Every 6 weeks they will need their feet done. Most can go barefoot, adding shoes adds expense. My horses' feet cost $34.50 CDN with tax for a barefoot trim, it can get close to $200 CDN of you need a complete trim and new shoes on all fours.
Arguable. Legs gets trimmed when her hooves start getting long - which varies according to the time of the year. Like people whose nails grow faster some months, horses do the same. Generally speaking, she is trimmed every 8 - 10 weeks or thereabouts. Our farrier charges 35.00 for all four feet.
We trim every 6 to 8 weeks. Yes, horses vary in how fast their hooves grow. Here it's $20 for a trim, $65 to trim and shoe. The consequence for letting a horse's hooves grow way too long is the risk of tendon damage. I'm talking about the people who have their horses trimmed once a year, when hunting season starts. Grrrr.
They need annual/biannual vaccinations. The cost depends on what you are getting vaccinated for, and the travel charges for the vet to get there. If you are not showing your horse, or moving him off the property a lot, or horse coming in and out of the property, a lot of the communicable disease vaccines can be excluded.
West Nile vaccinations run 25.00/horse here. We purchase the vaccination and give it ourselves - thus no vet, no vet travel expenses, etc. This is generally the only vaccination Legs receives each year. Depending on your area, you may need to add Encepalitis. Not sure what that costs, as it's not a problem here at this time. If you plan on showing your horse or crossing state borders for any reason, he/she will need an annual coggins (Equine Infectious Anemia test), and it must be negative to cross borders, I would also recommend a 5-way vaccination. Can't remember what all it protects against, but rhino is one of them. In Wyoming, a horse crossing state lines also requires a brand inspection. I'm not sure how many states require this.
WNV is $18 a horse here and we give our own. Definitely a brand inspection if the horse is crossing state lines most anywhere in the west.
The horse will need his teeth floated every 6 months - year, to prevent discomfort and eating problems. This is completely necessary. Don't try to save cost on teeth.
B.S. flag! Some horses need regular floating, other's do not. We have had very few horses that developed any kind of teeth problems whatsoever, and I've been around horses for my entire 46 years! Horses that need to be floated will display symptoms such as refusal to be bridled, not wanting to eat, dribbling grain/hay while chewing, etc. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!
Not many need to have their teeth floated, but that need can vary with the age of the horse. Some need to have it done in the 3 to 5 year age group, then maybe not again until they're quite a bit older. Every horse we own gets at least a yearly heath checkup with the vet. That includes checking their teeth. Our oldest and youngest horses needed to have their teeth floated this past fall. A third horse was iffy, so the vet touched his teeth up a bit. The other three didn't need anything done.
Fly sprays, sunscreen (of your horse has a white nose :P), grooming supplies.
Fly spray is good, and usually provides the horse with a higher comfort level, however I have never heard of a horse getting sunburned, nor have I ever seen a horse that was sunburned. Another B.S. flag! Almost all of our horses over the years had stripes, snips, stars, white feet, light color, etc, they NEVER got sunburned. And, no, they were not in a shed, stall, overhang, etc.
Yes, I've seen horses with white hair/pink skin that do sunburn. It usually shows up as dry crusty skin that heals up pretty rapidly if the skin is protected for a few days. Sunscreen can be necessary for some horses. I've never owned a horse that needed sunscreen, but friends who raise and train horses have one mare that sunburns her nose very easily. Sunscreen takes care of the problem. Her offspring don't seem to have that problem.
Tack and blankets depending on the conditions (rain sheet, fly sheet, stable blanket, turnout rug) (The only sheet I ever had on my horse was a winter blanket, for when we got the wet sleet/snow in Nova Scotia... it went right to their bones. A wet horse is a cold horse, if you don't get wet snow, the winter coat will be a fine insulator)
Blankets? Please! Snow/sleet/cold temperatures is why a horse grows a winter coat. Additionally, blankets left on for any length of time can and do interfere with the natural growth of a horses coat. I personally cannot tell you how long that is, as none of our horses have ever been blanketed or sheeted in their lives! If you are using a good quality fly spray, there is no additional need for a fly sheet.
We don't do the blanket routine, unless it is wintertime and we're trailering a horse home after team penning. If the horse works up a good sweat, we'll leave the blanket on until the sun is up the next morning. Yes, a wet horse can be miserable, depending on the temperature of the air. 32 degrees and wet is a miserable horse, but they survive without any ill effects. When the weather's like that, I'll throw in a couple of extra flakes of hay so they can munch longer and work on keeping their body temperature up.
Feed if the stable does not provide it.
I would not use stable provided feed even if a stable would provide it. The horse belongs to me, therefore it is my responsibility to make sure his/her feed is up to my quality requirements and fed to him/her on a regular basis. There is only one way to make sure this is happening - I buy the feed and I feed my horse. I'm not saying that stable owners are careless, neglectful, out to screw their clients, or in any way denigrating them, as far as I'm concerned if one is not willing to accept the responsibility for one's animal, and make sure that animal is cared for properly, one does not have any business owning that animal.
Supplements if you like (I never gave my horse any...)
Horses need good quality, 10-12% protein, grass hay, period. Good quality pasture would be optimum, but is not always practical. Unless a horse is a performance horse or being worked hard, they do not need alfalfa, nor do they need grain of any kind.
No supplements fed here for most of our horses, unless the horse has a particular dietary need. Alfalfa hay tends to change the pH of the gut which, in a horse can predispose some to colic. We can rarely get straight grass hay here, so have to feed an alfalfa/grass hay mix. Five of our six horses do well on that. The sixth tends toward colic unless he has additional rhoughage to keep the feed moving through his gut. We pasture three of our horses about five months of the year and have to feed hay the rest of the time. My 25 year old does get supplements in the wintertime. He does very well on pasture the rest of the year.
Monthly board. 24/7 pasture can be just fine. I had mine on 24/7 pasture for a long time. This was in Manitoba, Alberta and Nova Scotia. There were some HARSH conditions. However, make sure shelter is available. A stall will increase your cost. I don't know how much board is there, but the stable I currently work at charges $500 CDN a month. (I would never ever pay that, ha ha ha, my horse lives in a field, to be a horse.)
Board varies from facility to facility and from state to state. We charge 70.00/month for a run and stall, 60.00 for a run with an open shed, 50.00 for just a run. Taryn, you will have to research to see what the prices are in your area. Shelter is nice, but not necessary. Horses have been living in the wild for thousands of years. A tree in a pasture will provide all the shelter he/she needs. If he/she is in a run, he/she will quickly learn to turn his/her butt to the rain/snow/sleet, etc. and survive just fine.
A board fence, a tree, or some similar item suffices for shelter here. We're at high altitude and have snowy winters, but our horses grow good winter coats and, like posted above, turn their butts to the storm and do well.
See if a stable will let you work off your board, or a portion of it. When I had my mare I worked a few days a week and got significantly cheaper board. It's really worth a try ;) Leasing out your horse can be a cost saver, but it si risky. If you find the right person, and just don;t have the time to properly excersise the horse yourself, it can be a viable option.
Most places will not allow this, as their insurance won't allow it. Plus it causes problems with other boarders wanting to do the same thing.
Be open to all possibilities, and good luck ont he horse hunt ;)
TCFC
