“Darling, this barn and our horses are for the enjoyment of us and our kids. It was never about money; it was about fulfilling a dream. Let’s focus on our own enjoyment instead of providing a service for other people, which would eat up all our free time and would just end up a break even deal after extra insurance, feed, security system and so forth. Let’s have fun with what we’ve got.”
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My husband and I solved this problem by agreeing on a monthly budget for my horse expenses. As long as I stay within the budget, it’s none of his business. If a vet bill or something comes up that I can’t cover, it becomes a family discussion. He gets the same monthly “allowance” to do with as he pleases. This has worked really well for us.
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I don’t really have anything to add but a chuckle. I read this out loud to my hubby and he totally nodded his head at the last sentence. (Ol beef rancher) he actually has a big boy job to support the ranching and the 5 garbage hay burners we do have. :lol:
Just an update. I talked to my husband about it and he understands that I am not taking on anyone else’s horses. He is sad and he really wants to, but he understands I would rather not build the barn than do that.
The first part of my post was more explaining out loud the reasons why boarding was a bad idea and seeing if others agreed- not trying to bash my husband that didn’t even know how I felt about it yet. I was trying to work it out before having the conversation, so thank you to everyone who saw that and offered some good advice. Fortunately, I have been around here long enough to know when to just ignore comments that obviously took a post the wrong way/didn’t understand-that is the way the internet is!
Anyway, the question I was really asking was if anyone has additional ideas for how to make money. I am an out of the box thinker- but I was stumped and my husband really wants something that could help with the monthly barn payments. Not $1000 a month or anything, just something that can help.
I like the idea of flipping it to say “look at how much we are saving” as opposed to making money. Obviously having 2 horses at home is going to be cheaper than boarding two horses (aside from the barn payments). The manure will definitely be getting spread on the land and explaining to him that it can save him money on fertilizer is a good idea.
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This might not be what you want to hear, but your husband is unqualified to tell you to think of something in the horse business that will make you money out of a private, 4-stall barn. If you are a very, very good pro with a great eye and wonderful connections, you could flip some horses. But are you willing to dump or euthanize the ones that don’t work out? With an operation so small and the command from a non-horser that you make money, part of your success in such a slim-margined, high investment, high risk business is going to be to minimize losses.
Sorry for the sour grapes. I’m just short-tempered with people who think that making money in every field but their own should be a cake walk.
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I’ve suggested to people that they’d make more money with crafts on Etsy :winkgrin: Or the days of earlier Ebay (and cheaper shipping ) I bought and resold saddles, I had a good eye for a gem in a pile of barn tack, misidentified or bad photos. The cost of horse care these days (GOOD farrier and dental, etc) for a flip horse would stop me.
P.s. for OP glad hubs is listening, esp taking in family/friends/new to horse ownership. A mountain of potential issues there. And they’d expect a ‘personal’ discount on board.
Anyway, the question I was really asking was if anyone has additional ideas for how to make money. I am an out of the box thinker- but I was stumped and my husband really wants something that could help with the monthly barn payments. Not $1000 a month or anything, just something that can help.
Why does it have to be something horse related? If the goal is to pay off the barn, then any side hustle will do. So would cutting back elsewhere, though the usual advice of ‘stay home and cook instead of eating out at restaurants’ is kind of a non-starter these days!
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I may have missed it but if you only have a 4 stall barn and your own “horses” that math in my head doesn’t equal a barn full of open stalls for potential boarders. Even if you have two stalls open…totally not worth the hassle for what will likely be little to no profit.
I also find it odd this makes your husband “sad”. If making money was the end game, why is this just coming up now? You either can afford to do this or you can’t and a couple extra bucks just to “turn a profit” is silly. Sounds like communication here isn’t good if this wasn’t discussed prior to the decision to build said barn.
My ex-husband was one that would have totally offered stalls to people or extend open invitations to come and see the horses which (in other situations) drove me nuts; which is part of why he’s my ex (totally disconnected from all sorts of reality and MY reality, as it turned out). Not saying this is your situation, but my ex also would have been “sad” which is not an emotion I see as valid in this situation. It’s not his thing, it’s yours. If you don’t need to generate income from this, then I don’t understand the push and emotions going on here. If you do, that’s a totally different issue that should have been discussed up front.
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I may have missed it but if you only have a 4 stall barn and your own “horses” that math in my head doesn’t equal a barn full of open stalls for potential boarders. Even if you have two stalls open…totally not worth the hassle for what will likely be little to no profit.
I also find it odd this makes your husband “sad”. If making money was the end game, why is this just coming up now?
If OP’s husband would set down with a CPA who knows farm/ranch tax laws there are many ways to make this adventure profitable for all parties.
I am recalling form my experience. All the boarding expense incurred by my business was a business expense. The business paid handsomely for the professional care of the boarding farm, not unreasonable amounts but by far more then normal…all was a business expense. (The cost for care rather than being paid with after tax personal dollars was before tax dollars not subject to SS/Medicare or personal income taxes…saving was about 40%)
Farm Leased the barns and grounds from us personally… lease payments are not subject to SS/Medicare (about 15% savings) … Farm paid the lease using money earned from boarding.
