I own a farm in northern VA and have a boarder returning after colic surgery. He is a stall boarder currently - turned out early morning and in at night. He is going to be on stall rest for at least a month. What is customary to charge for this sort of situation? He will need round the clock hay, deep bedding and extra mucking. I have not had a horse on stall rest this long before so did not know how to charge. I will charge a la cart for other services like med administration, but am lost about what a typical lay up stall charge is… All insight appreciated. Thanks in advance…
Will he be on meds to keep him calm?
How many times a day will you be able to pick his stall?
How often will the boarder be out to take care of him? Get him out of his stall? Hand walk?
Was the horse in full work prior to the colic?
I am asking these questions because a fit horse who won’t be out of his stall and not on calming meds will make a mess of their stall…so bad that it will be easier to strip once a day than to pick it.
The added hay is easy to figure and the added time to pick the stall is pretty easy to figure…It is the extra shavings that will/can blow your budget.
The vet did mention a possibility of something to keep him calm but owner wants to see if he needs them or not…
I can pick his stall 2-3 times a day… He is a messy stall guy already.
Owner comes out 1-2 times a week…
Horse was ridden 2-3 times a week prior to surgery. And out in the pasture approximately 14 hours a day with his buddies.
In addition to the extra hay and shavings I did not know what the “normal” charge is for the extra stall maintenance and feedings.
Thanks for your insight…
Horse on stall rest and the owner can only come out 1-2 times a week?
Yuck.
No idea of pricing, sorry, but most
Often these situations are more work than thought, not less!
Many years ago I paid $15 a day and was happy to have good care since I couldn’t do it myself (super busy job at the time). Charge what makes you not hate the extra work!
I don’t charge my boarder because my horses all get free choice hay wherever they are and she does her own stalls. If her horses have to be in, she bears the brunt of it. Except the bedding cost, and that I can roll with.
I do lay-ups. For a post surgical colic, it’s not just the picking/feeding, it’s the extra monitoring/responsibility (they often have minor episodes of discomfort), handwalking 4x/day, etc. If your regular board only includes the most basic care, I would expect you need to charge 1 1/2 to 2x your regular rate.
So the owner is not really going to be involved in the aftercare, that leaves all the care on you.
You probably don’t have an hourly rate for yourself, but should probably try to find one and start figuring the time to pick more often and to do the hand walking, extra hay, shavings, etc and then you will most likely will find what tuckaway said…close to double your regular board.
Do you have the time in your day to do the extra care? Will you have to hire someone to help with other chores so that you can take care of this horse?
I did this lay-up on my own mare a couple of years ago. While not directly relevant to the pricing question, in addition to a stall in the barn, I did use a moveable 12 x 12 pipe corral placed inside a small paddock where her friend was grazing nearby. The corral got moved every few days. This helped both the stall expense and the “cabin fever” problem. This was an older mare and buddy, but it worked really well. Obviously this was somewhat weather dependent also.
Our standard board rate is $25 per day. But we are not a sport/pleasure operation per-say. We are a TB farm and are set up for just about all things related to them. For “loyal” clients we charge $30 for “normal” post colic surgery re-hab. For the standard size stall 12X12. We don’t nickel and dime if the horse needs to be given a bit of Ace the first couple of days. Ace cost us around 12 cents including the syringe per dose. A slight change of feeding is usually required. The first 7 to 10 days requires the most monitoring which is nothing more than checking the horse’s belly stitches, monitor water intake, checking the horse is passing what it takes in and the quality/look of what comes out. Monitoring its over all demeanor. Our barn is not far from out house so I will do a night check for a couple of days.
If the horse needs to be given a course of antibiotics several times a day, and or SMZ, stronger more expensive calming meds etc. we price according to our cost along with time and labor. If the horse would be better off in a lager stall 14X14 and or needs closer monitoring, not settling in well we charge accordingly. For “ship ins”, “one off” clients $40-$50.
Most horses once the vet has given the OK make the transition to a porta-paddock that has to be moved each day. At that point we charge an additional $10. Hand walking is also an additional charge. In short we ask to get the horses post-surgical release form, care and feeding, review and let the client know what the “normal” charges will be. With the possibility of extra charges depending on how things go.
I have found just about all horses settle in find after a couple of days. Even racehorses at their peak of conditioning. But we are set up for it. They do not do well in a barn with a lot of activity going on around them. As in horses coming and going, being tacked up, lots of people etc. IMO it is important that they are in a stall that has limited to no views of what’s going on outside. Horses running around in paddocks etc.
Do you have to do things such as wound care/handwalking?
If all that falls to you as well, I would think double the usual monthly fee should be reasonable.
Our board is cheap ($335) and we are really not well set up to handle special needs cases.
So stall rest (beyond 2 days) is $7/day, $40/week, $150/month. That includes mucking the stall twice per day (instead of one) and an extra 4 flakes of hay throughout the day. Meds, wraps, handwalking, etc. would all be on top of that. Boarders who are there daily and willing to muck the 2nd time get a discount. I’m not about gouging our boarders, but I can’t afford to fun their horse’s layup.
We recently had a TB on stall rest for the better part of 6 months. I found that moving her to another stall during “turnout” time, really helped. It kept her from totally trashing her one stall, and gave each stall a chance to dry out a bit while she was in the other.
I used to charge $25 a day, but that included meds, wrapping, basically whatever was needed. Hand walking was an extra fee. All meds and supplies paid for by owner. My regular stall board was $400.
Our standard board rate is $20/day. We charge an extra $5/day stall rest. That includes free choice hay, extra bedding and stall cleaning four to five times daily plus a night check if needed. We do not charge extra for administering meds (either oral or injectable), monitoring temps or changing bandages. Handwalking is billed out at a rate of $20/hour–we are fortunate enough to have an indoor which makes this possible year round.
The rates are the same for non boarders but obviously only if there is a stall available.
Just curious, because I have a barn in NoVA too. If you turn out in the morning and bring in at night – is the horse not getting hay during the day. Surely the horse is not turned out all day long without any hay? So round the clock hay should be the standard anyway.
I think you need to figure out what it costs beyond your regular cost. Add whatever extra hay he might get and whatever extra shavings or straw you need to use. Add a little for extra labor.
