. My boyfriend is a farrier so that does help, but it’s really all obscenely expensive

[rockymouse]

We have three horses and two donkeys at home. We also live in the desert, so although we have 17 acres of pasture, they don’t have access to those pastures except for a couple months of the year, after the grass has seeded. They live the rest of the time in a large dry lot. Thus, hay is generally our biggest expense.

I looked at 2021 for the complete feel of a year and our total for hay, vet, vaccines, teeth, meds, hard feed, supplements and farrier came to $676 per month. This does not count the $5100 I put into training for a mare.

One gelding is retired with ringbone. One mare is retired due to advanced old age. One mare is not ridden currently because she’s awaiting surgery for kissing spine later this month. (Wish us luck on that.)

Hay prices went up slightly this year and the cost of the mare’s training last year will roughly equal the cost of her upcoming surgery, so I’m forecasting that 2022 will be pretty similar to 2021.

[rogueknits]

I’m in NYC metro. Full board is $1550 a month, which includes one lesson a week. His supplements are currently at about $300/month, but I’ve only had him 3 months, so we’re hoping to get him down to just one of the supplements eventually. Farrier is around $200 a month. He also gets PEMF once a month for $100.

[NC001]

I had 2 horses and it was okay and then prices for everything went up, I sent one to a friend for free lease and moved the other.

I thought I’d save money but now I am just spending more on the one horse!!!

[Alterration]

Who the heck calculates this and stays sane? KIDDING!

Full disclosure, I run a boarding facility.

With the rise in prices, it costs about $504/mo to keep each horse here, including labor. That’s basics, not including the facility cost. Adding in the facility cost makes $604/mo (we currently charge $575/mo…changing that post haste, just did the new calculations with costs EEK).

So for 4 horses - $28,992/year

Smartpaks were running me ~$100/mo per horse, so for my 4 personal horses, roughly $400/mo or $19,200 (I just changed this, but that’s what I’d been paying).

Farrier is ~$600 for 4 horses every 5 weeks. So $6240/year.

Regular vet care twice a year is ~$1400/year. We won’t add in catastrophics.

Lessons are $75/week. I lesson most weeks, so let’s say $3000/year.

I didn’t show last year or this year, but I typically do a few a year. Probably ~$3000-4000/year.

So I roughly spend a whole salary on 4 horses, or $62,832. We don’t add in ancillaries like my tack addiction nor my saddle pad problem. Two of those horses are likely going away soon, possibly 3 of them, so that will change the math, but for right now that’s what I’m sustaining.

[BatCoach]

west coast hay bales are huge - all are 3 string, so our flakes are bigger.

[PeteyPie]

All right, shoot me for starting a tangent but every time I see this thread title I am flummoxed.

OP, why did you put “horses” in italics in your thread title? (Yes, I did it there for a reason. I’m quoting you, and commenting on the word.) Are they imaginary horses? Are you making a point that you disagree that people have horses? Is that a euphemism for something else, god only knows what? Are you quoting someone? Are you an inveterate user of air quotes in your ordinary conversations and cannot keep that habit from migrating to the written word?

The imaginary horse explanation is the one which takes precedence in my mind, although I am ashamed to admit that I also have the occasional speculation of which sexual act you could be referring to. Sadly, I lack imagination. I keep coming up blank there.

All of the rest of you people are much kinder and forbearing than I am. Good on you for being high-minded and sticking to the apparent topic at hand. In that spirit, I will add my expenses for my retired mare.

$300 Feed, including hay, senior feed, and supplements
$175 Pasture board
$ 20 Vet bills (in a good year, with just vaccines and maybe one call out around $240 for the year)
$ 25 Farrier barefoot trims ($50 six times per year)

Of course there are the fly masks, dewormer, vet wrap, water tubs and hay forks and such which I don’t really want to add up, and I have a good supply of dry goods now and haven’t had to replace anything lately.

[SBrentnall]

That’s pretty reasonable compared to SoCal (see my post above).

[spottedprincess]

True, though I only have one horse. Do you have to pay extra for hay even with stall board?

We’re lucky in that we’re at a gorgeous, county-owned historic barn that is relatively affordable for the fanciness/amenities/trail access/safety, and my trainer is actually quite reasonably priced. I keep telling her she can raise her prices, but I’m glad for myself that she hasn’t! To be fair, I have switched to dressage, and it does seem that h/j trainers command the highest prices around here.

[Impractical_Horsewoman]

I assumed the quotation marks were for those who didn’t own actual horses but took lessons and leased who wanted to chime in, or for non-horse related expenses that occurred because of involvement in the sport, like extra gas miles to the barn, food or hotel costs while showing, farm equipment with extra wear and tear on the vehicle because of horse chores, and so forth. “The horse lifestyle.” “Being ‘in horses.’”

