Horses can cost anywhere from $500 to $3,000 depending on their pedigree, performance record, and good manners. The bigger the budget, the more options you have as a horse owner to choose from. Besides the initial purchase of the horse itself, there are costs towards hay, feed, veterinary exams, training, and grooming.
Horses that are $10,000 and up are horses are being bought and sold by top-name stud farms for use in high-level competition, They are often imported from Europe or elsewhere, with impressive bloodlines, and have antecedents with international competition success. They’re not likely to be purchased by the average first-time horse owner, and the prices aren’t as impacted by market forces as the backyard riding horse prices are.
It’s important to calculate costs before committing to buying a horse especially if it’s your first time. Besides upkeeping costs, there are also transportation costs and sales tax to consider. While these won’t be part of the asking price, they are things you need to think about as you make a final decision.
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What is the average cost to have a horse?
How Much Does a Horse Cost Overall? – Owning a horse can be a costly proposition. However, keep in mind that some of these expenses aren’t required immediately. The minimum up-front cost to purchase a horse and your tack will likely range from $4,000 to $9,000.
You can then expect to pay a minimum of $6,000 to $8,000 a year, depending on where you live and if you have a barn with equipment or need to board your horse. There’s nothing more rewarding for horse lovers than owning your own horse, so most equestrians believe the expense is worth it. However, we want to be sure you go into purchasing a horse of your own with your eyes wide open to the costs.
That way, you can spend your time enjoying your horse and not worrying about the expense! You might also like:
- 93 Best Horse Names
- 28 Famous Horse Names: Racehorses & Olympic Favorites
- 5 Homemade Horse Treats You’ll Love Making
- Guide to Caring for Your Horse’s Teeth
How much does a horse cost in UK?
Typical costs Cob: £1,500 – £5,000. Irish Sport Horse: £3,500 – £7,500. Connemara Pony: £3,000 – £7,000. Irish Draught: £3,000 – £6,000.
What is the average monthly cost of a horse?
15 Mar How Much A Horse Costs Per Month (Monthly Cost Guide) – 
There’s more of a financial commitment to owning a horse than just the upfront purchase cost; there are ongoing monthly expenses that come with caring for your equine friend. Before you buy a horse, it’s a good idea to assess your financial budget on a monthly basis to ensure you can take care of the needs of your horse.
- How much does owning a horse cost per month? The average monthly cost of caring for a horse in the United States is $600.
- This amount includes the average monthly cost of boarding fees, feed costs, and farrier visits.
- Your average monthly cost can vary greatly depending on the area of the country you’re in, the quality of the boarding facilities and feed you’re paying for, and how many activities (competitions, lessons, etc.) you do.
In this article, I’ll break down what you can expect to pay for on a monthly basis when caring for your horse. I’ll also give you specific price points for each expense. I hope this article will help you determine your budget for caring for your horse; keep reading!
How do you pay for a horse?
How Can You Pay for a Horse? – There are actually a few options people have to finance the purchase of a horse. They can try to engage the owner in an installment arrangement, making payments based on terms set out in an agreement; there is also the lease-to-own option, whereby you make lease payments that go toward the purchase price.
What horse cost the most?
Fusaichi Pegasus is the most expensive horse ever costing $70 million. Living up to the mythical, this Thoroughbred racehorse won the Kentucky Derby in 2000. He has career earnings of almost $2 million and sired of over 75 stakes winners worldwide.
Do horses cost a lot of money?
How Much Does a Horse Cost Initially? – To buy a horse, you can expect to pay between $100 – $10,000, depending on the horse breed’s pedigree, how you are planning to use the horse, and your location. The average cost of a hobby horse is about $3,000, According to Seriously Equestrian, the most expensive horse breeds can cost up to $250,000, The most expensive breeds are:
- Arabian
- Thoroughbred
- Andalusian
- Dutch Warmblood
- Oldenburg
The cheapest horse breeds are:
- Wild Mustangs
- Quarter Horses
- Arabians
- Thoroughbreds
Yes, Arabians and Thoroughbreds can get top dollar depending on their pedigree or be as cheap as $1,000, However, the most affordable breed is the wild Mustang. You can typically purchase a wild Mustang for around $100-$200, depending on where you live. 
Related Link: How Long Do Horses Live?
How much does it cost to feed a horse per day?
WHAT DOES A $10-15.00 PER DAY DIET LOOK LIKE? – If you are like most of my clients, you are spending about $10-$15 per day to feed your horses and consider yourself a 3 or 4 on the cost priority spectrum. At $10 per day, you are spending $3,650 per year.
I think that in this socio-economic equestrian situation this is a reasonable place to be for anyone feeding horses beyond the basics. When I say “beyond the basics” I mean that your horse is a regular competitor in sport, a senior horse that can’t chew hay, a broodmare or growing foal with high requirements, or a horse with multiple special needs.
