# Hello! also - Canadians around? (got questions)



## Saigold (Mar 21, 2019)

Hi, we’re in Ontario Canada. Tons of horses around here and the other horse rich province is Alberta. Unless you’re into oil which is diminishing, then jobs can be more difficult to find in Alberta. That’s only from hearsay though, so if there’s any albertans here chip in. 

Cost of horse keeping is not cheap. If you’re boarding you’re looking at an average of $300-500/month, farms are expensive. Average where we are are around the 1-2 million range, if you’re looking for something nice. Some junky places you might find around 600k-700k. 

Horses range from free to unlimited. Jsut depends what you’re after. 3-5k you can find a good riding horse that same and trained. 

Farrier will cost you around $50/horse per trim. Shoes are more

Vet is where your big bills are. Mobile fees $60, shots can average $150/horse, teeth average 159-200/horse to float. 

Hay on average is $5-6/small square bale. 

Horses in the winter will all depend on your setup. Snow and cold makes everything harder. Water freezes, and horses sweat in their winter coat after a ride and need longer cookout periods. Some people clip their coats. We don’t. 

That’s all I got for you right now 🙂


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## bluejay (Jan 27, 2018)

Saigold said:


> Hi, we’re in Ontario Canada. Tons of horses around here and the other horse rich province is Alberta. Unless you’re into oil which is diminishing, then jobs can be more difficult to find in Alberta. That’s only from hearsay though, so if there’s any albertans here chip in. 🙂


Thank you for taking your time and answering! Highly appreciated <3
It seems like other than the vet bills the overall expenses are actually lower then here.
Do you know how common therapeutic riding is around Ontario? Or even Vancouver?


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## LoriF (Apr 3, 2015)

I don't live in Canada so I can't be of help there. Welcome to the forum and have fun in pursuing your dreams.


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## Acadianartist (Apr 21, 2015)

I'm in Eastern Canada - New Brunswick to be precise. The Maritimes have some advantages over other parts of the country - but also some disadvantages. The cost of buying land here is much lower. You can get a decent property for 2-3 horses at the 250K mark, but it won't be fancy. You can buy vacant land fairly cheaply and build, but that's a little more money. If you're looking to set up an entire facility, then of course you'll be paying more. But just the land is cheap. 

Vet bills are higher and it can be hard to find an equine vet. There is only one in my general area, and he is 2 hours away from me, but will travel to me. Farrier and trimming are about the same. 

You can get horses fairly cheaply, but if you're looking for highly bred horses, you often have to go to Ontario or Quebec. Off the track thoroughbreds coming from Ontario are popular with the hunter/jumper crowd. 

Hay here is cheaper too. I pay between 3 and 4$ per square bale (I feed half a square bale a day to each horse, but I have smaller horses with the tallest one being around 15hh). There are provincial equestrian associations and many disciplines from reining to dressage with lots of hunter/jumpers. But you have to travel to go to shows since the Maritimes are largely rural and shows tend to be a bit spread out. 

Taxes are high in Canada, and everything is taxed. On the other hand, this means your health care and education cost you nothing. Well, except post-secondary education - that is more expensive. 

There is a huge need for immigrants here since our population is declining. There are many small business owners who are putting in overtime because they can't find people to work for them, especially outside of the larger centers. So if you want to work, there is work. But if you're looking for a more lucrative career, you'll need degrees, and it can be difficult to have credentials recognized here. Universities love international students (I am a professor at a university), but they also pay higher tuition fees (doesn't seem fair, but it's not my decision). There's a shortage of nurses, teachers, and other professionals, so there are good career options out there. A lot of immigrants have started businesses that have been very successful too (look up Peace by Chocolate, for example). 

Having a career in the horse industry, however, is almost impossible. There just isn't enough of a market to make a decent living for most. Unless of course you become a vet. So most people have horses on the side, like myself. 

Winter - oh winter! We deal with it. In the east, we get a lot of snow. I mean a LOT. There is 4-5 feet of snow in my pasture all winter. We just learn to cope and the horses are fine with it. Of course there are things to work around, like making sure your water doesn't freeze (I have heated water buckets). No one heats their barn here because it would be much too expensive (my heating bill in the winter, just for the house is around 500$ a month), however some heat their tack room. I have found ways to make it work without that. I also ride in the snow all winter long. Sometimes the texture is very similar to sand and it's actually really fun to ride in. Much better than riding in mud or even hard, frozen ground. A layer of snow makes for perfect riding conditions! Ice is something else of course. 

Any other questions? I do hope you come to Canada! We have our issues, but we are generally pretty welcoming.


