I just got the BARE MINIMUM number. This is the annual cost of board (hay, water, stall cleaning included), feet trimmed (no shoes) every 6-8 weeks, and annual shots/coggins.
No tack, grooming stuff, riding gear, lessons, supplements, medications, fly prevention, blanketing, other vet visits, or anything else is
included. I did not include showing costs or any estimate of how much it costs in gas going to and from the barn 4-5 times a week.
For my two, at a fairly rough and ready place (it does have an indoor and the turnout is good, but the barn is old and so are the stalls, and the horses live side-by-side with cow pastures), the annual minimum cost is $7,230.
And I'm lucky to have it.
It's definitely a number I'm going to keep around, just to use as a reality check for head-in-the-clouds non-horsepeople.
How much does it cost YOU a year?
