My daughter is 5 and is asking for horse riding lessons etc, anyone know how financially crippling this is going to be....
Hire verse owning etc
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My daughter is 5 and is asking for horse riding lessons etc, anyone know how financially crippling this is going to be....
Hire verse owning etc
No ownership needs to be considered at this time. Just riding lessons. She’ll also learn to take care of them.
Prices will vary depending on where you live but it’s peanuts compared to what will happen later if she takes to it [emoji1]
Also, make sure you tick your bucket list of the holidays you want to spend abroad ASAP as it virtually stops being an option when she’ll own her horse(s) and rides competitively.
PS: I am lucky, mine didn’t take to it.
Not a horse-owner, but a horse for a 5yr old isn’t going to be the right size when she gets to 8-10?
Then? Sell it on, buy another?
I always feel sorry for horses passed on and on. They are social animals and can almost become pets (especially to a 5yr old).
Horse-riding lessons at a good establishment, and perhaps take holidays with pony-trekking available? She might never really ‘take’ to it?
I think horse owning is almost akin to F1 offshore powerboat racing in the ability to swallow money.
Riding school is the way forward at your daughters age but to give you an indication of some of the costs involved,
Pony, you need to buy the best for your daughters safety £5000 - £10000 (you can buy much cheaper but from experience don’t).
Saddle, tack and rugs etc about a £1000 if done carefully.
Livery, depends how much you want to be involved and the facilities. Can start from £25 pw to around £120
Shoeing every 8 weeks, about £80
Insurance without vets fees about £200 pa (more with vets fees dependent on value and use - recommended).
Trailer for going to shows £4000 and car to tow it, this will progress to a lorry.
Lessons will take weeks to get her to any standard where she may want to consider ownership
If she takes to it, speak to the owners of the riding school regards local costs, riding school horses tend to have a fairly busy life, so are normally avoided as a buy
Speak to other parents, costs can be shared if there are leases on land etc
You’re in for an expensive time after she’s competent though.....
My wife has a horse, well she shares ownership with her sister.
It's not cheap - I've given up listening now.
Saying that, I like watches and cars so can't really say anything.
Most of her presents for xmas and birthdays are horse ones. It consumes her every day (goes for an hour before work and regularly when back, most Saturday's and Sunday's). He's a lovely little thing I will say that though. Her other sister and niece has one at the same stables too so they do share a lot of the work but as i say it's costly and time consuming. I don't know how they do it this time of year as it is.
Endorse what others say - riding school/lessons.
Best thing I ever did was get rid of the daughters horse :)
She still works part time in a yard so gets to do horsey type things (and she still stinks) but I'm hugely better off financially (and we never had anything go wrong with it, friend had a proper sicknote nag and it was ruinous).
Saying that, it's your daughter, get her a horse.
I'd echo the above - I come from a very horsey family (father ex Kings Troop Royal Horse Artillary and show jumper), I learned to ride soon after I could walk, and we have many friends who own them.
We, as a family, have never owned our own horse though. That might tell you something.
It isn't just about cost (although this is substantial), it is more about the massive commitment it entails unless you have full stabling with everything. Otherwise the horse becomes your life - two visits per day minimum - morning and afternoon. Holidays and spontaneous days out become a thing of the past. Everything has to be planned around the horse.
If horses are your absolute passion, to the exclusion of pretty much everything else, then great - there is a massive social side too with all the events, but it is an enormous commitment, 365 days of the year with no respite.
Based on my Nieces experience, they can be very expensive .
Double your initial estimates and keep a large lump of cash aside for the unknown bills.
She even owned her own paddock, so bills were a little lower than most.
Fek it’s not selling it to me!!!!
So best push her off the first day so she hates it?
We have stables near us and it is a way of life. Someone I know had their 28 year old horse die and the ashes weighed 40kg (big horse). Mucking out/feeding/bedding prob 2-3 hours per day every day. Costs? Prob the same as a mid range car. Shoes £100 every few weeks, vets fees? Whatever they say. Your daughter needs lessons and hacks (£11 near me).Sat on a horse for an hour will give them an idea of what it's like. My daughter has seen the work involved behind the scenes and knows it isn't for her. A hack paid for with gift money is much better.
I am from a country family - we have never owned horses although we can all ride.
Pay heed to the saying "Horses eat money not hay" and also be aware as others have pointed out the massive time commitment.
