The little "extras" at Boarding Barn

[Edre]

Yay:
a schedule that was kept. Horses out at x time. In at y. Feed grain at a. Hay is at a b and c times. Stalls get cleaned at h time. Horses are watered every x hours.
Of course there is some flexibility but having a schedule that is generally kept makes me so very happy. It also makes it easier to plan things (ride time - stay out of the way of the tractor in the aisle whilst they clean stalls, example).

Attentive staff. My horse was turned out every day by the person who was also my instructor. When something was wrong she addressed it immediately and contacted me. He has lost a shoe. He is lame I suggest you call the vet. There is a scrape it is not serious I put corona on it.

Management that maintains facilities (and communicates big projects ahead of time). Gonna overhaul the arena footing and it won’t be good to ride on for several days? Advanced notice please! Likewise, keeping up on fencing, footing, pest control.

Under promise and over deliver, basically. Do not talk about what you want to do or what your plans are. Lay out what you offer. Do it well.

Agree with the above that feeding and bedding tend to be areas of contention. Facilities that have hay nets are AWESOME and make me SO HAPPY. Likewise, feed hay on a reasonable schedule please. Not just twice a day 6 hours apart (10am/3pm).

[streamline]

I’ve always done self care or worked off all my board + was in charge of my horses 😑😑

When I moved states I found the cheapest pasture board possible, the lady who ran the boarding place was amazing. She put a lot of ground manner time into my wild TB. She scheduled the farrier for me and did worming herself. No extra charges (like I said it was the cheapest, and best ran place in the area imo)

I think communication is so important. Blanketing/un blanketing.

I think lots of places charge an arm and a leg for not so good care and then some sell themselves short.

Im thankful I no longer board. It’s just me dealing with myself (and sometimes my DHs wild parents, they own the place 😂)

[firefoot]

@mmeqcenter

Time is money. If you’re not paying for training board, or paying top-dollar at a facility that works in holding fees to their board prices, it’s perfectly reasonable to expect to pay for holding and extra services that are not included. IMO it is completely unreasonable to expect a BO to hold your horse for service appointments (especially when using your own farrier/vet and it’s not part of a group appointment) for free when you’re paying for just basic board.

I know people who expect a BO to hold their horse for everything, even if their horse requires a 4-hour emergency vet appointment at midnight, but they pay $300/month for board and are always looking for a better deal. Excuse me, no. At $300/month, your board includes daily standard care, which is hay, grain, bedding, feeding, turning in/out, and stall cleaning. That’s it. I’m all about a deal, don’t get me wrong, I always looked for the cheapest board I could find when I boarded, but I did not expect any extra stuff. It doesn’t matter if your horse stands in the cross ties like an angel. The BO/BM still has to go out of their way to bring them in from the field or pull them out of their stall, wait around, and put them back. It’s not nickle-and-diming, it’s appropriately compensating people for their time. And I did have this same opinion when I boarded (thankfully I have my own farm now). If I couldn’t get to a service appointment, emergency or scheduled, I would ask one of my parents to go (when I lived local to them). If they couldn’t, I expected to pay the BO. Period. I really don’t understand why people have such a problem with this. A basic boarding barn is there to take care of your horse’s basic daily needs, not everything else.

Absolutely agree 150%. I think it’s hard for people to understand holding and blanketing fees if they don’t have experience running or working in a barn. You’re in a tough spot as a BO because if you include blanketing and holding fees in board, you’ll have people balking that it’s too high, but then if you have them as extras, people feel like they’re getting nickled and dimed. I personally hate nothing more than going out in the evening to blanket horses in the field. I do it if they need it, don’t get me wrong, I am fortunate to have a small number of horses that come when called and stand well for blanketing, but it usually means I have to make a special trip to the barn (which is two miles down the road, but nevertheless) and therefore plan my day around making sure it gets done when it’s as close to the right temperature as possible so they don’t get too hot or too chilled. Planning and effort goes into the timing, consideration, and execution, and it should be compensated. Additionally, blanketing a clipped horse is way more effort for a longer period of time, even if it’s just a trace clip – all that blanketing shouldn’t be free! Of course it’s a little different if the horses are in at night in the winter, but for horses on field field or, in my case, a hybrid field board where they’re in for a few hours in the first part of the day, 1 or 2 in the afternoon can be too early to blanket for the night.

