may be… the commercial growers have the equipment for very large scale production…a bale hay is not touched by a human until the end of the line… for us that is as it unloaded from the delivery truck
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Commercial growers also export a shocking amount of hay and grain overseas.
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For us, in our part of the world, it’s not about the cost of labor. It’s the cost of fertilizer, herbicide, seed, diesel and equipment maintenance. Fertilizer and diesel being the big ones.
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Another barn near us shut down, 200+ horses are being displaced. That’s about five (?) in the past 24 mos. 
I’m afraid I see boarding becoming unaffordable for the average horse (and horse owner). High end barns not so much (given the potential increase in cost relative to board rates from a percentage perspective), and same with anywhere catering to low-maintenance equines that get fat on air and just require less everything. And I mean “unaffordable” because the cost of supplies and labour are increasing at such a rapid rate and it’s just out of our (general) hands at this point.
(This post is of no use to anyone, of course, unless they board at said high end facility or own aforementioned low-maintenance equine 
)
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There are no ‘commercial growers’ within a reasonable distance of where I live. You can buy hay from Tractor Supply at insane mark-up, or you can buy in bulk from exporters in NY, Canada, or KY.
None of that helps if you don’t have the place to store 800 bales of hay to make the commercial grower’s hauling trip worth it.
My ‘other’ side of the family are in the cattle business and we bale our own hay. It is good hay but not what I feed the horses (they get a 600lb timothy bale). Every year that I help with the baling, people stop and ask them if they will please sell some hay to them. There are very few farms around still growing and selling their hay to other people. Most grow for their own stock and many farmers here are borderline proprietary about where they buy or sell their hay because they know it’s a market about to bottleneck.
Last year was so awful we only got decent first cut. The second cut was incredibly late because it was drought-drought-drought and then near biblical records of rain – there was almost no second cut hay to be had. It was a bad year for hay in my area. Now fertilizer, diesel, and part prices are through the roof – anyone with a tractor better pray their tractor doesn’t break this year because it’s been almost impossible to replace parts because of the COVID-adjacent crash in the steel / metal industry.
That hay field’s value has gone up 54% in property value (and market value) alone since 2021 and all it has on it is a cow barn built in the early 1900s. They are getting calls and letters on a regular basis from developers looking to buy their land and split it into ~100s of housing lots. There is almost no undeveloped land in any adjacent towns for development and the pressure is turning to agriculture, barns, and open spaces where developers are making long-time barn/agriculture owners deals they cannot turn down.
Not a problem unique to my area although some days it’s really obvious we’re feeling the pinch that is the need for increasing housing in developing cities.
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Fascinating thread that is what I value in the COTH community.
As a BO, yes, it’s all true from my vantage point. I think we are seeing a generational change in farm ownership right now, along with post-COVID stuff, supply chain issues, international commodity challenges, drought/climate change, sudden demand for horses… this is just a perfect mega-storm of disruption.
I agree with several posters who foresee truly massive changes in commercial (more than a handful of boarders) horsekeeping as we’ve known it, especially in the urban/suburban sphere. Sometimes I try to hint at this to boarders but they are generally focused on the microeconomics of their horse, their cost to buy an extra bale of hay, and their income. They are (understandably!) not keen to know that the horse lifestyle they have taken for granted may be sailing off a cliff.
Horses/horse life/barn life has been so good to me, I get caught up in the emotion of it, like many other professionals in this sport. We want today’s kids to have the opportunities we did to have a horse, or at least ride one, to have a barn experience that became central to so many of us. But as a boarder told me at the beginning of COVID, “It’s not your responsibility to keep horses affordable for your boarders.” That was one of the most important things anyone has ever said to me. And I’ve finally absorbed it.
