I hope I don’t have the wrong section for my topic. I am new to this forum site. Is there an area to discuss boarding. I have 20 acres and am available to board horses, but I also want to learn what amenities and pricing that attracts new boarders. I have pastures and stalls in a barn but I have a lot of room and potential to add more to the farm. I am open to discussion and suggestions. 
@Moderator_1 can you move this topic to Around The Farm section please
I would suggest the “Around the Farm” forum - good luck!
I don’t see an option to post a new topic there, might be because I am brand new, maybe it would appear like it is spam…I’ll wait on that section and maybe see if this topic can be transferred to that stream.
You might want to post a query in the Technical section - they should be able to help you out.
Offering boarding can be a hot topic as people want all the amenities without paying the $$ to build or maintain them. Can you give a general idea of your area? Like state and income level in your area?
It’s difficult to make money offering only boarding.
I have 20 acres just west of Ormond Beach Florida near DeLand. I have it currently separated into 5 large fenced in pastures. I have a large full service barn with 5 stalls and a couple more being built out. There is a full kitchen in the barn and a large storage room for feed and tack. I do the feeding twice a day and can work with customized feeding. Two of the pastures have a lake and pond, plenty of shade from trees, and plumbing ran to fill the water containers also order the feed and hay every two weeks, we have a ferrier come out monthly, all part of the fee which we think is very reasonable. We are roughly 50 miles outside of Ocala (horse capital). We have room to park horse trailers. And there are extensive riding trails right across the street in the wildlife preserves for Lake George and Heart Island.
what would your hurricane evacuation plan be?
Personally, I look for secure fencing, preferably board fencing with a hot wire on the top, a good amount of turnout daily (8-12 hours), auto-waterers (cleaned regularly) are really nice, in my area it freezes so I want to be able to have a heated water bucket in the stall (you won’t have to worry in FL!), someone living on the property ideally, someone knowledgeable about horses running the place, ability to bring in my own trainer, vet, and farrier if desired (I may end up using the barn regulars, but if for any reason that doesn’t work for my horse, I want the option to choose my own providers), I prefer feeding in stalls for his pellets 2x a day rather than in a group, option for barn staff to blanket/fly spray/fly mask/medicate/hold for vet (additional fees as needed of course), a decent riding ring, a wash stall with warm water available (a portable insta-hot unit works). Plenty of good quality hay available in stalls and paddocks, with slow feeder netting. Run-in shelter in the fields for shade (not just trees).
I was in a barn for a few years that had a fly spray system and that really cut down on the flies as long as it was set to a reasonable spray schedule and refilled promptly with a good product. In FL, I would think it would be even more important. Auto-waterers in both stalls and paddocks were also a nice upgrade, as long as they were cleaned properly.
I’m not sure I’d want to have the cost of a farrier included in my board as you plan though. My horse goes barefoot which means he would be much less costly than the boarder whose horse is shod all-round with corrective shoes, so I would likely be subsidizing the cost of the other horse. As a monthly charge, that would add up. Unless maybe you set it up as the farrier would do only a trim for a base fee, then shoes would be additional?
I had my own private (no boarders) farm for 20 of my 37 years of horse ownership. During the other 17 years, I boarded at two places when I was kid (teenager), two places as a young adult, and three places just over the past 6 years since selling my farm.
As a kid, I was aware of flaws in the barns where we boarded, but we just made it work. Once having my own place, it was hard to go back to letting someone else call the shots regarding my horse’s nutrition and management. One barn was just a bad fit altogether because the BO was unreliable and very controlling at the same time. I went out of my way to make sure I wasn’t stepping on any toes, and the result was an unhappy horse and unhappy me. The second barn was better, but there were still some minor nitpicks (not enough bedding in stalls, no shelters in turnout).
When I moved to my current barn (and the best place ever), the facility wasn’t as “fancy” (though it’s getting upgraded all the time, even a covered arena being discussed), but the farm owner has the money and equipment and manpower to keep the facility safe, clean, and functional. The BM is a retired fellow who grew up at the farm, his father started it…the place has been there about 70 years…and he’s horse savvy but not a know-it-all by any means. He oversees the day-to-day and makes sure to relay to the BO anything that needs doing that he can’t handle himself.
One of the things he explained to me when I went to visit before making the move was that they were self-care. They would not provide hay, feed, or shavings. That was up to the individual owners to arrange and provide. The farm provided everyone ample storage for their feed and hay and tack, and for an extra fee, it could be arranged for the BM to actually give the feed. He explained that this was the only way to keep everyone happy because different horses have different needs and their owners want different things for them, so the barn was never going to be able to provide the “right hay” or "right feed’ or at the “right amounts” to suit everyone. And if people wanted more hay or a different type of quality of hay, that meant the price in board had to go up to cover the increase. And people don’t like that.
It works out wonderfully. For one, the barn is full of people who are knowledgeable about horses. No kids, all adults who are committed to making sure their horses are well cared for. We have everything from just backyard types to high-level dressage riders, and everyone gets along and helps each other out, etc.
