Well.. i really wont a pony!! And i have found a really nice pony that suits me in every way !! But i really wont to know how much it would cost me so i can show my parents. Because at the moment ,My parents are not letting me have a pony lol !! And i really really wont one..
So if you could help me that would be great
Megan, the cost of keeping a horse is highly dependent on the location. I can guarantee you that where I live in Southern California, I would have to pay at least twice as much to keep a horse than if I lived someplace like the midwest or Arizona or Utah or someplace where costs (especially land costs) were lower.
The cost to board a horse is also very dependent on the facilities where you board it. You can board a horse someplace where the horses are kept in pens with a rough shelter at one end, there is no ring to ride in, no turn-out area, where your "wash stall" is a hose on a driveway, your "tackroom" is the trunk of your car, and the bathroom is a port-a-potty and you better bring your own toilet paper. You do all your own feeding and mucking out, provide all your own feed and bedding (if any), and if you need to have the shoer or the vet come out, you have to be there yourself to hold the horse. That will have a low cost for board.
At the opposite end of the scale, a stable where the horses are kept in box stalls bedded in shavings, each horse has its own run outside the stable, there are at least two turn-out pens, a round pen for working young horses, at least two riding rings (one with a variety of jumps), a hot walker, wash stalls on concrete with drains and hot water, a built-in tack closet beside each stall, a lounge with TV, microwave, vending machines and comfortable chairs and couches. The feed and bedding are included in the cost of board, and the horses are fed three times a day for you, the stalls are picked out twice a day, and the manager will have someone get the horse out for the vet or shoer if you can’t be there.
The only way you can know what board costs will be is to go to a few boarding stables where you would be happy to keep your pony and ask them how much board costs and what the board includes.
Vet costs vary, depending on your horse’s health, but $500/year should cover the costs for a healthy horse. The problem is if there is an emergency, things can get very expensive very fast. My recommendation is that anyone considering getting a horse have a $5,000 emergency fund. That doesn’t mean that you have to have $5,000 in cash or savings. It does mean that you have a way of getting $5,000 within less than an hour. Most horse owners I know of who aren’t wealthy keep a credit card with a $5,000 or higher limit for horse emergencies, or have a line of credit of some sort that they can access any time.
Shoeing varies, it can range from $45-50 for a set of shoes and a trim all the way up to the hundreds of dollars for a set of shoes and a trim for a horse with problems like navicular or something that needs custom shoes made every time the horse is shod.
You’ll need at least $4,000-5,000 per year for a horse that you board, probably more in most areas. And a reserve of at least $5,000 for emergencies.