It still boggles my mind that money is such a taboo subject in our society, especially when it is integral to our survival, welfare and enjoyment. It’s not everything, and £100 doesn’t make you happier than £10 but we need to meet our basic needs and if possible have enough left over for fun.
I am naturally a stressy person and I struggle with mental health. In all aspects of life I can counteract this with good preparation and solid systems in place to help me out. My finances play a huge role in how secure and stable I feel so I have a system to make sure that all the horse ‘needs’ are met with minimal day to day brain power from me.
I break this down into fixed monthly bills, which is the easy part, so Livery costs and insurances for horses, trailer and tow vehicle are my only ‘fixed bills’. Then I have fluctuating needs. These are feed, forage, farrier, professionals and fuel. Followed by adventure money, entry fees, lessons and clinics.
I have kept detailed accounts of what I spend in what area for the last 5 years so I have a good idea on what I spend in each category. So at the start of the year I work out how many farrier visits I’ll need, how much feed and haylage, how many rides I plan to enter etc. for the whole year and then divide it by 12 to give me the amount I need to put into my ‘pony fund’ account each month to cover the costs.
I have a little review each month and every quarter to make sure what I’ve set aside is adequate. It just helps me know that what I have in that account is for the horses and what I have in my ‘spend’ account is free to be allocated rather than I need to keep it for a set of shoes or a trip to the feed store.
Beth Endurance 