First-time horse buyers often look closely at the cost of buying a horse and will by influenced by a few hundred dollars difference in the purchase price of different horses. What they don’t realise is that keeping a horse is far more expensive they buying one.

People working with horses (breeding, training or sales) are understandably reluctant to tell potential buyers how expensive it is to take care of a horse. If a potential buyer is debating if they can spend $3000 to buy a horse, telling them that keeping the same horse will cost another $3000 every year may well result in them deciding not to buy a horse at all. While some sellers are careful to explain this reality to potential buyers, we find that most prefer to avoid the topic.

Consequently, if you know someone who is buying a horse, you can help them by sharing the facts with them in advance. Of course, one needs to take their specific circumstances into account in order to determine what their costs would be. Here is a rough guide.

First of all, ask if the horse will be stabled with someone else or will be stabled with them. If stabled with someone else, then phone around to see the monthly costs of stabling (including bedding, food and labour) as this will be the main monthly expense. Depending on where one lives, monthly stabling can be as little as $150/month or over $1000/month. In general, the more urban an area is, the more expensive stabling is.

If one is stabling the horse oneself, the main costs are bedding, food and labour. Bedding costs will depend very much on the type of bedding and where one lives. If you are using straw, you will need about one small bale per day (12kg or 25lb) so check local prices. For food, figure that you need about 3%-4% of the horse’s weight each day. So a 500kg horse needs 15kg-20kg food each day. If you are feeding hay, phone around for local hay prices. In most areas this quantity of hay would be about $3/day, but in some places the price is as high as $20/day, so you really need to check local prices.

In additional to the regular monthly costs, there are a number of periodic costs: salt, minerals, wormers, annual dental check, annual innoculations. Medical insurance costs start at about $40/month. Of course, you don’t have to buy insurance but keep in mind that a serious illness (e.g. colic requiring surgery) or injury can cost thousands to correct.

Another consideration is how you use the horse. Riding the horse means that you will need to buy a saddle, tack and riding clothes. Showing or competing with the horse involves additional expenses.

None of this is intended to discourage one from buying a horse. Instead, it is to help one understand the financial commitment involved with owning and keeping a horse, so that one can prepare for it.

Doug Stewart is the author of Horse Costs, which provides related online cost calculators.