I don’t know how many acres the farm has, but it’s large enough for 18 horses to live there and it doesn’t feel crowded at all. Many have individual turnout and I think the largest number of horses in one pasture is three. The place stays filled to capacity and people have to be turned away who ask about boarding. One horse just left, freeing up a two-horse pasture and shelter, and there are already two horses coming to fill that spot. We have cleared trails through the woods, open fields for riding, and our small ring is rumored to be getting enlarged and covered (we have a very generous boarder with the resources to help fund this and a BO with resources to actually get it built).
I will never be in the position to own a farm or offer boarding again, but if I found myself in your shoes, OP, I’d do just like this place does. You basically rent space for horse, tack, and feed/hay. The facility is kept very tidy (mowed, manure hauled away, pastures dragged, sand/dirt/gravel added where needed, arena and driveways maintained, etc.) Horses have eyes on them nearly all the time because the BO and BM live within sight of the place and the BM talks about watching through binoculars. If he sees a vehicle he doesn’t recognize or a horse behaving oddly, he’s in his golf cart and zooming down there immediately.
I can honestly say, it’s better than having my own place. I get to care for my horse exactly how I want. Even if I had to get the BM to feed (as I have when on vacation), he makes sure I show him exactly what to do. He feeds for the two upper level dressage riders at the barn, who are very particular, and they love him to pieces for how attentive he is to their horses’ special needs (one of them is PPID and requires medication, special diet, etc.)
I’d probably have a base level of board where I provide the bedding and clean the stalls (because some people aren’t going to do this to your standards), and then the owner can decide how much or little they want on top of that. They can provide their own feed and hay and do all of the feeding themselves. They can provide feed and hay that I feed. Or they can use the feed and hay that I provide and feed to their horse (I’d do a ration balancer and Timothy hay since those agree with most horse’s systems and meet their nutritional needs). Board cost would depend on which option they choose.
Sorry for the novel! Good luck with your endeavor!
That is a tough question to answer. Despite storms in the recent past we have not had any major issues on the farm minus a couple of downed trees. Both of our vehicles are equipped with hitches and if it were an emergency we would certainly help trailer horses and move them.
Nice…I am slowly rebuilding the wooden fencing but we do have hot wire with metal posts around the pastures that has done a sufficient job at keep the horses secured. We do have auto watering attached to the plumbing and water containers as well.
require that all horses under your control to be microchipped and have records of the chip numbers with photos of each horse, if any unique markings are present include those in photos
I worked for FEMA after several hurricanes where we ended up with hundreds of unclaimed horses as most owners did not have a clear identification of the horse. Photos helped but a many horses are pretty common and look alike.
Also have several evacuation routes preplanned to several known sites, keep that in a binder ready for use, include actual maps also as internet access may not be available
Excellent advice, thank you.
In that area if your place is clean, safe and in good repair and you feed good quality hay , grain etc you can charge $1000-1500 a month for stall board
We are way more reasonable that that, but that is a really nice estimate, I appreciate it
This is a great example of the nuances of boarding.
You think it’s reasonable, a lot of people will not. I would have never boarded at a barn that mandated the farrier that I use. Also, since all horses require different services, how do you include it in the board fee? Do you include trims for barefoot horses only? What if a horse needs shoes? Do you just say no it’s not allowed, does the horse owner pay the difference to the farrier, or can the horse owner bring in their own farrier? If they bring their own farrier, do you still charge them for your monthly farrier?
There’s hundreds of historical threads including information on what’s “standard” and what isn’t to offer in boarding services. At the end of the day, you can’t please everyone, and it’s your barn, so you can certainly offer whatever you please and anyone who doesn’t like it can move on. But if you find you’re having a hard time getting boarders in a horsey-rich area and you actively want to change that, you need to compare your offerings with the standards of your area and make some changes to be competitive.
We don’t require it we offer it
So if a boarder doesn’t want to use your farrier is there a break on the board?
I agree, I would never have put my horse anywhere that required use of a specific vet or farrier.
This is how I do it:
If they want to use my vet, farrier etc, I’ll make the appointments and deal with it and the horse. They can be here or not up to them. They pay the bill.
One of my current boarders includes her farrier payment in her board since she used mine and I just Venmo him for everyone.
If they want to use their own provider they can make their own appointment and come out and deal with it
Classic hijack can you tell me more about the area? Loves/hates now that you’ve moved in? I have visited that area three times and I’m just in love. I’ve been considering a move south for years and a lot of family is close by there.
You might find a little niche market there. When I spent some time in Ormund Beach, I met a ton of people and surprisingly, a lot of retired people who used to ride.
I’ve been here for a year now and it is the best of both worlds, I am close to the beach like I wanted and the farm is somewhat secluded but off of a main road. 15 miles in either direction are all of the amenities you could need from stores, to schools, to medical facilities. Daytona is nearby with plenty of things to do of course. We will of course be doing a lot more with the farm than just boarding horses but that will be the main activity of course.
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