Yesterday there was a FB post in one of my boarding groups: what’s your preference, self or part care, what amenities matter to you, and how much should this cost. ONE person (besides myself) responded in a thoughtful manner. Later, the OP responded back to me asking what this should cost. I replied, “that’s a question for your accountant, not me!”.
Good grief. Given how hard it is to find boarding, I’m not going to enable a BO going broke trying to subsidize everyone else’s hobby.
I guess that’s one of my deal breakers these days.
3 Likes
I’m having a time trying to find a good fit for my ulcer prone, hay vacuum (she eats way too fast), recently rehabbed mare and me. We were at an older show barn that was starting to show its age and left due to board and training increases. This facility fed 3x per day as much as we wanted, but the staff refused to use hay nets or slow feeders unless you paid them an extra fee. The last feed of the day was at 3:30. Everything at this barn was “for an extra fee” and like I mentioned, it wasn’t particularly cheap (rates increasing to over $1000 for a box stall without turnout, blanketing, graining, etc.). I moved my mare to a low-key, lower cost facility this month enticed by a private 1/4 ac. paddock. She loves the space and is happier than she ever was at the show barn, but the feeding routine is bare minimum and the footing in the arena is substandard. I feel like goldie locks and at this point, I’m hoping to win the lottery to make my horse care/training dreams come true :sigh:
7 Likes
No bathroom in the barn is a big one for me. Another would be lack of flexibility on how I want her turned out, or general rudeness. One of the barns I was looking at just had a really bad vibe… ironically it was a therapeutic riding place so I thought it would be more organic and friendly but the owner was one of those horse people who are just really cold, and didn’t even stand up to greet me or shake my hand for the first two minutes we were talking. At smaller facilities I also don’t like to see situations where the owner isn’t ever physically helping out, even if there are stable hands available. Just makes me wary.
2 Likes
There was a comment above about how there would be no barns as options if they held to all of their deal breakers. I couldn’t agree more. I have yet to find a barn that doesn’t have at least one of the things that in a perfect world would be a dealbreaker.
The things I’ve fought my hardest not to cave on are just the basics: clean water, safe fencing, high quality hay fed at 2% body weight in a slow feeder or multiple feedings, well maintained footing that does not require a week to dry, blanket changes twice a day, feeding owner provided supplements, quality grain.
Ironically right now I’m split between two barns and neither check all boxes. There is a $400 cost difference between the two. It’s really fatiguing and I don’t like leaving town for more than a day or two as with both barns there have been missed injuries.
Ultimately, need outstrips options in my area so I hold firm on water and fencing and figure out how much I can give elsewhere through adding my labor, sacrificing riding frequency, or providing supplemental hay/grain.
7 Likes
What I find interesting about this thread is we do provide most of the things that count as deal breakers, and yet, people will still always find something to complain about. We will do almost anything if we think there is a reason, i.e your vet says it needs to be done or you make a good point. But it’s never enough.
When I moved for school, I was looking for barns for my gelding. My criteria, for pasture board, was indoor arena, free choice hay, safe fencing, call me if he’s bleeding. I have low expectations. Safe fencing could have easily been wire that did not separate horses. And yet I really struggled to find a place. I ended up driving an hour to go to one in an area where there were multiple barns that offered this. So even within the same area, it seems very regionally specific. One of my reasons for not wanting to move for work is the lack of pasture in most of the places where I see job postings.
6 Likes
We are fortunate to have several good boarding options in this area – but they are always full and don’t advertise!
There are also several in the area that … well, if those were the only option, I wouldn’t keep a horse.
Decades ago in this area there were many, many more options with families living on land who would board 2-4 horses along with keeping their own. Mostly pasture with a barn and perhaps a fenced dirt area for an arena. This has almost disappeared from the scene. I suspect that either fewer horse owners keep horses just for casual and trail riding, with very few needs for facilities that these informal arrangements don’t provide, or else the land owners feel that it has just become too complicated to manage and keep boarders and not enough financial return to be worth the trouble.
2 Likes
Both of these are very true. I’ve been in barns with BO’s who were AMAZING people. They would bend over backwards and do anything for you/your horse. Yet somebody would always be complaining or downright pooping on them.
My last boarding barn sold, the husband just did not want to deal with the maintenance anymore and the wife couldn’t do it on her own. The people who bought it are horse people who had previously owned a boarding facility. I met them before I left and the wife was quite adamant that boarders were nothing but sh!tty freeloaders. Especially the “self care crowd”.
Another barn I was at 25+ years ago ended up kicking all the boarders out because the crowd that moved in was…umm…yeah. Don’t think I need to explain it to COTH. The owners were really nice people, the wife was an amazing human, and they ran all over her.
It’s a 2-way street. Boarders need to realize they are a GUEST on someone else’s property. Be respectful. BO’s need to realize that the service they are providing needs to be taken seriously. People come to your barn (usually) for the amenities you provide. So provide them in a usable manner. (subject to interpretation I know but not going down that rabbit hole).
1 Like
What I have found is that many people try to troubleshoot training issues with care changes. Rather than acknowledging that their training is subpar, they choose to pick on care. Not the right supplement. Not the right paddock. Not the right pasture mates. Not the right…you name it and they’ll complain about it.
Never mind that the rider comes out once a week and works the horse for 20 minutes…and that MIGHT be the reason for all of it.
I don’t think we’re going to offer straight boarding anymore. You’re going to have to be in a lesson program to be here. People may not like that, but it’s the only way I can assure the safety of myself and my staff, as well as not lose my shirt subsidizing the care.
