I didn’t think you were intending to do so Honest and open conversations are absolutely welcome. Just don’t be surprised if people are super honest and open back. I love this forum for it’s genuineness - you won’t get overly polite answers…but it can be a little surprising if you aren’t used to it.
I think honestly sometimes as barn owners we sweat daily under the weight of expectations of our customers and we also hate the way certain things are ourselves, so we’re teetering on an edge. It shouldn’t cascade down to you guys but the reality is the industry is kind of screwed up right now price-wise. If we actually charged enough for the services we provided, many wouldn’t be able to afford horses. So we suck it up, charge the least amount we can in order to not completely lose our shirts, and carry on because we love horses and horsemanship, and we don’t want to see it go away.
I’m sure an adjustment will happen at some point. I’m just hoping it’s not the final nail in the coffin for the industry.
Thanks for your perspective! Your place sounds similar to mine low-key, not stuffy or super strict on rules.
It sounds like you have a pretty great place (maybe I’m biased LOL) - I also have issues with fencing and frozen water troughs. I just got a quote on replacing our fence and about fainted…we’ll continue to patch as needed, ha. Hubby is working on a heated water trough situation because I don’t have the time to walk to each trough and break ice multiple times a day, but we need to run plumbing and electric lines to these areas. Time and money. The horses always have more than enough water in their stalls.
Believe me when I tell you that I sit inside working my full-time job and worry and stress and wring my hands while looking out the window at the horses trying to break through to get water and hope that I have enough time between meetings to gear up and go out there to drag out the hose and fill it.
Fence is money, heated troughs are money, mud management is money and yet if I increase board enough to help with these expenses (not even cover them entirely - just help!), most of my boarders would either have to find another place to go or sell their horse altogether. It’s all a really, really tough balancing act. I’m insanely grateful that I have the understanding boarders that I have. They see how hard my partner and I work to keep their horses happy, safe, and healthy.
Mud and winter are so defeating. As a BO, it’s easy to feel like you’re failing at every turn
We just got a quote for fencing paddocks (we’re talking small runs and dry lots) for over $25k. And that’s just the fencing. The quote for grading and spreading the gravel was an additional $10k. Barf.
So I’ve figured out how to leverage some fencing from another area, and now I’m trying to figure out if I can electrify the fence so that I can use less concrete to set the posts (that I will have to do) so that I can get these runs in when spring starts, the ground thaws and the mud season gets worse.
We also don’t have heated water troughs outside because there’s no way to run electricity without major trenching and another $20k project. So, when I can break it up, I do. When I can’t, they stay inside. Which really sucks, because that’s more bedding and expense cleaning, as well as not loving what that does to their health. But, the ground is icy, the windchills are super cold, only so much I can do. I have found that the heated buckets inside really have made a difference with water consumption inside, so I’m comforted.
We use slow feed hay bags that hold 1/2 bale. Still some horses will eat that whole thing before lunch (which is when they get refilled). I’ve had complaints before about the hay bag being almost empty a half hour before dinner. Like lady…look…your horse has already eaten a full 40lb bale of hay, and then they’ll have another 1/2 40 lb bale when I fill it at dinner, then another 1/2 when I fill it at night check. Going 1/2 hour without a full bag is…just fine.
I too have had loads of compliments on how we run the barn, given that the former owner of the facility only fed 2 flakes of hay twice a day (end of story) and crappy crappy grain as well as stalls that were never clean, but that doesn’t stop people from complaining whenever they feel the slightest thing isn’t perfect. We feed basically free choice hay, I have a variety of feeds, do supplements, blanketing, holding for farrier & vet, wrapping, all sorts of “show barn” amenities at “casual barn” prices, and still…
It’s exhausting. I totally feel your pain. As my boarders horses die off (many are elderly - I’m not being a jerk lol) I will not be replacing them with boarded horses. My horses will stay, but I’m done with straight boarding. I’d just boot everyone, but 5 or 6 barns in the area are closing down (plus, none of them are at our price point) so I know these people would have nowhere to go so I just haven’t done so.
On the fence thing: presumably you saw the fence when you moved your horse to where you board now. Fixing fence in mud is not easy. Replacing fence in mud sounds like a Sisyphean act.
