plus the FICA tax rate for employers is 7.65%
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But thatās the thing, the OP mentioned asking why.
And there have been myriad comments that itās no oneās business and BO doesnāt need to justify anything.
Which is true. But asking why the increase was disproportionate isnāt equivalent to making someone justify an increase.
This horse ownership, boarding barn running are symbiotic relationships. Is discussion really too much to ask, and too big an intrusion?
I guess Iāll just add this to the long list of reasons Iām glad to be done with horses. 
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I think had the OP just asked why without the statement that equine professionals were just doing things arbitrarily, the reaction might have been a bit different.
I am happy to share with my boarders the expenses I take on as a result of keeping their horses happy and healthy. I may actually start providing itemized bills so they understand it even better. It might actually be better for the industry overall if they did.
Until the market adjusts, and boarding is no longer a loss leader, itās going to be hard to find acceptable care for your horse. Boarding my own horses used to stress me out majorly. I like a lack of drama, my stalls clean, free choice forage, high quality feeds, and handling to be done safely and kindly. Youād think that would be easy to find, but it isnāt.
So I bought my barn to have that for my horses, and I care for the other horses the same way I do my own. The horses are all blooming. Several have dapples for the first time in their lives.
The capital improvements necessary to make this farm be successful are in the hundreds of thousands. As we do that, board will increase. It has to. Sadly, doing these improvements will do nothing to the value of the actual property, and many of them donāt really affect the perceived value in the minds of boarders at all.
Some of the biggest complainers about the price increases Iāve had to make come from people who have multiple houses, fancy cars, go on vacation, and then they nickel and dime their horses and their care. They expect the barn staff to be available 24/7 to care for their precious horse that they will not even spend the appropriate cash on farrier or vet work on. Makes me ill.
That illness and the state of the industry are probably also reflected in peopleās responses. Board has not kept up with inflation. Prices have been kept artificially low for decades.
Probably about time for a reckoning.
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Several years ago, I had someone call me to ask about boarding. She had two horses and wanted a discount. I told her my board price - with no discount- and she said it was entirely too much. I asked her what she was paying and why she wanted to move. She said the barn where she was (albeit cheaper than me) didnāt feed enough, bed well enough, or mow the pastures. I told her perhaps it was because they didnāt charge enough. Just sayinā.
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This is so, SO true!!!
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We have a private barn, no boarders. I wouldnāt mind one or two like-minded boarders to basically create a bit more company for me and the horses. But to add some boarders I would really need to spend $$$ on some capital improvements, and there is no way to recoup that money in board. The place works just fine for me as-is so I just canāt see making the economics work. I think itās the capital improvements that most boarders donāt really take into consideration. My two cents!
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Leave the gas station attendant out of this. They have absolutely no control over the price of gas. They are told by the powers that be what the price will be. Ask me how I know, i work as one part-time, project admin full-time. Iāve about had it up to my eyeballs with people asking about when the price is going up/down, why weāre cheaper/more expensive etc. People just donāt seem to understand that the person behind the counter is just supposed to make sure nobody drives off without paying and upsell lottery tickets.
Farm owners have the say on how much they charge for their services which will reflect the cost of feed etc., and their time. They set the price, hopefully with enough profit they can pay themselves.
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So I have a pasture boarded, retired horse. When I moved to that barn in the fall of 2021 (6 months ago) I specifically asked if the board was all inclusive other than vet & farrier. I was assured it was. Lo and behold I got hit with a almost 50% hay surcharge for at least the months of February and March. Only 4 months in. With 10 days notice. But heās 1000 miles away. Itās not simple to find a place and move him, especially with a injury that is the reason heās retired - a long trailer ride is not in his future, ever.
This increase came before fuel prices skyrocketed. Iāve already been warned that board is going to go up - I cringe at what that number may look like. I get that the price of everything has gone up - but I had been there only 6 months, so itās not like Iāve been there for 10 years and expect the same rate from 2010.
Not that I know anything about your barn situation, but I can maybe help elucidate.
My hay prices went up $1 per 45 lb bale, feed went up $3/bag, and labor was through the roof from June through the end of 2021. I believe some of it was supply chain issues, and some of it was COVID, and some of it was anticipatory as people got wind of the impending fertilizer prices which have gone up at least 30%. Farmers have to cover that up front, and many of them do not have the available cash out of pocket to do it. The margins are very very slim.
In addition, many hay farmers are getting out of the business, and good hay can be very hard to find. So itās possible they had to change suppliers and that cost per bale was much more expensive.
While you may not have been at the barn since 2010, there are probably many others who have, and typically barn owners donāt charge different rates for the same service based on when you came in. So, if thereās a price increase, it gets applied to all.
