Ace

When you live in town and your kid says “I want a horse”, it’s easy to say no because of the realities of a horse in town.  When you live in the country and your kid says “I want a horse” it becomes much tougher to turn that child down.  When you finally say “yes”, be prepared to spend more than you initially thought possible. 

For a start, and the most obvious, it takes money to buy the animals.  A green horse will run $500-$800 (green horse = one that is barely trained), $10,000 or more if you want that horse to be a real competitor in breed shows - right out of the gate.  And you really should have two horses.  Horses are herd animals so having at least 2 is preferable.  Money.  Don’t forget the trainer - for both horse and rider.  You will need one if you don’t have personal experience with riding and training horses. 

The basics - can you say feed and housing?  These 2 items don’t come cheap.  Horses eat hay and grain and need clean bedding (straw or wood shavings).  The grass hay is running around $4 per small square bale and alfalfa is $6 (right now).  With 3 horses, we go through a bale of grass hay a day and 1 1/2 bales of alfalfa per week.  But this varies, depending upon pasture quality, time of year and what we are doing with the horses.  That is $200 per month.  And you haven’t paid for the grain or bedding yet!

Don’t forget, you’ll want a hay rack (trailer) to load the hay on so you can bring it to your barn.  Oh, that’s right, the barn.  You’ll need one or more barns.  In our case, more.  Money.  A dry place is needed to store the hay, horse tack (the halters, bridles, saddles, etc..) and grooming supplies. 

Health care.  Horses need to be wormed regularly and receive annual vaccinations.  They need to be seen by the vet on occasion.  You can pay the vet for house visits or buy a horse trailer so you can deliver the horse(s) to the vet (and you really should have a horse trailer for many other reasons).  Our last vet bill was $500 to worm, vaccinate and work on teeth.  Money.  Don’t forget, you need a farrier to visit every 6 weeks.  A farrier will trim the horse hooves - and this must be done!  It runs about $25-$40 per horse.  Shoeing costs more. 

Have I mentioned fencing yet?  You can hire it out to be built or you can build it yourself.  Money.  Either way you choose, fencing is mucho expensive. 

When you have land and horses you’ll want a tractor.  For moving dirt, digging post holes, maybe mucking stalls, or tilling the manure into the big garden you have.  Have you ever priced a tractor?  Not cheap.  And, they need to be maintained.  Money.  Tires, tire repair, bolts, oil, hydraulic fluid, and other stuff I don’t know about.

Water.  How are you going to get water to your horses?  How are you going to keep the water from freezing during the winter?  We’re talking troughs, water pumps, electricity, and water heaters.  Money.

All of these costs are necessary to keep your horse healthy!  So, don’t think you might be able to put some of them off because the cost to care for an ill horse far exceeds a healthy horse.   And it’s very difficult (if not impossible) to sell an ill horse.  Gettin’ in over your head can have a tragic result.   

Getting around the acreage.  If you plan to do some of the acreage work yourself (fencing, fence repairs, etc) then you will want a vehicle to get around in and carry the tools and equipment.  A quadrunner (ATV) is a little cheaper but a John Deere gator or Kawasaki mule are far more useful.  We have an old Cushman Truckster (like a gator- but 2 wheel drive).  You won’t want to drive your daily vehicle in the field.  Money.

Let’s face it, with all this extra money you’ve spent for not a lot of return, why even get these animals?!  You’ll see -if you truly have a horse crazy kid.  I mean, why make the move to the country without some animals on your property?  Isn’t that at least part of the reason you want an acreage…that you want to live “in the country”?  

We’ll keep spending money on our horses.  We may end up in poverty but we’re loving the country life. ♥