Money Saving Tips for a Happy Horsey Winter
With costs mounting up over the winter, you can hardly blame horse owners for turning their attention to how corners can be cut without impacting horse health. Here, we take a look at top money-saving tips for a happy horsey winter. If we’ve missed any, don’t forget to leave your advice below!
- Looking to organise the tack/feed room? Head down to your local bargain shop for hooks, plastic containers, stirring spoons and storage trays
- Order in the large round bales of hay/haylage as they last for longer and work out cheaper
- It may sound simple, but buy in bulk; not only may it attract a discount from your local store, but think of the fuel and time you’ll save having it all on hand. Also, discuss with yard mates and ask if they want to put it into the order too
- Use baby oil as a mud repellent, but don’t use it around the girth area!
- Consider going barefoot (the horse not you!) or having only shoes on the front if you don’t ride much over the winter
- A good duvet under your horse’s stable rug does well; try and use an additional elasticated surcingle to secure
- Share drives to the yard (as long as your mates live along the way)
- Stock up on cotton wool wrap, pads and plaster tape from your local supermarket
- Cut up old bath towels for drying down wet horse hair or use a straw wisp
- When hiring a venue, consider doing it with a friend, halving petrol, trailer and arena hire costs
- A semi-deep litter bed made up of a half/half is a great way to save money. Use a pellet as a base and shavings for the top. The wet will be fully absorbed by the pellets and will form a solid layer, leaving a lighter and cleaner top layer. Do a full muck out once every 7- 10 days and replace the bottom layer with more pellets. Great for a horse who grazes their hocks when lying down and getting up
- Arrange ‘turn-out’ and ‘bring-in’ between you all to help prevent unnecessary running to and from the yard, saving on fuel costs
- When throwing a rug away, before you do, take off the surcingles, buckles, tail guards and fillet strings/leg straps to keep for spares
- Stock up on coffee, tea and dried milk/coffee-mate from your local store, as this will inevitably save a stop at the coffee shop on your way to the yard
- Compare prices and use online shops like eBay and Amazon, which offer free/cheap and quick delivery
- Keep an eye out for Aldi’s equestrian range. They normally launch a new year/end-of-year variety of exceptionally cheap and good-quality items.
- When the vet comes out, see if anyone else needs the vet too! This normally saves on call-out
- Shop around for insurance quotes to see if you can save money
- Buy wormers in bulk. Not only does this keep you all on the same programme but online stores offer generous discounts
- Visit a local tack sale to either buy or sell unwanted items
- Sudocrem can work well on minor cuts; Vaseline will also act as a good barrier for the horse’s skin against the cold and is excellent to grease underneath the hoof to stop snowballs forming (if it snows, of course)
- Weigh your feed out and your nets too! Don’t feed more than recommended
- Use several thinner turnout rugs together so you can layer up rather than just spending huge amounts of money on one turnout; this also gives you plenty of choice, depending on the weather.
- When finished mucking out, grab your kitchen sink gloves and an old shopping baske to sieve through the bed to poo pick the last bits by hand, cutting down the unnecessary bedding waste
- Visit your local tyre store and ask if they have any going to the tip; these are great for holding water buckets and feed buckets still in and out of the stable
- Keep an eye out online for feed manufacturers announcing discounts – social media pages are often a good source for this type of information, or websites such as Everything Horse…
We hope our tips help you all enjoy another fabulous horsey winter!
