For years because I had a breeding program, numbers ranged from 9-14 head at any one time, 2 kids riding and showing and the 3 of us competed regularly my hobby was about 30% of my gross. That does not count any income that came from sales; but I wasn’t a big enough breeder for it to offset much. My gross income was also more because I worked 2 jobs. Now I have 4 head with one on loan to a colleague so 3 that I’m taking care of on my dime. I would say that my hobby is about 25% of my gross because I did downsize in my job as well in order to be able to take care of my mother. Now truth be told my SO pays for all the hay and I cover the remainder of the expenses so that reduces it to about 20% of my gross income.
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About 25% - 3 horses boarded (one retiree at a cheaper facility). That includes a truck and trailer (nothing big/fancy). I take lessons about monthly and maybe some local shows.
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15% for 2 boarded horses, lessons, shoes, regular vet costs. I couldn’t bear to add in other costs, too depressing. My horses get bodywork every 3-4 weeks. I think my last massage was about 8-9 years ago 
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When i was young…my parents had cut-me-off so i could learn to take care of myself and all that, i bought a mare. I allowed for double 600/mo board as my budget. I think it was maybe 1/3 my income (!) for maybe two or three years. Eventually i landed a very nice position in a good firm and horse was then only a small percentage. Not much changed, though I did exchange my VW Rabbit for a 325IS. (only drove to and from stable, as commute to work was MUNI) i rode every day, often twice per day Before and after work. My life was my horse.
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Another way to pay for our horse passion/addiction.
I worked with other’s horses, 0 cost to me and it paid 100% of my bills. 
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We have four at home. Routine expenses for the four is about 16% of total income but, since we live off of investments it depends on how you want to calculate the income number. We only liquidate the amount of investments we need to cover expenses, so I guess the 16% is really about percentage of expenses not income.
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Well I just did the math for my estimated payments on a new trailer (which I need, I have three who need to start hauling out to shows/lessons/clinics and only have a 2h) and a new truck (which I need because current truck is showing its age and I don’t think it can handle a bigger trailer) and would be at 28 percent. Ow. Maybe I can sell a kidney?
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Yeah, I get sick to my stomach looking at new(er) truck prices. I paid $7800 for my 2000 F-250 in 2009, one of those mint condition “grandpa” trucks. It is going strong only driving a couple thousand miles per year and I count it as one of the best purchases I’ve ever made. It needs to last at least until the trailer is paid off and my retiree passes over. Not sure what your setup is, or what you’re looking to upgrade to, but my truck seems to handle my 2H Hawk gooseneck better than my previous 2H Featherlight tagalong even though the Hawk is like 1500# heavier.
I have a 2001 Chevy 2500 but it’s a gas engine. I’m looking to upgrade to a diesel, but since I’ll be trading in both my truck and my Santa Fe (
), I want something newer with bells and whistles as it will be my daily driver. So yeah… cha-ching.
Ha! Yeah, I looked into selling my car and my truck and getting a nicer truck, but it was still more economical to just get a new small SUV and keep the truck since it was looking like 50K to get a truck that would be a good daily driver. My truck is a gas V10 and I wouldn’t be totally opposed to another gas, but diesel would be better.
Well, I don’t think mine has quite the same vintage factor. I’m sure it’s worth more than I paid for it 12 years ago though, given the current used vehicle market.
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Yeah. I dunno, this thread had me thinking that maybe I should keep the Santa Fe (because I really do love it) and trade in the truck for a newer diesel truck with less bells and whistles. Sigh. So many things to consider.
At least you’re getting a lot for your money, there!
Very little. I set aside $35 every 2 weeks toward farrier and buy 2 bags of RB ( roughly) every other month. 3 tubes of dewormer every 3 months and one 50 pound bag of whole flax a few times a year.
eta: a $ 15 tub of MSM lasts my mare 2 months.
I have vet out when needed but I haven’t for a year now so we are doing fine!
Soo… no vaccinations, no Coggins…
(I get that there are reasons not to vaccinate specific horses, or not to do the whole hog of vaccination on horses that never go anywhere… but would do rabies at the bare minimum.)
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I have three at home and after adding expenses for the year I pay a little under 5% of my salary and around 2.5% for household.
They are easy keepers that thankfully are all barefoot and relatively healthy considering they are always trying to kill themselves. This includes 1 lesson a week, does not include truck/trailer or any fencing/farm improvement costs.
Don’t forget tetanus, that one is really important for horses.
Decades ago, before vaccines, we had a school horse die with tetanus, horrible.
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Yikes, I didn’t even think of tetanus…
Oh this has been fun! So many different figures, and different situations affecting everyone’s percentage of income.
I decided to revisit that period of my life when I had my first (big) horse and was fresh out of school with my first “big girl” job (2007) just to do a Then vs. Now comparison.
Back then, this horse obsession was eating up 8.5% of our pre-tax household income (17% of my salary). Again, that’s just board and basic health necessities (farrier, teeth, basic vaccs, worming). No lessons or shows.
I do my own vaccinations ( EWT + WNV) so you can add $90 a year. I don’t do coggins because we don’t show or do group trail rides. If vet happens to be out ( around once a year) he checks teeth and we get that done on an as needed basis but it is usually several years between them needing it.
