I can assure you that I’ve exhausted the local options. Keep in mind, NC is approximately 8 hours from here. The prices I have quoted are the going rates in this area, and even further south in Ocala, where a bunch is shipped to.
Echoing the others that barn feeding practices are VERY regional dependent. I live in a very urban part of SoCal. The closest barn to me (~40 minutes away) doesn’t even feed hay, they feed alfalfa cubes! Cubes are dumped at ~6-7AM and 4PM. The property is very large but composed of a lot of individually run barns (multiple trainers renting out their own) and there is no way to standardize hay feeding across the 200+ horses who live on-property full time. There is a huge range of horse types as well (warmbloods to TBs to QH to minis), so it would be impossible to give everyone the same amount of food and expect that to be fine. The property also doesn’t feed grain/supplements at all.
Many people either buy their own hay (~a week supply because you can’t store much more than on property) + concentrates, and pay to have their barn’s staff feed it, or feed it themselves. I know of several people who feed their horses hay in addition to the cubes. They’ll throw a flake or two around breakfast, another flake at lunch, and/or put a bunch in during their night checks.
Now, my horse doesn’t live at this property but I do plan to move her there in the future for some training. Knowing this, I already factored in the cost to buy/pay someone to feed hay. There are other barns I’ve looked/worked at and, while they did feed hay, fed straight alfalfa twice a day. Anything different or more frequent was extra. As such it seems completely normal to me that, if an owner wants extra hay/feed outside the contract that they would pay for it.
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Oh LORD!!! I’m sorry. Thank you for the update. I know driving up here to get hay might add $$ to the price/bale, but with an 8 hr drive, could this be something to consider loading a truck and a borrowed trailer? We once picked up hay in the truck and a well-packed horse trailer.
Thank you for your reply. Yes, I talked with hay suppliers in Camden, SC at the steeplechase there. Their price to ship to Fla was unbelievable. They said there was something about paying lots of $$ to be allowed to ship to Fla or something like that. It just didn’t seem right. Maybe consider the drive to NC with a large trailer you can stack. Just a suggestion. Thank you again for your feedback.
I’m already wincing.
Can you tell me or PM me the price of board at a barn like you describe in your area? A range would be great.
Thank you.
I also board in SoCal. My barn feeds only up to 2 flakes alfalfa AM and PM. There is no board discount if your horse doesn’t get any alfalfa (mine doesn’t right now). If I want any other kind of hay for my horse, I have to buy it myself (although we all go in together to split the delivery fee and have covered storage for a month’s worth per horse). Thankfully they will feed it if I provide it and the same goes for concentrates (none provided, but they will feed whatever I provide). My board is the cheapest in the area because it’s “off the beaten path” and is $400 for outside pen with shelter and $500 for stall plus run. I buy teff and orchard grass hay at $19 and $26/bale, respectively (but they are big, 3-string bales) and I typically need 3 bales of each per month.
That said, we have a jump ring, dressage ring, modest cross country course, and some trails. Medication is fed if needed and assistance with medical treatments like wound cleaning/dressing is done if needed (at no extra charge, but I often add a little to my board check if it is overly onerous). Blankets are put on and off as needed, but excessive demands won’t happen.
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Sure thing! I will PM you the specific barn I mentioned.
The property has a bunch of different stall types (12x12 pipe, 12x24 pipe, 10x10 box, 12x24 box, 14x20 in-out) split between a bunch of barns. Boarding cost vary by stall type and, as of me writing this, they’ve removed the specific prices from their website but I know roughly what some people are paying. The 12x12 pipes are the cheapest (~$550), followed by the 10x10 boxes (~$700?), with the larger stalls and in-outs being the most expensive (~$900).
All the stalls get the same basic property amenities HOWEVER most of barns are training barns and thus have dibs/exclusive use of certain features (Ex. Most barns have an assigned arena that they have exclusive use to or you can use if you are in training with trainer at that barn. Same thing with sunpens and hotwalkers). On top of board, a good portion of the boarders are in training/lessoning with some trainer AND buying extra feed (~$100-$300 on feed as it is $10-18 a bale at the feedstore down the street and some people have their horses off the cubes all-together).
I have a quick update for anyone who might care… sorry to derail this really great boarding barn discussion, I genuinely love the direction this thread has gone in LOL like no sarcasm.
But my pony saw the vet today, they seemed to just be pretty unconcerned with everything that I’m concerned about… I showed her pictures of the cow-pat poops that have literally been happening since December, but she says that since there are still formed balls within the poop that it’s actually okay and not something to be super worried about. and actually two other horses in my barn have the same problem and they happen to be the only other two horses that are also eating the Nutrena Empower ration balancer. The vet just said that it’s common this time of year for horses to have diarrhea (???) and that we should just try a probiotic and make sure I get her teeth done (which she is getting next week).
