Hi everyone,
Interested to hear if you can make it work to run a nice quality facility (stalls, all-weather arena, paddocks, pasture) without losing money. If you’ve done it, any tips? How many horses on property to care for? What about if you live in an area with high cost of living/limited grazing, therefore high hay prices? This is pretty much a hypothetical question, but with fewer and fewer facilities available, one could always dream…
It is more possible to have success with this if you do most of the manual labour yourself. Hiring staff will cut into your profits. So it must be small enough for you to do that. We had 25 stalls, and did all the work ourselves. Charge top dollar for top quality service, don’t deal with people with cheap horses and no money, wanting a deal. Make sure that the horses you board are worth more money than what can be owing on them in a few months, in case you have to place a lien on them to get paid.
We found that the most crushing expenses, other than feed of course, was sawdust, and manure removal (which we had to pay for to have it trucked away). In winter, this was about $1000 a month EACH. Compiled with some problems about getting paid from negligent owners, we sold out and moved away! It just wasn’t worth the hassle to work 24/7 and not get paid on time. We now make our own hay, for our own horses and a few boarders, use practically no bedding as horses are turned out year round, and compost the small amount of manure/bedding that we produce. But we no longer live in a place that is in the heart of the horse industry.
I used to make enough profit (and I do mean genuine profit, after factoring labor) from three retiree boarders to cover the expenses of my three horses. I’m lucky to live in an area within driving distance of several major, expensive areas, so I could be making good money while my boarders were thrilled that they were paying at least half, if not more, than they were locally.
But that being said, I didn’t need to maintain a ring, etc. The more “stuff” you add, the more stuff there is to eat into your profit. I have thought about going back to boarding (left to work in the tech world), with some upgrades to my facility (real ring, if not an indoor as well), but I would need to charge about $300 more per month than I was for just the retirees, and I don’t know that my area would support it. Although there is a significant lack of quality barns in my area, which is what keeps the plan in the back of my mind…
Yeah, I’m not sure the margins are better with high end facilities. Yes, obviously you charge a lot more, but then you have a lot more expenses.
I would think that the largest expense for a new venture would be a mortgage. And taxes, if you live in an expensive area. Then labor, and THEN hay/feed/shavings. Though I defer to those who actually run big places; I have 10 retirees, so only board on a small scale.
I think a huge point is that you have to run it with your head as a true business not with your heart as most horse folk are apt to do.
Break even: absolutely. But IME it’s hard to generate a profit on boarding alone. You generally need “another” service like lessons, specialty board, renting facilities, etc. to boost profits.
I’ve always said if you’re making money off boarding, you must be doing something wrong. And by that I mean horsemanship-wise. Most of the time, it seems the farms that profit off of boarding alone are short-changing care somewhere. Of course, this is not always the case. There are some farms that are lucky enough to have a setup that allows for easier generation of profits: no mortgage, bale their own hay (and already own the equipment to do so), built in family laborers, live in an area with affordable services, etc.
And then there’s the family I used to board with where the retired husband was a real-life MacGyver and could engineer almost anything. I guarantee they generated a profit because not only could he built or fix anything from scratch, but he was also savvy at wheeling and dealing. It was one of the nicest places I have ever boarded, and just about everything on the property was either bartered for or made from someone else’s trash.
What do you want to account for?
If you already have a farm set up for horses, you can probably call it breaking even. Starting from the assumption that you would own a horse farm anyway, a boarding operation can cover feed, maintenance, insurance and other direct costs of having other people’s horses there.
If you set out to build facilities or buy an existing facility I don’t think there is any way you can break even on the whole undertaking if you include the cost of the land/facility. By the time you spend $1MM I don’t think you can ever hope to cover the cost of the mortgage, or the opportunity cost of not having invested that money in a boring sensible index fund instead.
Husband is a CPA who actually looked into this when we first moved to our area (Northern Indiana). The plan was I would quit my job (teaching high school) and stay home with the three kids (not home schooled) and run a boarding stable. After he did all the numbers, he found at that time (and probably now too) that there was no way to make a profit. The problem we ran into was labor cost. Anyone in our area (or even close to our area) who has the work ethic to show up every day and put in a day’s work, is making $$$$ at the RV and trailer factories. Our high school always had problems keeping kids after they turned 18 because they could walk out our door into a factory and make more than the teachers! With benefits, too!
