Any horse-ists on here?

My son has been riding for nearly 2 years as part of his therapy. The Wife has been hinting that she would like to ride again. Recently She has been hinting about owning a horse.

Ball park cost of stabling and feeding? Or to put it the correct way, how much is this going to cost me?

DIY livery at a half decent yard will be circa £30 per week. Food, insurance, all the stupid crap they need and everything else will be on top. You’ll need someone to turn out and fetch in and your house will become a swirling mess of grass, shavings, shit and horse related nonsense.

Budget for around £300 per month per horse and you’ll not be far off.

More than a space shuttle… Ie’ loooaaadsss….

It does depend on where you live, as in SE it was twice the price we now pay in the Scottish Borders.

I’d look initially at loaning a horse, just pay livery/diy-livery.

I use to reckon on it costing £100 pw week just to be able to point in the field and say “that’s my horse”.

Are you anywhere near Bradford? (no takeaway content!)

Ouchhhhhh!

Thanks for the replies. The riding stables where my son rides and where The Wife volunteers offer a couple of sponsorship packages. The £1k per year package, which effectively feeds the horse for a year, gives you 4 hours riding a week. You also have to do some groom work. That is going to be the better option until I win the lottery.

And She thought bikes were expensive!

EDIT: Not Bradford. Hereford.

Just bin talking to the wife (owned and competed for yonks) and sideways is about spot on, depends on Straw or shaving bed. The feed etc weather they feed in the morn (if you have to pay people to do it for you) shop around for stable rent as prices can vary massively for the “well my horse/pony is at this yard”.

The £1k per year package, which effectively feeds the horse for a year, gives you 4 hours riding a week.

Well it’s a start, to emptying your wallet…

Best thing about having a wife/OH who has horses? She will never, ever, query any money spent by me on cycling – because there is no way I can get near to what she spends (has spent). And even if she doesn’t ride them, they still cost. And time…

Im fortunate as the bank of mum and dad fund her : ) so im free To spend my spoils.

Don’t forget that you have joyous stuff (associated costs) like needing to be shod around every 6-8 wks (horses hooves condition/farrier dependant), & blankets (really not cheap)… Then the insurance is great, if they suffer any ailment, it’ll be treated & then the option to cover ‘that’ ailment removed from the any future policy. You thought MTBing was expensive, think again!
Don’t get me wrong, horse are great, huge (fickle) personalities, that do benefit from a 1 to 1 relationship, my partner suggests you don’t ‘get’ this renting/sharing a horse (maybe she’s justify owning hers 😉 )

Then the insurance is great

This is why loaning works, as you know the costs. But still benefit from the 1-2-1.

useful thread recently as well:
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/what-is-the-going-rate-for-horse-stabling

I know several rich people who have been kept poor by horses. But as a friend the major difficulty has been the smell that pervades everything. Cars, kit, sheds, everything gets infused with the musty odour of horse shite and dried stable. The feed even stinks. Everything is up a level from the balanced personality and lifestyle of us mountain bikers. And if its your own you can’t just put it away for a couple of days after you’ve fallen off, and you will! You have to go and feed it and then clear up the proceeds. Enjoy!

Right. I’ve asked for my trousers back and have made a manly decision. She’s not having a horse.

*No doubt a horse is in transit to eat my bank account. 🙄

Best thing about having a wife/OH who has horses? She will never, ever, query any money spent by me on cycling – because there is no way I can get near to what she spends (has spent). And even if she doesn’t ride them, they still cost. And time…

There lies the best bit about your other half owning a horse…time. I am never short of riding time, I can go for a 6 hour epic ride on a saturday, once the Mrs has gone to the yard, and I can be back, showered and changed well before she gets back.

My Mrs works on ‘horse time’ if she says she’ll be back in an hour, that means 2.5 hours in normal time.

My Mrs works on ‘horse time’ if she says she’ll be back in an hour, that means 2.5 hours in normal time.[\i]

This is true… my wife could (and has many times) spent all sat and sun at the yard, mainly faffing. If we need to do something she might be up there 8 til 13.00, pop back to get the horse in at 15.00, pop back to put it to bed at 18.00.

Occasionally I have to get a little vocal so we actually have time to do unimportant stuff, like shopping for food, visiting relatives etc!

You could try a horse share. Look in your local horse feed supply shop or on gumtree. Be careful though, my wife ended up with the horse when the owner emigrated to Australia.

Keep it on a flat surface with all four hooves on the ground, no sudden noises.

IGMC

Occasionally I have to get a little vocal so we actually have time to do unimportant stuff, like shopping for food, visiting relatives etc!

I hear you. 🙂

We budget around £500 per month for ours, that includes livery, feed, haylage, bedding & farrier. That won’t cover vets, rugs, tack etc

MrsLeffe makes the good point that horses are pack animals and you need more than one so the same probably applies to bikes 🙂

MrsLeffe makes the good point that horses are pack animals and you need more than one so the same probably applies to bikes

or you can put a sheep in the same field, apparently that works

or you can put a sheep in the same field, apparently that works

Are you suggesting I’ve had the wool pulled over my eyes? 😉

my wife has 6 of the horrible things, she rents 10 acres from the local council for aroind £120 an acre pa. A local farmer makes and stores haylage from one field for £100. any extra haylage is £25 for a 500kg bale. Renting a field works out a fair bit cheaper than stabling if you have more than one horse, bit more work involved with regard to fencing and such, might be an alternative to diy livery.
full livery is around £100 a week locally ( Huddersfield)