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## SummerBliss (Jan 7, 2017)

bluejay said:


> Hello everyone!
> What's it like there?
> How affordable is it to keep horses?
> Where would you say the equestrian communities flourish most?
> ...


What it's like around here depends where you want to live. If you live farther south, closer to the US boarder, then it's pretty warm and mild winters. But if you live farther North, then winter lasts longer and is much colder. 

Affordability again also depends on where you live. Prices vary greatly how far north or south you live, along with if you choose to live in a small town or a city. Small towns tend to be cheaper, but if you ever want to sell a horse, much harder to do so and getting a hold of tack is also much harder. Big cities are more expensive, but there's plenty of options for tack stores. 

Generally, small hay bales of 50 lbs are $4 to $12 per bale.
1,600 lbs bales are around $100 - $150

Board is $150 - $800

Farrier is $40 - $50 per horse
Shoeing costs more but I don't shoe so can't help you there.

Vet bills are cheaper if you can take your horse to them versus if they come to you. 
Example, treating a choke and them coming to you will cost $600 - $800
Having Teeth floated $150 - $300


As for winters, it depends where you live how bad they'll get. I live more in northern BC so that's all I can really touch on. 
A lot of horses are fine during the winter as long as they have some sort of shelter provided. If they're a bit more thin skinned, like a thoroughbred, then they might need to be blanketed during the night as summer transitions to winter since they don't always grow a winter coat fast enough. I have a TB and he would shiver pretty bad some days since he didn't have his winter coat yet and the weather likes to vary a lot. So I'd blanket him on the colder nights and now he has his natural winter coat fully grown in and won't need a winter blanket now. 
We do get -40 C here and when it gets to that and colder, depending on the horse, usually need blankets for that. 
And it does take a bit longer to cool them down after a ride since they'll get sick if you put them back sweaty after a ride. Also have to check that the water isn't frozen.


Hope this helps and that you have a smooth transition to living over here.


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## Chevaux (Jun 27, 2012)

Hi blue jay and welcome.

I live in Saskatchewan (southern part).

Weather — Good spring, summer (excluding the bugs) and fall weather for riding. Not so good in the winter as it gets extremely cold with everything frozen and snow but generally not as much snow as acadianartist mentioned. 

Property — Usually lots of acreages and farms available. The closer to a larger center the more expensive they become. Cost wise it can be anywhere from $300k for a decent low end developed acreage to close to a million if you want to go posh. There are some places that board horses with indoor facilities and they tend to be clustered around the cities; there are also places that will board horses with an outdoor ring only and, as expected, they are lower in cost. Cost wise, it’s like $250/month for a good outdoor facility and maybe twice that for a super good indoor facility.

Feed — If the weather cooperates you, hay is fairly easy to get at a decent price. This year we had more drought like conditions in my area and quantity was down (I make my own hay and I only got in about 75% of what I normally get) so that means prices were up. A small square that perhaps cost $5 last year was $8 this year.

Horses — There are a fair number of horses in the province given the human population (about a million). In order of volume it’s quarter horses by a majority with thoroughbreds, Arabians, paints having decent numbers but you can also find representatives of most breeds if you look hard enough.

Job/career vocation — First and foremost choose something that will you enjoy. Second, there are not many jobs in the horse industry here as such (excluding vet or vet tech positions) that will keep you financially ahead of the game although there are a few horse trainers/clinicians who manage to stay in business along with the occasional barn manager. Third, there is work to be had for any variety of skill sets if you want it with the trades and management levels being lucrative.


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## Kozmo (Dec 7, 2019)

Hey, I'm new here as well but..
I'm in Alberta. Personally I love it here despite the economy being a bit rough here. There's still jobs here you just have to be willing to work and not make 6 figures right away. Our economy will come back one day. But the views are amazing! I get to watch the sunset over the mountains every evening when I'm out riding.



Board runs from 250-900 a month depending on what all you want. If you want just the basics with an indoor arena (pretty much a must here if you ride every day like me). You'll range the 300-450 mark. The winds in parts of Alberta can be rough but it also brings warmer weather. We can get above freezing in the dead of winter since I'm near Calgary. Edmonton is doing better for jobs but it's colder there.



Farriers for bare feet are 40-60, I believe it's 160-200 for four feet shod.

vet is 150-300 for teeth but lots of barns here everyone gets together to get the vets out at least once a year and help split bills if you can't get out to them. If you use a vet use a close one but if you can get out to one try an outer town they are WAY cheaper.


Check for hay quality where ever you go. Most are pretty good but if your luck is like mine you'd find the one bad one.



I've seen a lot of live in help wanted around here lately if you're looking for horse industry work. There's plenty of cattle work here too. Our medical and tech industry is growing right now. Depends on what your MOS was sometimes you can apply some of that up here. Olds has a fantastic Ag university if you want to get into horse care and therapy. There is a lot of therapy programs up here. The board up there would be less because you're away from a big city.