Luckily my BO is a little more concerned about 3 horses in the barn having chronic diarrhea for multiple months and is planning to change their grain soon when she runs out of the current bags, and I think is planning to switch everyone off of Nutrena onto something else which I’m more than happy with!
The vet also said she probably has ulcers and just to go ahead with ulcer treatment… I started her on Equishure about a week ago and it doesn’t seem to be making a huge difference so I’m gonna try Nexium next.
I guess I’m just feeling a little bit frustrated because that all totally could’ve been a phone conversation, she barely even looked at my horse and it just felt like a waste of everyone’s time… but I got her coggins pulled at least so that was the one productive thing of the visit!
Also I have been doing 4 lbs of soaked alfalfa cubes every day that I ride and that plus the increased hay seems to be making a difference in her body condition.
Also, for everyone who suggested she might be pregnant… I did some internet sleuthing and found an old sale ad of her from the people who sold her to the owners I bought her from, and she has basically the same size big ass belly then that she does now 
I did reach out to them via email but I haven’t heard back… I didn’t straight up ask if she was pregnant, but I was just like, “I think I have a horse that you sold, would love to get some more info about her breeding if you have it, etc.” I actually don’t think she is though, that sale ad was from about a year ago so we’d probably know by now??? And I brought it up to the vet today and she was just like, no she doesn’t look pregnant. pretty sure she thinks I’m psychotic!!!
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Thanks for sharing an update!
@LilDunFilly and @leheath, that is freakishly less expensive than I thought in SoCal. Thanks for the information. Leheath, that arrangement seems pretty common all over the U.S. What is “teff” hay? The access to what you have for that price is pretty superlative. LilDunFilly, thanks! I have a good friend who boarded there. That is still so much cheaper than I thought. Where I currently live, hay bales are not difficult to come by but being in a good training barn can cost $1000 - 1500/month with the same stall/turnout situation. And we have more land than you do in SoCal. A different trade-off.
I soooooo appreciate your responses. Thank you.
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I’m not sure where you are (sorry if I missed it) but I don’t think it is common for any horse to have diarrhea at any time of year. What is you tooth schedule? I have always had mine done yearly.
Well, that is good if multiple horses are having problems. I’ve never had problems with Nutrena food. I think (think) our farm uses Nutrena balancer and no one has problems on it. I know they use Nutrena Safe Choice but my horse is on balancer - I can’t remember the brand.
I’m very hesitant with this remark. It should only cost you about $400 to get your horse scoped for ulcers. Very few ulcer remedy makers publish studies behind their products and I think only ulcerguard has published studies. I honestly think that many of these other companies are selling products that are never proven to work. I would recommend bringing in a vet who can endoscope your horse and check for ulcers. When my horse shipped to me, my vet expected bleeding ulcers. I had a vet come out and scope him but nope. she found only a couple on retraction. I was able to watch it all. Since he is insured, I went ahead with the full treatment based on their advice. The point is, he totally acted like he had major ulcers but he didn’t. And, I believe most ulcer products don’t work but take advantage of a huge market.
I would get a second opinion like I did. I paid for an internist to come endoscope my horse - different from my usual vet who didn’t have an endoscope. It cost me $350 but I learned that with all of the stress of shipping and his new place, his jacked-up behavior was NOT due to ulcers and his stomach could handle such stress. That $350 was more than paid for in not using commercial ulcer stuff that likely didn’t do much. Luckily, my vet (whom I still use) was very interested in the results and stopped suggesting ulcer meds for this horse and rather helped me tackle his nutrition.
I wouldn’t trust the breeder. I reached out to my horse’s breeder, who was very unhelpful and didn’t want to say anything bad about her breeding farm. She told my friend I was “passive/aggressive” at the 70 day stallion test when I asked if his siblings (they bred about 5 of them) were as high-strung and difficult as he was. She was very uninterested in the idea that my horse might be an outlier and sort of took offense to me asking. Even my vet said she was a little afraid to work on him when he was younger.
My point: listen to your gut and have him directly tested by a qualified vet to address issues. Don’t waste your money on supplements.
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PS. Alfalfa is high in cations, or positively charged nutrients. That helps buffer the stomach acid (which is negatively charged) and negatively charges nutrients that are associated with ulcer events. Alfalfa is good for ulcery horses but the source of the alfalfa is of importance. Hay contains leafs, which is great. Cubes and pellets are largely made of stems and not as great. Play around with products as you can.
