How much does a horse cost to care for?

[Bec]

I think it all depends on the prices in your area. In general, for one horse it isn't that much, but as Pat mentioned, you have to count in the farm repairs, unexpected vet bills and dentist bills. It also depends on what you feed your horse. 3 of my horses need senior feed and one needs oil added. One eats foal feed. Hay in our area is 6.25 per bale and I feed a good quality timothy hay.

 

[kitchwitch]

Doesn't matter, plan on having $3000 put up for your horse for emergencies.

Having a horse seems like a great idea and it can be done fairly inexpensively until you get attached and he goes lame or worse, colics.

Colic(that doesn't get better on its own) will probably cost you at least 1500 before a vet will even look at him, and that's a deposit covering diagnostics. Surgery and a hospital stay (there will be one, trust me) and gastroguard (@ $32/tube for a min. of 28 tubes)will also cost you. Ideopathic lameness? a bone scan will run you about 1200, provided the vet has the facilities, if not, it's taking a stab in the dark with radiographs, surgeries and medications.

You can provide a horse with great care on a medium budget but as soon as they get sick it costs big bucks. Before you even worry about how much daily care costs, make sure you have a small wad on hand that can be kept for emergencies only (it won't help if you have to dip into it for hay or grain). You can purchase medical insurance for horses at a minimal cost ($100 policies do exist) but be prepared to fork over at least 50% for medical bills.

Of course, bullets cost less than $10 (can't tell you how many times I've heard owners say that)

All that being said you could also buy a 5 year old that lives a perfectly healthy life and dies in the pasture at age 30.

I love horses, but I don't think I could ever own one. Working for a horse vet has cured me of wanting a horse.

 

[Akane]

It really depends... My horses cost me near zero right now. We have enough land someone else cuts the hay and takes half in exchange for the work. I don't feed grain and have never had a horse colic. Spring to fall they eat only grass. I do most of the farrier work myself. We've had no injuries since switching out all the wire fences to electric tape. We don't do vaccinations anymore because the horses rarely go off the property, we set up a buffer zone against the neighbors' horses, and we have no mosquitos at all due to a huge group of swallows that cover the property all year. Only costs are bedding and dewormer which I only deworm twice a year since we have a low parasite load with all the pastures and pasture rotation and we only need bedding for about 2months over the winter when they go up for 8hrs a night.

Without all that it would be around $30-$50 per horse every 6-8weeks for farrier, several $100 per year for vaccinations, about 3/4-1 bale a day per horse at $2-$3/bale, $3-$10 every 2months for dewormer, and then any fence maintenance, bedding, grain or supplements if they aren't getting enough fresh grass, and other veterinary costs.

I get about $1000 minimum if you have to pay for everything and hay them year round.

 

[BroncoHollow]

Well the least expensive thing about a horse is buying one.

We live on the mountain and although our horses have 12 acres to run on, its wooded and little grazing to speak of.

We pay [depending on supply available] 1,100 to 1,300 for a retriever landed at our barn of very good hay. We buy three retrievers to feed for a year of alfalfa and grass for 3-4 horses. Buying by the bale at the feed store [no rounds hereabouts] running 18.00 each, figure depending on bale pack [10-13 flakes] and flake weight, feeding twice a day a bale will last 3-5 days.
Standard shoes every 6 weeks 95.00 per horse. Specialty shoes are more and barefoot runs around 45.00
Vet standard twice a year is dental work and vaccs, plus a lot of states require you to pull Coggens. If you can give your own shots you can buy most over the counter except for rabies and WNV. Last year paid 1,060 in standard care. Thats not counting emergency calls for colic, lameness, bad cuts etc. Plus you'll need emergency supplies your self to have on hand....

We write our horses off as we are with the Sheriff's Posse, but on food and vet for three horses here at our ranch $5,504 last year with no emergencies.... thats 1,800 a year for standard everyday care and roughly 600.00 a year for farrier each horse - say 2,500 a year or 209.00 a month per horse....

Of course it doesn't stop there.. you'll need to add
Shelter a simple run in around 1,000 for materials and you build it to 20,000 or more for a new barn
Then you have to buy equipment - saddles, bridles, brushes, blankets, halters and leads etc., etc.....
Of course then you'll need a way to get them around so throw in a trailer and a suitable truck to tow it with lol

What kind of horse are you looking for? It is a buyers market now for horses, you should be able to find a very nice mount for very little money.