Hope that helps! Let us know where you end up going.


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## cbar (Nov 27, 2015)

Welcome to the forum!! 

i live in Alberta as well. I keep my horses on my own property, so I'm not really privvy to what board is, but I believe out where I live it is around $300 a month with access to an indoor. Of course, the closer you get to the city center you are, the more expensive. 

Winters can be rough and there have been some winters that i hardly ride at all b/c of the snow, cold & ice. 

Horses are a big deal here and there are lots of facilities and tons of riding. The trail riding is super expansive with lots of places to camp and ride with your horse. 

The economy here is not good at the moment...not to mention the oil & gas industry which has been suffering big time, but professionals such as nurses and teachers are getting huge cuts as well. 

You did mention Vancouver - i am not super familiar with horses out that way, but i do know Vancouver can be super expensive to live, so I can imagine that keeping horses near Vancouver would be pricey as well.


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## Saigold (Mar 21, 2019)

We’re between the Great Lakes, and there’s several therapeutic riding places not far from us. But like others mentioned. Mostly horses are a hobby with main job doing something else. 

I would personally would love to move to Alberta in the foothills for the scenery and vast places to ride. But not very fond of snow possibility any time of the year and the chinooks that’s rio shingles of the roofs. Every place will have good and bad. 

You mentioned you had family that lives here. So you’ll prob want to be close by to them. Canada is big. If you’re planning to drive across, in a days drive you can cross several provinces, and then you get to Ontario where you an drive for 3 days. Not to mentioned the Hwy 401 haha. There you’ll be stuck for ever and a day.


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## Acadianartist (Apr 21, 2015)

Saigold said:


> You mentioned you had family that lives here. So you’ll prob want to be close by to them. Canada is big. If you’re planning to drive across, in a days drive you can cross several provinces,


That might be a little misleading to the OP. Actually driving across Canada, say from BC to PEI, would take weeks, not days (if you add in Newfoundland, even longer of course, but the 14-16 hr ferry ride contributes significantly). Driving through the big cities (like the 401 or Montreal) is a pain and can slow you down, but you also have to consider that some provinces don't have very efficient highway systems (I'm in the Maritimes, lol) and you end up driving on secondary roads a fair bit. 

But yeah, Ontario and Quebec are fairly big provinces to drive across. And I agree that the OP probably already has a specific idea of where he wants to live.


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## Saigold (Mar 21, 2019)

@Acadianartist totally agree. I was just using it as an example, that there’s provinces that you can be stuck in for days and some that you can cross in hours. But by no means is that coast to coast.


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## Acadianartist (Apr 21, 2015)

Saigold said:


> @Acadianartist totally agree. I was just using it as an example, that there’s provinces that you can be stuck in for days and some that you can cross in hours. But by no means is that coast to coast.


I never actually have... but know a couple of people who did. Not something I'd want to do. Even driving from Toronto to Fredericton is a nightmare, especially in the winter when you are guaranteed to hit bad weather somewhere! 

I have flown to Alberta, BC and of course, have been to Ontario and Québec lots of times, but there is so much of Canada, I will probably never see all of it. So many types of climates (though not like the US) and so many big expanses to cross. Even here in the Maritimes, driving say, to Cape Breton or to the Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia from central NB takes a solid 7 hours on not-so-great roads. And of course, there is little in the way of accessible public transportation since they ripped out most of the railways. I once took the train from Fredericton to Sherbrooke, Québec, and it took 22 hours! We had to stop every 15-30 minutes. Very inefficient. I wish we had TGVs like in France! How awesome would that be.


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## bluejay (Jan 27, 2018)

Thank you all for your kind and informative answers!
Actually quite overwhelmed by it, highly appreciated.

I have some family in Vancouver but not quite sure I could really set there.
Alberta sounds like it might fit me most, but not sure about my family.
Those aside I think I might end up with searching for a ranch I could work at and see what I can make from there.

How does the winter affect your non-horse related daily life?


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## Chevaux (Jun 27, 2012)

I have only known cold, snowy winters in my life so they are quite normal to me. 

There are certain things that won’t be done in the winter (gardening for example) but otherwise I’m outside every day as chores at the least need to be handled. If a day is milder, I could do things like take a walk, trim tree branches or maybe even take a short ride. If a day is icky, it is minimal outside time but I’ll have inside projects to work on that I defer specifically for inside days (sewing something for example). We do tend to plan casual trips to town or the city around the weather preferring good visibility and driving conditions (we are both retired now so do not have to do the daily commute to work any more).

