It would have been helpful to see a cost break down of why it is costing over $900 a month per horse.
Most BO’s I have met were in boarding for the same reasons as you and I hope that eventually it will be a profitable business for you and any others who are in fear of not being able to stay afloat.
Yes, the barn owners I know will say they don’t turn any sort of profit on boarding alone (they can offset the cost of feed/bedding/care for a personal horse or two), but they will say they make all their own actual income on doing lessons/training/show coaching, so that’s how they make it work without having to find outside-of-the-barn employment. The ones that do open up boarding barns in my area who aren’t coaches/trainers, are often closing doors in a year or two when they realize they can’t turn a profit on board alone like they thought they could.
I was taking care of my own horse in the southeast last winter, and I could spend $350-400 just to feed him every month. One category of consumables, and he was out on grass 12ish hours a day. Out west where I am based, factoring in that hay is probably half the price (not too long ago used to be 1/4 price) but he eats twice as much of it for the majority of the year, so not really any difference – and there’s increasingly less grass available, if any at all, since years of drought, interspersed with other extreme weather resulting in loss of topsoil, have really done damage to a lot of the places that used to be known for good grazing at least part time.
I watched my current BO dump money and labor into trying to revitalize a few pastures all last summer, and they are not really coming back well. Fields they used to hay for the horses generated some rounds of below average cow hay, one cutting. It can go beyond even the increased cost for seed and fertilizer (even with doing our own composting) and weed control because we have more extreme weather too.
Yes! I’m in the west in a farming community and our pastures get absolutely flooded in the winter and aren’t coming back as great spring over spring. Luckily hay is grown locally so we aren’t paying for huge shipping costs, but yeah the climate is definitely affecting horse care/costs. In my area I’d argue 3/4 of the people who own horses keep them at home, and the remainder are boarded so it’s probably really hard to charge what it actually should cost for board when most people can just take their horses home and trailer into an arena. The barns that can survive and make an income are doing coaching/training/etc.
Sure. It will just take me a bit to retype. 
A little background: we bought this property 10 months ago at $500k. It had not been maintained well for at least the last 40 years. We do not have grazing land, hay must be fed year round. Nice ring, no indoor, but decent barn. It is in an urban area, 15 minutes from downtown to a major city (which is the only reason this was at all worthwhile, the customers are here).
So we start with the basics - our mortgage for this property is $3000/mo. It’s actually two properties adjoined, so the barn’s portion is $1000/mo. I do not calculate our home or yard in here (just to be clear).
Hay: Each horse requires roughly 1/2 bale of hay per day, some more than others, and our hay is currently actually relatively cheap but decent at 6.50/bale (of course, we have the labor of stacking that we do, but thankfully the guy delivers). So, $6.50/2 * 30 = 97.50 per horse, and at 10 horses this is $975/mo. We also have several hard keeper/senior and senior ulcery types who require a flake of alfalfa per day in addition to the grass they are fed. Straight alfalfa is going at $20/bale right now, and we go through 3 of those bales a week. That is an extra $240/mo. So, total for forage is $1215.
Grain: We go through approximately $300/week in bagged grains of different types. I can break this down further if you’d like, but it is $1200/mo. for 10 horses.
Bedding: We bed on long stem straw for those who do best on that, and fine straw for those who do best on that. Our long stem is $7.50/bale and our fine is $13.50 per bag. The long stem requires roughly 1 bale per day, and the fine 1 bag per week. So the 3 horses who are on long stem are $630/mo in bedding, and the fine straw are $378. This is a total of $1008/mo for 10 horses. Sawdust and shavings are unreliable for purchase here, I’m allergic to the dust, and I had to break some habits from when my help (who came with the barn) was cleaning stalls. More on that later.
Insurance: We have two different policies for this farm. One is the farm policy which is above and beyond normal homeowners, and then we have care custody and control. The farm policy is $400/mo, and the CCC is $100/mo. So $500/mo total.