Mud is temporary. Frozen water is temporary. If there is a way to get a heat to the water, offer to purchase it. If there’s not, realize that’s probably why it’s frozen. If you don’t want manure in the paddock, pick it yourself. Please feel free to bring your horse to my barn: I have heated water for everyone but I could use the help keeping up with the poop picking and the fence that mud-bound horses take their frustration out on and just about everything else!
Wow, reading your responses is like talking to myself in a mirror. We are in the exact same boat! Big hugs. We aren’t alone, lol.
My boarders, thankfully, have not had any complaints thus far. Not even about the mud (maybe because they hear ME complaining about it enough, lol)! The only feedback I’ve had is that one boarder thinks her mare is too fat, which she is, so I am happy to help solve that issue.
It is wild to see us all dealing with the same issues. Hugs back atcha!
Thankfully most of our boarders are great people, if they weren’t, I’d lose it completely and shut down tomorrow. I’ve managed facilities before, but I wasn’t really anticipating some of the challenges that this particular property would face. The neglect (it had been neglected for 20 years before we bought it) brought some additional challenges, and their real estate agent and the prior owners flat out lied about some things that might have influenced whether we bought the property at all.
For instance, we were told that the electricity (underground) ran to all the tanks and we could just use heaters that very nicely came with the property.
This was, to put it mildly, incorrect. The pipe that ran along the top of the fencing did not hold water (as we were told) but instead housed a wire that went to some of the tanks. The underground electricity just ran to the arena lights. This pipe was easily accessible to curious horses and had apparently caused electrocutions to horses in the past with the prior owners (two…if I can believe the stories of long time boarders). So…uhhh…no…not using that.
The electric was in such a state that if you flipped it on and turned all the heaters on at once, it would blow a fuse. So they would run those on timers that they taped to the fence. This clearly wasn’t particularly safe either, and definitely wouldn’t work for our horses who are younger and curious. Also not disclosed to us at the time of purchase…
In addition, when they fixed some of the electrical issues in the barn in order for it to pass inspection, they cut off the electricity to two of the outlets actually at the back of the barn that weren’t at that unsafe pipe, so even that easily accessible outlet doesn’t work. They didn’t mention this either, and when I asked they said “yeah, we use that every winter”. USED they USED it.
The tank heaters that “came with the property” didn’t even work when plugged into a regular functional outlet. So even though this was supposed to be a “just move in and get started” barn…yeah…it wasn’t.
So anyway - we shut off that electricity to the back since clearly THAT wasn’t safe, and are muddling through until we can get it sorted. Buying tank heaters is the least of our expenses on that project laughing. I’m debating purchasing “drinking posts” which can be used without electricity instead of running both electric and water (because hauling hoses in this weather is becoming very very old) but have to run a cost benefit analysis on that one. I may just not use those paddocks in winter if I can reconfigure things well enough with the runs.
These are all things that boarders don’t see or understand. Not just the budgeting of the projects themselves, but how much analysis goes into making those decisions and trying to come up with a better solution. Definitely not easy.
I honestly think that it must be difficult being a barn owner and probably endless, thankless work, I sure don’t want to contribute to that aspect.
We’ve had a few abandoned horses on the property of boarders that stopped paying board; and I have done my best to be emotionally supportive to the barn owner and also chip in financially for some costs that the owners neglected to pay. We were actually texting this morning because we’re concerned that a boarder has stopped paying board, second boarder with this issue, and I had chipped in some money for another horse in a similar situation, so she has a little extra for his spring shots or the farrier. My friend was paying the farrier bill for the other abandoned horse because the hooves were so overgrown, which we all did only with the barn owners blessing.
Our board just went slightly up but I know they didn’t want to raise it, but the cost of hay and grain keeps going up and up.
I do a lot of fundraising for horses in pens, which is actually how I found my horse because of her knee arthritis and being dumped there. So many horses are ending up at auctions and pens these days. Sadly people can’t afford to pay ongoing costs. I see it all too often with my rescue friends who are trying so hard to stay afloat.
It’s really interesting to me that it’s not uncommon for horse folks to not do math. My favorites are the lack of math around big facility projects.
Example, OMG this footing at this local schooling show is awful why don’t they just get XYZ brand footing. Usually followed closely by, OMG those fees at that other show facility with modern surfaced arenas are crazy high and those show managers should be ashamed!
You don’t have a footing fairy? Dang. I thought one came with the barn.
