Within the last decade I looked serious about getting a horse and even lived on a horse property. On average, a no thrills horse has a purchase price of $3000 and an estimated lifetime maintenance cost of $100,000. Obviously its all a matter of the circumstance as you can get a BLM wild mustang for not much or a race horse for thousands if not several million of dollars and maintenance can be cheap if you feed it on the open range and never take it to a vet to the opposite extreme of feeding the critter with the best hay and oats one can afford and provide the best veterinarian care.