So for us, in our location, the answer was not possible. There are three boarding stables near me --only one has been in business for 20+ years. She does most of the work herself and trades board for work --but she has a job, too in the “real” world as a Child Advocate or something like that. She hasn’t ridden a horse in 20 years --that I’ve seen --and declines all invitations to ride with others. Her world is that barn, the boarders, the barn parties, etc. But I don’t think she’s doing much better than breaking even. The other two are “labors of love” --one husband and wife (retired) decided to take over a failing boarding stable --they know little about horses but think they are pretty. They hire high school students for after school work. I had a horse there on stall rest for a few months --they called me out one night because he was sick --he was asleep in the stall --sound asleep --lying flat. They didn’t know horses slept like that. I’m glad they called me --always prefer err on the side of caution, but took the horse home soon after when BO stopped taking halters off because they were too complicated to put back on. Other place has had 5 owners in 10 years --nice facility, but everyone who owns it ends up divorced.
If there was a source of reliable labor, maybe, but not here.
Foxglove
[QUOTE=Texarkana;8219886]
no mortgage, bale their own hay (and already own the equipment to do so), built in family laborers, live in an area with affordable services, etc.[/QUOTE]
But within commuting distance to a major city that will support a decent price for board.
Start with that and you stand a chance.
[QUOTE=Wonders12;8220308]
But within commuting distance to a major city that will support a decent price for board.
Start with that and you stand a chance.[/QUOTE]
Yes, although then land prices are high.
My trainer has run a successful boarding/lesson/showing barn for over 20 years, but the farm, including barns, was already in her family, and her husband is a commercial airline pilot, so they have a certain income already. At this point, she doesn’t take in boarders from the outside, she has about 20 very long time boarders, or she sells horses within her client group (if they are really great horses) and so the horse will stay at her barn, but with a new owner.
Agree with other posters; the labor cost will kill any potential profit. That means you do it all yourself as a labor of love. : ) I am generating a small bit of profit (that goes to my young horses’ training) when I do the work myself. But, even taking a long weekend away and paying for the farm sitter just kills any little bit of ‘break even’ I might have obtained.
I think you can, if you charge appropriately break even. Particularly if you do all your own in the barn labor. Do not expect to make a living from it.
In order to make a living training or lessons is needed. Training comes with is own perils, as you are frequently dealing with horses that are problems in the first place.
Lessons can be very useful, so long as you have the disposition, temperament and sense of humor required.
But expect long days, interrupted schedules, and the social life of a cloistered nun. 
Finding someone to not only tolerate your lifestyle but to join in is pure luck.
I looked at this when we first started farm shopping and I needed a 25 stall barn to make it w ork with hiring labor (which I would need to do with a full time job).
The barns around here neglect footing, bedding (what is bedding?) and/or feed generally. I want to go back to boarding so badly, but I can’t stomach it. 
I need one of my friends with a kick-ass indoor (there are several–private people have better facilities by far than the boarding barns) to open up for boarders.
The only boarding facility I would consider is priced a few hundred dollars above everyone else–but they don’t really do turnout. Ugh.
When you’re making your business plan, don’t forget to pay yourself for labor & rent. Many people don’t do that, and then are misled as to how profitable their facility is.
My impression is that you need another aspect of the business to be truly profitable. The top jumper trainer in my town definitely makes a profit just on board… but that board is so high because it comes with the convenience of a top trainer on your doorstep, the convenience of trailering as a group to shows, and the expertise of top horsemen looking in on your horse daily. She wouldn’t make a profit on her board if her training business weren’t fueling her great reputation.
It really depends on a lot of factors. I’ve wanted to own my own facility for many years. I created a spreadsheet which calculates whether a property I’m looking at will cashflow or not (or if you would need to charge an outrageous amount of money for board to make it work).