12 Likes
My current barn/trainer does this. The way she did it was to build the cost of a weekly lesson into her board price. She explained it to me as wanting boarders to have an all-in, consistent monthly number so they could budget and plan without surprises. She secures that lesson income whether you take them or not, but she’s also willing to flex that toward training rides, layup care, etc.
It might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I personally like it and she’s built a thriving business on this model.
6 Likes
I’m fortunate to live in an area where there are dozens, maybe hundreds of excellent options within a one hour drive. And even then, compromises have to be made. There is no such thing as perfect.
The care at my current barn is superb, and the staff are mature, reliable, very experienced and very knowledgable. That’s my #1 priority. To get that in a facility that also had access to a great coach / trainer I had to compromise on driving distance (farther than I would like), trainer / lesson hours (weekdays 9-3), and barn hours (closed to boarders on weekend mornings, which is one of my preferred times).
Those are minor inconveniences and very easy compromises to make in order to get quality care, unlimited hay, and super turnout. I really feel for those of you in areas where such things are a luxury, not a given. So much is based on geography. I’ve lived in the past in places with no access to equine vets and skilled farriers, and care choices that ranged from bad to awful. It stinks.
This is standard in so many places now. If it doesn’t suit some boarders and they leave, my guess is that there will be others ready to take their place. Fingers crossed it works that way for you.
That’s ideal, IMO as a boarder in a lesson program. If I can’t get out or am traveling that week, Pookie can get a training ride. If something is wrong and he can’t work, the barn can be helping him heal. Covers all the bases without constant re-scheduling of lessons (if a program even offers that).
2 Likes
It was my saving grace early on. The week I moved him to my trainer’s barn, he was acting a fool in turnout and stepped on himself. He ended up with a lovely 3” gash across the back of his pastern. Stall rest, hand walking, daily bandage changes, antibiotics, the works.
Of course, this was the same week that I started a new job. Home to the barn is 45 minutes. From work, more like an hour. Trying to figure out how to handle a new job, new barn, and then an injured young horse all in the same week? I was beyond overwhelmed. To have trainer immediately step in and say “He’s not sound so you won’t be lessoning anyway, we’ll put that portion of your board toward the additional care he needs right now.” was such an incredible weight lifted off my shoulders.
I completely tapped out of the barn that week to focus on work. Resident gray menace to society was impeccably taken care of, and I was totally sold on trainer’s business model.
10 Likes
This was the option where I boarded that lessons were required.
Alas, I found out that the training ride my horse was getting when I was out due to complicated pregnancy was not under either trainer, but the daughter of one of them who was too heavy with her hands and rough in general.
I put the kibosh on that right away.
I was not paying for a training ride under Ms Yahoo, thank you.
.
1 Like
That is a risk for sure. At a previous barn I discovered that most of the “training rides” I was paying for consisted of my horse getting lunged.
5 Likes
I’m currently in full training at a barn 45 minutes from home through a canyon and over a mountain pass that can be seriously gnarly in the winter, and this has been quite the winter so far. Adding to that, my work schedule is rather sporadic but all consuming when its happening.
Full board and training is freaking expensive but it has been a godsend. If I can’t get there for a lesson 4 times a week my horse is either ridden by my trainer or by the brilliant working student in a lesson with said trainer. If he’s injured, they help care for him. If I’m traveling, I dont have to worry about him. He’s turned out for 10 hours or so every day, fed, watered, blanketed appropriately etc., the place is spotlessly clean and tidy, the footing is great and the people are all delightful and as sane as most horsepeople can be.
Is it perfect? No. But even keeping horses at home involves compromises. I know this because I had my horses in my backyard for 20 years.
Its been a strange journey going from that to the current situation. I’ve had to train myself to be able to ask for things to be done for me and realize that it wasn’t seen as an imposition. (Writing enormous checks has been a solid part of that training!)
As far as dealbreakers go, I’m pretty picky to start with and haven’t moved that much in 40-odd years of horse ownership. But sometimes you get railroaded into a situation, usually because of a trainer, that you see isn’t going to work once you are there.
Most of the time I have moved because of a location move or to a different training situation and left the previous barn on good terms. There have been a couple of inadequate horsecare situations, though, and I have left three barns because of BSC barn managers/owners/trainers whose true colors have only surfaced after move-in. Screamers are a total no-go, and I’m not your therapist… My craydar has improved with practice, though.
6 Likes
Ha, I’ve written that I look for certain things in prospective boarders (and other things can be red flags). One of the big positives is if you’ve cared for your horse at home. It means you know what’s involved, how hard it can be in the winter, that stuff happens. I LOVE boarders that have had horses at home!
6 Likes
Don’t count out those who’ve worked in barns also. I’ve worked at almost every place I boarded, and of course several places before I had a horse.
It’s definitely good training for learning what to sweat and what is nice but maybe not always necessary
5 Likes
This is sound advice. I stopped working where I boarded (I’m horseless at the moment) but the staff have the most information.
I don’t mean to sound rude about my coworkers in the past but not all are created equal and sometimes my horse stayed at a particular yard because of two staff members.
1 Like
The place where I board now is the first barn I have ever NOT worked at while boarding my horse. In a lot of ways it’s very nice to just show up and enjoy my horse, but also took a while to adjust to being a bit more hands off.
2 Likes
I definitely feel that. It’s so hard to be hands off isn’t it? Even though you know your horse is okay. My deal breakers definitely developed over working in yards between living in the US and the UK.
2 Likes
