For those of you that have horses on pasture board, what happens if your horse is injured and needs stall rest? Does your barn have a stall available until the horse is able to go back out? Do you then end up paying for full care stall board?
This depends. Sometimes a barn will have an extra stall or two they can clear out for a horse in a pinch, other times pasture board horses have no where to be penned up for extended periods of time.
And absolutely you will be paying full care board until the horse is back in the pasture. Stall cleaning, shavings, and space - things the horse wasn’t using before - need to be paid for.
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At my previous barn they had about 50 acres in pasture board, and about 35 horses on those acres 24/7. They had about a dozen stalls too and kept one stall free all the time in case a pasture horse needed it, and they also had three quarantine pens with shelters that could be used unless there were quarantine horses in there. No charge for any of this for three days, paid after that if I recall.
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My retired horse lives out 24/7. His barn is full, so no extra stall available. However, in an emergency, the owner will kick one of her own out 24/7 to free up a stall, or put up extra round pen panels to create a small pen. And yes, you absolutely pay full stall board, plus any extra charges your barn imposes for care/stall rest.
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Where I’m at, they’ll offer a stall in the show barn, but the owner has to do everything (cleaning, water) except feed.
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Many barns will also charge over the regular stall board rate for layup board/24 hours in a stall, and they should, because it’s considerably more work, and higher costs in shavings and hay.
Many well run facilities that do both pasture and stall board have some sort of provision for a pasture boarder that needs lay up or isolation because practicality and experience have taught them it’s a good idea. However, unless you specifically shopped for boarding with that in mind, it’s not necessarily a reasonable expectation.
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At my last barn, my horse was in a large dry lot pen. It depended on whether a stall was available or not across the road in one of their two barns.
They did have stalls available in the indoor arena but the horse was alone. Those stalls were vacant or utilized for overnighters . Being alone is not a very satisfactory situation for an injured or sick horse. The one time I thought I needed a stall, she had one across the road. Turned out it was an abscess not a horrible tendon or ligament injury so I left her out where she could move around. The abscess popped over night 
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Susan
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Any barns I knew of had a place where you could stall or stall/ drylot a horse who needed it in the event of an injury.
Yes, you will pay for all of it!
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Some barns will purposefully keep a stall open in case a pasture boarder needs one for an injury/illness.
Some barns will not, but will “kick out” another horse.
Yes, you would absolutely pay for full board, possibly a surcharge for the short-term duration, and possibly rehab fees for any extra rehab work the barn has to do (wrapping, hosing, walking, etc.)
Some barns will not offer stall availability at all for pasture boarders, even if there happens to be one open. They want to keep them available for a potential longer-term full stall boarder. If a pasture boarded horses gets injured or ill, the owner would need to move it to a different facility for the rehab.
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As a person who prefers pasture board where possible, it’s something I like to ask about when shopping for barns. They will all differ in their policy and what is available (and even that can vary based on timing, but it’s nice to have an idea before anything happens.)
The one barn I needed to use the stall for I provided most of the extra labour (mucking, buckets, stuffing hay nets… BO would hang them as needed, do night check). She ordered shavings with her regular feed delivery, but I paid her for them on top of regular board cost. This was a small private place where the BO only offered outdoor as it suited her labour/schedule.
In another case where my horse was at a place of employment (where there were only a small handful of outdoors compared to many in stalls) and he hurt himself while the barn was at peak fullness… we got creative. Since I worked there the extra labour wasn’t such a huge factor, but I did end up paying for shavings since he’s gross inside.
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