My daughter just stopped having lessons, she’s 5 and a half and they just went up from £14 for 20mins to £24 for 30mins, and to be fair she gets just as much enjoyment out of the £1 electric ride thing outside of Tesco
Plus at this level we have to provide her own helmet and boots
My nextdoor neighbour has 2 horses and they take up 2 hours a day minimum plus most of saturday or sunday
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On the subject of renting horses.............
I still laugh at this one!
https://youtu.be/B94q7gUu75k
My daughter loves riding at the local riding school. £20 for an hour, £13 for half an hour. She goes every other week so it's not restricting or too expensive.
She's been going for a year and hasn't expressed any interest in owning a horse yet. She likes seeing her friends at the riding school/stables and they can do the grooming, camping weekends and extra stuff in holidays if they want.
I recommend it, it's the best out of school activity she's done.
My daughter started to ride at 8. We would drop her off at the stables on Saturday am and pick her up in the evening. Same on Sunday. Same most of the school holidays.
Age 10 we bought her a pony, which she did quickly outgrow.
The stable/school she used then closed down but we have another on our lane, so she started working there at the weekends aged 11, helping with lessons, looking after the school ponies etc.
At age 12 she started to share a horse with another one of the stable girls and still does (she’s 20 now).
There’s been a lot said about the cost and that’s all valid - it’s not cheap, but the upside is that she has a work ethic - leaving home at 7:30 every morning regardless of the weather will do that, she knows how to take responsibility (although she refuses to wash her own car... go figure!).
When she applied for her first job, being able to show a work history going back to age 11 was actually really helpful. In addition, she’s made proper friends - lifelong friends - which may not have been the case with other interests.
So, yes, it will eat time and money and it’s a proper commitment, but there are other ways than outright ownership, and there are also proper benefits too.
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Horse ownership costs are very dependant on what you want to do and if you own your own ground or not...
We rent a 4 acre field at £2k per annum... plenty of grass for 2 or 3 horses. We currently have 2. A horse, and a pony. A 3rd horse is out on long term loan so costs us nothing
Winter feed and supplements, around £1k pa for 2 horses
Farrier, ours are unshod so just trimming £400 pa for 2 horses
Vet, worming vaccinations etc £500 pa for 2 horses
Then there’s loads of other stuff, public liability insurance, rugs, grooming equipment, riding gear, saddle repairs probably another £500 pa
Then there’s lessons, my wife goes once or twice a week at £25 per lesson.
On top of this, if you want to go to club meets, fun rides etc, you’ll need a horse trailer and something to tow it..
If you go the livery route, it can be anywhere between £50 per week for part time, where you have to muck out, provide feed etc, or £150 per week for full time, where the livery yard take full care of the horse, and you just turn up and ride.
But your still up for farrier, vet, and equipment costs on top...
I suspect I’ve forgotten something from the above, but should give a rough idea.
My own view, and I can elaborate when I’m at a proper keyboard and not bimbling along on a train, is to pander to it but also hose it down for all you are worth. It’s like a drug, a very bad drug. My ex wife was into horses. They take absolute priority, physically, emotionally and financially.
Get her an expensive motorbike & go racing, probably cheaper & it doesn't have a paddy if you leave it for more than 12 hours!
My daughter started riding aged 8, initially via hourly lessons at a local stable with some docile "end of career" horses and ponies. When she was in her teens she started working part time, evenings and weekends, at the stables in return for lessons and hacks; mainly on good quality horses who's owners had decided to pay someone else to keep them looked after and exercised. A few years later she also started volunteering at the local Riding for the Disabled stables.
Both the part time working and the volunteering kept her busy evenings and weekends and allowed her to build up a group of friends who were interested in the outdoors, sports in general, and helping others, rather than hanging around the town centre with their pals.
A few years later at University she was able to join the Equestrian Society and took part in many Eventing competitions up and down the country. She was never going to make any national team but developed some real confidence and a strong sense of responsibility, while getting subsidised access to some quality horses, way beyond my budget.
As other have said it does involve some some large commitments in time and money but the cost side can be managed by a combination of work, volunteering and subsidised University/college clubs.
