BO's How much for a dry stall?

[Twiliath]

There are some barns around here which charge $400/mo. dry stall.

I only have five stalls. I only have three horses, one is a boarder. During the summer my daughter’s horse is here making four.

A few years ago I had a prospective boarder who wanted to do self-care. I thought hard about it and said, “yes” provided she did ALL the work involved in self care EVERY DAY. She wanted to clean the stalls (2 ponies) once a week. I said no, that’s not good enough. AND you have to be here to feed your ponies morning and evening EVERY day, keep water buckets full, and turn out and bring in EVERY day. She decided that she’d pay full board - $400/mo. for both ponies. After a few months she abandoned the ponies.

One went to the great beyond and the other found a good home. After she owed me $2,000. And she owed the vet.

I no longer offer self care.

I once boarded in a self-care/co-op. It worked out fairly well, except when it snowed and I couldn’t get to the barn. I’m sure the BOs weren’t happy. I always called, but I could tell they weren’t happy about it. But my Honda Accord wasn’t going to make it down their driveway through two feet of snow.

[mojo7777]

We pay $185 in Middle-of-Nowhere, Iowa, which I consider to be a great deal considering all the expenses of maintaining a farm with an indoor and outdoor arena, jumps, fields and trails on the property, etc. BOs are extremely generous with their time and very nice. I keep hoping this bubble won’t burst!

[copper1]

I would not do self care at my barn. I think it would be a hard thing to do in any well organized place. Trying to keep a self care on the same schedule as the rest of the barn could be a logistics nightmare. For example, barn work starts at 7am with feeding, turnout, stalls, etc. Self boarder can’t get there at that time and needs to come earlier or later. Barn gets in an uproar because someone is getting food when they are not or someone is left out in a paddock alone when their buddy is brought in at an odd time. More mess in the ailse after morning muck out or worse yet, self boarder doesn’t have time to do the stall today.
From the sound of it, seems it would be just as cost effective to have your horse on minimum board so at least he will be fed,watered, turnout and his stall cleaned.

[seabreeze]

Resurrecting this thread to get current pricing. How much for dry stall at an “unremarkable” but safe farm, but BO does the feeding, blanketing, and basic care? So, basically like full board EXCEPT boarder provides hay, grain, fly spray, and blankets for BO to use.

[soloudinhere]

@mvp

In the expensive Northeast, I have seen $150 as a usual number.

I think that’s even high when you put that number into the space of almost pure profit for the BO. Yes, they pay the mortgage, insurance, property taxes and maintain the place. But most of these barns don’t have remarkable facilities to offer. I also think of mortgage and taxes as what the property owner does in order to enjoy country living and invest in real estate.

Because the average person buys a bunch of acreage that has to be fenced, maintained, builds a barn with stalls, maybe builds an indoor, all because they want to “enjoy country living?”

I see this is an old thread, I just find the stance that the mortgage doesn’t count to be really bizarre.

[soloudinhere]

@seabreeze

Resurrecting this thread to get current pricing. How much for dry stall at an “unremarkable” but safe farm, but BO does the feeding, blanketing, and basic care? So, basically like full board EXCEPT boarder provides hay, grain, fly spray, and blankets for BO to use.

I would expect the cost to be full board minus what the BO would charge you for food. No barn I’ve ever been to supplies fly spray and blankets. Even top flight barns expect you to provide your horse’s wardrobe.

[Guilherme]

@BeeHoney

I don’t offer dry stalls, but I can tell you from my own evaluation of what it costs to run a farm (I keep a detailed spreadsheet on this) that a “dry stall” costs me about $333/mo. This is assuming that I run at full capacity year round, and that all horses present on the property share equally in all expenses. This does not include feed, hay, bedding, or the labor required to care for a horse.

Notice that I specified the type of labor. People approach me all the time about wanting to do self care and state that they will do “all” the labor. Are they going to seed, fertilize, mow and weedeat the pastures? Buy fuel to do so? Are they going to repair and paint fence? Are they going to water and groom the arena? Paint jumps? sweep the aisle? Compost the manure and then spread it at an appropriate time? Are they going to help with the office work and the bookkeeping? Supervise employees and contractors? Be available 24/7 for emergencies? The list goes on and on…there is a huge amount of work involved in running a facility way beyond feeding, turnout, stall cleaning and blanket changes–that’s the easy part.

Aside from that, mortgage, taxes and insurance are not cheap. Neither are water, electric, and trash service. And I haven’t even mentioned the cost of a “backup plan” for those “self-care” boarders who fail to show up to feed or care for their horses in a reasonable manner. If they don’t show up to take care of their sick horse, who does?