Regarding the generational change I mentioned, horse owners (and horses!) are aging out of the sport at the fastest rate I’ve seen. Baby Boomers fueled this great escalation of horse activity/horse sports for decades and now… we’re tired. Or we don’t want to get hurt. Or we have grandkids and new bills and aches and pains and thoughts of retirement and travel and sleeping in and not worrying about every horse in our barns, and what their owners are going to see promoted on Facebook next that they think we should be supplying for the entire barn.
Aging Boomers are creating massive social shifts across the spectrum of US life, and also for a huge number of equestrians. That affects stables as BO’s (like me) are ready to step off of the carousel and find a slower life with less responsibility… or actually greater responsibility to ourselves, and our families, in terms of marshaling our remaining time, energy, and money for our own families, rather than pouring it all into barns located on land that we always hoped would appreciate to the point where it would actually support us, by its sale. Our farms are the greatest asset most of us own, and it’s the inherent land value, not the business on that land, that represents our safe transition into another phase of life. We have all been land-banking.
So yes, developers buy larger tracts of land for housing and commercial projects, but if boarding stables were financial winners, then younger equestrians would be buying barns and they’d just change hands. This rarely happens because- when you put a modern-day mortgage, property taxes, and updated facilities on a piece of land that may have been a stable for a half-century or more… it rarely works. It is not financially viable, even if the enthusiastic new owner could somehow find a loan, labor, and the right farm to buy in a location close enough to attract the boarders it would take to try to float the boat.
I see three options for the future of most commercial boarding stables with aging owners now: sell for development, sell to a new operator who may love the lifestyle but probably can’t make the money work, or sell to a private owner with deep-enough pockets so that the farm doesn’t need to support itself. With this third category, the question becomes: why would they want to board horses? Maybe they’ll keep their own horses, or a handful of pleasant boarders because the horses are pretty, but in terms of a commercial stable, why would they disrupt their peaceful enjoyment of their farm property with a gang of 1,200 lb thuggish tenants who destroy things, eat, well, like horses, produce ten tons of manure a year, need magical surfaces to walk on, draw flies, and, most significantly, must be attended to by some of the most passionate/opinionated/demanding/strident caretaker/minions on the planet who want to spend their every waking hour at the barn, while complaining about how the gentleman farmer maintains his property?
Of course I’m exaggerating, but the overall landscape of the near future of horsekeeping in the US is not looking good for mid-market boarders. I wish this were different because I have been that mid-market equestrian all my life, and it has enriched my existence immeasurably. That model will change, I think, significantly and soon.
For those of you who board and question the integrity of your barn owners over a board increase amidst world-wide inflation and widely-acknowledged price hikes and supply chain disruptions, think we’re ‘making bank’ taking care of your horses, or are ‘in it for the money’ I think you’re going to be surprised when those barns close and there are fewer places to keep your horses… at any price.
For the rest of you BO’s who struggle to keep things nice, affordable, and possible… yes this is a labor of love. Thank you for keeping the dreams of horse girls of all ages afloat as long as you have.
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They own that place so whatever policies they frame you’ll have to work according to that although they’re being partial to you but you can’t do anything in that. You should find another barn whose pricing policy suits you.
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No, no you’re not. That is a wonderfully accurate description.
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This is the heart of the problem. And not just the boarding barns, but the vast majority of agricultural operations are about to go off the generational cliff. Young farmers cannot afford the land and the old farmers’ retirement fund Is the land. They have to sell or work till they die. Land suitable for agriculture is rapidly ending up either developed or bought up by a corporation.
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this is not the first rodeo for horse related economic cliff dives … buddy whip production was once huge. In the 1980s Purina Mills divested it animal feed businesses because they felt the market for those products had matured (Land of Lakes now has the production and leases the checker board logo)
As the country goes into a recession there will be many who will reevaluate their positions.
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This thread resonates with me. On the same day I learned my shoeing bill would increase 40% and my board increased 37% due to increased costs with feed, electricity, shavings, grain, gas, etc. The barn is private and my horse gets greats excellent care and my farrier deserves it as he hasn’t raised costs in over 8 years, but this is the nail in the coffin. I cannot stomach paying that much on a hobby when I have a family I need to support, especially with our living costs are increasing. Its hard to go grocery shopping and not walk out having paid over $100 for even a small amount of items.