[PeteyPie]

You’re a better man than I am, Gunga Din.

I suppose I should put that in quotation marks. Now I’m confusing myself.

[Impractical_Horsewoman]

Ha! I love that quote!

[Minxitbabe]

Ugh. I hate totaling things like this up but it does help others out there that are wanting to dive into ownership to see true costs. I am lucky enough to have found a very reasonably priced place to board when I needed to move this last time. Board is 340 a month per head full care with feed and I have two currently. Mare 1 is currently on supplements that total $90 a month. Farrier work is 110 for the pair about every 6 weeks now that Mare 1 is wearing shoes again. Lessons are 60 each time whenever they are able to fit with my and trainers schedule. Vet care is usually under 500 a year but this year will be double thanks to some lameness issues. Equine dentist is another 200 a year for two. Chiro happens once a year at 160 for two as no issues have been large enough to warrant concern with my in light work horses for more regular visits. I show once or twice a month when I can and that is generally 65-90 depending on if I do 2 or 3 dressage tests. Open shows are even better with the price usually being sub 50 for a few in hand classes and a few undersaddle classes.

[TinFoilHat]

@Impractical_Horsewoman

assumed the quotation marks were for those who didn’t own actual horses but took lessons and leased who wanted to chime in, or for non-horse related expenses that occurred because of involvement in the sport, like extra gas miles to the barn, food or hotel costs while showing, farm equipment with extra wear and tear on the vehicle because of horse chores, and so forth. “The horse lifestyle.” “Being ‘in horses.’”

^^ was trying to be inclusive of people that are leasing, free leasing, just doing lessons, running barns. So instead of saying “How much do you spend on anything horse related including anything you’d pay for or buy in relation to horses whether or not you own a horse, lease, just ride, run a barn, or are simply here for the shits and gigs?” I generalized anything horse related with quotations.

Long titles aren’t effective - the context is for the body of the post/article with the rest left to context clues

[clanter]

we had one horse who spent her own money paying for her grooms lunch at least once a week. horse had her own credit card for incidentals…she spent less than $100 a month normally but during show season she would splurge

The trainer kept her card for her, just glade this was before Amazon Prime

[walkinthewalk]

Southern Middle Tennessee.

Two horses over 25.

On my property, they have 19 acres of great pasture (when it rains).

Feed, arthritis supplements, hay, farrier, dentist, chiropractor, vet, misc ancillaries, anything I forgot = $12,000 annually.

The price of anything horse related has skyrocketed in the last few years.

I try to watch the full board rates on the good barns in my area in case I’m asked. They were $350 a month for full care for quite a few years. I notice they have gone up to $450/mo this year.

[skip99]

In NJ - For my personal horses who live at home (1 retired, 1 in work) I spend about $1350/month. That includes all feed, bedding, hay, supplements, regular vet costs, farrier, insurance, and basic grooming/medical supplies. That does not include our payments on the loan for the barn, tractor, or truck nor maintenance on those items. Very excited for both the truck and tractor to be paid off in the near future. This also does not include lessons or tack/apparel purchases.

[chestnutmarebeware]

@clanter

we had one horse who spent her own money paying for her grooms lunch at least once a week. horse had her own credit card for incidentals…she spent less than $100 a month normally but during show season she would splurge

The trainer kept her card for her, just glade this was before Amazon Prime

Oh, lord. If my two divas had their own credit card I’d be working three jobs to pay it off each month! I shudder to think about the number of Amazon boxes containing treats, back-saver pads, fleece blankets, hot pink polo wraps and bedazzled halters that would be arriving at their boarding barn.

[clanter]

@chestnutmarebeware

I shudder to think about the number of Amazon boxes

I got a separate credit card for the mare to treat her groom who loved her,

I was visiting one day to see how the horse was progressing with her training noticing the groom giving her an apple and some carrots which I knew she was buying from her money. I once was groom and knew mostly it was a labor of love rather than income so talked with the trainer to see if was OK for me to send her a monthly stipend which I did, then sent the trainer a special credit card to be used to take her and the others to lunch at least once a week…so the mare actually never had direct use of the card but it was very easy to track her expenses with it.

[LilDunFilly]

~$800 a month, give or take. Northern Michigan.

Pasture Board: $400
Training (5-6x weekly): $400
Hay, grain/supplements, blanketing, grooming, hold for vet/farrier: included in board
Farrier Trim (6-8 weeks): $60?
Invariable new thing Ms. Princess Needs: ???

That is down from the $2k+ I was spending a few months ago at a different facility in CA.