How soon would you start charging additional board when someone breeds their mare? Would you charge double as soon as the foal is born or a percentage until the foal is weaned? What is the norm?
Usually just enough extra to cover increased feed costs until foal is born, percentage until weaned and after weaning the weanling is full board. Imhe
Regular board fee until the foal is born. Some facilities charge a “foaling fee” for monitoring, straw, etc. if they are providing any of that. Board plus a fee, or 1.5x board, until weaning. There is some variation between facilities, of course, so this is the sort of thing you should spell out on your rate sheet.
I have a boarder who bred her mare without asking me. So far I have just made her buy the extra grain her horse has needed even though she’s eating a lot more hay then before as well. I’m not really happy about the whole thing, I would ask her to leave, but I sold her the mare about 10 years ago and had raised her since birth so I’m a bit attached to her horse.
When is the mare due? How long has the owner been buying the extra grain? I guess I just am wondering if your objection is that she did not inform you the mare was being bred or the extra grain, etc
We usually never charged additional board while the mare was pregnant other than additional feed/straw. Once the foal was born, we charged 1.5 board, starting the month after the foal was born.
The baby is due in the next month or so. I’m not really set up to board a foal. I’ll breed my own, but only when I have a free paddock. As it is I’m going to have to figure out where I’m going to put my “fat ponies” so the mare and foal can have their own paddock.
I would have never agreed to having her breed her mare that’s why she did it behind my back.
I mention to her recently that once the baby was born, board would have to go up and she act like that surprised her. I’m not sure why she thinks two horses would cost the same as 1, so I’m just trying to figure out what the norm is for a Mom and baby.
Well, as I said we charged one and a half times board for a mare and foal. Lots of people charge 2 times the board.
Good luck, I hope it works out.
Technically speaking, she already has two horses there - but one is inside of the other.
I’ve always boarded all my horses. That price was based on the stall space, not how much the horse ate. When my girl was born, I was boarding with a breeder who has paddocks, but no pastures. I was not charged any additional board until the foal was weaned, at which time, I paid full board on each - even though the foal ate a mere fraction of what a full grown warmblood does.
Has this person been a good boarder to date and would you like to keep her as a boarder going forward? If so, why not have a conversation with her and give her a choice of either paying extra for the additional hay and grain or providing her own.
Ehh, the human I could do without, but like I said I would like to keep the mare around. I only feed grain with 11% protein which is why she buys her own grain.
The place I board at does not charge for a foal until it is weaned after which they charge a reduced rate until it is two years old.
you really should be recovering the extra $ for the hay you are feeding as well. I’ve foaled out a couple of mares for friends, I charged them the extra costs involved before the foal was born, (hay, grain, straw) then 1 1/2 times normal rate after foaling, as it is extra time/work involved handling the foal… leading in and out, for the first few weeks required me to get help from someone else, extra mucking, etc.
I charge a flat fee for board (and I only board broodmares) which includes hay. All other expenses are charged at cost because each mare eats differently and is supplemented differently as time goes by. (I use FeedXL and send the owner a copy of the mare’s diet every month). I charge a one off increased board fee for the month of foaling. I do not charge extra board until the foal is weaned when they go on a reduced rate.
Board includes all handling of the mare and foal including vet and farrier and teaching the foal to be a responsible citizen. My boarders are out of state, so although my board is above average for my area, it isn’t compared to where the owners live and it is absolutely full care.
Interested to know why weanlings are charged less than full grown horses. My adult horses eat next to nothing and live out on 10 acre fields. When I have babies they are fed 2x a day and have to have hay year round because I keep them in a smaller “baby safe” paddock. Around here a baby cost A LOT more to keep then an adult horse.
I breed my own and board/care for others. I charge only extra cost of supplements and grain/rice bran. Until weaning I charge 150 extra (I live in Ca where board tends to be higher than other areas) and this includes handling. From weaning until two I charge reduced rate and then full board at 3.
[QUOTE=Snowfox;6903490]
Interested to know why weanlings are charged less than full grown horses. My adult horses eat next to nothing and live out on 10 acre fields. When I have babies they are fed 2x a day and have to have hay year round because I keep them in a smaller “baby safe” paddock. Around here a baby cost A LOT more to keep then an adult horse.[/QUOTE]
I am totally not in this situation but I was wondering this too. Why do places charge less to board a baby?
Because it seems “right” to do so. They do take up less space (you can put two in a stall for example) and they produce less poop and they do eat less and theoretically, have less impact on facilities, lb for lb. Are they less work? No less than broodmares, assuming you have taught them properly as foals.
You all are very reasonable! :eek:
I paid $26 a day for mare and foal until weaning, am now paying $500/month board for the weanling, she is in at night (or during inclement weather, there is no shelter in the pasture), and doesn’t get handled other than to be led (by the halter, no leadrope) from the field to the stall and back again. BM or helper does hold for the farrier, and she is dewormed (no extra charge), but there is NO “working with the foal” (BM doesn’t have any time to do this), so I handle her as much as I can when I’m out there 2,3 times a week.
I WISH the board included some additional handling, but this is the way she does things! (Good mare and foal board is hard to come by in my area, facilities that offer this are few and far between–and generally very far from me!)
Owners let you put two in a stall? Wow. I am surprised.
I picked up my mare when she was a yearling. She ate substantially more then than she does now.
I do totally get the thought that it seems like the right thing to do.
I would never put two horses in one stall after weaning. And my babies eat in one day what my adult horses eat in 2 weeks. I have really good grass and easy keepers.
I have never been anywhere that has a sliding scale of charges for youngstock. I would expect to pay full price from weaning, as if my horse is taking up a space the BO could be getting full price for I wouldn’t see why I should get it for 50-75% of that cost. Its nice to see people do this though.
I wouldn’t go for the 2 in a box either, I have one filly here who is rising 2 and she must be cracking on to the 16H mark now, and she’s definitely costing more to keep than my equivalent sized adult horse.
To the OP, I think your boarder has been quite sneaky, knowing you aren;t set up for your boarders to be breeding their animals, and I know I wouldn’t be happy with her either. I wouldn’t be doing her any favours on price I’m afraid, or subsidising her hay.
