Cost for a Mini Horse

I was wondering what the aprox cost of owning a miniature horse for one year is? That isn't including Show Fees and stuff like that.

That is really tough to say... it totally depends on your location and situation. A large portion of MY upkeep here is paying board... but if I had horse property it might not be as much.

Andrea

It does very much depend on location and your specific situation. I think I've figured it up previously as an average of $40 per mini per month for feed--because we buy all our hay, and feed square bales as opposed to rounds--if I figured it up per individual horse some would be more (those on higher grain ration) and some would be less (those that get hay only, no grain). This amount does include bedding costs (straw...if I used shavings it would be much higher) but doesn't include dewormer (approx. $12 per year per horse) or annual vaccines ($35/horse/year). It also doesn't include farrier costs because I do my own trimming. And of course that amount doesn't include any regular or emergency vet care.

If you have to board your horse the cost will be much higher. Vaccine costs will also be much higher if you give extra vaccines--PHF, flu/rhino every 2-3 months, etc etc and/or if you have to have the vet out to administer those vaccines.

Alot of expenses can be cut out if you know how to do things yourself. Here is how I eliminated or cut some of the costs:

- I keep my horses on my own property = $0 board fee (initial building of fencing and stalls is something you have to consider but is a one-time thing, not yearly)

- I trim my own horses hooves so don't have to pay farrier bills = $0 (used to cost $25/horse for trimming)

- I give my own shots myself = $0 vet visit bill (used to cost me $80 just for him to show up!)

- I do not call my vet out for emergencies unless I think someone if on the verge of dying or needs stitches as I have a neighbor has several "natural remedies" for several things including colic and my other neighbor delivers about 3-4 foals per year so he assists me with breeding. So basicly my two neighbors with over 100 years of horse experience combined are my "vets" unless someone really gets hurt - then the professional vet comes out

Things I still have to pay for:

- Shots = $20/horse per year from Tractor Supply (used to cost me $45-50/horse per year by the vet)

- Oat Hay = $600/year gets me 30 4x4 round bales

- Coggins Tests = $15/horse per year for my show/sale horses only (if they don't leave my property that year, they don't get one)

- Health Certificates = $10/horse for sale horses (I don't show out of state so I don't need it)

- Grain & Beet Pulp = about $62/month (I go through about 2 bags of Strategy and 2 bags of Beet Pulp per month feeding 6 minis and 2 riding horses as they get mostly hay)

I would guess on average that I am spending atleast $1500 per year - BUT THAT IS FOR 6 MINIATURES AND 2 RIDING HORSES! By my calculation, each horse is costing my roughly $300 per year.

Like others have said, it depends on your region and what things cost as to how much it will cost you to keep up a miniature horse. Some are more fortunate than others and some are not. Don't you just love variables?

~Katie~

Wow Katie... I wish it was that inexpensive to keep a horse! Like I said, I do board... vets cost a lot more out here (annual teeth floating is up to $300 for example). I spend $2,000 PER SMALL HORSE here. My big pony is a bit more, she eats more.

Care will vary, too... my farrier charges $40 for a trim, and I prefer my horses to be done every six weeks if possible. In some areas, farrier could be $20 per trim, and you might prefer every eight weeks. That is a dramatic difference ($200 difference in that example alone).

AND with animals... you never know what costs they can incur... I had a mini foal that costed me $5,000 in vet bills in his short life of four months before I had to euthanize him

You already have two donkeys, right? Costs for a miniature horse should be pretty darn close to what you are already spending.

Andrea

Dang Andrea! I doubt I would have horses if it cost me as much as it does you! I am a full-time college student and even right now they are keeping my butt working hard just to keep them . I am fortunate that I can keep them at home with me and that I can give my own shots, do my own farrier work and have two horse neighbors that seem to know everything about anything involved with horses!

And yes - if you do have two miniature donkeys you should spend about the same amount of money on a miniature horse as you do your miniature donkeys. Not a big difference in cost to me. . .unless I am missing something?

~Katie~

Oh, Yea...DUHA -Smaks Head- lol. Forgot. lol. I do my own feet, but our vet dose all the other stuff.

Do you have to get Mini's Teeth done on a regular basis?

The cost all depends on:

- Where you live, and

- How you keep the horse.