Big gains are in building confidence and responsibility which should hopefully pay off through the rest of her life. At age 23 and starting her career she is now hopefully old enough to figure out what role horses play in her life. Since she now has to pay her own way in life so far she has sensibly restricted things to quality lessons with some good show jumpers every couple of weeks at a local stables. Downside is that she has now started sailing which she thinks will work out cheaper:grief:
regards
grant
I didn’t even mention, grass cutting, chain harrowing, fencing repairs, out buildings etc etc etc..
Some horse pics of Rosie the horse and Pixie the pony..
https://i.postimg.cc/LXR3QqHk/06-F6-...475-B20111.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/1X3cPLVf/088-D5...-B4-D40-A0.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/rmJCB8mB/0-F8-D...-A062-CBB8.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/HLbtt0Cs/20679-...722-F27075.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/sgkcS6qN/4-ADC4...FA3-D37-D7.jpg
Sailing... wearing waterproof gear under a cold shower while tearing up 100 GBP notes...
A conservative estimation of the annual sailing costs for my oldest (including flights in Europe, el cheapo hotels, diesel when hauling the boats, Ubers, boat charter outside Europa etc etc) are between 12K and 15K annually. That's not including a new boat every three, four years, that's not including masts snapped off under strong winds etc. Materializing an example: a 550 GBP sail lasts 30 days of training and racing. >100 days/yr training and racing = 4 sails...
Luckily, we enjoy every moment of it. Seriously, I love driving through Europe with a trailer behind the car. I love those marinas with all those sails and I love it going out on a RIB watching the sailors race. Next year he's taking a few month off: he'll be doing an apprenticeship at a well-reputated regatta sailing academy in the Carib to learn the ropes of coaching. Guess who's paying that as well... Dutch sailing coaches are what you call an 'export article'. Nearly 30% of the Olympic Sailing coaches in Japan are Dutch!
Last May near Amsterdam under atrocious conditions: stormy, hailstorms ... heading towards de ‘reach buoy’. Ultimately he finished first because the competion had capsized.
https://i.postimg.cc/J09kkP3b/75-FBE...-A7-D564-B.jpg
My wife has horses.
Financially it is the equivalent of us having a second mortgage for a nice holiday property but without the long-term benefit of owning something at the end of it. She loves it though, so that is just part of the package and fortunately she isn't into posh handbags, shoes and expensive clothes.
We have 2 horses and 2 ponies and are fortunate to have them all at home. There was a time when we had to rent land which was around 10 miles away, so that meant at least 2 return trips every day, 7 days per week, 365 days per year. Holidays were hard (virtually impossible) to organise, so rarely ever happened until we shared the work and fields with another close friend.
Enoch & GRK''s info is very good, but one thing I would add is that the costs will vary substantially dependent on the type of horse too. One of our horses is a thoroughbred (ex flat racer), so its winter (and summer) feed costs are MUCH higher than the other horse we have, we easily go through £1.5k/quarter in the winter in feed alone. The ponies feed bill is peanuts as they are hardy as they get and get fat just by looking at a blade of grass.
Because the thoroughbred is so high maintenance, he also needs more rugs, has to be stabled for longer each season (aka bedding costs and mucking out effort).
See if you can find someone locally with horses who would let your daughter help out with random jobs on the weekends. Owing a horse is a substantial commitment in time, effort and financial terms, so it is well worth dipping a toe before going too far. If your daughter doesn't like the work, then she should not own (ie care for) her own horse.
You might as well start burning £50 notes! My accountant's wife/daughter were into it bigtime, and he never ever stopped moaning about it.
But you'll be in good company, seem to recall Aberdeen/shire having the highest rate of horse ownership in the UK.
An ex gf of mine had a horse whilst we were in Uni. On reflection, I think she spent more time with the horse than me, which was a bonus at the time as I could be in the student bar without interruption.
He was a lovely thing, but all consuming of her time, money and energy.
I would be looking at Pony Club, based at your nearest Pony Club Centre (at a Riding School). At bit like Rainbows/Brownies with horse based activities including badges etc. Lots of exposure to horses, and other horse-minded chidden and adults, without necessarily all off the associated costs.
I had about 20/30 lessons a good few years back. An old horsey woman had a reasonably small plot of land in surbubih/London/SE, but enough for barn/stables with about 6 horses. Some were livery, some full livery, so cost varies.The horse i rode was a big boy, 17 hands., Winston.
