Yearly total for one horse: $4,135
Here is the overview of expenses for one horse for one year. This is an example from my real life farm. There can be a lot of variation in these numbers.
- Feed: $2,000
- Bedding: $215
- Veterinary care (including emergencies): $715
- Farrier care: $350
- Tack and equipment: $230
- Farm repairs/improvements: $485
- Misc: $140
Annual cost for 1 horse at home
If you’re thinking about getting your first horse, it’s a good idea to look beyond the initial cost of buying it. Consider the annual cost of meeting a horse’s needs.
This article will cover in detail the expenses involved in keeping horses at home.
How much does it cost to keep a horse at home?
There are lots of different expenses involved in keeping a horse. In order to provide a real-world example, I decided to publish what I spent on my horse for a whole year.
In this article you’ll find a month-by-month breakdown of what I really spent on my horse and how I came up with the money.
How can I afford a horse?
There are many ways to use resourcefulness and hard work to make it possible to afford a horse. The two biggest things that help me afford to keep my horse are taking boarders and having my own hay field.
The money boarders pay me to keep their horses at my farm goes a long way towards the expenses of my farm and horse.
Having my own hay field means I only need to pay a farmer to make the hay for me. This is significantly cheaper than buying hay from someone else and having it delivered.
Since the cost of hay is one of the biggest expenses of owning a horse, this is an important savings.
Planning for the horse’s health and unexpected veterinary care
Horses can colic severely or injure themselves at any time.
While health insurance for horses does exist, another option is to set money aside specifically for large unexpected vet bills. This is what I do.
Save up over time and soon you won’t have to worry about the possibility of colic surgery or an illness that needs intensive treatment.
Where my horse budget comes from
My goal is not to spend any of my family’s “personal money” on my horse. This includes horse-related farm expenses, to the extent possible.
Most of my monthly budget comes from boarders. Board price is set based on my location in Southeast Michigan (USA) and the amenities available on my farm.
I invite boarders to work off some of their board, so my income from board varies sometimes.
Other sources of income are giving lessons, working horses for others, and selling unused tack and equipment.
Where my horse budget goes
I provide hay, stall bedding, and a salt block for my boarders, as well as my own horse.
Our farm came equipped with everything necessary to keep horses when we moved in, so the expenses included in this report are small farm repairs and any improvements we make.
Let’s get into the details:
Monthly Horse Budget Breakdown For One Year
January 2022
| EXPENSE | INCOME |
|---|---|
| Bedding – $69.72 | Board – $500 |
| Hay for the next 4 months – $1560.00 | Selling unused tack and clothes – $159.43 |
| Feed concentrate for The Bay – $60 | |
| Farm Incidentals* – $40.91 | |
| Total Expense: $1,730.63 | Total Income: $659.43 |
*Farm incidentals this month:
- tarp to cover the manure pile
- salt block for the paddock.
February 2022
| EXPENSE | INCOME |
|---|---|
| Bedding – $68.45 | Board* – $500 |
| Feed concentrate for The Bay – $82.64 | Selling unused tack and clothes – $44.48 |
| Treats for The Baya – $10.55 | Cash back from credit card** – $0.45 |
| Farm incidentalsb – $5.72 | |
| Total Expense: $167.46 | Total Income: $544.93 |
*This month, I traded a month of board for a dressage saddle that a boarder had.
**A new source of income this month is cash back from a credit card I applied for in January to use for farm-related purchases. This way, I make the purchases I would have made anyway, and get 2% of my money back.
aI’m usually not much of a treat-feeder, but I saw these Purina Outlast treats at the feed store and had to try them. They have Purina’s Outlast gastric supplement in them to support gastric health and proper pH.
bFarm incidentals this month:
- Salt block
Additional Spending: $50
As a birthday gift to myself, I bought a dressage saddle pad and dressage girth to go with the dressage saddle I traded for.
March 2022
| EXPENSE | INCOME |
|---|---|
| Bedding – $144.76 | Board – $735 |
| Feed concentrate for The Bay – $64.44 | Selling unused tack and clothes – $4.43 |
| Farrier visit for The Bay – $50 | Cash back from credit card – $2.88 |
| Vet visit for The Bay’s spring vaccines – $90.21 | |
| Emergency vet visit for The Bay* – $401.87 | |
| Total Expense: $751.28 | Total Income: $742.31 |
*The Bay colicked on a Sunday, while I was traveling home from a vacation. The vet had to be called to treat her right away. Thankfully she recovered quickly.
Additional Spending: This month we decided to purchase a small tractor for the farm and personal use using “personal money”. It is not vital to the running of the farm, but will certainly make farm chores much easier. Small tractors cost about the same as a new car.
April 2022
| EXPENSE | INCOME |
|---|---|
| Bedding – $82.74 | Board – $630 |
| Feed concentrate for The Bay – $86.88 | Selling unused tack and clothes – $10.73 |
| Treats for The Bay – $10.55 | Cash back from credit card – $9.74 |
| Farrier visit for The Bay – $50 | Giving lessons – $10 |
| Farm incidentals* – $191.02 | |
| Total Expense: $421.19 | Total Income: $660.47 |
*Farm incidentals this month:
- salt block for the paddock,
- nitrogen fertilizer for the pastures (recommended based on a soil sample I took last fall)
- shoulder spreader to spread the fertilizer.