Just kidding.
I had a boarder (who I was not sorry to see go) tell me that she wanted all these improvements but shouldn’t have to pay increased board because it was considered an asset to my facility and I would enjoy it too. She thought I’d “make it up when I sold the place”… blink blinkblink blinkblink blink
No, that’s definitely…most definitely…not how this works.
Oh, yikes. What a yucky situation. Our property wasn’t exactly neglected, but it wasn’t maintained for the last 2-3 years. The previous owner just kept the horses inside a LOT instead of making changes and updates to outside situations. We’re slowly but surely making updates and needed repairs and I’m trying to remind myself that Rome wasn’t built in a day. How nice would it be to have piles of cash to throw at everything?!
Are you in the Horse Barns: Plans, Designs & Ideas group on Facebook? I literally only have a Facebook account so that I can use that group, lol. There are some wonderfully inventive, creative, and helpful folks on there. They’ve saved us a lot of time and money so far.
That tells me a lot about what your barn owner is carrying and also how the expectations might be better set at your barn. Your barn owner is being taken advantage of and while your donations and heart are in the right place, she’s going to need to stop taking on these abandoned horses and paying for their care right quick otherwise you won’t have a facility…at all.
I have one horse here whose owner has gone MIA. Not behind on board, yet, but I haven’t seen her in 3 weeks and I know she was going through some things. I’m trying to be understanding, but if I wouldn’t hand her the cash in person, I won’t float her the costs. And no, I’m not in the practice of randomly handing people hundreds of dollars a month. Last I knew I was neither a trust fund baby, nor won the lottery.
So you can bet your butt that horse will be sold after the lien period (and appropriate legal proceedings) if she doesn’t show up. He will get his feet trimmed (not his fancy shoes) and if I need to pull a coggins before he goes I will, but I will not take him on. He’s a lovely soul, but I have 4 of my own, which includes 2 that were given to me as an alternative to the sale, I don’t need another training project. My heart breaks for him, but if that’s the way it has to be, that’s the way it will be.
Your barn owner is operating under a very heavy load. Pitching in physically would be a good thing as well.
Sounds like your property’s former owners got out when they realized that the maintenance costs were too high. That’s a good thing! Our former owners either tried to do the maintenance themselves but did it cheaply (lots and lots of duct tape) or they just didn’t use thing x anymore. It’s a small property and 4 paddocks weren’t used at all because they couldn’t be bothered to fix things.
I keep trying to remind myself that Rome wasn’t built in a day as well but it is SO hard. All I see are the broken things, the messy things, or the less than ideal things. I keep trying to take pictures as I go so that I can see all the good we already have done, but pictures don’t always capture it. Like, pictures aren’t going to show the $10k we sank into new flashing and gutters so that the barn roof would stop leaking. The new barn aisle and water we had to run don’t really show the $10k we had to put into that either. It’ll be another $5k to do what I want so that it’s not just gravel. That would be visible, but has to go behind some of the other, more pressing, fixes.
I am in that group! I’m also in a few other horse barn owner groups (there’s another Horse Barn Owners group that is super helpful) and it’s helpful to get both tips and commiseration!
OMG that made me gasp. That’s almost the worst thing ever. I have no one to blame but myself as I keep horses at home, but trying to wrench a gate out of frozen mud has brought me to tears before. Usually while the farrier is waiting to be let in and I need to move horses or something. Sob.
I will freely admit to kicking the corner of the gate so hard the old gate finally gave way and broke at the corner before it actually came loose. I may have let out a primal scream that morning.
I feel this thread in my bones. I also bought a farm that had been neglected for 20+ years. Made a bunch of improvements in the first year and then dipped my toe in the boarding business. I knew there was a pretty good chance boarding wouldn’t be my thing, but there’s a huge need around here so I figured I’d give it a go. I inherited 3 pasture boarders, who were pretty low maintenance (except for the MUD), but a couple winters ago offered stall board to a few horses (all owned by friends). THAT didn’t go well. I had to ask one boarder to take her mare home after a month. The mare would take down fences, jump out of her paddock, kick holes in stalls, and in general be a pain in my ass. The owner was utterly over faced and unable to give the mare the training and program she needed to not be a pain in my ass. So out she went. The other boarders made it through the winter, but I was joyful come spring when they moved out. I very quickly made the decision to not board the following winter - it cost a friendship, but my sanity is worth way more than any friends I’ll ever have.