Last year, I placed $10-$15 per day in the “unreasonable” side of the spectrum, but with myself and many friends/clients paying $350-$700 per ton of hay this year, this category has become more average. If I look at my own hay situation at the moment, my 1,200-1,300 lb horses are eating around 32 pounds of hay per day to stay warm in this frigid Montana winter.
- If I paid $350 per ton on average for the hay stacked in my barn, that’s $5.60 in just hay per day! A friend of mine posted that she paid $650 per ton for a recent hay delivery which means even an average sized 1,100 lb horse would cost $7.15 per day to feed hay.
- As a final example, many of my Florida clients are paying upwards of $727 per ton of hay (+$40 per 110lb bales) which would cost $8.00 per day to feed 22lbs.
In summary, the cost to feed your horses a basic hay diet, BEFORE FEED OR SUPPLEMENTS, has skyrocketed making $10-$15 per day totals more realistic. Now, when we add feeds and supplementation on top of this hay diet for horses with “average” requirements, then we quickly get to that $10-$15 per day range.
- In my situation, I feed a ration balancer, a performance feed, a gastric buffer supplement and joint supplement to my queen-bee performance horse.
- This cost me about $5.70 per day to feed her last year which makes her daily feeding expense total (hay+ feed+ supplements) be $11.47.
- The others don’t get more than the ration balancer, so they average about $1.46 per day in supplementation or $7.23 per day total.
Other examples in this $10-$15 per day range might include a senior horse with poor dentition that requires a forage replacer (i.e. senior feeds). It might also include a performance horse on an all hay diet (no pasture grass) that needs additional protein, vitamins and fatty acids lacking in the hay, because these ingredients are expensive to add.
It might also include a laminitic pony that needs low carb hay and multiple anti-inflammatories or a very skinny new OTTB that needs to gain 120 lbs. There are many situations where the additional cost is warranted. Feeding $5 to $8 per day on feeds and supplements on top of your hay costs is normal. Finally, and here’s the clincher, if you are in this price range, you might also be feeding quite inefficiently meaning that you are duplicating products, not using products the way that the nutritionist intended, or adding products that don’t align with your nutrition goals.
This is extremely common in my experience. This is often what happens when you take advice from the internet. 
How much does a horse eat in a day?
Horses are able to consume about 1.5 to 2% of their body weight in dry feed (feed that is 90% dry matter) each day. As a rule of thumb, allow 1.5 to 2 kg of feed per 100 kg of the horse’s body weight. However, it is safer to use 1.7% of body weight (or 1.7 kg per 100 kg of body weight) to calculate a feed budget.
Is owning a horse a lot of work?
Learn Whether You Have the Time to Care for a Horse or Pony One of the most important questions you need to ask yourself is do you have time to look after a or pony. Horses need daily care regardless of the weather, schedules, or holidays. Keeping a horse on your own property is a 365 day a year job.
Feeding and checking drinking watering twice daily: 10 minutesTaking a horse out to pasture and mucking out a stall: 15 minutesVisually checking for signs of illness and injury daily: 5 minutesDaily hoof cleaning: 5 minutes
Total Time: 30 Minutes All of these chores can take much longer, and these are only minimum times. There are many things that can affect the amount of time that you’ll need to spend caring for your horse. Watering your horse may only take a few minutes in the summer months.
But, ice and snow can make that a much bigger job. You might find yourself spending time breaking ice out of buckets, lugging hoses, unfreezing pipes, or unthawing water heaters that stop working. Winter time can make feeding a much bigger job too. Bales can get frozen in, or approaches to feeders, gates, and waterers might have to be maintained to keep them safe for everyone.
Horses can damage stables, equipment, and fences, and that means you will spend extra time if repair and maintenance. Stall cleaning time will depend on how long your horse spends in its stall, what type of you use, and how often you clean it. Skip a day or two of cleaning, and you might find it takes you longer to clean up that if you had looked after each day.
And, it might only take a minute or two to glance over your horse to make sure it is injury free and healthy, but finding an injury might add to the time. Dressings might have to be changed, the horse might require hand walking if it can’t be turned out, or any number of scenarios can result in your spending more time with your horse than anticipated.
The time you spend looking after your horse will be in addition to any grooming, training, riding, or driving time you will want to spend. Most people find they spend more time looking after their horses than the actually do riding. If you are boarding your horse, you may add in travel time if you are in a self-care facility, or you could go for months without ever seeing your horse as long as you pay the bill at a full care boarding stable.
- Boarding is the least time-consuming way to keep a horse.
- But, the convenience comes with a price, and a full-service board can cost thousands of dollars over a year.
- If you suspect your pet is sick, call your vet immediately.
- For health-related questions, always consult your veterinarian, as they have examined your pet, know the pet’s health history, and can make the best recommendations for your pet.
