horsing about

[norfendz]

RIGHT!!! i kno its a reptile forum n tha but im gunna ask anyways lol n if ya think bout bootin off then shut up lol. right im wanting to buy a horse next year for pet and transportation purposes. im planning to keep it on someone elses land and everything so anyone got any ideas of how much this would cost in a year thats with like food n saddles and shoes lol i dont kno much about keeping them yet but im researching at the start of the year

[norfendz]

come on people

[AndrewHughes]

Vet Bills too would be pretty big as people pay thousands of pounds a year to keep 1 in a stable

[annsimpson1]

thats a bit like asking how long is a peice of string, the cost of grazing/stabling would be something you'd have to ask about in your area as I'd imagine its different all over. What food it required would depend on what you are planning on doing with it and the type/size etc of horse/pony you plan to get, ie a cobby type that lived out wouldn't require as much as a finer one that was stabled, shoeing again can vary and tack for it again would depend on where you buy and if you want secondhand or new. I'm not sure what you mean by getting one as a pet and for transport, thats a unusual way of describing a horse, I wouldn't really call a horse a pet and by transport do you mean instead of a car! you might go for a ride on a horse but you can't really use it for shopping or tie it up outside the local pub etc, I assume that you can ride and have some knowlege of horses as its not something that can be learnt over night, having your own horse is very tieing, even if kept out it still has to be seen everyday of the year, still has to be fed/watered which means finding someone to cover for you if you can't get there. This has to be done even if you work all week, if you're talking about livery that includes the stables caring for the horse then personally I think the costs are so high you'd be better off just riding in a stables I'd think the costs would be £50 upwards per week for that kind of service, many owners are getting rid of their horses because of the costs so it isn't something to be taken lightly. We were very fortunate when we had ours as our grazing/stabling cost nothing due to us living and hubby working on a big estate and had we had to pay then I doubt we'd have been able to afford to do the things we did, I pay £4 for a bale of hay from the local horse place for my small animals and you'd need 1-2 of those minimum in the winter, straw is £2 per bale and a stable if used a lot would need maybe 4 plus per week, shavings at my place are £6-8 so just the costs of keeping a stable what around £15-20 and that doesn't include any hard feed or the rental of the place, things are far more costly than when we used to have them, A horse that lives out will still need hay in the winter and a rug unless you don't mind a hairy muddy one, and if the grazing isn't very good and you're riding it then some kind of food as well as the hay and you could really only keep a hardy cob type out all year, all in all keeping a horse even if your carefull is a costly business nowadays.

[Tillies reptile rescue]

as someone said it varies greatly depending on where you live and what your going to feed, long term health problems etc
My main bit of advice is GET INSURANCE Beau was very ill due to mistreatment when he was younger, and it cost thousands (and i mean thousands) so I cant recommend insurance enough.
Also make sure you reserch worming, as with horses it isnt simple as getting the same wormer everytime.
Contact someone like Allan and Page, blue chip etc and ask them to send you info on all the feed they do.
Reserch breeds aswell

[annsimpson1]

if you do decide to buy a horse always take someone else with you when you go to see it, preferebly someone who knows a fair bit and is a capable rider that way you can see the horse being ridden by someone other than the owner and never over estimate your own riding ability and what you want the horse for. Its no good buying something that you like the look of or think you'll learn to ride it if you are a novice rider and only want to ride around the countryside etc go for a good steady road proof sort that won't scare the life out of you, if you think you may want to compete/jump etc then wait untill your riding is up to that level before looking to buy else you'll end up having to sell your horse for the next step up. Have you thought about the possibility of sharing to get some experience with having to look after a horse before buying, or if you are limited in time sharing can be a good way of getting some riding but having someone else to do the days you don't, plus you'll only have to pay a portion towards the upkeep of the horse, you'd need to be able to ride etc before you'd be considered but I've seen adverts for sharers of all levels of ability. Another way is to consider keeping your horse at a good riding stables where they can use the horse for lessons etc at a much reduced cost for you keeping it there, I'd assume you can state how many hours use etc the stables have of the horse (at least you used to be able to do that) you could maybe make an arrangement about them looking after it etc one of my earlier horses was kept in Newmarket at one of the racing stables they had the use of him as a hack and did all the mucking out ect they also paid for all his care and I was able to ride him when he wasn't in use, that suited me at the time as I had a baby, I actually went out on some of the rides as the hack that always accompany's the horses when they go out on the roads, some of those rides were real eye openers with jockeys flying off over hedges etc especially on the real young horses, it was my job to catch the blooming racehorse and help get them back in the saddle.

[dragonguy]

its soo hard to tell you, i have my two, and i must pay out about £200 a month, thats for stabling, grazing, hay and straw, then you have the feed which is about £50-£100 a month depending on what you feed, then you have shoes about every 6 weeks, i pay £120 for my two but thats with stud holes aswel so take a few pound off, then theres vets bill, which can range from£50- £1000's, but there worth every last penny,

ive just thought if you wanted to compete thats more money, i do BE(eventing) and its alot to enter now as is everything, then you have to have a wagon or trailer to take get there lol but if you just learning will be a few years yet lol

[annsimpson1]

like I said if we'd not had the grazing/stabling free, plus hay straight from the field and straw for the price of the twine then I know my daughter couldn't have done the things she did, Shoes back then were around £30 (still a lot of money) I'm talking maybe 15 years ago, but even without the keep cost we still must have spent a lot of money with entry fee's,travelling,clothing,private lessons etc I know we went without holidays etc so she could compete and we both had two jobs each in order for her to ride at that level.

[norfendz]

thanks for the replies everyone. in relation to the i dont kno what u mean by pet and transport question. i mean like obviously i like horses and that and for the transport my friend lives at this village just down the road from me and everytime im there theres these like 9 year old girls riding the horses around the village n that what i wanna do. i kno i cant do ma shoppin on it lmfao that killed me off when ya said that lol n i died about the pub bit aswell lol so i think it might be worth saying they can do whatever with it to try n get a discount price thing cos im unemployed aswell but i would rather like a horse lol

[annsimpson1]

glad you saw the funny side to that comment although I'm sure there is someone out there that does use their horse for those things, however if you did decide to try to find someone that could use your horse in return for its keep or similar you would still need to have the arrangement to suit you not them, you wouldn't want just anyone allowed to ride it as they could spoil it for you for example if you had a nice quiete horse for hacking around you'd not want it being ridden in a manner that might change it from being that. But first things first and you obviously need to either get a job or inherite some money as just getting the horse isn't going to be cheap, I don't know your age but if your keen to learn maybe you could do some work in a stables or what about volunteering for the riding for the disabled they always want helpers and you'd learn a lot about caring for a horse and how to be around them, plus tacking them up etc (unless you already know that) I hope you find a job as its miserable being unemployed.