Holy smokes! I am researching how much it costs to get horses' hooves trimmed in the USA, and I can't believe it! In the USA, the cost of getting a full set of shoes put on is usually $120 per horse not including the actual purchase of the shoes! Average cost of just a trim is $45. No wonder you guys think owning a horse is expensive!
Owning horses in Kenya is extremely affordable!
Let us just look at Farrier costs first.
I have 4 barefoot ponies, and one fully shod Thoroughbred.
(My Kenyan Farrier has been trained by experts from all over the world. He shoes the finest race horses in Nairobi, all of the horses in my area, as well as horses all across Kenya. He is BRILLIANT and professional. He continues to be trained every year to update his knowledge, and he is great doing barefoot horses as well as shoes.)
With that said, he put on BRAND NEW shoes on my thoroughbred yesterday. The shoes cost $25. The trim and putting the shoes on for all four feet cost $7. That is right. $7. He did barefoot trims on my ponies for $7 each, plus he charges $7 to travel all the way from Nairobi (3 hrs) to my house. So yesterday, I spent a total of $67 to do my FIVE horses. When I am not buying NEW SHOES (which is most months), I only spend $42 a month for FIVE horses to get their feet done. Compare that to $120/horse or even $45/horse for just a trim in the USA! So with my five horses the way they are, it would cost me $300 a month in the USA as apposed to $45. Right there, I think you can see that having horses here is much more cost efficient than my USA counterparts!
Now let us look at how much it costs to feed my horses. I buy bran for the ponies who eat 4 times a day. Then I have bran, barley, and horse meal for my thoroughbred. I spend about $0.60 a day per pony x4 ponies, and about $1.50 per day for my thoroughbred on feed. That is $3.90 a day for five horses (*educated guess). A 5 gallon jug of raw molasses is $8 and lasts half a year. Salt licks are $6 and last ages, so I am just going to round up to $4/day... So I spend about $120 a month on feeding FIVE horses not including hay.
Hay is the expensive stuff, but if you can buy it when it is 'in season,' it can go for as little as $1.50 a bale. We use a bale a day or so... in certain times of the year, hay can be over $3 a bale. So let's just say it is $2 for now. That is $60 a month on hay. See? This is where horses are expensive, but still, can you see how owning a horse or five is DO-able?
So we spend about $225 a month to own 5 horses. This doesn't include vet expenses which are few because I do the deworming and injections myself. I do not have to pay to board my horses, nor do I have to pay a licence fee or anything. So that is it! $225 divided by 5 horses equals $45/horse. Not bad!
Tack is another expense, but we have been fortunate to have some donated, and we have bought some items. I must say that this is an area I hope to fulfill when I visit the USA, but in the mean time, what we have is working. We have all second hand items, and we don't mind.
Transportation of horses is THE BIGGEST expense ever. This is an issue I am hoping to combat by getting our own horse trailer one day... but ultimately, doing horse therapy is not as expensive as one might think!!
This is another reason I believe Horse Therapy for disabled children is a viable project in Kenya!
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