And holding is a matter of safety and respect. I don’t know many farriers that will shoe a horse that isn’t being held, even if it’s usually good. What happens when the tractor backfires or another horse gets lose and runs down the aisle? That usually good horse can cripple a farrier and/or itself in a minute even with supervision, but at least having someone competent at its head paying attention can give everyone a chance.

[MsM]

Getting past the basic care and turnout that you should have but don’t always get - the nice extras for me are the individualized care items. One horse messes with his water buckets, so they are placed on the outside of his grill door. Another kicks the grill so he gets a padded bar as a door. My guy is insecure in his space so he gets a full sliding door. At least one of two educated handlers sees and leads the horses every day so problems are noted and reported promptly. (“Your horse is behaving really well - We think he’s sick!”) And when my horse needed a smaller paddock, they were out there constructing one of hotwire!

This is why I like boarding at a smaller place where the BO also rides. Another perk is being able to try out a bit or other tack from her stash!

I also appreciate clarity in what is provided and expected. If blanket changes are provided, what does this mean? What are the limits?

The farrier that does most of the horses (including BOs) prefers to do them on the crossties. Someone is around to monitor and move horses in and out, but unless the horse has an issue, he finds them quieter and less distracted on the crossties. I am always there for mine now that I am retired (and he needs special stuff) but the BO doesn’t charge for holding. She finds things run more smoothly if she or the other worker can just move the horses as needed, though you can certainly be there if you want.

[mymarekitty]

@Redlei44

Boarding-only barns? Or training/full-care/show barns? A lot of things that are included in the higher price of the latter would be super “extras” if they were offered at the former

For both, a bathroom that is kept clean(ish!), stocked, climate controlled, and is big enough to change in is a good one.

An online billing/payment system is nice and still uncommon, I believe.

Apologies, I should have been more specific! I would love to hear from both sides, but I was looking at primarily training/full-care/show barns.

[EventingMaff]

I’m at a full-service boarding barn. I travel 4 days a week,every week, so I rely on the barn to oversee all of mare’s care while away.

Things I REALLY appreciate:

• Free choice hay, if they see she’s running low, they toss her more. Doesn’t matter if she’s out or in, she always has hay in front of her.

• Clean and organized with focus on the RIGHT things. This barn is not fancy, but it’s well run and that matters more to me then high end. I don’t care if stall grates are freshly painted, I do care that the aisle is swept clean at nearly all times, water buckets are scrubbed daily, items are returned to their proper place. I want safe, I don’t care about fancy.

• Taking my mare’s personality into account. My mare LOVES attention and people. Barn manager noticed she was begging for it (especially during the week when I was gone). Asked me if I was OK with lesson kids grooming her while supervised so that she got the attention she was asking for. LOVED that - both that she thought of it and ran it by me first.

• Communication - while communication could be a bit better in my opinion, key things are communicated when I’m away. I would love a bit more regular updates but realize that I should already be thankful that I get told the important bits!

What I WISH my barn would switch over to:

• Digitalization. Currently all barn information is shared on white boards in the barn. I would LOVE for an online information source as I’m only at the barn on weekends. The white boards are kept up to date and lesson scheduling is well run (e.g. they have a schedule of all lesson bookings so if you’re bringing in an outside trainer you know when the ring will be most open to get maximum use of your time) - I just wish it was online so I could see it while traveling!

-Also digitlization - payments! I HATE having to write checks for everything. Just let me pay with online banking! (this isn’t just boarding barns - it’s ALL equine services aside from my vet. Trainer, Farrier, saddle fitter…so many checks!!)

[kashmere]

My BOs really make a point of giving their boarders value for their money. Nothing is flashy, but everything is functional and well maintained. I know my board goes toward getting good quality hay, keeping the footing in good condition, replacing fencing before it becomes a problem, etc. If the cost of something goes up (bedding, hay, etc) they raise board rates to cover it - but they provide ample notice, and they increases have only ever been modest. It never feels like a cash-grab, and I love that they are unwilling to let the quality of their care slip. I’d much rather pay an extra $40/month to make sure my mare’s bedding is sufficient than not have an increase and wonder why my mare’s stall is bare.

