Hi! I’ve got a good friend taking a new job on Orcas Island, living on the job site, April 7th! She’s a lifelong student (60+ years!) of dressage and has a wonderful semi-retired 26 y.o. gelding she hopes to find boarding for nearby. She’s just hoping for a safe and secure property and with companions for Totoro. She still rides occasionally and also enjoys practicing liberty work, ground driving and just generally spending time with him. She’ll be living between the Orcas Island Golf Course and
Eastsound so ideally in that area, but obviously will consider all. Budget is $400 max. Maybe someone needs a companion for their senior horse? Please spread the word, she just got the job and is crunched for time. TIA!
A quick google search showed this one, there was another listed but the link to their website is non existent. I can’t offer any advice, just what I found on google. There may be private farms not listed that offer boarding. Your friend might call the local vets or feed stores and ask if they know any place offering boarding.
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Thank you so much for your reply. She did speak to them because they are easy to find, but $750 is their board and way too high for her. She’s of retirement age but still needing to work so her budget is limited. She has had her wonderful horse for many years and has afforded to do so by working off some of her board over the years. She can’t go more than $400/month and with her new job she won’t have as much time available to work off board, at least not over the summer when her job will be busiest.
Orcas Island is very rural. Might trying calling a feed store on San Juan Island. $750 doesn’t seem unreasonable. Those islands are very expensive and everything has to be brought in by ferry. I pay much more for basic board in Seattle.
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Call a local equine vet practice. They will know all the area farms and their quality of care. They will know the under the radar barns that operate by word of mouth and may not have a website.
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Oh that’s a great idea to call the vets, she is on that now! I know $750 isn’t a surprise in western Washington and on top of that on an island. I pay that myself and I’m not on an island (anymore!)
But everyone who owns a horse can’t do that. She’s doing the best she can and takes excellent care of her horse. She doesn’t need him to be stalled and doesn’t need an arena. (Which I know from living on an island with horses you are unlikely to get anyway,) But, being such a rural island I would imagine there would be someone who might be open to adding a retired horse to their herd. Maybe not, but she has to try. To date, she has been hands on with his care every single day. With her new job she may not be able to do that. Which I think might be better for a private home boarding situation, right? If you aren’t a boarding barn you don’t usually want someone else at your place often. Anyway, I really appreciate people giving ideas and feedback. She may be searching for that needle in a haystack but I’m helping her do so because it is worth a try.
The problem for someone taking in one retired horse for cheap board is that their homeowners won’t cover them, and they will need commercial horse boarding insurance. This is at least $600 and so if they are only charging $300 obviously it would take someone 2 months of boarding just to pay for insurance. Plus it’s a hassle. So if you aren’t really able to make money, why do it.
I am just explaining why your friend might have a hard time finding that kind of arrangement. Perhaps if she offered to pay the insurance premium, though if she doesn’t stay at that farm that’s money lost.
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Most of the people on Orcas are either higher income or are homesteader types. So finding a place for board in her price range will be very difficult. Also boarding offisland will be difficult because of ferry schedules, she will rarely see him if she goes that route. Not a lot of options. I hate to be a negative Nancy but this is exactly why sourcing these things before applying for a job is so important.
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Lol, you are preaching to the choir! I have tried island living with horses and didn’t care for it at all. Was able to lease a property and have them with us and also looked at boarding options. You pay so much more to live and have way less amenities and I felt so claustrophobic being stuck on an island! I planned pretty well but couldn’t plan for hating island living. Some of our family has done it for decades and loves it, so we thought we might too.
But I don’t mind throwing out some posts to help a friend even though it seems she didn’t plan well for this part of her situation.
