Horse Ownership Costs – The Shocking Reality

As a horse breeder, I’m often asked how expensive a horse is. Unfortunately, most people are thinking of the ‘purchase price’ when they ask, rather than the ‘ownership cost’. In general, horses are more expensive to own than to buy, a fact that most first-time buyers don’t really understand.

People working with horses (breeding, training or sales) are understandably reluctant to tell potential buyers how expensive it is to take care of a horse. If a potential buyer is debating if they can spend $3000 to buy a horse, telling them that keeping the same horse will cost another $3000 every year may well result in them deciding not to buy a horse at all. While some sellers are careful to explain this reality to potential buyers, we find that most prefer to avoid the topic.

Consequently, if you know someone who is buying a horse, you can help them by sharing the facts with them in advance. Of course, one needs to take their specific circumstances into account in order to determine what their costs would be. Here is a rough guide.

The first consideration is whether the horse will be stabled with a professional or stabled by them. If the horse will be stabled with a professional, phone around to check the local monthly costs (including box, food, bedding and labour). You can find the phone numbers for the local professionals in the yellow pages or ask your local vet. Such costs can vary from $150/month to over $1000/month, with the higher end associated with urban areas.

Alternatively, if you keep the horse yourself rather than using a professional stable, you can save on these costs. However, you will still need to purchase bedding and feed, which will typically cost a minimum of $100/month. If you have lots of pasture, you can spend a bit less on feed. Keep in mind that $100/month is a minimum, in some areas bedding and feed (especially hay) can be far more expensive.

There are also a lot of incidental costs such as wormers, salt, minerals, annual innoculations, and annual dental check. Allow about $500/year to cover all of these. The other big consideration is medical expenses. In a good year your horse may be perfectly healthy and not need to see a vet, in which case there are no exceptional medical expenses. However, one bad case of colic can set you back thousands of dollars. So, you either need to be prepared to foot a major medical bill in the case of serious illness or injury, or take out medical insurance which starts at about $40/month.

Aside from the costs associated with just keeping the horse, there are also the costs of using it, such as saddle, tack and riding clothes. On top of this, if you show or compete with the horse there are a range of further costs such as training, transport, show fees, and so on.

All of this adds up to a considerable amount of money. For many people, the joy of owning and riding a horse more than makes up for it. However, before purchasing a horse, it is wise to look beyond the cost of buying to the cost of owning.

Doug Stewart is the author of Horse Costs, which provides related online cost calculators.