What is the Cost of Horse Ownership?

How much does horse ownership cost? That depends on several factors from where you live to how you plan to keep your horse. Calculating costs can be complicated. Heres how to budget and learn about the cost of owning a horse. Horse board or housing costs are typically the biggest expense associated with horse ownership. Hay and feed bills are also among the highest costs and can fluctuate based on weather and other factors.
Shortly after bringing her horse home to her Florida farm from a nearby boarding barn Helen YakinPalmer looked up from her desk to find her mare Cera peering at her through the office window.

It was a wonderful surprise YakinPalmer recalls. Its the upside of keeping a horse at home.
In fact its what some horse ownersespecially prospective onesdream about. But keeping a horse at home is not as simple as it seems. And keeping one anywherewhether a farm or a boarding barnis not an inexpensive proposition. Either way providing for its needs makes all the difference between a horse that is thriving and one in danger of becoming a welfare statistic whether he is a performance horse a trail horse or a companion equine.
Your Costs May Vary
Annual horsekeeping expenses vary widely. Heres a rough look at the major expenses and what theyll cost per year on the low end and high end for the cost of owning a horse.
Overall Horse Ownership Cost
The No. 1 reason why horses go into rescue or are sold is because people realize that they cant afford them says Nicole MaubertWalukewicz founder of the Palmetto Equine Awareness and Rescue League PEARL in Anderson S C.
As most horse owners know the cost of keeping the horse is usually greater than the cost of purchasing it.
The cost of the horse is going to be the least

expenditure an owner is going to make says Amy McLean Ph D. equine lecturer PSOE in the Department of Animal Sciences at the University of California. You are going to spend more taking care of it.
So how much can owners expect to spend on horsekeeping? Calculating costs can be complicated. While some expenses such as basic veterinary and farrier fees are relatively consistent over time others vary from state to state region to region and year to year such as feed and hay.
Horse Ownership Cost Horse Feed
According to the Unwanted Horse Coalition UHC a horses dietary requirements depend on its breed activity level and age. For example horses with extensive training and show schedules generally require more feed and forage than horses that are only occasionally under saddle or are not ridden at all. Likewise older horses may need to eat more just to maintain good body condition.
Generally a healthy horse should consume at least 1 5 percent of his body weight in forage daily. For some owners that means making sure the horse has lots of grazing time on pasture supplemented by highquality hay. But hay costs vary depending on your location the volume of the local hay crop