They also take the time to organize things so they are easy, even if not free (or “extra”). For example, there is a big cupboard stocked with basic medical supplies - bandages, poultices, syringes, disinfectant, banamine (in the fridge), etc. We all pay a yearly fee ($25) that goes toward keeping it full. This is SO much cheaper than trying to keep one’s own full stock of supplies, that even though it’s not a free extra, their time and organization in keeping this for us makes it feel like an extra.

Other things;

• lesson schedule clearly posted
• arena rules/guidelines posted
• new boarders receive a copy of barn guidelines - I loved it when I moved in, it made me feel welcome. Now that I’ve been there some years, I love that the new boarders are able to get into the flow of the barn quickly

Biggest thing:

GENUINE care for the horses. They always act in the best interest of the horse first, period.

[MorganGal13]

@PrincessPonies

As the person who was almost always the one stuck holding people’s horses for the farrier and vet I have to say unless you are paying training or a more expensive board I see no reason why someone shouldn’t be charged a holding fee. Often times it requires walking the horse to and from the field. Or leaving a horse in and giving more hay. Most farriers we had didn’t care if the horse stood well in cross ties they wanted someone around. Even the best behaved horse can act up and they wanted someone who knew the horse around if that happened. Anyone who thinks that holding is no big deal should try doing it for multiple horses. It may not seem like a big deal for one horse but when you have multiple boarders expecting it than it becomes one.

Having someone “around” and actually holding for the farrier are two different things, though. If my horse stands well in cross ties and is good for the farrier, and the BM/employees are around anyway, why should I have to pay extra if they aren’t actually holding the horse? The same applies for a group vet visit, where they are just going stall to stall to administer shots or other group routine care.

[MorganGal13]

@kashmere

My BOs really make a point of giving their boarders value for their money. Nothing is flashy, but everything is functional and well maintained. I know my board goes toward getting good quality hay, keeping the footing in good condition, replacing fencing before it becomes a problem, etc. If the cost of something goes up (bedding, hay, etc) they raise board rates to cover it - but they provide ample notice, and they increases have only ever been modest. It never feels like a cash-grab, and I love that they are unwilling to let the quality of their care slip. I’d much rather pay an extra $40/month to make sure my mare’s bedding is sufficient than not have an increase and wonder why my mare’s stall is bare.

They also take the time to organize things so they are easy, even if not free (or “extra”). For example, there is a big cupboard stocked with basic medical supplies - bandages, poultices, syringes, disinfectant, banamine (in the fridge), etc. We all pay a yearly fee ($25) that goes toward keeping it full. This is SO much cheaper than trying to keep one’s own full stock of supplies, that even though it’s not a free extra, their time and organization in keeping this for us makes it feel like an extra.

Other things;

• lesson schedule clearly posted
• arena rules/guidelines posted
• new boarders receive a copy of barn guidelines - I loved it when I moved in, it made me feel welcome. Now that I’ve been there some years, I love that the new boarders are able to get into the flow of the barn quickly

Biggest thing:

GENUINE care for the horses. They always act in the best interest of the horse first, period.

This sounds like the ideal place!! All boarding facilities should have a list of guidelines so that even long-time boarders don’t accidentally step on the BO’s toes by breaking a rule that they didn’t know about (believe me, I’ve been on the receiving end of that one!). And I love the idea of an accessible, fully stocked med cabinet. I’d happily pay a small yearly fee for that.

[StarPattern]

I work at a big Equestrian facility, but I also board my horses, so I see it from both ends of the coin.

As a boarder, I hate being charged for extras like blanketing, but I also see it from a labor point of view - the barn I work at has kept the base prices low and provided a list of extras that the boarder can add on to make the package as basic or deluxe as their budget allows. For example, indoor board in a heated, brand new facility is $695. Stalls are 12x12 with auto waterers, stall mattresses and wood/wrought iron sliding doors. The barn has a huge heated indoor arena, plus multiple places to ride. This includes hay twice a day plus all day turn out plus one blanketing (we put a blanket on in the morning if you want and take it off at night). If the boarder wants an additional feeding per day or us to monitor the weather and switch blankets accordingly, we charge for that. We have built multiple feed plans that give the boarder the option of choosing from the feed we stock (all high end, with one option being Buckeye) or providing their own. We provide a nutritionist to provide customized plans. The most expensive feed plan (geared toward a high performance horse) would cost an additional $200 and some a month. This has us buying the feed, customizing the amounts to the horse and constantly monitoring to ensure the horse is at peak physical condition from a diet point of view. The entire premise of our boarding packages is to provide a low base price and let the boarder build onto it as much or as little as they want.