Renovations: As I mentioned, the barn and property has not been maintained in 40 years. We knew taking this on that we would need to do things like fix the roof, add gutters, re-grade the paddocks, repair fencing, take down asbestos siding, and fix the decades-old collapsing retaining wall. We were unaware that the waterline in the barn was buried less than 1" from the surface of the aisle, that the barn actually leaks water through groundwater seepage on one whole side of the barn, and a few other choice surprise renovations that were ASAP must be done. I budgeted $2000/mo for these renovations. Very few of them will actually result in having the ability to charge more board, but some will. Anyway, $2k/mo at least for the next 5 years is in the budget.
Manure: Again, because we live in the city, we can’t just leave the manure here and we have no fields to spread it on. It’s $400/week to get rid of it. We are exploring composting options, but that’s going to be an expense of $25,000 to build the containment unit that we need to be able to do so (in the renovations budget, above) so $1200/mo.
Regular maintenance: This category includes things like the $700 in rock and sand that I keep on hand to fill various holes, fix the ring, repair the paddocks, etc. Equipment like muck forks, buckets, tank heaters, new stock tanks (horses are jerks and the “all-inclusive equipment” mostly didn’t work or was on it’s last legs), new boards for fencing, new feed pans, latches, pins for the drag - you name it and we’re spending money on it in this category. I’ve budgeted $400/mo on this but I go over routinely.
Electricity & Water: Of course, we’re on city water, and the barn has it’s own meter. The barn also has it’s own electricity. City water is $40/mo for the barn (not bad) and the electricity averages to $100/mo. We have already replaced all the lightbulbs with LEDs, but stall fans are energy fiends, and I live in an area whose summer starts in April in terms of horses being uncomfortable and ends in October. So $140/mo for these two.
Tractor maintenance: Our tractor is an older Ford that mostly runs. It takes about 2 “fills” of diesel per week to do the muck pile turning and dragging of the ring and runs that we need to do in order to maintain the property. The ring may eventually not require quite so much work, but it’s a huge sand arena that wasn’t maintained so it’s a real pain. Diesel is at ~$4/gallon and we get 10 gallons per week, so that’s $120/mo.
The accounting software that I need to keep track of all of this malarkey and payroll (which I can now cut back because I fired my help) was an additional $199/mo.
Bringing us to a grand total of $8982/mo for 10 horses, or $898 per horse. You’ll pardon me for rounding up, I’m sure.
Could we do this cheaper?
Sure! The guy who ran the barn into the ground for the previous 20 years did exactly that as did the guy before him. He fed 4 flakes of hay per day per horse regardless of their actual nutritional needs. He charged for anything over 6 lbs of crappy sweet feed. Fairly sure he didn’t have insurance and the manure pile had been here for the last 40 years, and had been reported to the city (that was a fun surprise). The stalls were gross from a mixture of inadequate cleaning and the high ground water table (discovered later) and all the horses had thrush. He spent $0 on maintenance. Fences were sagging and broken with wires that apparently had been just left (and injured horses). Lots of duct tape was used. Troughs leaked. The electrical was dangerous. The barn roof leaked. The asbestos siding that he had to remove in order to sell it was put in bags and tossed behind the house for us to get rid of. The bathroom in the tack room was piped directly into the sinkhole behind the house. Oh, and he paid the help $10/day to clean for 19 horses which was WAY overstocked for this property. We don’t have grass, we only have dry lots, but 19 horses didn’t allow the horses to get out all day, they had to rotate groups so he let half of them out for one day, then the next day the other half went out. He never cleaned the dry lots, so they had approximately 2 feet of accumulated manure in them. He would not put on blankets, masks, or other sundry things. Horses were often left without water or shelter.