I’ve been going back and forth with finding him a home but now it’s not an option anymore. Fortunately I have a friend with resources and time who has been looking at getting her own horse and is going to take him.
I too worry about the big dump that could be coming up soon as prices continuing to increase.
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While this is true (that we have had economic downturns before); it is the combination of economics and demographics that is challenging. The generational demographics of farming, which horse operations are a part of, is not healthy. The average age of farmers is close to 60, and while micro farms are increasing; the mid sized farms (which most horse related businesses would fall into) continue to decrease.
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I’m so sorry you’ve had to make this decision.
This is so sad.
Words are inadequate
Hugs to you
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Very accurate!
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Ugh, that is so depressing. I don’t know what exactly the solution is but I do feel that our society is making some poor choices regarding the conversion of agricultural and open land to massive housing tracts. Then everyone complains about increased traffic, pollution, and climate change…hmm.
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No but I do ask for a breakdown of amenities and services I will be receiving for my board, otherwise I’m an idiot of a horse owner. And yes, if I’m at a fairly priced barn for the location, level of care, and “extras” provided and the barn owner tells me they’re raising the costs without any justification, I will ask them why. And I will evaluate the new costs against the other, similar barns in my area, whether or not justifications are provided. And I will (and have) moved when barn owners have raised costs beyond what they provide and couldn’t/wouldn’t offer up any real reason. Sure, it’s the BOs perogative to tell me to mind my own business but it’s mine to decide if I want to continue boarding there, all things (including BO attitude) considered.
It is a business … on both sides. When I find out Marketbasket is selling the same can of beans as Stop & Shop for half the price, well, my business goes to MB.
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well that is just what my neighbors say about any plans to develop our land…of course they already sub divided their lots years ago now they want ours to remain open so “they can look out their widows to see the horses graze”… I requested and go no ware for a property tax relief for providing parkland views
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@ Miss_Motivation your entire original post is by far the best-written summary of the current situation I’ve seen.
Chronicle of the Horse should take this post to the front page. IMO!
As one of the mid-market boarders, this has been on my mind for the past year, and is now more so than ever. Honestly to continue to own and enjoy my own horse I will probably have to take a step down to a simpler facility. Many fewer amenities for training and competing, and so those activities will be cut back as well. Maybe I will be just enjoying my horse in less expensive, less demanding ways, going forward, because that market is costing more and more, beyond what I can afford.
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This has been happening all over Texas for the past 25 years. The number of “small” ranches with cattle… well, frankly, they are nearly disappearing. (A couple hundred acres used to be a small ranch. A regular-size ranch was a couple thousand contiguous acres, or more. Very, very few left, fewer every year.)
The boomer generation departed for the towns to make a better living. As their parents passed on, the generational family property was sold. The drought of 2011-2012 was the end of many more as land owners sold their cattle when they couldn’t provide water, and never restocked. And the cycle is continuing with millenials who have parents with land. The millenial children are not interested in living on the rural property.
There is plenty of land still out there in the west, for sure. But it is remote and inhospitable. Not easily accessible to the best and highest-paying employment centers, not in the better-equipped and broader-education school districts. Or as I’ve told people, I can show you large acreage rural land … I’m just not sure that you will want to live there.
Maybe the new move toward remote work will help. Maybe more people will be able to manage and support a rural life with a city income. This is still a major unknown. And still not sure it works out economically for a life with horses and horse boarding.
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I haven’t read all the replies because I just don’t spend that much time on the computer here but I am sure I posted somewhere on here after a BO did break the costs down that they have. If a BO is not making a profit then they need to charge what they need to make a profit.
Everywhere else we see prices rise as costs rise so why is that not happening in horse boarding?
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