I run a barn of primarily TBs and Warmbloods. I have a boarder who has two draft horses (a Clyde and a Belgian). Man, do they ever eat a lot of hay! A friend of mine has suggested increasing board for these two, but I don’t really feel right doing that. What would you do? They eat about 1 1/2 times the hay an average sized horse does, and I’m not about to cut down their hay intake.
Charging more it not a bad thing, or ask the owner if they want to buy the extra hay to be feed.
I have a 17.3 warmblood and have no problem paying more to cover the extra that he eats. I have even bought extra hay to make sure he is getting what he needs.
If you are feeding round bales it kind of evens out but if they are in stalls for most of their meals then you really see the difference.
They do eat more and they also soil more bedding and consume more of your pasture. The upside is they are generally air ferns when it comes to grain, so maybe that offset things a bit. And the Percheron mare I had could inhale a round bale in no time.
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Grain is not included in my board, so that doesn’t really help things. Also, the Clyde is a cribber, so he destroys my fencing, as well as the hay feeder in his field. I just don’t want to seem unfair.
They are both outdoors 24/7, but neither is an easy horse to have around. One is a bully, and the other freaks when he is alone but can only go out with gentle horses as he has a bad stifle issue.
Every board agreement I’ve signed in recent memory specifies a max amount of food included in board. More than that and either the owner is billed or has to supply the extra.
My guy only eats a tiny bit of ration balancer but a ton of hay - I pay for 2 extra bales a week for him.
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You can charge more. Extra hay and extra maintenance to the farm, I think that extra fee will be easier than say coming up with a $300 feeder (that they would probably want to keep when they leave even though yours got destroyed) An extra hay charge would also probably be easier than them securing there own hay and then finding a spot to store theirs so it doesn’t get mixed in with anyone else.
Most farriers charge more for drafts too. I’m like you I don’t want to charge extra either. I’m boarding a draft for the first time too. I wouldn’t call him a bully but he’s def boss. Biggest extra expense with him right now is the extra dewormer and feed through fly control. I’m not going to change his rate for that but I will def add that on for any future drafts.
I did have some other boarders that didn’t want their horses turned out with him for fear of injury, but they were the ones being a pain about that. The big guy so far has never caused anything worse than a bite mark and has been here almost a year.
It’s not unfair to surcharge a very large horse or a horse that needs special care or a horse that causes problems or any horse that costs more to care for.
G.
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You need to charge more for drafts because they eat more, usually harder on fences, feeders, barns if stalled. Ones I know commonly just bull thru things even with hot wire. Might makes it OK to not act civilized like regular horses. Fence fixing is continuous. Making owner pay for feeder is because their horse wrecked the one you purchased! They don’t get to keep the new feeder! Owner has to pay the “oversize” charge in board costs, just like everything else related to owning drafts.
My friend the BO has a clause in contract that owner pays for horse damages. Should include a labor-time cost in total for each damage repair, any replacement parts don’t install themselves! She had one kicker, not a draft, that destroyed his stall twice, ripped down feeders, trashed buckets, broke fence boards, stall windows, outside barn walls, despite hot wire. It was a constant job repairing horse destruction. Owner paid, but BO kicked them out anyway. Too much work involved to have him around.
Don’t put yourself in owners place. They chose to own drafts, who cost more to keep well in food and fencing. This means you must charge more to board draft animals. You are running a business, not a charity. Keep repeating “It is not my job to SUBSIDIZE THEIR HOBBY of owning horses”, until you have lost the impulse to consider charging more is “unfair”. This is MONEY you are talking here, not just helpful favors to a friend. Money you can use for other stuff than the draft horses.
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Where I board the base rate only includes 4 flakes of hay per day, anything beyond that is an extra monthly charge. All of the owners I know happily pay for the extra flakes they need. I don’t think it’s unreasonable at all. Bigger horses eat more hay, and hay costs money.
The drafts in my barn tend to eat a lot less hay! That is very interesting. They barely take anything to stay plump.
How much grain do they eat? IME drafts might eat more hay, but often eat less grain than an average horse, and way less hay or grain than a hard keeping OTTB.
Can you add up lbs of grain and lbs of hay all the horses are eating and do an accurate comparison?
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Grain is extra at my farm. Owners pay for it.
The Clyde is a plain old bully. Last time I put a new horse or there, it took a month of carefully integrating him into the herd because the Clyde basically tried to kill him.
This is a separate issue from what you originally asked. To me, it sounds like you don’t want him there anymore, regardless of whether the owner pays for extra hay. And that’s okay…it’s your farm. IMO it would be better to ask the owner to leave in accordance with your contract and with good grace rather than to keep the horse there and resent him/the owner.
I agree, totally separate issue, however one I can deal with. I guess it’s just compounded by the fact that he eats so much and destroys things…
Exactly. Hopefully you know how your board rate breaks down - allotment for hay per horse, concentrate, bedding, and overheads such as insurance, staff expense and typical maintenance. Most boarding contracts specify an amount of hay and concentrate, and reserve the right to expel or charge extra for a horse that is overly destructive or difficult.
Thanks everyone!
