I’ve definitely boarded at barns where extra services cost more.
Want a hay net? $100 per month
Boots on and off? $100 per month
Horse needs solo turnout? $X per month
Very wet horse needing lots of shavings? Extra $X per month
In our area (southwestern ontario), labour is hard to come by. And barn labour is skilled labour … hard, potentially dangerous and requiring technique to not waste expensive resources (if you’ve ever had someone ‘help’ clean a stall and make a huge mess, you know what I mean). We have had several barns move to a do it yourself model, modified ‘part livery’ like in the UK (BO may turn out but you are responsible for most extra’s) etc.
I personally like the transparency. And when different horses need different things, I appreciate being able to pay extra for wha you need without it being an insult that you are asking for it!
It will be interesting to see how this goes as more established barn owners retire and the news ones are carrying the load of higher expenses. I also worry that a lot of places will close, leaving horses only for the very select few.