Recently, we redid all the footing in the arena. Boarders had complained about the footing, so we redid it. But they also complain about the fact we had to shut the arena down for 3 days to take out all the footing, level it, grade it, sift it and then bring the rubber footing back in. Rather than being pleased that we took their concerns into consideration and redid the footing, they were upset about the fact they couldn’t ride indoors for 3 days and many demanded a board reimbursement for their inconvenience.

[pony_baloney]

Besides the obvious things listed already, my previous BO would wash my horse’s fly mask along with her horses’ masks when they were grungy. It was just a little something that I appreciated.

[RedHorses]

@MorganGal13

Having someone “around” and actually holding for the farrier are two different things, though. If my horse stands well in cross ties and is good for the farrier, and the BM/employees are around anyway, why should I have to pay extra if they aren’t actually holding the horse? The same applies for a group vet visit, where they are just going stall to stall to administer shots or other group routine care.

Unless your horse is capable of bringing themselves in, putting on the cross ties, and putting themselves back out a fee is not unreasonable. If your horse is left in for the farrier (or vet) there is extra time spent cleaning the stall and extra shavings used. There is extra work involved for the barn staff regardless of how easy you might think it is per horse.

If you think about what it would cost you in time and money to drive out, bring your horse in, wait for the farrier to do their job, put the horse back out, then drive back to work - that is what you are paying for. The convenience. Not to mention the time you might spend waiting for the farrier to show up.

Of course there are many barns that include the farrier holding fee in the base board rate.

[george]

Non training barn at $650 a month for my retired horse in California includes:

Likes: Horses turned out every day, blankets on and off, fly masks on and off, boots on and off.
Stalls well cleaned every day and regular feeding and turnout schedule.
Waters scrubbed once a week (I would like twice a week)
Hay loads are tested and hay analysis is posted. Both high and low carb hay choices plus alfalfa or a combo available. I want my horse on free choice hay and he is.
Will text me if there is a problem with my horse.
Tests whole heard for worms twice a year.
Option to be on barn vet or farrier lists for routine visits.
Will put muzzle on horses that overeat grass.
Drags arenas.
Sends out a monthly newsletter email with barn news (horses coming or leaving, things to be aware of, updates, barn events)
Unlimited hot water.
Willingness to be flexible on barn hours when I need to drive an hour after work to see the horse mid week.
Will dress minor wounds so I don’t have to come up unless it’s serious.
Clean bathroom.
Improvements to landscaping.

Things I wish for:
More deeply bedded stalls (happy to pay extra)
Better rodent control.
Better fly control.
Better footing in arena.
Encouraging boarders to worm horses more then they do.
Better feed and tack room organization.
Updated the facility so that it was safer and nicer but I chose quality of care and attention to the individual horse over a fancy stable so that’s a low priority.
Barn washer and dryer.
Re-grade pastures for better drainage and create more “sacrifice” turnouts for the winter so the horses are not standing in as deep mud.

[PalmPony]

@clanter

Wasn’t the BO or BM but the groom who took care of our mare. On one of my trips in to see the mare who was there in training I saw the groom give the mare an apple. I commented to her about how the mare really liked her. The groom just said the horse was special and the extra of getting apples for her was not any bid deal.

I talked with the trainer arranging that the horse would buy the grooms pizza or whatever they wanted once a week.

This is adorable on all sides, and reading this post made my day. Love the groom, love the owners, obviously the horse is stellar as well. Thanks for sharing this story!

[Feathered_Feet]

@BlueDrifter

Texting, yes!
At all the barns I have been at in SoCal, the farrier retrieves the horse and returns him. No barn owner needed or fees

That’s also because the horses are in stalls, not pasture, so it’s a lot easier to just walk down the aisle versus a 1/4 mile or whatever

[clanter]

@PalmPony

This is adorable on all sides, and reading this post made my day. Love the groom, love the owners, obviously the horse is stellar as well. Thanks for sharing this story!

the horse was funny, she did everything but what we bought her for, she taught us a lot about how to raise our kids, to not have a predetermined idea as to just what they would do in life

up is her trainer… the mare was “supposed” to be our kid’s English Pleasure horse
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[lenapesadie]

Things I really like about my barn: attached run on stall, routine vet and farrier care scheduled with no extra holding fee, ample space in tack room for my stuff, ability to ride a barn school horse while my guy is in training for free, adequate turn out. Things that are less than optimal: no covered arena, no round pen (though I have permission to buy one and set it up), hay is rationed, bedding is not very deep ( would be bigger issue if I had a stall without a run), lesson kids / day camps all the time ( upside is access to lesson horses), blankets not changed and no ability to add that service to my board package.