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I was actually surprised at the price too as I only moved here a little over a year ago. That said, where I board is very low key and I wouldn’t call it a training barn - we have a wonderful instructor who is the BO, but she doesn’t ride anymore so there is no one to assist with training your horse outside of lessons (e.g. no one to get on your horse to school it for you). That works out fine for me as I’ve always done all my own riding. The biggest trade off is we don’t really have decent turnout.
Teff hay is a low sugar, low protein, more affordable grass hay that is fairly readily available down here because it can grow in hot climates with little water (originally developed in Ethiopia). It’s very fine stemmed and not very leafy, but it’s very soft. Some horses won’t eat it (luckily mine does). It is great “filler” hay - my horse has teff available 24/7 but only gets the high quality orchard grass twice a day. This allows him to have 24/7 hay without getting fat or costing me so much I can’t afford to buy groceries for myself! 
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This seems to be another thing that is rather variable depending on your location. I just had my horse scoped (and he’s getting his follow up on Friday) and I wish it had only cost $400. All in, it cost $740 for the scope, sedation, and call fee. The exam fee, blood work, and medication were on top of that. I am definitely not saying this to deter people from scoping because I would never have gotten the correct treatment for my horse without it, but just to give them a range of possibilities for the cost.
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My pleasure! I consider board there to be “expensive” in terms of the trade-off for the horses (limited turnout, runless stalls, etc.) and the fact there are a lot extras/a-la-carte things to pay for (paying for the hay itself, paying for someone to feed said hay, sunpen/arena turnout, blanketing, holding for vet/farrier, etc.) because the only things board cost cover are stall + shavings + cubes + use of facilities.
I did some math and it would easily be over $1k a month for me to have my filly in one of the double pipe stalls and fed a few flakes of hay 3x daily (in addition to the cubes) to give her something to due other than stand around. Add on farrier and training cost, and you can find a private training facility a little farther out with better horse amenities.
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Thank you for mentioning your costs for endoscopy. I’m sure our combined info can be useful to others in a similar situation. And thank you for explaining Teff hay. Having horses all over the country, I never heard of it before. Thanks!!
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Yikes! But not surprised. You are in probably one of the most expensive areas of the U.S. Consider, it you can, a slow-feed hay net and having someone mount a new one as needed. You can fill a bunch in advance if there’s a place you can leave them. I have layered hay (bermuda and alfalfa) such that my horse only needed one change per day. Heck, I have stuffed these nets with pure local hay (bermuda, timothee, I cant remember what else at the moment) and while my horse originally gave up because they weren’t easy (yes, he did) he eventually figured out that the effort was worth it (yes, he did ).
That is my plan! My filly is out in pasture (aka desert) but I’ve already gotten her several slow-feed toys for when she has to be stalled for training. All her hay is going into a heavy-duty slow feed net, which will be chained to a trough so she eats off the ground, or into a big hay ball. I’m thankful she’s not one to bolt her food!
Per what my vet has told me, it is not uncommon at all. Some horses do much better on grass than they do on winter rations of hay and hard feed. At some point in the ‘try this to see if it fixes it’ most people just give up and wait until the horse is back on grass when they have determined there is no real fix (and clearly have done things like checked for worms, and made sure there is not a serious medical issue, etc).
My thing that’s kind of annoying me is that I don’t feel like we’ve done a whole lot to ensure that there isn’t a serious medical issue… like what exactly would this entail? I would guess at the very least checking the horse’s temperature which hasn’t been done for any of the 3 horses in the barn with this problem.
I don’t think my horse is having any serious medical issues but it’s just bothering me that the vet didn’t even seem to care or ask any questions about the problem… and my horse is actually doing the best out of the 3 in terms of how solid her poop is.
I have read somewhere online about “fructans” in winter grass being the culprit for fecal water / soft poop for some horses, but really don’t know a whole lot about that. Edited to add, you’d think that if that were the case it would be all the horses who live on pasture having this problem, but maybe it’s something to do with how they are interacting with the ration balancer.
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There is a diarrhea fecal test that can be done, if you’re interested in that. It looks for various pathogens.
But there are just SO many things that can cause loose manure. I’ve been down this path, too…we did just about everything but the fecal test and removing hay from the diet. Nothing we did try made any difference long term (I’d occasionally see some very short term improvements!) It didn’t seem to bother the horse, so I finally let it be.
Interestingly, it cleared up 100% overnight when I moved several states away. Best guess is that there was a low level bacterial contaminant in the well water that bothered that particular horse and not the others on the property (there’s something else to add to your list!)
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