I take offense at the implication that a boarder reimbursing me for any or all of the above expenses is in any way, shape or form “profit.” For me to not expect reimbursement for these expenses would be for me to subsidize other peoples’ horses, and I’m sorry, but I think that is a very unreasonable expectation.

This should be mandatory reading for boarders of all types.

Very well done.

G.

[seabreeze]

@soloudinhere

I would expect the cost to be full board minus what the BO would charge you for food. No barn I’ve ever been to supplies fly spray and blankets. Even top flight barns expect you to provide your horse’s wardrobe.

Yeah, I know about the wardrobe…don’t know why I said that except…maybe because it was late?

[BeeHoney]

@seabreeze

Resurrecting this thread to get current pricing. How much for dry stall at an “unremarkable” but safe farm, but BO does the feeding, blanketing, and basic care? So, basically like full board EXCEPT boarder provides hay, grain, fly spray, and blankets for BO to use.

Seabreeze, I think you would be better off starting your own thread.

First of all, what you describe is not at all a “dry stall.” Renting a dry stall does not have the BO feeding, fly spraying or blanketing your horse. What you describe is full board with owner supplied feed and hay and is not related to pricing for dry stalls. As a BO, I would charge you the exact same price as all my other full board customers (I don’t give a discount for providing your own feed/hay). Some BOs might give you a small discount for providing your own hay/feed, minus of course something for the hassle/space required to store it and reminding you to keep it stocked.

Secondly, it’s impossible for people to give you useful feedback without a lot of other information, like exact location, amenities, etc. Board prices across the country vary from $150-$2000 per month, depending on many factors.

Even for actual dry stalls (which it doesn’t appear you are talking about), the rate can vary dramatically depending on what is included in terms of facility maintenance. For example, if you are renting a single dry stall in a large facility where the grounds are mowed, the arena is groomed, the fence is fixed, the aisle is swept and the manure is disposed of, you would expect to pay a much higher rate than if you were renting a block of dry stalls and providing that maintenance yourself (using your own equipment).

[dotneko]

We charge $350 a month - top class facility with all the amenities.
We will spray and turnout your horse, feed what you have set out and bring
them in at dinner. You supply stall cleaning, food, food set up.
We also offer a la carte options if you want to take a few days off.

[gumtree]

@BeeHoney

Seabreeze, I think you would be better off starting your own thread.

First of all, what you describe is not at all a “dry stall.” Renting a dry stall does not have the BO feeding, fly spraying or blanketing your horse. What you describe is full board with owner supplied feed and hay and is not related to pricing for dry stalls. As a BO, I would charge you the exact same price as all my other full board customers (I don’t give a discount for providing your own feed/hay). Some BOs might give you a small discount for providing your own hay/feed, minus of course something for the hassle/space required to store it and reminding you to keep it stocked.

Secondly, it’s impossible for people to give you useful feedback without a lot of other information, like exact location, amenities, etc. Board prices across the country vary from $150-$2000 per month, depending on many factors.

Even for actual dry stalls (which it doesn’t appear you are talking about), the rate can vary dramatically depending on what is included in terms of facility maintenance. For example, if you are renting a single dry stall in a large facility where the grounds are mowed, the arena is groomed, the fence is fixed, the aisle is swept and the manure is disposed of, you would expect to pay a much higher rate than if you were renting a block of dry stalls and providing that maintenance yourself (using your own equipment).

"owner supplied feed and hay and is not related to pricing for dry stalls"

That’s the EASIEST part of the equation as you know, lol.

Love your posts! As a fellow barn/farm owner. you live in the real world of the horse business also.

[AppendixQHLover]

I pay 250.00 for a dry stall it is included in my rent for where I live. I buy my own grain, hay and provide all the work. I am allowed up to 3 horses on the property and for each horse my dry stall amount goes up 250.00 a horse. I have one horse he is more than enough right now. He gets his own large turnout field and a stall. There are two other horse’s on the property that I provide basic care for - feeding and making sure they are ok. They live outside 24x7. My own horse once we get some blipping rain will stay outside 24x7 but the pastures are unable to support it at this moment.

In the winter the other stalls will be rented out and the dry stall money is paid directly to the owner of the farm. The people can make arrangements with me to feed and clean stalls but that is up to me if I want to do it (I work at home so I am ALWAYS here).

[mmeqcenter]

There was a thread a few weeks ago asking about what to discount or what to charge for someone who wants to bring their own grain.
The overwhelming response was that BOs do not discount a boarder who wants to bring their own hay and grain. I couldn’t find it or I’d link it, the search bar is a mystery to me in what it references, because my searches never pull up what I type in.
But, if you want to provide a partial board option, what someone else suggested is what I do - the cost of full board minus whatever full board budgeted for hay and grain, but then add a little extra for the inconvenience and extra work to keep track of their stuff.