It was owned by someone else, but she "rented' him out for lessons, so I suppose was a good way go getting it exercised, kept it interested, and clawed money back for expenses. Was about £20 a lesson, so even if she got £15 out of it??
I wouldn't say it was particularly hard on the horse, it was only walking, trotting, and an occasional canter round a small schooling ring......
Pretty much all true.
My daughter loved (and still does at 27) horses, but luckily after some years of lessons she rode her aunt's horse for years and, through her, got to know other people with horses who would even ask her to ride their horses (quite a few people have horses, but not the time to ride them very often!).
Banana's comments about the commitment are spot on too.
Pay for lessons and if she really loves it, hope she can find someone who will let her ride their horses!
M
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It will cost TOO much.
It becomes a lifestyle that you will grow to hate over 20 years while it's interfering with everything else.
Car will start to stink of horse feed, family members will start to smell of horse poo and pee. Wellies will be in the porch stinking of the same.
Car will need to be changed so it can tow a horse box that you will need to buy and store somewhere. Vet fees will take away your beer money.
The list goes on.
Eventually if you're lucky after a few changes of the horse for a bigger one it will need to be sold along with everything else when the rider discovers boys and makeup and going out in dresses, that's if you're lucky. If not, then she will carry on spending your money because no self respecting lad will be going out with a girl that stinks of horse pee and poo most of the week. If she isn't smelling of horse pee and poo then that means your paying for mucking out instead of her doing it.
Cold winters at the stables, lifts to horse events, etc.etc.
Worrying about your daughter riding on the congested roads with lunatics behind the wheel.
Worrying about life changing injuries because horses are unpredictable while on them or around them. Politics at the stables causing bitching and moaning.
Just don't entertain it, steer well clear and keep horses out of the family dynamic or you will live to regret it.
Put your spare money into a savings account for her and buy her driving lessons and a car when she's old enough and a contribution to a deposit on her first house, it will cost less over the long term. :eagerness:
More than the depreciation on new Bentley's
I (used) to be a pretty confident rider, but rarely ride these days. Riding on the roads holds little appeal, and fortunately there are lots of bridleways and hacks around where I live if I ever do get the urge.
I've come off a few times, the worst was going over a jump, which I managed to come down on directly, severely fracturing a number of ribs in the process.
Not as bad as my mate's missus though, who owns a horse and is a very competent rider. She came off and broke her neck. Nearly two years recovery time and she was bloody lucky she wasn't paralysed.
That said, there are few things to equal a good cross country hack on a decent mount, but as this thread illustrates, there are lots of implications and anyone considering owning a horse really needs to think long and hard on it.
Find someone local who has horses and see if they will let her go along and play. My ex used to have various people over the years come and groom, ride etc. They come and go and some get it out their system and find boys, others move on to wanting their own.
My wife is an ex 3 day eventer, and horses were a big part of our life for a long time.
I’ve been that guy who is basically an unpaid slave who taps the shoes ready for spikes first thing, gets the trailer/horse box ready, drives to the event, gets the horse ready for competition, attends to the nutritional needs of the horse and wife, calls the dressage test, videos the cross country and showjumping, beds the horse down, sorts out accommodation and then does the whole thing in reverse.
Oh, and accompanying her to the first aid station or occasionally the hospital.
That said, it was fun and she loved it.
We have a 6 year old daughter now, who so far has shown little interest in riding behond admiring Mummy’s trophies/rosettes and pictures on the wall, and to be fair we aren’t encouraging her.
If she does want to start riding though, it will be the riding school route. Beyond even the not inconsiderable financial costs of owning and caring for your own horses is the shear time and commitment required. They do end up taking over your life, and you do end up getting attached to the old bugger. The horses as well.
grandfather kept around a dozen at a time and all i can remember is having to go for a couple of hours before and after school then at night to bed them down, couldnt wait till my younger brother took over, but i will say i hardly ever seen a vet as my grandfather knew a lot, so if you do go down the buying route read and then read a lot more.
I’m surprised by reading that horses are expensive.
I heard that the costs are neigh bad.
It seems logical that a horse will cost quite a few ponies...
My wife has two horses , complains about them and spends a fair amount of money on them. However I’m glad she has a sport she is passionate about. If my daughters want to get into it , I will support it.
I would start with lessons and getting them to muck out and earn it a little. Then look to loan a horse ( there are people all over looking for people to ride their horse) before committing.
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So many long faces on this thread