95% of properties around here will not cashflow if you plan on including the entire mortgage and only doing board. If you don’t include the full mortgage (i.e. you “lease” the house from the facility for a certain amount you would be willing to cover as your mortgage, or the facility “leases” the barn/facilities/land from you as the homeowner), that ups the percentage that will cashflow a bit.
Of course there are a lot of other factors, but generally, the answer is “it depends.”
You have to work very hard and not just board.
My first BO made about 85,000 a year, plus covered the cost of her own lesson horses and ponies. She gave lessons 5 days a week. She half-leased horses and ponies to riders. She kept kids after school, and the kids worked at the barn and bought their ponies from her and paid for lessons. (still cheaper than if their parents had had them in daycare.) And she did a lot of her own work, while paying workers way more than other barns paid their workers. But the workers had to work while they were on the clock every minute. Then they could ride the BO’s horses if they wished to. And BO’s husband worked at Gulfstream, so he was at the barn about 4:30pm 4 days a week and most of the day on Friday (as well as on weekends), and he did much of the heavy labor like dragging the ring and cutting up fallen trees, etc.
Hard labor but she made money. Now the people who just want to board horses and don’t do anything except feed and turn out don’t make enough down here to cover the expenses for their own horses.
Let me add that giving pony rides is a money maker. First BO also did pony rides, and birthday parties, and it made money. She also did a summer camp for kids, which also involved them getting to go to her house (she leased the barn and did not live there) to swim in her pool at lunchtime. So she made money on pony rides and summer camp and lessons and after school day care for kids who owned or leased horses/ponies/or took lessons from her in addition to boarding. she did work those kids as hard as she worked her employees!
[QUOTE=Kodidog763;8220572]
(i.e. you “lease” the house from the facility for a certain amount you would be willing to cover as your mortgage, or the facility “leases” the barn/facilities/land from you as the homeowner), that ups the percentage that will cashflow a bit.
Of course there are a lot of other factors, but generally, the answer is “it depends.”[/QUOTE]
We did it the other way around, we maintained the complete property as a personal asset, then leased the grounds and buildings to the farm which as an independent stand-alone corporation.
The horses boarded were actually owned by a separate company
The separate company paid to board the horses at the farm then the farm paid rent to us.
There were several specific reasons we did this arrangement, One was to provide liability firewalls (just look at all the threads regaurding horse liability). Another reason was to shield income and provide educational opportunities.
This was not a true public boarding operation but in the eyes of the state it was considered a public boarding facility and met all the associated responsibilities of such. It was profitable and paid its taxes each year, but it had a boarder who always was reliable and paid whatever to maintain its horses.
I work full time at a conventional 8-5 job, teach most nights and some on weekends. We offer lessons, trail rides and boarding with 28 horses; 11 boarders with 13 horses of our own. My husband has his own landscaping business as well as the daily work at the barn (mucking). We have some boarders that work off board by doing daily work (turn-out feeding). My adult daughter also has a full time job and two of the horses are hers. She does some of the work (mucking, turn-out, lessons) in exchange for her board and also her student loans.
All that said, we do “ok”. We’re not getting rich by any stretch of the imagination but we get by. It’s hard work but we are fortunate to have alot of very caring people that board with us to help when needed.
The guy I’m boarding with now seems to be doing pretty well. I’ve never seen his books though.
He has a niche boarding business - breeding and foaling out mares, mostly standardbreds. His uncle (?) across the road stands a trotter & a pacer, plus they are set up to do AI (ultra sound, breeding on site). They complement on another.
When breeding/foaling season winds down he does construction. The uncle breeds horses in the spring, cattle in the summer & deer in the fall, with a bit of construction when time allows.
They are in a pretty low cost area, hay is usually <$5/bale & ground isn’t ungodly expensive. Their amenities are limited since they aren’t dealing with recreational boarders.
We ran numbers many years back and just to cover the mortgage at the going rate for the amenities we had (no indoor, etc) we would have to have like 50 horses. That did not include anything other than exactly what hard costs were involved with feed and bedding, no insurance, no maintenance, no labor costs, etc.
If you start with already paid for facility then I am sure you can make money.
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