Costs for a lot of things depend on where you are. For example, I can buy a small bale (25 pounds) of hay or straw for about $2. However, I've heard of areas where it is over $10. Likewise, things like a annual dental checkup varies from $100 in some areas to $300 in others.

The other factor is how you keep it. If you have a lot of pasture, you don't need to buy in much hay. Also, if the pony is outside most of the day rather than locked in the stable most of the day, you need less straw. If you stable the pony yourself, it is half or less the cost of a professional stable.

I suggest you start with a list and explanation of the various costs (there is one here: http://www.wowhorses.com/cost-of-a-horse.html) and then phone around to get the local costs of the various items. Then, take into account what you reallly need (how much hay, straw and so on), depending on your circumstances.

Hope this helps.

7 minis here and I figured about $800-$1000 per year. Thats hay, grain, vacs, and I trough in a couple hundred in case of any emergencies. Now if you want to add housing,fencing and such, $500-$800 more.

BUT what helps me is I do my own farrier and dental to my horses as of right now and have for years.

Last year my costs (hay, grain, vet, dentistry, and farrier) averaged just over $400/horse and I had 20 head here last year. That averages to about $34.00/mo per animal. Add another $5000.00 for 3 horses I showed last year at 3 shows plus Nationals.

Average annual cost here - hay/grain, vaccinations, farrier, worming, dental = $500 per horse. This does NOT include any veterinary calls for anything other than coggins/health certs etc.

I have no pasture (on a mountain ridge that is all rock) - so feed hay year 'round. Do my own vaccinations and take care of 90% of the medical issues by myself. Farrier is $25 a pop - some horses are done ever 7 weeks, some every 14...nothing ever goes more than 14 weeks. Dental is $55 a horse and only if it needs to have work done. But I am VERY VERY VERY particular about the quality of my hay and willing to pay for it. My horses are not stalled - ever....well, if foaling, getting ready for a show, or if sick, but that's it, so very minimal bedding costs.

I think I spend easly 6,000.00 a year on mine....( 4 mini horses) minimum!!!! last year i spent well over that with a round pen , stall mats, trailer , show fees , club fees, .....

vet... teeth, shots,wormers etc. 400 to 500 per year add 500 more for the emergency call you could have

hay ...10 to 25 .00 per bale , 1 bale a week

grain .. well you shouldnt be giving grain anyway IMO

vitamins...I give a vitamin everyday they get everything they need in it 36.00 for 2 month supply

mineral block...25.00 2 per year

Farrier...4 horses 100.00 every 6 weeks

tools... fork, broom wheelberrow, hoses, rake etc...200.00

bedding ... 19.00 per 10 kilo I need at least 4 per month... 75 .00 per month

I keep mine at home , and file the horses feet between Farrier appointments

then add medical supplies ... bandages , creams ,ointments, thrush buster, vasoline, stethiscope , vet manuals, etc.. brushes combs shampoos, blankets, flyspray fly sheet fly mask, fencing, hauling poop from your property the list is endless...

lots of hidden costs...YEP at least 1,000. per horse per year. That is as long as he is healthy.

We're new at the horse game so it's a little unclear exactly what our costs will ultimately average out to be as we're still buying supplies as they become needed.

Last week I had our weanling foal clipped by someone I found on Craig's list. We've never clipped a horse of any kind before and still don't have clippers of our own. We only needed this done once before next spring so it seemed that it wouldn't be a bad idea to pay someone else to do it. It allows us time to research the best clippers we can afford, save up for them and be ready to go come spring. It also helped to watch someone do it. I had a peek at this in early July when I visited Marlene at WhiteTails farm. A second time of watching was really helpful. And I met another great miniature horse owner. That was another well spent $75.

We pay $25 per horse for trimming. Our mare only went 4 weeks this last time despite a good trim before...it wasn't a botched trim the previous time, just really fast growing hooves. We're averaging 7 weeks between trims with this one exception. We now have 3 minis, so that's $75 * 6 (on average) = $450. I think my husband will ultimately figure out how to do this himself. He's adamant that we never let their hooves go without good farrier care so he has incentive to learn how to do it to save us some $$. That's at least a year or more down the road though.

Right now, we aren't paying anything for hay. A childhood friend of my husband has a hay business and he refuses to take any money. We will be using more and more hay as our small pasture is pretty chewed down right now and of course winter is coming. At some point though, he's gonna have to charge us something. Husband is really uncomfortable about it but I'm counting my blessings By next summer (June-ish) our larger pasture will be ready for use. We're splitting it in half and will rotate the 3 of them between the 3 even sized fields. We hope this minimizes our hay needs next summer.

