OP, I think your list of “must haves” is entirely reasonable. Very sadly and frustratingly, it is also not easy to find in many areas. I would not be able to deal with no turnout or gross turnout and with hay only twice a day (unless it was several well-spaced huge piles of hay) because my horse would eat all the hay in half an hour and then be standing there with nothing to do and nothing in his stomach for the next 12 hours. The times when I have struggled to find a barn, I have either just accepted that I won’t be happy with less than what costs at least $1200/month in my area, or I have had to think about moving my horse far enough away that I could only see him on weekends. This is why people get out of owning & boarding horses, and why the “good” BOs get out of the business – it’s too hard to do it well, with land and labor as expensive as they are near metropolitan areas. The good BOs leave and that means the barns go to less-qualified people who just keep driving the cycle downwards, or are sold to developers.
In your situation, I would go with a third option of trying to find a private barn with a conscientious, like-minded, financially competent owner who would be willing to take in a boarder, and I would be prepared to pay enough to make it worth it for them to have a boarder. This is also hard to find too, of course!
Try not to give up on finding a good place, though. It is so worth it to enjoy your barn. Owning a horse and having a good barn is completely different from owning a horse but not enjoying the barn.
I am in Eastern Canada and in my area outdoor board with shelter is between around 200$ to 350$ with all-you-can eat round bales usually. I pay 365$ per month (indoor arena, outdoor ring, trails, indoor shower, round bale and paddock and shelter full of manure).
He gets a daily horse vitamin and mineral supplement and salt block. I help with upkeep of fencing, and cleaning (water and paddock). He is in a rather small but not minuscule paddock with 3 other horses, some are the owner’s and some are other boarders. I am the only one that cleans and mucks out. Shelter is too small for 4 horses IMO.
I have no problem at all with him not being turned out on grass, it is rather rare around here.
I would be more than willing to pay for cleaning of paddock but other boarders and owner are not interested in setting up anything.
Your comments have been most helpful and informative, as well as encouraging. Thank you.
Yes. Even when my horse was at a barn with NO turnout hay was twice a day. She is on stall rest and has been for six months at a different place. Still hay twice a day. I give her another 2ish flakes when I’m there, but it’s so close to afternoon feeding that I’m not sure it counts as a third time.
I have boarded horses for well over 50 years. I have found that most people balk at paying board in the amount that ensures excellent care and a decent profit margin for the barn owner. Keeping horses on a farm with enough land for decent turn out with good fencing, well-kept stalls, premium hay, experienced staff and an indoor with good footing is outrageously expensive. Very few people are willing to pay board in the amount that ensures a well-kept farm so the BO has to cut corners somewhere. Like any service, you get what you pay for.
I think that numbers of feeds per day depends on location. Most facilities near me feed hay three times a day and grain twice. Some feed hay four times and grain three times a day. But you pay.
I don’t have an indoor so this winter I boarded at a place where the horses went out in sand paddocks that were 20 X 40 ft. with hay huts and heated waterers with 1 or 2 horses per paddock. the horses went out no matter what the weather and got grain am and pm with hay in stall at night. Me and the other boarders cleaned the paddocks or it wouldn’t get done… I was just relieved to have him out of the stall 12 hours a day. So they had an indoor, free choice hay and turnout, which is huge here. But at a price.
At t most boarding facilities near me, turnout in the winter is hard due to icy conditions or boarders have to turn their own horses out. So most boarding facilities in my area are hit or miss on this. And many restrict hay to 4 or 6 flakes a day.
As a fellow Canadian but not the eastern end, I wouldn’t expect regular paddock cleaning with our winters and that’s almost 6 months of the year because everything is too frozen to clean. I agree in a good quality paddocks but I can’t expect amazing conditions during our winters. I do agree, when it warms that there is better management to reduce muddy conditions. In my experience, the barns with the amazing paddocks had the ability to strategically build paddocks avoiding water run off. As others have said, I found an awesome smaller scale barn that had most of my needs for a great price, I did gave to give up for a smaller indoor and turnout area, but it was worth it.
As for the rest of what you are looking for, I find reasonable. Being from Ontario, horses being fed 3 times a day is quite the norm here, some barns even do 4 feedings depending on scheduling. Again, this is due to our winters so grass paddocks isn’t something that is relied on.
It’s true that the best quality horse care, especially for performance horses of any discipline, is costly to the point that it might push some owners out of ownership.
The other side of that is how many boarding barn owners don’t actually know what that level of care is, and/or are willing to provide it. Or care. I think that often depends on local culture and traditions. And the background of the local BO’s/BM’s.
I know BO’s who have a nice facility with great possibilities. But they have a personal ceiling on what they are willing to do or to learn. It’s take it or leave it, on their terms. They can keep the barn filled at their preferred rate because most of the area board barns are similar in amenities and service (or lack thereof). A horse owner can agonize over the possibilities of their property, but can’t do anything more about it.
It is common around here that boarding facilities with arenas and decent barns with run-in stalls and very small runs just toss feed and hay twice a day and that’s all. They provide the feed & hay so that they don’t have to deal with owners running out, and all horses get similar rations - they do not customize feeding except for adjustments for very small horses/ponies. They won’t feed anything but what they provide, which is a standard mid-grade horse feed. They don’t add supplements, even if the owner provides them. They have turnout paddocks but don’t turnout or bring in. They do have a paddock schedule, but the owners have to figure how to do turnout. They don’t blanket. They don’t check the horses. Some use a bobcat to scrape paddocks / run-in stalls once or twice a week, others don’t.
So locally it is possible (and not unusual) for horses to stand in a stall with a small run in their own muck for weeks, with their only attention being twice-daily feedings. That’s what it is to own a horse for some people. It is really shameful. The Barn Owners are not only part of this system, they invented it and maintain it.
That’s why my horse is 40 miles out in a barn that actually gives quality care and oversight. The closer options are the above, and the cost is similar. Keeping the horse closer isn’t just arranging the care myself. It is also having to see so many other horses not being cared for every time I go out to the barn. Can’t stand it, would rather drive the 40 miles each way.
If there are local BO’s who are from a tradition with a higher standard of care, it is a much better situation. In my local experience the standard of care has less to do with the cost or the facilities than it does with who runs them.
It’s a discussion. A discussion can range to consider broader aspects. I don’t see the point of your post other than to squelch. Mission Not Accomplished.
I’m confused. You made a number of assertions and I asked a number of questions, none of which did you either address or answer. I have no power so squelch anything. That’s a moderator job.