Again, I have no idea what your barnās situation is like, but itās possible that the cost increase is totally reasonable. It sucks for everyone involved, but thatās life with horses.
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And I totally get that costs have gone up - I run my own company and have do deal with supply chain issues and price increases every day.
Iām irritated that I got hit with a 50% surcharge with 10 days notice. And we are not talking $20. I budget very specifically for the horse (which I had no intention of having to permanently retire when he was sent out to be sold several years ago, then got permanently injured). I moved him there in the fall of 2021 when his previous farm got sold - the cost increase was already in place for many of those things, so I would have expected the rate I was quoted for board to reflect those additional costs. I specifically asked about any additional fees and was assured there would be none.
Iām also annoyed that the BO/BM canāt seem to give me notice more than a day or two ahead of time of a huge supplemental fee. I feel a little like since they know I am an absentee owner, that they can just keep adding the fees. knowing that moving to a new farm is substantially more complicated for me so far away. Iāve told them that I need as much notice as possible and nothing changes.
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If you have to ask why your board is going up right now youād have to live under a rock. The price of fuel and groceries alone would be your sign that prices of everything is going up. Iām sure the farm I board at will announce a price increase soon. I wonāt be surprised or request an explanation from the farm owner.
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Totally get that the timing of the increase was suckage and I wouldnāt have done that (I try to give people a few months if possible).
I just mean that itās likely that the charges themselves were probably reasonable and not arbitrary as many of us are getting hit with them as a surprise when we get the next hay delivery or head to the feed store to buy feed. Thatās what happened with my last hay shipment. They didnāt give me any time to adjust, just said ānext month it will be x per bale, sorryā. So Iād have to eat those costs for the next two months to not directly pass those costs on to my boarders. Iāve done so, but not everyone can.
I doubt their treatment of you has anything to do with being an absentee owner and everything to do with how things are in the industry right now.
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Maybe its a function of where I have boarded or living in a densely horsey area, but I donāt think Iāve ever boarded with folks that are genuinely that clueless about what it costs to run a farm. And I donāt recall anyone Iāve boarded with in the last 9 years complaining that a BO was trying to make bank or overpay themselves. I am not saying it doesnāt happen, but it hasnāt been my experience.
Every BO Iāve dealt with explained price increases to a certain extent even if that extent was āmy costs have gone upā. Thatās a good enough explanation for me as long as the care is good. A BO can absolutely decide they donāt want to explain something, but itās probably not a great way to run a business, if in fact they are running a business. I donāt view someone bringing in 2-3 boarders to subsidize their horse ownership/farm costs as truly running a business.
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@Miss_Motivation, thank you for a great post.
Yes. And initially, the OP asked about āchallengingā the board increase. She later went back and edited, but that set the tone for the initial responses.
So many BOs are running on fumes. A distressing number of them are, like @Alterration, actually subsidizing their boarders out of their own pockets. Prices of everything are skyrocketing, adding even more pressure, and then some boarders bitch and moan about board increasing. Given the current atmosphere, is it any wonder that BOs, former BOs, and those who are close enough to BOs to know whatās going on have a vocal negative response to some of the posts here?
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I completely understand this. But, you know when my BO found out about big increases in her cost of feed, hay, and delivery charges? When the feed store guy made his monthly delivery, he told her that next month it was going to be $$ more. That gives the BO 30 days to prepare for a substantial increase in costs. I donāt know what BOs are supposed to do besides immediately pass those increases along to their boarders.
At the risk of falling into hyperbole, the current situation with skyrocketing costs for (and lack of availability of) labor, feed, fuel, fertilizer, machinery, property, and everything else is unlike anything most of us have ever seen before and weāre all operating in uncharted territory.
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Can you find someone you know, maybe a COTHer to stop by periodically?
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I get that! Iām not advertising either and I still regularly get people trying to come here. Some rather persistently!
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Thatās why the boarders here are here. They know Iāve been hands on for 40 years and still actively working on my skills. They can come up every day or visit their retiree after 2 months away and not worry. If thereās a vet-worthy issue, theyāre in the loop asap, usually with photo/video sent. If its an issue, but not vet-worthy, theyāre still in the loop with photo/video and I just handle it for them per discussion. Plus, we love them all. That helps too 
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I was responding to another poster. My point was that we donāt have control over our input costs that are currently escalating at an alarming rate. For instance, in my post from 7 days ago I said the price of grain had gone up $5 per bag. Well, as of yesterday, it is now up $7.50 per bag. I get that we have to charge enough to cover expenses, but I also get the fact that we canāt raise our board every month.
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Ugh. I wonder if temporary month-by-month surcharges would be the way to go for now? BOs should not be having to subsidize boardersā horses. Maybe a temporary surcharge that itemizes the cost increases would be more palatable?
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