[NotoriousDesign]

I am struggling to find a new barn because of many things I consider basic no brainers:

Set feed schedule before 10am and 9pm.

Arenas drug more than once every three months.

Fences that aren’t falling down and held together with baling twine.

Enough bedding that my pretty tidy mare isn’t crunchy with urine…

More turnout for full care horses and less turnout for self care since that is what I am paying for.

If the barn decides to remove my mares sheet because it has gotten warm during the day put it back on before it dips into the 30s again that night!

[msj]

I could write forever about previous boarding barns but am just going to mention about the current barn I’m 1/2 leasing one of the owner’s horses.

A little history: I lost my last horse in 2014 and decided to not get any more simply because I hadn’t ridden since 2007. Well, I missed the horse fix terribly and as much as I could, helped others with their horses. Things like grooming them when the owners were away.

Finally a year ago I went back to my trainer (an event rider) and asked about doing a 1/2 lease on a hunt horse of her husbands. Mind you I felt like I’d never ridden before but the mare took good care of me in the indoor. Outdoor was another story and I would go out with other riders to walk around the farm but pretty much stayed inside.

They had just done some drainage work in the pasture where the mare was during the day and we’d had a lot of rain. Going out to get the mare through the mud and mire was challenging to say the least. The clay in the Genesee Valley of New York is the worst in the world I’m sure. You could get stuck in it and never get out. Needless to say it wasn’t fun.

A bit more history: I’m currently 73 yrs. old and have some balance issues! :rolleyes: I was very lucky I didn’t get stuck going through the mud or fall down, as getting back up would have been challenging if not impossible. :eek: Although using a walking stick did help but it wasn’t easy by any means.

Anyway, I got into the habit of asking the barn manager and workers to leave the mare in on the days I was coming out to ride and then made the effort to get there as early as I could.

On occasion they would forget and turn the mare out. When that happened and I would show up to ride, the barn help would go out and bring her in for me. That, for me, was the absolute greatest ‘extra’ that I could ask for.

Now I’m also riding one of the owners pervious event mares that had gone preliminary quite a few years ago, been a brood mare and was pretty much retired until a few yrs ago when another senior rider started eventing her at the Intro level and moved up through Beginner Novice to Novice. That rider got her own horse last year. I’ve even thought about doing the “Century” ride on her at a local dressage show as she’s 27 and I’m 73 so together we make it to 100. I doubt I’ll do it as I really don’t want to have to join USEF and our local dressage association just to get the Century status. I did plenty of showing when I was younger and honestly do not miss it.

[Texarkana]

I have been a boarder at over a dozen boarding barns in my adult life. It’s not that I’m a difficult boarder per se, the amount of barns was a combination of being terribly horse poor in my college/post-college years and moving states a few times. When I was at a good place, I stayed for years. I was out of the bad places pretty quickly.

I am a “hands on” owner. I need to be at a place where I can be involved in my horses’ regular care. What made my boarding experience truly exceptional was when I was at a farm that:

a) Reliably did what they promised in terms of care (feed/hay/water/turnout/stall cleaning). No “surprises.”

b) Treated my horses like individuals, as opposed to “one size fits all” care. The barn catered to horses’ individual needs. I don’t expect someone to totally change everything for my horses, but some places refuse to be flexible in their routine to accommodate anything. It’s little things like paying attention to herd compatibility or being willing to move stalls around if something isn’t working for some reason.

c) Paid attention to health/injuries/illness and notified me promptly if an issue arose.

d) Were willing to do little extras for the horses’ comfort, like fly spray/fly masks on/off in the summer, or pulling blankets on a warm day.

All of the above can be hard to do at a large, commercial facility. Most of the best places I was at were small, but I’ve been at a couple larger barns that could pull it off.