Accepting being priced out of the hobby

[IPEsq]

$70 for a trim for one horse maybe where I am. $250 and up for shoes.

Last time I did seasonal self care, it was in a place with expensive hay but mine didn’t eat much except for in the stall overnight plus a flake of alfalfa for lunch (out on pasture for 12+ hours) and with hay, feed, farrier, and shavings, I was definitely over $600/mo per horse, and that is without any vet care, bodywork, supplements, paying for the dry stall (which was to help BO with utilities, insurance and the maintenance stuff they handled) or accounting for any value of my labor.

And that was before the costs of some things skyrocketed. I wish I could pay only $33 for my horse’s RB! It was $35 back when it was “cheap”!

[Texarkana]

Riddle me this: why do brands of feed that are available nationwide cost wildly different prices depending on location?

Once upon a time it was due to things like using local mills, local ingredients, and paying the shipping costs.

But anymore it seems completely arbitrary. A lot of these brands have shifted to one or a small number of equine-specific mills. I would think cost of shipping would then set the price, but no. You can be nearby the mill in a high COL area and pay more than someone clear across the country. It’s frustrating.

[Impractical_Horsewoman]

This sounds so similar to my area (well, maybe my area is a little bit cheaper, but I haven’t priced board in some time).

Pricing boarding (or horse expenses) in general isn’t like saying, “well, I like this yoga studio’s membership at $140 a month, but I’ll compromise and go to the less fancy one with the slightly less-good instructors for $70.” There’s only so much you can compromise on care. Super-cheap places are often that way for a reason.

I will say that although my area is no longer zoned for horses, there are a few places that I assume were grandfathered in, who keep horses in their backyards. But I don’t think these horses are ridden, and just seem to get hay and stand unshod in fields. So I assume this is a “cheap” situation, but obviously these people have access to situations most horse owners don’t, and don’t seem to ride (which most/many owners want to do, at least sometimes).

[lenapesadie]

I imagine that’s related to the higher overhead of the retailers in HCOL areas. Presumably their costs for labor and the retail space is higher.

[lenapesadie]

@lenapesadie

In the past 3 days I’ve spent a thousand dollars on my retiree horse. I need a side gig.

I spent another $300 on said retiree this week in PPID meds and scratches treatment potions. Fortunately the PPID meds should last 3 months. The scratches treatment potions are running about $75 every 10-14 days. Fun times.

[Minxitbabe]

Wow! I was able to read the first few replies but then life got in the way and I wasn’t actively able to do much besides my daily routine. First I want to say how dang sad it makes me that there are so many feeling the same way. I have decided on a change in living situation for my horses and it is going to be quite a bit more expensive but I’m hoping better for them. It will be more convenient for me in most ways so that is a plus. Reading everything and seeing how much info some of the older horse people are able to provide about how weirdly out of wack prices are now compared to years past is interesting. The idea that families that weren’t loaded could afford to have horses (plural!!) at acceptable barns is wild. I don’t begrudge anyone a decent wage for animi care but it really is just getting hard to afford the large increases when I am locally not seeing much price increase in taxes, hay, feed, and bedding. Wood prices were ugly for a bit for fencing replacement but has settled back down to a smidge above what it was before. Which if those items aren’t going up the only thing driving the increase is wanting more pay for their time. I have been at barns where the farm is a bonus income to offset having land and their own horses ran by stay at home moms, retirees, and working people that made the extra work part of their hobby. Not sure if people are just throwing crazy numbers out there now for board because they are getting it just like the huge change in horse purchase prices or what. My farrier pricing has gone up again in addition to the increase in my impending move so the pinching is coming in from all sides. It’s a terrible feeling to have so many people to commiserate with but at least I am not alone is feeling like my head is spinning with these changes.

[SBrentnall]

It probable depends on where you are. Here’s what I pay in Los Angeles for my retiree:

• $610 pasture board
• $50 extra hay
• $175 pasture care (weekly grooming, feeding of supplements, fly masks, blanketing as needed, etc
• $50 supplements (to get ColiCare insurance)

So $885 monthly, plus $75 for trims every 8 weeks, and routine vet care.

[beowulf]

What a difference a region makes! You can’t even get one trim here for less than $75 from a GOOD farrier. I’m lucky my farrier doesn’t charge me what he should.

$600 covers just the one. It’s about ~$300/mo in hay/RB/alfalfa pellets for each horse. Barefoot horses are $75 a trim every 5 weeks, shod horse is $140-200 depending on season (snow pads are extra). It’s $120 for each dental, includes farm call and sedation. Inoculations are ~$300 for each horse, that includes core vaccines, Lyme titer, and coggins.

My horses also have access to grass in the summer, so they’re not entirely subsisting off of hay alone, but again hay and forage costs are through the roof in my area.

[Obsidian_Fire]

$300/mo just for feed for ONE horse??? Wow, that’s crazy. Even when I was feeding the old guy primarily mash my feed cost for him was around 200. My current mare, even tho she’s OTTB, runs me roughly $120/mo. That’s bad enough!