One thing about winter, though, is the need to be ready for it. We put the snow thrower on the tractor in late fall after haying is done; the push blade gets put on the quad; extension cords are located for plugging in block heaters in the vehicles if needed; the little emergency stack of hay so you don’t have to go over to the stack in a blizzard is put in the barn as well as the emergency pail of chicken feed is put in the coop for the same reason. The other thing about winter is to have the right vehicle — if you live in an urban area a car will do but if you’re rural (and a commuter) you pretty much need a four wheel drive.


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## cbar (Nov 27, 2015)

Like @Chevaux, I have only ever known cold, snowy winters. I was born in Saskatchewan and have pretty much lived my entire life in Alberta. I am outside multiple times a day no matter how cold it is as chores need to be done regardless. I find that as long as I dress for the weather it isn't so bad. With that said, I hardly do any riding in the winter as my hands/toes just freeze up too quickly.

Road conditions can get pretty sketchy. Our chinooks are both a god send and a curse. It is nice to have a reprieve from the cold, but if you get a couple warm days, the ice can get pretty bad. Not to mention, due to pressure changes, Chinooks can wreak havoc on some people and cause massive headaches and body aches. 

We are also known for our hail storms here in Alberta. Not a year goes by that there isn't one large hail storm in our area. THIS is something I could live without. I don't know how many times vehicles have been in for hail damage repairs - and how disappointing it is when the garden is just shredded from a hail storm. (Not to mention crops).

With that said, I do love it here. We live in the foothills and I love being less than an hour from the mountains and 20 minutes from unlimited crown land riding. This helps make up for our short falls with regards to the weather.


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## ACinATX (Sep 12, 2018)

I am from Texas, and I would imagine our weather is pretty similar. People from Canada are going to laugh at me, but we went to Quebec a few years ago over spring break. I really wanted to see snow! I was checking the weather obsessively and started getting worried because it hadn't snowed in at least a week prior to our departure, and some daytime temps were above freezing.

See, everywhere I've ever lived (not just in Texas) it would snow for a few days, and the snow would stick, and then a few days or a week later it would be gone. Little did I know that in Canada, it starts snowing in the fall, and by some time (late fall?) it just starts accumulating. Every time it snows, it just adds to the total, and it doesn't melt. So there was like four solid feet of snow when we got there. I don't know when it finally all melts. June?

If I were you, I'd try Vancouver if you can afford it, because it's beautiful over there. Or Vancouver Island (which is not the same at all as Vancouver). Victoria is in the rain / snow shadow so it should be pretty mild there. Wherever you go, don't plan on making anything permanent until you've been through at least one full winter there. 

One other thing -- I also see that no one here has mentioned SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder). I'd look that up and be ready for it. Some people get, some don't. I lived in Scotland for a year and Seattle for almost two years (coming from Texas) and had no problems, but you could be different. You won't know until you spend a winter there.


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## Acadianartist (Apr 21, 2015)

Yes, like everyone else has said, our winters cannot be understood until you've lived through one. Time after time, I see people arrive from warm climates (the latest was a student from India), and no matter how much I tell them what they will need to wear to protect themselves from the cold, it doesn't click for them until they get here. Jeans and a hoodie just won't do when it's -40C with the wind. If you do end up in Alberta, you'll need some real winter clothing when it hits. I mean really good boots, layers of clothing, thick coat, good gloves or mittens, hats, etc. 

If you end up in Vancouver it won't be nearly so bad. 

Winter means you have to plan and organize around the weather. I wanted to ride, but my paddock is frozen solid (we got snow, then rain, then very cold weather so it is thick ice). I'll wait until it snows again because it's December, so as ACinATX points out, the snow and ice don't melt in the winter, it just keeps accumulating. Once we get a decent snowfall, I'll run my pasture drag on it to pack it down a bit and we can ride again. I actually have my husband clear the paddock so we can ride in there all winter. A lot of people just board where there's an indoor for this reason, but I like having my horses in my own yard. And riding on fresh snow is really quite lovely! 

The winter can be long, but we compensate by being very sociable. Or if you're not into that, it's a great time to sit by the fire and read a book. If I can't ride my horses, I often do ground work, liberty work, or if that's not even possible, I do trick training and clicker training. 

There are lots of winter sports too! We ski (downhill and cross-country), snowshoe, skate, etc. Most areas tend to have winter festivals to get people out and break the monotony.


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## JoBlueQuarter (Jan 20, 2017)

I do think it's important to note that while our winters are harsh and you'll need many layers and all that to survive it, our winters are also... glorious. Beautiful.. Maybe it's just me but I have such a love for our beautiful cold months. 


Welcome to the forum and, hopefully in time, to Canada!


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