It’s interesting - I boarded for a while, and was surprised that board costs in this area have not gone up much since I was a kid. I would expect them to. All the same, the barn owner at that facility was making bank!
The contract was very clear with the fact care was basic, and prices on what we needed to pay for additional services. I liked that - it was very plain how things worked, so we knew, and paid if we wanted additional services. It was a 120 horse facility, so that made it more attractive to the trail riders and show riders could pay more for the additional care they wanted, and knew how much it would be in advance.
Hay was limited to 20 lbs/day, and you had to pay more for any additional hay. It was not high quality hay, so I had to do that. The BO was paying about $12/bale, and while bales were typically 105-110 lbs, if you round it to 100, board included 6 bales/month.
Outdoor stalls didn’t come with shavings, and we had to pay $15 per tractor scoop load - the BO told me he made a profit on that. I did that twice a month, but indoor stalls did include shavings. Averaging it out, shavings cost the BO about $20/horse max if you averaged among indoor and outdoor stalls, probably less since the outdoor boarders paying for shavings mostly subsidized the indoor horses.
Water was on a well, so there were only electric costs. Say $100/horse/month which is a HUGE stretch.
I thought it would be far more, but apparently insurance was about $1000/month. Call it $1200 to make it a round number, $10/horse.
Two full time employees were not paid more for all additional tasks given. They were provided housing, and paid poorly. I suspect it was not far above $1200 each. Call it $20/horse.
The property and facilities were paid off, so he already had paid for it. $0
Hay: $72
Shavings: $20
Utilities: $100
Insurance: $10
Workers: $20
Total: $222
Average board: $350/month
Difference: $128
Remaining money to pay himself, pay repairs, improvements, well and fence repair, etc.: $15,360/month.
The BO was rarely there, working a couple hours a day and chasing tail the rest of the time. As long as the care was up to a good standard, I had no issues with that. After my horse was cast in his stall and I found out from someone else who had seen it that the employees had to team up to get him free and no one called me (like they were supposed to, with number written on the front of his stall) I started shopping for horse property. When there was a deep freeze which broke the well and he did not bother to make sure horses had water, I left at the start of the next month (and watered a large number of horses myself, hauling in water, for the 5 days there was no well water.)
I’m currently paying more to board two horses at my trainer’s, and feel as if he may be losing money on me. He doesn’t have the streamlined high volume setup, he feeds as much hay as necessary, feeds grain, blankets, turns out, regular care, has made changes to suit my TB, etc. Plus, he does most of the work himself when he could be teaching lessons and making far more per hour.
It really just depends on setup and care given. That first place was fancy looking and has a really slick setup for caring for the horses - corrals were built with an aisle the width of the tractor scoop between them, and the employees would scoop out manure into the aisle, then pick it up with the tractor. VERY efficient for high volume poop picking! When the place was originally bought, it probably had about a $1k mortgage, and maybe that much more for loans to build the facilities. Of course, hay was only $8/bale at the time. I’m sure insurance was even less, too. So altogether, due to size/setup a really profitable place, and the owner was quickly able to quit his other job. That said, I think no true horse person would be so impersonal with so few employees for so many horses…
Man, if you’re ready to work, someone will always be happy to let you!