Our mare is on a senior sweet feed. It's $15 a 50lb bag and that bag is lasting us about 45 days. She's a hard keeper so she gets 2lbs a day.

The yearling and the weanling foal are both on a complete pelleted feed to ensure a well balanced nutritional diet. That 50lb bag costs around $25 and is lasting us about 60 days.

Obviously, our biggest expenses this year came from getting everything setup. We still have more work to do (a no-freeze water line to the barn, electricity to the barn, seeding the larger pasture, finishing the fencing in the larger pasture) so these expenses aren't over but should be by next spring.

Our vet charges $38 for a farm visit and $35 per animal for the exam. We had him out for the first time at the beginning of the month when the weanling came home and needed her vaccinations. We had some concerns about the mare so we scheduled him to look at her as well. Total cost of the visit was $200. It included staining the mare's eyes looking for scratches/ulcerations because her eyes were oozing yellow goop. When he ruled that out, he diagnosed "pink eye" and gave us meds for that. I've paid far more than that for one dog AT their vet's office!

Overall, the expenses have not been as bad as I once feared. Obviously, a larger horse would have more expenses simply because they require more volume in many instances. Right now, these girls are our pets and we're going to make decisions on what else we'll do with them later on down the road. As these decisions are made, obviously different expenses will likely arise.

I think it costs us approximately $40/month/mini to feed, deworm and vaccinate. We do our hoof trims ourselves and a lot of the vet situations I can also handle myself. Ours are all on dry lots so we feed hay 2x a day. The $40/mo is if everything goes smooth and nothing happens where the vet needs to come out. It does not include showing... that throws a huge variable into it when you factor in the distances to different shows, etc.

I just took a peak at my books from last year.....I do wish you wouldn't make me do that, I much prefer burying my head in the sand about costs! I have 13 minis and one big horse. I have 5 acres but don't really have pasture but they do get something from it so for a few months I don't feed as much. In the Spring I have to dry lot everyone and really watch that Spring grass for laminitis issues. My feed/supply bill which includes about $1,000 for vaccines which I self admin was right around $7,000. Taking into consideration the big horse, I think just the feed part for the minis was $375 yearly each. Farrier was another 1,200 and the vet was $1,000 for teeth and I think one gelding. Luckily haven't had any "big" vet expenses but you have to be prepared for them.

She also asked about show fees and that so depends on what kind of shows you're going to and how far away they are. I spend around $3,000 yearly for just my Oregon based Pinto shows. This includes entry and stall fees, camping site and food, and some show clothes. Tack on another $5,000 if I decide to go to the Pinto World show(and that's with splitting gas/travel expenses)! If you have a trainer......well, the numbers keep going up! Of course there's also registration and membership fees. Geez......I hope hubby doesn't see this post!!

sedeh said:

I just took a peak at my books from last year.....I do wish you wouldn't make me do that, I much prefer burying my head in the sand about costs! I have 13 minis and one big horse. I have 5 acres but don't really have pasture but they do get something from it so for a few months I don't feed as much. In the Spring I have to dry lot everyone and really watch that Spring grass for laminitis issues. My feed/supply bill which includes about $1,000 for vaccines which I self admin was right around $7,000. Taking into consideration the big horse, I think just the feed part for the minis was $375 yearly each. Farrier was another 1,200 and the vet was $1,000 for teeth and I think one gelding. Luckily haven't had any "big" vet expenses but you have to be prepared for them. She also asked about show fees and that so depends on what kind of shows you're going to and how far away they are. I spend around $3,000 yearly for just my Oregon based Pinto shows. This includes entry and stall fees, camping site and food, and some show clothes. Tack on another $5,000 if I decide to go to the Pinto World show(and that's with splitting gas/travel expenses)! If you have a trainer......well, the numbers keep going up! Of course there's also registration and membership fees. Geez......I hope hubby doesn't see this post!!

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Now that sounds about right....add a new trailer to that , and a bigger auto to pull the dang thing...... and my new 300.00 clippers just sucked up the mane of my mare today and stopped running...thank god my mare is OK, and so calm she didnt flinch... I love that girl bless her heart. Oh and the snow blower for the pasture and the big mower for summer....costs are endless..