Horses are very expensive, there’s no doubt about that. To properly care for a horse, it takes a lot of time and money. However, there are ways you can care for a horse in the best way possible and save money. When I brought my horse, Glory home, my family was on a budget but also wanted to give Glory the best care. Are you wanting to bring a horse home but don’t know where to start? I hope I can help you with that! Let’s talk about some things you can do to create a safe environment and care for your horse on a budget.
Shelter
Let’s start from the beginning. The first step to bringing a horse home is having a place for it! When I brought Glory home, my family had the land but no setup. There was no barn and no fencing. Building a barn is costly for all the materials and labor. There are material options such as wood, metal, brick, and even cloth. My family and I went to look at many options until we found the right one. We needed a cost-effective barn that would work to provide shelter from the elements.
The choice we made was a metal building that typically would be used as a garage or storage area. With one big door on each end of the building, it would allow for maximum airflow in the hot summer months and allow Glory to come in for shelter when needed. Even though this metal building wasn’t huge, it had enough space for Glory to come in and space to store hay or barn essentials.
Now that I had a barn for Glory, we needed flooring that would be best for her. Concrete is expensive and can be hard on your horses’ hooves unless you have stall mats on top of it. My family and I decided crushed limestone would be best for our budget. Crushed limestone (also called barn lime) is very common in barns and provides a cushiony surface for your horse to stand on. The downside to crushed limestone is that it can make the area very dusty, so it probably wouldn’t be best if you have a horse with respiratory issues.
Pasture
If you are thinking of getting a horse that is an easy keeper, you will probably only need an acre or less of pasture. Trust me, after one spring season of my horse on a lush green pasture, I realized the amount of acreage she had was more than enough! However, the disadvantage to a small pasture is that it makes it difficult to re-seed and fertilize. If you split a pasture into 2 sections, the grass in one section will not have much time to regrow before the other section is overgrazed. In this case, it would be best to have another pasture to put your horse in, so it’ll allow the alternate side of the pasture to regrow.
Fencing
After deciding on how much acreage to make your pasture, you need to choose what type of fencing you may want. There are many fencing options out there such as wood, rope, wire, and tape. Wood fencing is more expensive and requires upkeep over time. You want to make sure to have an electric fence so your horse will not get out. You also want a fence that will be safe for your horse.
I do not recommend having a barbwire fence, as there have been many injuries to horses with this type of fencing. Some fencing options that are most similar are poly rope and poly tape. When deciding on a fence for my horses’ pasture, I was convinced to get poly rope. Poly rope is round, white, and looks like a rope-hence the name of it. Poly rope has metal strands intertwined in the rope, therefore making electrical energy available throughout the entire fence.
Another common type of fencing is poly tape. Poly tape is very similar to poly rope but is a different shape. Instead of being round like a rope, it is flat, thin, and wide. This is also a good option for a cost-effective fence, but if you live in an area where there is a lot of wind, I advise you not to get a poly tape fence. Poly tape fences tend to blow a lot in the wind and can get damaged more easily. In the end, a poly rope fence is my top choice. You need to choose if you want wood posts or t-posts too.
I decided to use t-posts as wood posts would eventually rot. To make t-posts safer for horses, you can use t-post caps to put on top to cover the sharp end. If you use t-posts, most people will probably tell you that you must use wooden posts for the corners of the pasture. This isn’t true, you can use t-posts in the corners of your pasture! For my pasture, I used t-post corner braces by Wedge-loc. They work great and are very easy to install.
Companion Animal/Other horses
Horses are herd animals, meaning that they live best with other horses or animals. They need a companion. Like I said before, horses are very expensive, so it’s okay if you can only afford to have one horse. Goats are a very common companion that you see with horses. People also have sheep, cows, or even llamas with their horses! However, on the more budget-friendly side, a goat is the best option. There are a few different breeds of goats such as the Pygmy, Nigerian Dwarf, and Boer goat.
Goats are a great option to have with horses because they eat weeds in the pasture that your horse wouldn’t normally eat. They also do not require as much time to care for as horses do. When I brought my horse home, my family and I decided to get a goat for Glory’s companion. We ended up getting a Pygmy/Nigerian Dwarf mix breed, and he is absolutely the perfect companion for Glory! They love each other and I never have to worry about Glory being lonely.
Supplies
Now that you have the barn, fencing, and companion for your horse, you will need some basic supplies to care for your horse. You need a manure scoop rake and wheelbarrow/Gorilla Cart to clean your horses’ stall or in my case, pasture! Not all horses have to have a stall. A basic run-in shelter like mine works just fine. Instead of cleaning up manure in a stall, my family cleans up manure from the pasture. Since the pasture my horse is in is small, cleaning up the manure regularly helps keep things clean and reduces the chance of parasites for your horse.
You also need essential supplies for your horse such as a halter, lead rope, feed and water buckets, and grooming supplies. Your horse will also need hay during the winter months when there is no pasture. These are the necessities that all horses need. It depends on how much you are going to do with your horse, if you are going to ride then you will need a saddle, bridle, and other supplies.
Equipment
When you look at horse farms, you see a lot of equipment around. Tractors, hay balers, hay rakes, and more. Equipment like these does make the job easier for us, but we are talking about having a horse on a budget! Equipment is very costly, so how can you care for your horse without it? There is always a way! If you are like me and have only one horse, it is not as time-consuming to do things properly, even without equipment.
Here on the hobby farm, horse manure gets scooped up daily and is put in a cart. By pulling the cart around and putting the manure in it, it’s about a 20-minute task that is done without any equipment. My favorite cart for this job is the Gorilla Cart! It is a great heavy-duty cart that also dumps so it makes it easy to get rid of the manure.
Another task with having a horse is re-seeding and fertilizing your pasture. This is where it would be nice to have a tractor, but it can be done without one. By using a small broadcast spreader, you can fertilize your pasture without any big equipment. This is a more time-consuming task, especially if you have a bigger pasture, but is doable if you have a smaller pasture. Re-seeding your pasture is a lot more difficult than fertilizing without equipment, but it’s not impossible. However, it is best if you can drill the seed in your pasture, so proper equipment is a must.
For example, by hooking a small drag harrow to a lawnmower, you can re-seed your pasture. The drag harrow will loosen up the dirt and roughen up the ground so the grass seed can get down in the ground properly. You then can use the broadcast spreader I mentioned earlier to put the seed down. This is a very time-consuming task but can be used if you have a small pasture. The downside to not using a tractor and a drill is that the seed will not get drilled down into the ground, which would boost the chances of grass growing. You can also look in your area for rental equipment to use for re-seeding and fertilizing your pasture.
Conclusion
I hope I was able to help you bring your horse home on a budget! Taking these simple steps can help you provide a good home for your horse while being on a budget. In the end, we all want our horses to get the care they deserve while not breaking the bank! Doing things cost-effectively in return will give you more money to use on horse essentials like fly spray and feed. I believe my horses’ health comes first, and I like to give her the best care possible.
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