Aside from the extra work and money and aggravation that is largely unseen and unappreciated by boarders, the final straw for me was when I started to resent the horses themselves. I can tolerate annoying quirks in my own horses allll day long, but as soon as someone else’s horse was wasting my time or causing unanticipated work, my blood pressure hit the roof. I hated that I felt that way and the guilt was pretty intense. Needless to say, I now have my own private facility and it’s glorious.
Your post made me feel much more assured in my decision to not offer boarding. I went in on a small property with my parents in 2019, with the intent to eventually offer boarding to a few horses in addition to keeping my own. However, the property ended up needing more work than we initially anticipated, and then my herd grew to the point where we didn’t really have room for anyone else. Also after crunching numbers, I realized I couldn’t charge what was necessary to make boarding worth it in my area. I love horses, but even mine make me want to scream and rip my hair out certain days. I couldn’t imagine dealing with other people’s horses and their “quirks” on a regular basis (I used to work in multiple different barns and definitely found myself resenting certain trouble makers, but how quickly we forget). So thank your for reassuring me that I made the correct decision, even though my mom is still salty about it lol.
Ah good! I’m glad I could help reassure you. I totally forgot to mention the other boarder I had to ask to leave because she’s reckless and I just knew she was going to get herself, her horse, or someone else killed. Sure enough, not too long after she moved out she had an accident and her horse paid the ultimate price.
We all know boarding is break even, at best. I intentionally set up my business model so I wouldn’t have to rely on boarding as a loss leader if it didn’t work out for me. BEST decision I ever made. My herd has grown from 2 to 5 and I am absolutely working harder than ever, but it’s 100% on my own terms and for my own children. Lol.
I feel like we could be commiserating besties with the 20 year old neglected farm front.
I decided my 20+ stalls will sit empty unless filled with my personal horses. The rate of boarding in my area would barely cover feed and bedding cost. I’d have to do all the work myself and would still loose money. I work a full time gig and barely have time to ride as it is. I don’t know how barns charger less that 800.00 a month for boarding. If they do, they aren’t making a dime.
We had the same mare & boarder. I sighed the BIGGEST sigh of relief when her owner decided she was going to try something different and leave. In the span of less than a year she had attempted to jump a 5’ gate and mostly made it over (gate now bent, boarder didn’t pay), nearly killed me more than once spooking and attempting to run over me, went into the most ridiculous heat ever, causing my gelding who was never studdy before to become completely studdy and protective of her to the point that people walking in the paddock was unsafe…I changed herds, paddocks, and overall just attempted to get that mare to a point where she wasn’t causing issues, and finally the owner said “I want to put her in with a full mixed herd because I think she was happier there” to which point I said “thanks, but bye”. She was miserable to manage and so has her owner’s number to the point that she can’t even lead her without her being a lunatic.
I’ve never been so happy to see the back end of a horse.
We had another just like your dangerous boarder. Refused to wear a helmet despite multiple TBIs with a young horse who was rearing and flipping (multiple times) on her. I inherited this boarder when I bought the place, insisted she wear a helmet, and she left because of “price increases”. Buh-bye. Horrifying. I guess she finally traded that horse for another, and then went through 3 in the span of a year.
I wish everyone could read this thread and when the question comes up of “why are good boarding barns closing and only the crappy ones are left” or “why does every barn require me to be in a training program”…they’d understand a bit better.
Oh dude. We are the same person. I have never seen red like when that mare jumped INTO the paddock with my gelding and when he trotted over to say hi, she turned her butt to him and started squirting and squatting and then trying to kick his face in. Wait, that’s not true. I might have been more mad when the reckless boarder (who also refused to wear a helmet) with the green-as-grass, one-eyed horse who bucked her off every third time she rode him decided to mount him from the back of her pick-up truck and he bucked her off, got loose and ran into traffic. That was super fun. And then it was on me to sink a post and put up a barrier across the access road so that never happened again.
Honest and open conversations are absolutely welcome. Just don’t be surprised if people are super honest and open back. I love this forum for it’s genuineness - you won’t get overly polite answers…but it can be a little surprising if you aren’t used to it.
low-key, not stuffy or super strict on rules.