[TullyMars]

San Diego barn I saw was $500.00. Barn is very nice though and has good amenities, other than too few turn outs.

[Classicgal]

It’s more in my area, SE MA where it is pretty built up. I know of 3 places that charge $200 for a dry stall. One is no services at all, another is a co-op for chores, the third offers some services for extra charge. Those have nice outdoor rings, small turnouts. I have heard of some larger fancy facilities that rent blocks of dry stalls to trainers, those are double or more. Then of course there are back yard barns that just want company or trade off for help and charge whatever.

[seabreeze]

@BeeHoney

Seabreeze, I think you would be better off starting your own thread.

First of all, what you describe is not at all a “dry stall.” Renting a dry stall does not have the BO feeding, fly spraying or blanketing your horse. What you describe is full board with owner supplied feed and hay and is not related to pricing for dry stalls. As a BO, I would charge you the exact same price as all my other full board customers (I don’t give a discount for providing your own feed/hay). Some BOs might give you a small discount for providing your own hay/feed, minus of course something for the hassle/space required to store it and reminding you to keep it stocked.

Secondly, it’s impossible for people to give you useful feedback without a lot of other information, like exact location, amenities, etc. Board prices across the country vary from $150-$2000 per month, depending on many factors.

Even for actual dry stalls (which it doesn’t appear you are talking about), the rate can vary dramatically depending on what is included in terms of facility maintenance. For example, if you are renting a single dry stall in a large facility where the grounds are mowed, the arena is groomed, the fence is fixed, the aisle is swept and the manure is disposed of, you would expect to pay a much higher rate than if you were renting a block of dry stalls and providing that maintenance yourself (using your own equipment).

Thanks for your feedback. I was just looking for a general idea about the going rate relative to full board, and I’ve gotten that.

I am not looking for boarding myself. I own my own small private barn and always have people asking about boarding. I might would consider offering my extra stall to an acquaintance., but I’m not looking to go into the boarding business. I have one “boarder” now. A good friend keeps her retiree at my barn, but we have a non-traditional arrangement that has worked well for both of us for a long time. However, it is not an arrangement I would consider for anyone else. Hence the “dry stall” question. I know what I would charge for a traditional full board arrangement, so I was asking about dry stall arrangements knowing that I would probably opt for some hybrid arrangement in between the two.

I didn’t figure I’d need a new thread, and I was correct. I’ve gotten the info I was looking for. Thanks, all!

[ElementFarm]

New OP, I agree it might be best to start a new thread.

I had a friend ask about what you are looking for but for a pasture board situation. We discussed it and agreed that full care pasture board was the right solution.
I know that’s not what you’re asking-- but here were my thoughts:

So, stalls/pastures/fencing/run-ins are all part of the farm infrastructure. I have mortgage, repairs, seeding, painting, tractor payments. So sure, it makes sense to pay 1/x (x being number of horses) of that value.

But, if you have your own hay/grain/shavings, those need to be separated from "my* stuff, so we’re very clear who’s stuff is who’s. I have limited storage space, and so carving out room for all your stuff is a PITA and probably will have some sort of expense associated with it. Then I have to hope you remember to keep the stuff stocked and stored neatly. Also, if the place feeds hay outside (we do) then there’s no guarantee your horses is eating your hay and mine eating mine. And what if your hay is inferior quality because you’re trying to save a few bucks? Now your horses is eating my good stuff for free.

Then, it actually makes MORE work for me to feed your stuff. My feed room is organized, I have bins for my stuff. Now I have to cram in another bin for your grain. Then drag in shavings, hay, grain bags from a different location. I have to keep track of all your stuff separately and again, likely having to go to a different location to access your hay and shavings (see comment above about storage). That sound easy: just a few feet a few times a day, but that all adds up over the course of a month–and is free to you but adding time to my daily workload.

I think the general stereotype is that self-care/co-op facilities are filled with people trying to save a buck and the rings/barns/pastures are not impeccably managed. What you’re looking for new OP, is more of a modified full board.

I think your best bet is just to find an affordable full care situation. Then you aren’t having to worry about sourcing/stocking hay and shavings. If you’re looking for the requested situation, and you think it’ll be cheaper to buy your own stuff because the BO is adding a high % over cost to pad their profit margin? You’re wrong. My one boarder’s check barely covers his costs. Instead of sacrificing horse care by finding cheaper (and lower quality) hay and grain, pay the extra to let the horse eat the good stuff. Maybe ask the BO if you can work one day a week to help offset costs? Some smaller programs where BO does their own labor might be very amenable to this offer.