It has been a slightly overwhelming journey but - I say all this so that you understand
Things I haven’t included in this budget are:
Things I am working on or have done to reduce costs:
Labor - unpacking this - so there is a gal who feeds for me 3 days a week in the morning, and cleans stalls one day a week in exchange for reduced rent on her home which is yet another property on my property. We do not make money on that house either, as it’s needed a new roof, gutters, and plumbing & a/c repairs in the short amount of time since we’ve owned the property. The old barn owner was paying her $10/day additional to clean stalls (for all 19 stalls) but she was doing a lousy job because she was so rushed. We did do a trial of paying her $15/hour to clean but for various reasons that wasn’t working out. When we did that, we also had to pay Workmans Comp and employment taxes. This is why barns usually pay under the table btw. But I was determined to be above board, like an idiot So, I got tired of paying for substandard work, and she didn’t seem to be getting it, so it was a lot of money out the door for something I was complaining about and trying to “teach” on the regular. So now I just do it, and I’m happy about it. Interestingly, feed is much more controlled when I do it, so I’m not sure exactly what was going on.
I’m also on call as a “lameness or illness evaluator”, training helper, and I do give a few lessons from time to time to keep people safe. I used to be a trainer, but I make more money at the day job, and my body won’t hold up to taking in outside horses and trying to get them trained in the short amount of time people expect anymore, so now I just keep a few projects of my own - I do not expect the barn to subsidize them, and I pay for them out of my personal budget.
I have great relationships with the farriers and vets, they all recommend me to people, so I think I’m doing a few things right. Our boarders are happy as heck, the horses are in perfect weight dappled, and all blooming, and slowly but surely we’re turning the barn around but it’s really hard work.
I did consider charging for overages in feed/hay/etc., but I knew there was no way I could sit here and look at skinny horses or horses who needed a blanket change/fly mask change/boots etc. etc. without doing it myself, so I chose to just include it with board. Same thing with holding for vet & farrier - I do it if they use mine so that I can monitor and report health issues as well as ask questions. Many of the horse owners here that existed before I got here, are relatively new to horse ownership, and they need the help. The new ones aren’t, but appreciate it.
So I’m basically giving A-show barn quality care with the exception of grooming & exercising (although I have groomed before I put on a blanket if the horse is SUPER gross) in part because it’s my background and it’s how I want my personal horses taken care of.
You could probably argue that my renovations will increase the property value, but I’m fairly sure that I’ll be one of the last owners to keep this as an equestrian property. It was really hard to get financing for it as the rural programs wouldn’t do it (the county is 99% developed, which means they can’t work here) and the regular mortgagors wouldn’t do it. I finally found a program that did hobby farms, but it meant a higher downpayment (20% down required) and higher interest rate (5.125%, as compared to 3.125% for the residential). I’m still a little salty about that.
After I finish some of the planned projects, it’s likely that I can charge enough to get a payback. We’re increasing the perceived value in the equestrian mind, and it’s becoming the barn I want to ride at. I’ve got some really good trainers coming in, we’re doing some cool and fun events, and eventually we’re going to put some sort of covered something in the arena (probably not a full indoor, because prices are ridiculous and we’ll never make it back). Our proximity to the city is both a problem and a promise.
So, there’s the really ridiculously long explanation. My boarders understand the difference in the quality of care and they are very appreciative. Attrition has been at 0 since the initial board raise when we bought the place. We’re moving it from a sh*thole to a bougie barn We have a slightly different business model as we won’t be doing a lot of showing but we’re more geared toward middle aged women having a blast learning with their horses. Hopefully the niche works.
The fact that you have a truck and trailer and are willing to haul out a boarders horse to a vet in the middle of the night is worth it’s weight in gold. $900 actually is fairly typical/low end for the city I came from for board before I moved out to a rural farm town. $1200+ was typical for the barns. Check out the barns in the Southlands, Vancouver BC.
It was in the early 1990s that boarded a horse outside of our property … the cost was $450 for full care… 1991 dollars today’s dollars is $940
@Alterration I wish you all the success in the world!
Better to pay a higher board price per month than a high vet bill (no offense to vets), and it sounds like your boarders appreciate they are now getting decent care.
Thank you! We shall see if it works. Worst case scenario I close the barn and just have my personal horses here.
Thank you for taking the time to answer my question on your expenses. You truly have a place that I feel any boarder would love to be at because it sounds like they get the best of care.
This is one of the biggest changes I see in boarding since I was a boarder. I don’t know when it became the norm but I see how it can really eat into the BO’s profit.
