It isn’t capricious! It is clearly related to what is going on in the economy right now.
Anyway, someone above said something about BOs making a comfortable living, which made me laugh. Does anyone make a living boarding? I have an actual job for that, happily!
Have your rates been far lower then full board or just somewhat lower, maybe BO feels she has been under charging for field rates? Are their others just doing field board or are you the only one?
Since your board went up 16% and full board only 8% how much difference is there now in field board cost v/s full board with stall etc.? Maybe consider just going with full board and having access to tack room space, stall etc.
For me. That’s the part that makes me crazy.
The BO (in general) should make a living boarding. If they can’t make a living boarding that’s obviously going to contribute to the decline in number of boarding barns. Someone boarding a few outside horses in their personal barn may not be looking to make a living, but they should be making a profit on the boarded horses significant enough to make it worth their while.
We (g) gripe about the quality and availability of board but then we (g) gripe that our board went up.
One of these things just doesn’t belong here
My back of the envelope guess is that the increase was $56, field board is $350, and stall board is $700.
I’m purchasing the hair, the shampoo, conditioner, brush etc. Those are mine to keep and it’s not expected that you tip on that.
Edit to add, I asked other people I know who get extensions and googled it so I didn’t stiff my stylist on a close to $800 bill if that was what was expected. I doubled checked with my stylist when she first put them in as well to make sure what I heard and read online was accurate. Just the service is the norm.
It’s one thing to ask about something you don’t know about personally. Adding the assumption that I am being stingy isn’t necessary and is pretty rude.
And its not just $50 additional board breaking their budget.
Its that $50 increased board plus $$ increases for gas, rent, utilities, etc.
Board going up based on inflation suggests that its likely that the same inflation is raising prices in other areas of the horse owners personal economy. Just a guess.
If inflation is making BOs raise prices, then prices in other areas of the HO life are also being effected and going up.
I literally said that already. It doesn’t give anyone the right to nickle and dime their BO, or expect their BO to give them 3 months warning and bankroll them in the meantime.
This is really true and as a BO I am well aware of it. I also can’t board at a loss, so it puts me in a hard place too. That is why boarding barns shut down, I think….I do it because I love it and the extra money lets me show a few times a year. But I would probably make more per hour working at Starbucks or something!
The BO is also paying the increases from inflation on both their personal expenses and the business expenses (ie the horse’s feed)
To try and be constructive, I would encourage OP to have that convo if the increase is out of budget. I don’t mind when a boarder approaches me. For instance, I don’t offer field board to new clients any longer (have a few long term retirees on it still), but when one of my boarders had to retire her horse she approached me and I let her transition the retiree to field board anyway, so she could buy a rideable horse. Two stall boards were not going to work for her budget. BOs CAN sometimes be reasonable! Taking over a weekly feeding or two might be negotiable too.
Yep, that’s my point.
We all are.
Which is why communication is helpful.
Eta it might also be a time for BO or BM to consider ways to trim costs as well as raise prices.
Buying grain or shavings or hay in bulk for example, if that’s not presently the practice. My horses retirement farm did that, and explained why in their monthly newsletter. That was a nice touch, but then BO work for a major corporation so she understood the value of communicating these things and the good will it propagated.
Right! BO communicates these are the rates and these are the effective dates. HO communicates if she’s going, staying or attempts to negotiate.
IME most BOs do offer a general explanation “due to rising costs I am increasing rates by X”
I’m doubtful challenging the “fairness” of a rate increase falls into the productive communication category.
Essentially the BO raised field care to half the cost of boarding (?); seems reasonable.
The way I read the original post, field board is currently have the cost of stall board.
in this market when buyers start offering six figures per acre in cash as an owner I start wondering what is best
That’s how I interpreted it.
Say original board costs were $500/stall or $250/pasture for nice round numbers.
BO increased board by $40 for everyone (8% of stall board, 16% of pasture board), so now it’s $540/stall and $290/pasture.
OP is upset that the increase was the same for everyone and thinks there should have only been a $27 increase for pasture board and a $53 increase for stall board. This would have meant that everyone’s board increased by ~10.5%, and according to OP would have been the “fair” way to split the board increases.
Of course, we’ve all discussed by now that OP’s logic only works if the increase of costs was truly proportional to the original cost of board, which is probably unlikely.
Right. $350 is half of $700 and now there will be a $56 increase across the board— so field board will now be $406 and stall board will be $756. That’s my guess on the math. We’re saying the same thing.
Now OP is annoyed because field board is no longer half the cost of stall board. She thinks the increase should have been distributed to keep that ratio the same (Why? I have no idea. Seems arbitrary).
No, field board was exactly 50% less before. Now it’s 53% the cost and that’s an issue for the OP because… reasons…
I admit that I am still floored that some place offers field board for half the cost of stall board. That seems like a huge discount for field board.
I remain floored by much of her boarding situation and the OP’s response thereto 
Only a 16% increase? Field board of half of stall with all the amenities?
Looking a gift horse in the mouth here!
By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. You may also receive promotional emails from The Chronicle of the Horse. You can opt out at any time.
For Customers
Company
Terms of Use