May 2022
| EXPENSE | INCOME |
|---|---|
| Bedding – $101.60 | Board – $640 |
| Feed concentrate for The Bay – $101.12 | Selling unused tack and clothes – $5.38 |
| Insect mitigation measures for The Bay* – $51.29 | Cash back from credit card – $15.41 |
| Farm incidentals** – $238.32 | Giving lessons/working horses – $50 |
| Total Expense: $492.33 | Total Income: $710.79 |
*These include:
- fly mask
- Roll-on Endure
- Aloe Heal
**Farm incidentals this month: mostly supplies to fence in a new pasture
- sticky wasp trap
- Wildflower seeds to plant on old manure piles
- About 1200ft of electric poly tape
- A couple of poly tape to poly tape connectors
- Some poly tape splicers
- Poly tape insulators for T posts
- A few extra step-in posts
June 2022
| EXPENSE | INCOME |
|---|---|
| Bedding – $51.93 | Board – $500 |
| Feed concentrate for The Bay – $114.26 | Selling unused tack and clothes – $20.16 |
| Fecal egg count for The Bay – $30 | Cash back from credit carda – $383.55 |
| Farrier visit for The Bay – $45 | Giving lessons/working horses – $20 |
| Insect mitigation measures for The Bay* – $35.02 | |
| First cutting hay for the year – $1,369.50 | |
| Farm incidentals** – $3.00 | |
| Total Expense: $1,648.71 | Total Income: $923.71 |
*These include:
- Aloe Heal
- Equi-spot
**Farm incidentals this month:
- Salt block
a In addition to the regular cash back from my credit card, I received a $375 statement credit as a promotion.
July 2022
| EXPENSE | INCOME |
|---|---|
| Bedding – $69.85 | Board – $383 |
| Feed concentrate for The Bay and Shannopin – $267.89 | Cash back from credit card – $65.05 |
| Fly spray for The Bay and Shannopin*– $30.69 | Giving lessons – $190 |
| Farrier visit for The Bay – $45 | |
| Farrier visit for Shannopin – $45 | |
| Tack for Shannopin – $30 | |
| Total Expense: $488.43 | Total Income: $638.05 |
*This month I took a leap of faith and acquired an older pony named Shannopin. He is a wonderful lesson pony and lover of children.
August 2022
| EXPENSE | INCOME |
|---|---|
| Bedding – $101.60 | Board – $320 |
| Feed concentrate for The Bay and Shannopin – $155.28 | Cash back from credit card – $8.87 |
| Farrier for The Bay – $50 | Giving lessons – $130 |
| Farrier for Shannopin – $50 | |
| Tack for Shannopin – $201.39 | |
| Farm incidentals* – $8.17 | |
| Second cutting hay – $210 | |
| Total Expense: $776.44 | Total Income:$458.87 |
*Farm incidentals this month:
- Electric fence insulators
- Salt block
September 2022
| EXPENSE | INCOME |
|---|---|
| Bedding – $27.50 | Board – $292 |
| Feed concentrate for The Bay and Shannopin – $155.28 | Cash back from credit card – $17.10 |
| Farm incidentals* – $5 | Giving lessons – $60 |
| Selling unused tack – $3.51 | |
| Total Expense: $187.78 | Total Income: $372.61 |
*Farm incidentals this month:
- More electric fence insulators
October 2022
| EXPENSE | INCOME |
|---|---|
| Bedding – $114.30 | Board* – $580 |
| Feed concentrate for The Bay and Shannopin – $174.80 | Cash back from credit card – $5.02 |
| Farrier for The Bay – $50 | Giving lessons – $135 |
| Farrier for Shannopin – $50 | |
| Total Expense: $389.10 | Total Income:$720.02 |
*I increased my board price a little bit this month since we put in a lovely (and expensive) sand dry lot for the horses.
November 2022
| EXPENSE | INCOME |
|---|---|
| Feed concentrate for The Bay and Shannopin – $152.56 | Board – $310 |
| Farrier for The Bay – $50 | Cash back from credit card – $13.81 |
| Farrier for Shannopin – $50 | Giving lessons – $110 |
| Vet visit: annual dental work for The Bay and Shannopin – $325.50 | |
| Total Expense: $578.06 | Total Income:$433.81 |
December 2022
| EXPENSE | INCOME |
|---|---|
| Bedding – $25.40 | Board – $310 |
| Feed concentrate for The Bay and Shannopin – $152.56 | Cash back from credit card – $10.32 |
| Dewormer for The Bay and Shannopin – $38.05 | Giving lessons and working horses – $255 |
| Total Expense: $216.01 | Total Income:$575.32 |
Total expense for the year: $7,847.42
Total income for the year:$7,440.32
Because I worked hard giving lessons and taking care of boarded horses (and saved lots of money on hay by having my own hay field), I was able to reduce the amount I actually spent on my horse this year by about 90%. Instead of over $4,000, she cost me around $400.
Now, what do you really need to keep a horse at home?
Land for horses to live on
How much land you need depends on your local regulations. Check with your local government for rules about how much land you need per horse.
Horse safe fences
Fences are horse-safe if the posts are sturdy and it wouldn’t be easy for a horse to get a body part stuck or lacerated by the fence.
Shelter
Big enough for all the horses to stand inside comfortably. It should be shaped so that it’s not easy for one horse to corner another inside.
Read 25 more things you need to keep horses at home.