I hope you can find a way to sell this in the future. I think that is what my BO was able to do and I know it helped his bottom line for sure.
I think (most) people are turning away from cheap sweet feed as it creates all sorts of problems in some horses (anything metabolic, ulcer-prone, etc.)
In my area, the easy keepers not in hard work usually get a ration balancer, which can seem expensive, but is only fed at 1-2 pounds a day.
Then there’s a whole range of products for horses in various amounts of work.
And beet pulp or hay cubes sometimes, for when you’re at the maximum amount of a performance pellet and the horse still can’t maintain weight.
There are also more elderly horses around and more willingness to feed them specialized feeds, sometimes including complete feeds which can get wicked expensive. Not all barns will do this. But a horse that can’t maintain weight on a basic diet isn’t as likely to be euthanized or sent to auction as was once the case.
Some barns might include things like chopped hay products (e.g. Triple Crown Stress Free), Outlast (which is officially a supplement, but fed at a pound+ per day), etc.
Jim the Feed Guy on Facebook has a really interesting post about redoing complicated feeding programs at boarding barns to help BOs save time and money. I’ll see if I can dig it up.
People complain about the “decline in horsemanship”, but I think feed is an exception. People seem really interested in horse nutrition.
Yep, me too on the manure!
The feed here is complicated. We have 3 horses over 20, 3 IR under 20 (two on Prascend, one just on a specialized diet), 2 extremely easy keepers that require nutrient balancing, and 2 young spicy horses. Until recently we had one that was almost 40 (he just passed).
I use FeedXL and nutrient test my hay to get the best combination of feeds. I’m a bit of a freak about nutrition and medicine!
I’m glad that everyone else on here has adequately addressed this ridiculous post.
Haha, I didn’t, as it is so wrong, it wasn’t worth my reply. Besides, everyone who did reply did a fabulous job of it
Re Manure
Have you contacted local garden centers about composting?
Sometimes they will provide containers and show you how to compost.
Just a thought.
I think this is a regional thing. I am not quite as old as dirt, but close and for as long as I can remember back, I can not think of a single barn in my part of the world that did not include grain in their board (unless you count the one barn that for a short time offered self care stalls).
I doubt it is regional. More like the amount of time that has passed since I boarded.
Seems like all barns feed grain now. That is a huge cost on the BO that we did not have in my days of boarding.
You two are free to disagree with my opinion that a boarding operation is no different than running any other business. Instead of being rude to me, why not prove to me that my opinion is wrong?
Why is running a boarding operation different than any other business?
Started out in SoCal where standard was alfalfa hay, cube or pellets. No grain or “ complete feed”. They did fine, maintained good weight and coats.
Everyplace else fed lesser hay and added grains or mixed products, often based on local availability.
So would say whatever is fed depends on where horse is and generalities should be avoided.
the threshold of entry is very low or nonexistent, nothing needed in most cases other than saying you are a boarding barn… little to no regulation in many places
My barn owner raised the price $50 a horse and I just cut a check. No complaints, no issue, no asking why.
I owned a property in Florida and I knew what upkeep was for 6 horses on 46 acres. I would go to TN for hay, I ordered grain in bulk, and traded board for someone to feed/ change blankets. I know what upkeep costs, diesel costs, broken jumps, and I don’t even want to factor what dealing with people should cost.
Boarding horses isnt like some great profit scheme. Its not a way to become a millionaire or something, because most of the time its hard to make a profit or break even. Plus with rising costs of fuel, hay, grain, labour, and wood among other things that small profit margin is getting even smaller. You know what has also risen? The price of land.
I worry that my barn owner will just sell and wipe her hands of the trouble of dealing with boarders. She would walk away with a nice tidy profit and I wouldn’t blame her. How could I? I sold my farm last year.
Im incredibly grateful for the level of care my horses receive. The quality of hay and grain is great. Good pasture. Nice footing in the rings. Quality jumps and fillers. Safe environment for my horses. So an increase in board doesn’t bother me when the alternative is potentially finding a new barn or losing that Boarding barn/land.
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