Pasture board - I have a (probably) dumb question!

[DA2_1990]

I’m hoping to start my horse search soon (yay!) but am first looking at places to board in the area. I’d like to do pasture board, but was wondering, if there is an instance where said horse may need a stall (I’m thinking things like short term injury or illness), how are situations like that usually handled with field board? I’m sure some depends on the farm and the set up, and would imagine it would obviously incur extra cost.

Thanks in advance. It’s been a long time since I’ve boarded, and that was a co-op board situation so this is sort of new territory!

[Luseride]

Totally depends on the barn and if they have an available stall. That would be an important question to ask.

[Scribbler]

Yeah, it depends on the place. I’m familiar with pasture board that’s just a field with a water trough and no one around, and also barns where some horses live out 24/7 and others get daily turnout. Usually around here barns want to be full so unless they designate an empty hospital stall, it’s unlikely your injury will coincide with their temporary stall vacancy. But it’s all dependent on what their facility has. I expect if they had vacancy any place would be happy to charge you an upgrade for stall board for a month or two.

[Texarkana]

As others have said, it completely depends on the barn.

Some places have no “extra” stalls available and are inflexible.

Other places will free up a stall for you. In which case, you are generally expected to pay the full board or a day rate for use of the stall.

I’ve seen some barns have an entire separate barn for pasture board horses.

So definitely ask.

[MorganMaresVT]

When I had two on pasture board, they each had their own 12x12 3-sided shed. If I needed to do stall rest, I could have put up a gate to turn the shed into a “stall.”

Pasture boarders did have access to the barn/tack room, and would bring horses in to the aisle for vet/farrier appointments. The only time I had an uncomfortable situation with my barn owner was when I had a horse’s teeth done, and she was really thrown for a loop by the sedation. Vet wanted her to stay in the barn in a stall to “sleep it off” for a couple of hours, and quite honestly, the horse was so woozy there was no way we could walk her back out to her pasture. The BO really didn’t want me to put her in a stall in the barn, but did ultimately allow it when the vet insisted the horse couldn’t be walked the 1/4 mile back out. That was a bit of a wakeup call for me that as much as I liked the pasture situation for my mares, in an emergency, I couldn’t count on being allowed to use a stall in the barn.

[Annie10]

I take in a boarder now and then and when i offered field board (i don’t anymore for a lot of reasons), if something happened we could discuss. Like the horse needed stall rest or the owner wanted it in for whatever reason. I offered either a prorated per night fee, or they could bring out a couple of bags of shaving and clean their own stall if it was just a night or two, or if it was going to be a long term thing we could just do stall board as long as they needed, as long as i had a stall available.

[SharonA1]

It’s not a dumb question.

[SusanO]

It is a smart question and you are a smart person to ask about this before you are boarding somewhere and you run into a situation where you need a stall. You can get a basic idea of what barns d, but you need to ask all of your prospective boarding barns how they handle this. I think the answers can vary a lot, but this is information that you need to select a place. Better to know what will happen than to have a situation where you need a stall and one is not available or the cost is prohibitive. That way you can plan ahead and not get blindsided.

[GraceLikeRain]

Definitely a good question to ask. It can put you in a major bind if your horse is injured and needs stall rest and the barn can’t accommodate you so you’re having to move an injured or sick horse. I’d also ask about their emergency weather plan. During Helene places flooded we never envisioned flooding and if a barn doesn’t have pastures to rotate into or ways to keep horses safe a weather event can become a catastrophe.

[FjordBCRF]

Another thing to consider while you’re shopping; not every horse is suited for pasture board. As much as I am a proponent of it, having had an easy keeper for 5 years now, unless it was a dry lot it wouldn’t work for us.

Depending on your area, some harder keepers struggle over the colder, snowier months to keep weight on.

Just a couple things to keep in mind! A good chuck of horses will do nothing but thrive in that environment, but it’s not suited for all.

Happy shopping

[Texarkana]

@FjordBCRF

Another thing to consider while you’re shopping; not every horse is suited for pasture board.

