Costs of Horse Ownership by Tara Tobon

 When I was a young girl, I knew exactly how we could convert the garage to a stall and tack room and I could see no reason not to turn our quarter acre front yard into a paddock. I can still hear my father telling me that there was more to buying a horse than the original purchase price. Now that I breed and raise horses, I hear myself repeating my father's warning and adding to it: it costs just as much to keep a good horse as a bad one.

This article is intended to give a guideline for the recurring monthly costs associated with owning a horse as well as the purchase pricing of Paso Fino horses.

The Monthly Basics: A horse requires feed, hay and water on a daily basis. If you stable your horse, you will also require shavings or some type of bedding. If you have the acreage to keep your horse at home, you will pay for these items and if you board at a local boarding barn, these are  included in the price of full board.  The average Paso Fino requires 2 1/2 to 3 pounds of commercial grain two times daily.  This is easy to portion out in a feed scoop that is sold in the feed store and will hold just this amount. A 50 pound bag of grain holds approximately 18 scoops, so will feed one horse for 9 days. Depending upon protein and fat content, this will cost you $12.00 per bag, give or take a few dollars. Hay is an important part of your horse's diet and depending upon the type of hay, the price is per bale or per pound. In the areas I have lived (TX, LA, FL) coastal bermuda is the hay of choice. It is a grassier hay than alfalfa or timothy and has less protein, so can be fed in greater quantities to a Paso Fino horse. Coastal is also a cheaper hay than alfalfa and is less rich. A bale of coastal hay can run $6.00 and up as pricing is affected by rains and droughts as well as the price of gas. As diesel has soared over the past 4 years from 99 cents a gallon to over $3.00 a gallon in our area, hay has gone from $2.00/bale to $6.00/bale.  Since horses are grazing animals, hay should be fed in greater quantities than grain. A Paso Fino generally requires 2 good sized flakes of coastal hay per feeding along with its grain, so the average bale of coastal hay will last one horse for 3 days. A bale of alfalfa is usually heavier than a bale of coastal hay as the flakes are more dense and should only be fed one flake per feeding. This bale can cost $12.00 and up, but usually will last one horse for 5 days. If you have grass pasture available, you may be able to supplement your horse's feeding with pasture and reduce its grain and hay ration. Shavings can be purchased by bag (approximately $5.00) or dump load ($200.00 per 17 yard dump). A 12 X 12 stall requires 2 - 3 bags of shavings or as many large wheelbarrow dumps.  If your horse is stalled daily with some turnout, as you clean the stall daily, you will likely need to add bedding every 2 - 3 days and will likely recycle the entire amount once each week. One dump truck of shavings usually lasts one month for 6 stalls but needs to be stored and covered or it spoils.  If you tally these items, it costs roughly $45.00/month in grain; $60.00/month in hay and $50.00/month in shavings (on the high end).  Your annual total is $1860.00 if you stall your horse or $1260.00 if he is pastured at your home.

Recurring Necessities: Your horse also requires worming, farrier, annual shots and dental care. You should rotate the class of dewormers each time, using ivermectin in spring and fall during bot fly season (the little yellow eggs that appear on horse's legs and flanks).  Dewormers cost approximately $10.00/tube and a tube worms one 1000 - 1200 lb horse. A Paso Fino is roughly 800 - 1000 pounds. We generally worm the horses every other month (6 times per year for a cost of $60.00 annually) The cost of farrier varies with your area. Trims in FL presently run $30.00 and a set of shoes is $80.00. Your horse should see the farrier every 6 weeks (comes to roughly 8+ times a year for a cost of $240.00/yr for trims or $640.00/yr for shoes)  If you live in a sandy area, you will need to add monthly sand colic prevention aid ($20.00/pail and the pail should supply one horse for two months for a cost of $120.00/yr). Vaccinations depend upon the requirements in your area. Plan on the cost of the vaccines, the vet visit and a coggins annually (roughly $200.00) in addition to a dental visit annually to have teeth floated ($65.00) These are the basics. If your horse has special needs, you may need to add a joint or hoof supplement. If you add an automatic fly spray system, which is almost a necessity in the south, you have the cost of the insecticide. For our Flysaway system, we go through one concentrated refill ($165.00) every other month for a 12-stall barn. This adds $82.50. Even without a fly system, you will have roughly the same cost in fly spray which you will need to apply daily or every other day to help your horse combat pasture flies. The recurring necessities will add $1085.00/yr. to your budget for a horse that is shod and $767.50 if trimmed.

Paso Fino Pricing: As you can see from the above figures, it costs roughly between $2027.50 - $2945.00 per year to keep a horse at home depending if you pasture or stall and shoe or just trim your horse's feet.  For a breeder, this figure is multiplied by the number of years it takes to raise the horse plus the cost of breeding the horse. If the breeder has their own stallion, the cost to breed this horse is limited to veterinary pregnancy checks of the mare and the cost of keeping their stallion. If the breeder has paid a stud fee (average $1500.00), plus breeding and vet fees ($500.00), their investment in the horse to this point is $2000.00 before the foal is born. If the foal is kept in pasture until it is 3 years of age and then trained to ride for 3 months ($650.00/month to send a horse out for training or the cost of monthly keep plus the salary of a trainer on staff figures to almost the same amount) the cost to raise the horse to this point is $9672.00, assuming it is only trimmed for the first three years of life and is pastured until training. Once the horse returns from training, it is usually stalled and ridden regularly to keep it in shape and get it ready for sale, which adds the cost of keeping the horse in stall for the number of months before it is sold. If the breeder has stable help to clean stalls and maintain grounds, the cost of the salary must be absorbed by the sale of horses. We have not even touched on the cost of a facility to raise the horses. In TX and LA, 10 acres and a modest house with 10 stall barn would cost $350,000.00 but in FL, this same facility costs $550,000.00. From this analysis, you can see that a horse that is nearing 4 years with 3 months of professional training and then continued training and trail exposure by the breeder can cost the breeder upwards of $11,000.00 to bring to the market without even considering the costs of the facility, utilities, truck, trailer, tractors, etc. Horses that are destined for the show ring are considerably higher as stud fees are more costly for stallions with proven show offspring and training time is longer. 

This analysis should assist you in appreciating the cost to bring a trail-ready horse to market that has been provided routine care and a good training foundation. It is impossible for any business owner to sell an $11,000.00 commodity for $3000.00 and stay in business. Beware of deals that are too good to be true.

**This article was updated 11/08 since the cost of grain has escalated from the originally used $10.00/bag to the new figure of $12.00 per bag. In addition, with the declining real estate market, I adjusted the FL property cost from $750,000 to $550,000.