Personally we were able to depreciate the building and improvements reducing our tax burden.
As noted before…everything was separated. Each had their own books, their own boards of directors and paid their taxes.
Rather than talking back and forth, if he were to seek professional advise from a tax consultant maybe the light bulb would come on
(But, personally I just get the feeling there is more to this than profitability which is nothing more than a Red Herring in the discussion)
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I like to think that I have a great eye and I do have a lot of connections, but I have no interest in being a pro. I also have never had an interest in training or flipping horses- I just used that as an example for how clueless my husband is. I would, however, love to have an empty stall to fill with another right off the track for RRP eventually…FOR MYSELF lol
I definitely think “command” is the wrong word, but I understand that since you do not actually know my husband and his demeanor, my post may come off that way. I have also been short tempered with him for these unrealistic ideas that he keeps coming up with.
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would have been so much better to start the discussion of what YOU were interested in possible generating money ideas. nobody singled him out, but it is how you generated your first post. About his ideas ‘for’ you. So, is the vineyard profitable? What do you like to do that could generate money? start there. I’m not sure how many pies you can have your hands in…full time jobs, a vineyard, kids, home, horses, barn. But maybe you like to craft or knit or something. Hope you can find time for whatever it is, and that it brings you joy.
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Totally agree with all this. If a business and profit were goals with building the barn and 4 stalls, this should have been discussed up front and with a CPA as you mention, not as an afterthought that clearly both parties are not aligned with. I would still argue, and this is my own personal stance of never wanting business and pleasure to overlap…that while you could theoretically make some extra money with boarding out a stall or two, if that isn’t what OP wants to do, it will likely never be worth it unless money is super tight. If bringing OPs horses home was OPs dream that’s where it should start and end.
There are two ways to make money out of horses.
1 follow with a shovel.
- Ride someone elses horse who pays all Bill’s.
When Carl Hester was here he said that they could not survive without teaching.
Think of that. They probably board, can train cheap horses and sell high but they still travel the world teaching because they have to.
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well, personally I know of at lest two additional ways… we found we had oil and gas under the horses’ pasture, just the drilling rights paid us more then we ever spent on the horses and now developers want our horses’ pasture to plant houses… what we bought for a reasonable amount in 1984 is now worth a whole lot more as these developers are talking dollars per square foot. The current new house here is now over a million and sets on a postage stamp sized lot.
If he wants to make more money with the land/farm/horse structures, suggest a big pole barn where he can rent the space for people to park their boats and RV’s and horse trailers seasonally. One time in, one time out per year. I gasp at what that sort of thing costs, so someone is making money on it for sure.
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I agree that I don’t get to be mad at your husband for being unrealistic, but that you do, LOL.
But amirite?
Again, I might just have one-too-many clueless people around me lately who want to help… after I help them play catch-up enough that they realize they can’t or that it takes a level of analysis that’s not fun anymore. Of course, that’s where I was already standing. I make it a point to never take business advice from people who lack credentials; it just can’t end well. And the older I get, the quicker I am to recognize their inexperience and close that conversation. So watching another woman twist around trying to make her less-experienced husband right or feel included in a long post strikes me as this not being about business at all. You already know the answer. He does not. Let him figure it out, but not on your time.
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When we built our barn, I had been boarding my horses for decades (not all the same animals, of course). I’d variously boarded at full-care barns, partial self-care barns, co-op type places, and leased large pastures with/without run-in sheds.
I’d grown up with horses (my family had quite a few), so had what I thought was a realistic idea of what I wanted/needed, what it would cost and the effort/time required, and so on. I figured out when the break-even point on clearing land, fencing, building a barn, putting in an arena, and purchasing the necessary equipment, in terms of how many years it would take, as compared to the costs if I had continued boarding.
But, after bringing the horses home, what was eye-opening was the large savings in fuel costs, and the great reduction in miles driven (with all those associated expenses: oil, tires, vehicle service, vehicle years of use) that became apparent. I’d allowed for the time saved in not driving back and forth to the boarding facilities – had figured I’d use that time maintaining our place – and something for gas, but I guess it had never sunk in to me just how much it had been costing, in total, to travel to my horses.
So, for me, the “profit” in having my own barn is a) I’m not making someone else’s land payment, but our own, b) my vehicle lasts longer because I’m driving what amounts to thousands of miles less per year (even a relatively short commute adds up), and b) far less is spent on fuel costs. As a result, the break-even on our barn was shortened substantially, even without factoring in that the cost of board would not have remained static but undoubtedly increased over the years.
These savings are profit, in a way. Spending less money than was previously expended on a hobby IS like bringing in extra money in some other way. Getting that commuting to the barn time back, to use in a different way, is of value, as well. Time is the most precious resource we have.
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Are you his wife or his employee? Tell him to go make his own side hustle if hes that concerned. I would have laughed in his face but maybe that’s why I’m single :lol:
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I suggest your husband browse the help wanted ads since this is all, his want.
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This is partially why I am divorced :lol:
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