This is definitely true in a sense, but I might rephrase it as “not every farm offers a type of pasture board that is suitable for all horses.”

Ideally, a barn should have different pastures to accommodate different herd dynamics or horse needs.

Unfortunately, many boarding barns only have one, giant pasture board field/herd and it’s a “take it or leave it” kind of deal. If your horse does well out there, great! If not, you’ll need to pay for stall board.

[MissusS]

Reading this thread I am so grateful for my situation. The barn manager makes accommodations for so many different types of situations. There are dry lot paddocks, larger paddocks with grass/trees/shelters, and larger paddocks with grass/trees/shelters that open up to pasture. We have a herd that goes out to pasture for a few hours, then are brought back into their large paddock, and another herd that comes and goes as they please.
We have some horses that are stalled inside during the day (summer) or at night (winter) that can either be on pasture or dry lot accommodations. We have grooming stalls that horses can use before/after they are worked, regardless of if they are indoor horses or not. We have medical stalls and an isolation/medical (small) paddock. And we have a barn manager who will bend over backwards to accomodate the plethora of needs for our boarded horses.

So… I know my situation is VERY unique but for us when someone needs to be stalled temporarily it is never a problem.

It’s smart of you to be asking these questions in preparation for your upcoming needs. Happy horse shopping!

[PaddockWood]

And if this pasture board place ticked so many good, important boxes…but no stall available –

you could network to find a place that would take you in temporarily in an emergency.

I had to do that while at a fabulous (and you ask why does she say fabulous?) pasture board facility and an abscess with a huge hole digout (corium showing - oh fun!)
rendered us needing some stall time and no mud for a bit.

[mmeqcenter]

Not a dumb question, and yes there’s no one real “standard.” It’s just what each facility is able and willing to offer. Some places won’t charge if it is just a couple of days. Others do, and certainly all charge for longer.

I’ve seen barns that do pasture board in the sense of, a dozen horses or so out on a 20 acre pasture together, and that’s it. Not fed grain, MAYBE fed hay in winter depending on the facility/location. No stalls available if needed. I’d say this is probably the least “common” situation I have seen, because having that much pasture available for boarding barns is becoming more and more rare.

More commonly I’ve seen pasture board as a 2-5 acre field, 3-5 horses together. Almost always fed hay in winter. Hit or miss on feeding grain. Hit or miss on stalls available for emergency.

In Florida, near bigger cities like Tampa, somewhat common for places that offer pasture board (rare) is “pasture” board in small dry lots, 2-4 horses per lot. They’re out 24/7, but there’s not really grass, so board includes hay and grain just like stall board. Usually don’t have a stall available for emergencies.

When I had my Ocala barn, I offered pasture board with the choice of 60x120 dry lots, 1-2 per lot, 1-acre pasture with a group of 2-3 together, or a five-acre pasture I’d put a max of six in. I was all sand, had grass but not lush or thick with any meaningful nutritional value, so my pasture board included hay 24/7 year round, and grain for any that needed it. I did have emergency stalls available, but only because I had 2-3 of my own horses and I kept reserved stalls for my horses. Mine live out 24/7 too so assuming mine weren’t all laid up at one time, I’d let someone use my stall if needed for an injury or illness. I put in my board contract that if a stall would be needed for injury or illness, I charged something like $20/day, $100/week, and for a month or more required a new board contract for rehab board instead of pasture board. Never had a pasture boarder need it, though.

[DA2_1990]

Thanks everyone for the great feedback! I sort of figured the answer would be “it depends”, but it’s helpful to hear different experiences and perspectives.

I’m seeing now that the barn I first plan to reach out to advertises that field boarders can have access to a stall for an additional cost, but I’ll be sure to chat more in depth about it with them and whatever other barns I visit.

[Djones]

Entirely dependent on what’s available on the property, first of all. Secondly, if stalls exist, at any given time is one available for you to use for x amount of time? It’s full of variables, and not a dumb question.