: Learn Whether You Have the Time to Care for a Horse or Pony
Will a horse be OK alone?
Horses naturally live in herds and a normal horse is never alone by choice. These facts drive the behaviour of horses and cause them to do some of the things that can seem irrational to us – such as panic if they get separated from other horses. Living as part of a herd has many advantages for horses such as ‘safety in numbers’.
A horse living alone in the wild would be much more likely to be caught by a predator therefore horses feel safer when they have other horses around them. Horses take it in turns to watch over each other while they sleep. One horse usually stays standing when the others are asleep on the ground. This horse is more alert than the others (even if dozing) while the others sleep more deeply.
This is a good example of how herds operate. When not eating or sleeping horses carry out many other social behaviours termed ‘loafing’. Loafing includes activities such as mutual grooming and playing. Mutual grooming, which is where horses use their incisor teeth to groom each other, is a very important behaviour for horses.
Areas that they cannot reach themselves can be scratched by the other horse. It is also a way of maintaining bonds among herd members. Horses regularly simply stand together in the shade, nose to tail during hot weather, using their tails to keep flies off each other. In cold, wet weather horses will stand in a sheltered spot together because their large bodies help to keep each other warm.
Playing and running around together is another very important behaviour for horses of all ages. See the article What are the key things I should understand about horse behaviour?
Can horses recognize their owner?
Photo © Heather N. Photography BY TANJA SCHNUDERL Can your horse tell you apart in a group of humans? The latest research in equine-human recognition. After being at home sick for about a week I’m finally back at the barn, walking down the aisle up to my horse’s stall.
“Hi there! Remember me?” I say to my chestnut mare. She flings up her head from the hay she was munching on. She gives me a low welcome neigh and takes the carrot I hold in front of her face. “Of course, she remembers me! I’m her person!” I’m thinking, but then I start to wonder Could she tell me apart in a group of humans? How do horses generally identify humans? Is it by looking at our faces? Hearing our voice? Or do they identify us by our smell like dogs? The answer is all of the above! A study in 2010 concluded what equestrians already knew: yes, a horse does recognize “their” person and they can differentiate them from other humans.
They do that based on olfactory as well as auditory and visual cues, which means by seeing and smelling us as well as by hearing our voice. Photo © Heather N. Photography Not only can they tell their person apart from other humans but they also keep a long-lasting memory of a familiar human. A recent study in 2020 showed that horses recognized the face of their caregivers after they had not seen them for six months.
Even more impressive was the fact that the horses did not identify their caregiver in real life but only from a picture shown to them. Horses are sensitive prey animals and their close relationship to humans has enabled them to them being able to pick up on human emotions too. Another recent study has proven, that domestic horses are capable of identifying human emotions.
Scientists found out that the horses participating in this study could not only distinguish between joyful and angry human sounds but were also able to tell the difference between a human face expressing anger and a human face expressing joy. This leads scientists to believe that horses have much more advanced human face-emotion recognition abilities and long-term memory of familiar faces than originally assumed.
Tanja Schnuderl is the Director of International Services with The Equine Expert LLC, a multi-discipline equine expert witness and consulting firm with expert equestrians offering legal expert witness and consulting services in court cases and legal matters. Tanja is an expert on Barn Management and Horse Behavior.
She provides her barn management services at a modern 20-stall boutique barn close to Washington DC and a private 8-stall training facility of a local FEI Dressage rider. She has established her own equine appraisal company, Sigma Equine LLC. Tanja grew up in Germany and was a paralegal for many years.
How much does it cost to keep a horse at a stable?
Housing. If you don’t own enough land to support a horse, boarding at a barn or stable is the next best option. A horse is assigned a stall and you’re given access to trails, a pasture or arena. The cost of boarding averages $400 to $500 per month but can go as high as $1,200 to $2,500 in metropolitan areas.
How much does it cost to feed a horse per year?
Annual Cost to Feed a Horse – As mentioned above, the cost of feeding a horse varies based on your location and the season. A bale of hay usually costs around $5-$10 per square bale. You can expect additional expenses if you’d opt to grain feed your four-legged companion and provide supplement depending on their nutritional needs.
According to a survey conducted by the University of Maine with 82 horse owners with a total of 470 horses and an average of 6 horses per owner that weighs 1100 lbs, the average amount of hay and grain they can consume in 9 months can cost around $1, 214. And if you’d take into consideration the average cost of pasture maintenance, which is $194 and other additional expenses, it can rise to $1,405 to $2,000 per year.
That means an average of $140-167 per horse.
How do you pay for a horse?
How Can You Pay for a Horse? – There are actually a few options people have to finance the purchase of a horse. They can try to engage the owner in an installment arrangement, making payments based on terms set out in an agreement; there is also the lease-to-own option, whereby you make lease payments that go toward the purchase price.