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
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
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.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
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.
It sounds like a deep hole Chewitt
Our daughters never really expressed an interest beyond the The Saddle Club books & TV series, but this comment gave me a good Friday laughOriginally Posted by blackal
A mate of mine was into that - he explained I get the same experience at home by standing in a cold shower ripping up twenty pound notes...
That's what sailing is for! Horses are actually worse because they're alive and not caring for them for a couple of days is frowned upon big time
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
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.
Pretty much all true.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
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.
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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Last edited by snowman; 5th January 2020 at 18:51.
Breitling Cosmonaute 809 - What's not to like?
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
Funny as that clip is my brain was just repeating “Keeley Hawes Keeley Hawes Keeley Hawes” all the way through....
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.
Cheaper than high level sailing!
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.
Indeed!
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.
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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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......
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.
More than the depreciation on new Bentley's
Just add a Choose life to the end of that and they can use that for train-spotting 3.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.
Sounds familiar. I was brought up in Newmarket, my father was a jockey, my mother ran a livery yard and my sister was into showjumping. I ended up quite disliking horses and I bailed from Newmarket permanently quite early on in life!
It seems logical that a horse will cost quite a few ponies...
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
Ain't that the truth!!
So many long faces on this thread
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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