So often I hear that horses are too expensive. That ‘there’s no way I could ever afford to take care of a horse’. Most of these people smoke, so here’s a little cost analysis is did that compares the cost of horses to the cost of smoking.

The cost of a horse:

The number of bales for one horse for a month if they don’t have grass access is roughly 15. This year, I bought my hay for $6.5/bale. Keep in mind: this can drop to 0 in the summer if you have enough grass/a big enough field.

If you’re feeding your horse 2qts of grain per meal (which is pretty average, although, most of my guys don’t get grain), you’ll go through about 1 bag every 2 weeks. Let’s assume that the bags of grain cost $20, although many are cheaper.

The vet costs about $325 per year

Dewormer maybe $30 per year

Farrier costs me $45 every 6 weeks

If I add everything up and throw in bedding etc, it’s $7.25/day if you have the space to keep a horse to begin with.

The average cost of cigarettes in NH is $6.80, so one horse kept at home is 1.07 packs a day.

Let’s say that you don’t have the space:

Rough board typically costs about $150 in our area, so that means $12.25 or 1.8 packs a day.

Say you don’t have the space or time to care for the horse and you need full board:

Full board in our area can be as low as 400/month. Add in farrier and vet etc and it’s $15.33 or 2.25 packs a day.

The average smoker smokes ~15 cigarettes a day. If both parents do, that’s 1.5 packs/day or the ability for 1.4 horses kept at home. Just some food for thought.