PLEASE Look a Gift Horse in the Mouth

I've heard these words so many times, and yet they never cease to make me physically ill when I hear them:

"I found a great deal on a horse--it's FREE!!"


By the way, every horse pictured in this post was advertised as free.

The people who I hear uttering these words typically live on an acre or two with droopy, barbed-wire fencing and have never owned a horse in their lives. They have absolutely no intentions of getting any lessons, gathering hay and farrier contacts, or even so much as mending their fences.

What these people fail to realize is that GETTING a horse is the least expensive part, whether it's free or you pay $10,000 for it.

Here are just the very basic costs a person is looking at, just to keep the horse alive and in fairly decent condition (on your own property):

Hay at $100 per ton, 1200 lbs per month = $720 per year

Farrier at $25 per trim, 7 trims per year = $175 per year (does not include shoes)

Wormer and vaccinations (if you administer them yourself) = $90 per year

Grain (if your hay is not sufficient) at $12 per 50 lb bag = $432 per year

BASIC price for owning a horse: $1,417.00 per year.

If you have that horse for 5 years, you'll be spending $7,085 for your "free" horse...

...and that's if you never do anything with it!

Now, as any experienced horse person knows, EVERY horse has a death wish. Right now I'm up to almost a grand in vet bills for my stallion, and his ordeal isn't even over yet. Horses will find anything to get cut on, and cut deeply. They'll strain muscles, tendons and ligaments. They'll founder or colic. They'll become navicular, choke, or contract strangles. They're a living, breathing, ridable minefield of all sorts of medical ailments.

Considering this, lets say you get very lucky and spend $1000 for emergency vet care for a horse in its lifetime. You will also need to get his teeth floated (once a year is preferable, but realistically let's say you do it every other year). So, now you're up to $1500 in additional vet expenses over those five years.

THEN, if you want to do anything with the horse at all, you'll have to purchase a saddle, saddle blanket, bridle, bit, reins, halter, leadrope, leg protection, fly spray, brushes, combs, and hoof pick. You'll need boots for yourself, some decent riding pants, possibly a helmet, a truck and a trailer so you can go somewhere, a roundpen so you can practice or some sort of safe fencing for riding around in. Let's see, that's all about $13,000 for all that.

THEN, if you really didn't know all this, you will most certainly need lessons. You will probably need horse training as well. Let's say you really commit to lessons/training with a great trainer and get it all done in 90 days: $1500+

I won't even get into participation and hauling expenses, if you actually want to go anywhere and do anything with your horse.

So, let's total up the amount of your "free" horse...

Basic care: $7085.00

Add'l vet: $1500.00

Tack/hauling: $13,000.00

Lessons/training: $1500.00

Total cost of owning one horse for five years (if kept on your own property): $23,085.00+

Knowing what you're getting yourself into and being properly prepared, so you can make the most of your relationship with your "free" horse? Priceless.