[Larksmom]

I had to go out south today on an errand and I was close to my old boarding barn, so I decided I must drive up and see if it still existed. I hadn’t been there in at least twenty five years, so I didn’t know what to expect. To my surprise and delight, it was not only open, but it looks like they may be thriving. They added several stalls, and now have a real place for shavings instead a big pile in the arena, They had paved the alleyway, and the wash rack was filled with various junk. But the overall look was nice. I talked to the teen agers who were cleaning stalls, and asked what the board was. It is $650 but may be going up. They have a small indoor arena, and a lot of turnout paddocks. I imagine they still have an outside ring, but I didn’t walk over there to look. Buildings going up close by.

[quietann]

How does the $300/month break down, hay vs hard feed?

We are in the same area. For 2 string (roughly 45-50 pound) first cut grass hay, I’ve seen anywhere from $9 to $14… with a bit of “you get what you pay for.” My BO bought some beautiful second cut grass for a horse that can’t eat the first cut, for $18/bale. (And it turns out the horse can’t eat that, either; it’s on a mix of complete feed and soaked cubes and balancer now.) I have no idea what alfalfa costs.

I’ve been buying my mare’s Outlast since last July, and the cost has gone up about 20%.

[lenapesadie]

$300 per month in hay and bucket feed per horse is reasonable for my area. Exceptions would be horses that only get pasture grass, horses not getting any kind of bucket feed, horses fed “bargain brand” feeds and/or horses fed locally produced hay. My personal costs vary by season, with spring and fall being the most expensive, as I have the most grazing in winter and summer.

My old TB eats $175 worth of grain every month. He point blank can’t eat enough volume of hay to meet his caloric needs.

[Texarkana]

@lenapesadie

I imagine that’s related to the higher overhead of the retailers in HCOL areas. Presumably their costs for labor and the retail space is higher.

Well that makes sense.

[ProfAmEq]

When I was at a co-op I paid about 100 per month for senior feed and mineral balancer, plus 200 a month for hay. Hay prices are very high here—15 a bale for Timothy, 25 for orchard alfalfa mix (50 lb bales). Then 150 for front shoes every four weeks. Dry stall with shavings was 600 per month—round bales provided in fields as needed. Facility had a small indoor and big outdoor arena with crappy footing. Paid a small fortune to keep my horse there before moving horse further away to a full care set up for lower cost and better amenities. Full care board is about 800 in my area. On the low end.

[fivestrideline]

@Minxitbabe

Not sure if people are just throwing crazy numbers out there now for board because they are getting it just like the huge change in horse purchase prices or what. My farrier pricing has gone up again

More like both of these types of professionals have mostly been vastly undercharging for years, and recent price hikes of supplies/fuel + loss of business = prices had to go up or the business had to close. People’s time is worth something, and I think a lot of them had been breaking even, making money in lessons/big farm accounts/showing, until they suddenly weren’t.

A lot of businesses (not associated with horses) are just NOW seeing the impact of COVID shutdown/supply chain issues - if they survived the pandemic in the first place. They’re feeling the pinch, and having to make tough calls. Everything is so up in the air now, with nothing to compare to, that anyone running a business is crunching numbers and looking at what makes it “worth it”.

Fuel alone can account for the farrier. Diesel has been volatile in price fluctuations, and gas is the most expensive it’s been in a decade here ($4/gal for regular).

All this just to say that there’s a lot more than just hay/feed/shavings costs. Which I’m sure everyone knows. Being a middle range boarding barn right now is almost completely impossible.

[lenapesadie]

Maybe not the farrier, but most other horsie professionals have to pay staff. The stall muckers, the office staff at the vet, the folks working the hay fields, etc. Labor is hard to find and costly these days. Prices of goods and services have to increase to cover the increased cost of labor. Heaven forbid the barn manager, vet, hay farmer need to make a little more money every year.

[awaywego]

The going rate for barn help in my area is around $20/hour - if not more if you want to be competitive and keep them around. I’m spending $400/month in barn help just a few days a week while I haven’t had a raise in 2 years myself. It definitely has made a big dent in my budget.

[ProfAmEq]

You haven’t raised board in years? You should. I don’t understand why people don’t think board needs to go up, just like rent. Overhead costs like real estate taxes, labor, utilities, all increase every year. You gotta eat. Sometimes I think a standard increase should be part of every boarding contract—tie it to CPI and cap it at a certain percentage a year, to build in some cushion. That’s what my property leases say. When inflation was low and property value was flat, I didn’t raise the rent if I was happy with how things were, but I do exercise that clause more now.

[ProfAmEq]

@fivestrideline

Fuel alone can account for the farrier. Diesel has been volatile in price fluctuations, and gas is the most expensive it’s been in a decade here ($4/gal for regular).

This. And my farrier drives an hour round trip once a month just for me. That’s expensive in terms of ROI. He’s a young guy too so I feel really bad for him because he’s trying to drive around to so many places to pick up clients. He’s probably going to quit.

[fivestrideline]

There’s such a lack of good farriers I hope he can pick up clients and do a good job. We need GOOD farriers.