Keeping costs down

Ah_Yeah

Hey all,

Just took a 4 year old mare on lease, I'm really excited about this, but obviously with a great horse comes great responsibility! Horses aren't cheap and I'm already on a tight budget, but I was sick of waiting to have my own.

She's kept in a livery yard in South Dublin, her tack came with her, and the yard have headcollars, leadropes, grooming kits etc. So I don't feel the need to buy all those, while it would be nice to have my own, the yard have them which is great. I've bought her a rug already, but I'm just wondering how you all keep costs down as time goes on? Transport, repairs to tack/rugs, cleaning rugs, clipping, boots, numnahs etc, and even your own gear! I just want to make sure I don't compromise her health, or my wallet at the same time

finbarrk

Not a great start to keeping costs down by borrowing a horse and keeping her in livery in Dublin. I don't see how you can reduce costs as you are paying someone to keep her.

Ah_Yeah

finbarrk wrote: »

Not a great start to keeping costs down by borrowing a horse and keeping her in livery in Dublin. I don't see how you can reduce costs as you are paying someone to keep her.

Sorry I should have clarified - I'm not trying to keep livery costs down as I have a great deal on livery already (I don't have my own land so I have to keep her on livery). I have enough money to cover her livery every month no problem, I just meant the additional things that are needed like rugs boots etc.

marley123

OP,

Lots of second hand stuff on Adverts.ie & Donedeal.ie

The better care you take of your things the less you will have to replace.
Make sure you clean your tack regularly to avoid the leather cracking.

Tri Equestrian does their own brand of rugs & always have really good deals on, another favourity of mine is EquestrianClearance.com
Also keep an eye on Lidl & Aldi as both have had equestrian promotions on over the past few months
Transport to shows could be ok if you know someone heading to the same show, offer to cover petrol costs.

& above all have fun!! Wish you all the best with your Mare

FueledByAisling

Invest in essentials.

Buy summer rugs coming into winter and visa versa, find a brand that you like and keep an eye out for sales! Horseware have a warehouse up in NI that a lot of people go to.

TRI often have 20% off rugs, riding clothes and equiptment so keep an eye out on that!

Ebay and amazon (don't have to be 2nd hand items) you can find bargains on those aswell as donedeal, equestrianclearence and robinsons! (avoid Derbyhouse tbh, too many complaints on the H&H forum about them!)

If your horse has strong hoves and you don't do roadwork you could look into barefoot?

If you need tack boxes or buckets go into hardwares, tack shops will charge tripple! Forget about fancy shampoo's as fairy liquid does the trick! Also look in the pound shop for sponges and any other things you may need!

Invest in items you will use for years like takc,rugs (as long as you dont own a rug eating monster!) as you do get what you pay for really!.

Valentina

As said above, don't cut corners on essentials but be frugal where you can!

I'm on a tight budget with my horse too so I keep an eye out for sales. When I first got her I wanted everything to be coordinated but I soon realised I couldn't afford to pay extra for something because it was a certain colour! :P

Holmestead have a warehouse sale every so often where lots of things are discounted. I paid less than half price for both my rugs, supplements were all at least 20% off, various grooming kit bits were a couple of euro each, got some great heavy duty headcollars 3 for €12. Women's jodhs were all about €15 I think, unfortunately the day I went they only had the larger sizes.

There's a shop near IKEA called Bargain Base that sell off Lidl's special buys when they are over. I got my travelling boots there for a fiver (think they are now €15 though) and a few numnahs for a fiver each as well as a big tub of cooling gel for €1. The shop is only open Thurs-Sat I think.

I have repaired her stable rug myself, just some small tears and luckily it fits in my own washing machine. There are places that will take your rugs, wash and repair them and return them to you. See if anyone else in your yard needs this too as you might get a discount for a job lot. My yard has literally hundreds of rugs and they let people use them rather than buying their own, on the basis that they wash, repair and return them at the end of the season. See if your yard can do something like this as buying several types rugs is often unnecessary and expensive!

Also keep an eye on adverts.ie, donedeal.ie for bits and pieces. I have bought things from eBay too and have always been happy with them. Look for sellers that have an equestrian shop and have very high feedback, like 98% positive or more. Look up Parcel Motel too as if some products won't ship to Ireland or the charge to ship here is massive, you can use Parcel Motel to have the item sent here for only €3.50

If you're not too fussy on brands or colour coordination you can pick up stuff quite easily.

If you're going to shows see if someone has a room in their box for your horse or maybe your YO would loan you a box. My YO has one of those huge lorry things and will bring a few of us to a show for a small charge.

If I think of anything else I will post again!

Valentina

Oh - I use a tool box for my grooming kit. It cost less than €20 in B&Q and I have seen similar boxes in tack shops for double price. B&Q also have large sponges for washing cars, I think they were 3 for €1 or something. Great for washing, sponging down legs etc etc. They only thing is they are the same colour so I've written H on the one for head and B on the one for bum in permanent marker so they don't get mixed up! :pac:

Buckets - get Tub Trugs or shops own brand versions. I got one in Aldi the other day for a fiver. They are great because they are flexible so if your horse stands on them they don's shatter. Mine is already totally mishapen because she likes to thrown it around the stable when she's finished eating so it would be long smashed by now if it was a traditional feed bucket! They're also great for carrying water or skipping out. I also have a low one I use in the stable for picking out her feet.

fits

Only buy stuff when you really need it. And when you do invest, make sure its good quality. You actually don't need 20 rugs. Or ten saddlecloths. I ride at home in cheap tracksuit bottoms.

Also, only feed as you need to. So many people spend a lot of money on feed without really thinking about why.

FueledByAisling

actually here's the best advice I can give you:

Block every single tackshop or equestrian related website from your internet.

They're the devil!:( endless hours staring at pretty things we dont need!

Ah_Yeah

Thanks everyone, that's brilliant advice

I've been browsing equestrian sites all weekend, managed to get my list of necessities compiled from various sites, the yard I'm at has a shop too which is nice and cheap! Don't want to buy too much or spend a lot as I only have her on loan, so when/if she does go back to her owner, I'll have a lot of stuff and no horse to use it with