A couple thoughts, in some kind of loosely-connected order.
First, on field board vs. stall board, amenities thereto, increases, and what the market will bear: My early retiree is currently on field board. Hay is provided when necessary, you have full access to indoor/outdoor rings, and they’ll hold for vet/farrier, but blanketing and providing/feeding whatever you want is on you. She’s a hard keeper, so I’m out to feed every day, but most who do field board have horses where this isn’t required.
This costs 2/3rds of stall board, and the last increase fell–as a percentage–more heavily on field boarders than stall boarders. I am fortunate enough to live in a very horsey area where there are many options for field board. When she retired and I was considering where to put her, I looked at a field board farm, closer to my house, where they would have fed and blanketed for me for less than I’m paying currently.
Easy choice, right? Why didn’t I?
Because the fields were, while of sort of adequate size, nowhere near as nice or as well-kept, and the care was… less good. (Yes, even though I’d be out daily.)
The place that Mare is at pretty much always has a wait list for field board. There’s a reason why.
Given the above, as well as long-term desires, I am and have been in the market for my own farm. If I’m going to be spending an hour and a half to feed every day anyway, it would be nice to not have to put pants on and drive somewhere to do it. (Also, I’ve worked in a lot of barns. I can definitely feed in less than an hour and a half without the drive, even adding a companion.)
Eventually, the plan is to bring not just the retiree home, but also a competition horse or three. In order to facilitate that, it would be lovely to have an arena, plenty of land to support easy horse care, and appropriate outbuildings to support grain/hay/tack storage, as well as stalls for layups. That said, even getting back the time I’d be using to commute, I’m dubious about being able to keep more than two in work with my job, so I wouldn’t expect to have more than three or four of my own, and most of the facilities that come with a pre-built ring can accommodate considerably more horses than that.
I have, of course, as someone who’s worked in a number of barns and also someone who is generally pretty cheap, considered the idea of doing boarding to offset costs. But here’s the thing: I don’t want to deal with other people’s feral, murderous beasts plus lose all my privacy for free! My horses, my behavior standard, my emergency treatment standard, my vet/farrier care standard, my overall quality of life standard. Someone else’s horses? None of those apply. So I wind up filling in the manners gaps when Dobbin spins and tries, successfully or not, to kick me in the head when I turn him out.
And that’s before we even talk about hiring staff, which would almost certainly be a necessity given the fact that making time to hold for my own animals’ farrier and vet appointments is hard enough. I don’t even mean the direct costs associated–I mean the time associated with supervision, selection, training, and retention. As someone who’s done a fair bit of leadership in my day job, with salaries much higher than what I’d realistically be able to afford to pay… no thank you.
There is a farm on the market right now in my county, slightly above my budget (but workable with the business plan), with 50+ boarders and a staff that already lives onsite. The seller, interestingly, is also an adult ammy. If I bought that farm (which, to be clear, I don’t plan to do), I strongly suspect I would be closing to boarders within the year, because if I’m going to be on-call 24x7 for other people’s animals, I damn well better be gettin’ paid.
And I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who feels this way.
