If it were me, I’d choose barn B. You can go out, do a check and kiss on the nose and be home in less time that it would take to get to barn A. Plus for me, arenas are a must
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OP here - thank you so much for your thoughts, I really appreciate it!! The responses helped me think through what is most important instead of being in the weeds. I hate barn shopping 
The commute time is a killer - my longest barn commute has been 60-90 minutes and the shortest commute has been 20 minutes. I did the 60-90 minutes for 3 years and did make it out 4-6 times a week (no kids) but it was miserable and I moved to be closer. That said, I am leaning towards A because:
A has a setup that I really like. It’s 24/7 turnout but the each turn out field has it’s own 5 stall barn and each horse has a dedicated stall. They come into their stalls for AM and PM feeding and blanket changes so staff lays eyes on them at least twice a day. My horse has done 24/7 and stall board, this setup is sort of the best of both. She prefers being out full time.
A is an expansion of an existing stall board barn that has an exceptional reputation for care and is always full. I’ve dealt with the general manager for an unrelated matter and my blood pressure just goes down around her, she is probably the most professional horse person I’ve ever dealt with. Given my current experience, this matters a lot to me. I try to be empathetic, but I am tired of dealing with burned out people who are too overwhelmed by their barn management and training responsibilities to do either well. At this point, I am OK with paying more to get better staffing levels and care.
The lack of an arena is huge, but I live in Maryland so it’s really only bad 2-3 months out of the year. It would be a major lifestyle change, but I am not a serious competitor and I mostly wimp out at 25 degrees or less.
I used to have access to fairly unlimited hacking at a former barn (the 60-90 minute) and I loved it. I have never had access to that kind of hacking since and I’ve really missed it. My husband purchased a horse a couple of years ago and he loves hacking too. Barn A gives us access to four trainers, but also a huge variety in hacking.
Finally, because we have no kids and rent, we can actually move closer to Barn A this July if we really want. The area is basically the same as the one we live in now. The move would put us 30 minutes closer to both of our offices where we have to be 2X a week whenever they open back up. Even though moving is a huge pain, we sold our house in 2020 and seriously downsized. And we have no plans to buy until we retire in 4-5 years so our situation is fluid.
I am still thinking, but I am super grateful to have a community to bounce ideas off of. Thank you very much!
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Even without knowing that you were nearby, I had a decent guess about facility A - it popped up on a facebook group recently. It looks really nice and the kind of setup my mare would love (we board with my trainer on the other side of town though so not moving). And having a manager you trust is worth a lot. My current drive to the barn is 50mn on a normal day so I feel you on the haul and we considered moving closer like you are, I’ve adjusted my work hours to leave before rush hour really picks up.
Although I used to board at a farm where I’d have to walk a bit to get to an indoor and in the winter that’s less than ideal (like last week). Would you miss the community with how the barns are spread out across the property or is that not a concern for you?
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Ah, I know where you’re talking about now too. It looks really nice and, yes, hacking around there is fantastic. Do you have a trailer? If so, worst case you could haul less than 5 min to the indoor at the main facility, right?
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Too funny that you all figured out where I was talking about! It popped up on my FB feed too. I’ve visited twice now and it’s just so unbelievably peaceful. It’s designed so thoughtfully and just feels like a place a horse would love and feel very relaxed in. They even ripped up the fields to plant horse-specific grass.
And yes, the arena would probably be exactly 5 minutes on a trailer. I haven’t been mentally counting the arena in the equation because I think it’s frequently busy, especially at night and on the weekends. But I can carve daytime out of work 1-2 times a week, I just have to make it up off hours.
It’s set up such that I think you could have as much or as little community as you want. And that really appeals to me because sometimes I feel like being social, and sometimes my horse could be the only other living being I feel like seeing 
Find out what inclement weather means before you move. I prefer my mare be in for a while during the day in summer, as it’s so hot and buggy here and in if it’s really lightening. Otherwise, she can be out as much as possible. Rain, cold, whatever.
The barn I moved to a few months ago tries to keep the horses in every time it drizzles a little 
I should’ve asked more questions before moving. In my case, I chose the closer barn, so at least I can go a turn her out for a few hours myself when I need to.
Thanks for the additional information OP, glad our ideas helped you to sort things out
Bottom line its a personal choice that will always require compromise.
But…nothing lasts forever, sh*t happens. Always good to keep a plan B in mind. I had a trainer who owned the family run barn and property I was in for over a decade die after a 5 year battle. The care, understandably, started to slide the last couple of years but after, her survivors sold it (too many memories, couldn’t find another quality trainer, grown children did not want to run it) and new owners took it private. Understand they will be subdividing it.
Be prepared if you board out.
Yes! I once moved to a barn that would keep them on for nearly any cloud, sprinkle, wind gust and if the ground wasn’t rock hard. My horse was crazy there and it just didn’t work out. But they advertised turnout 6 days a week…
What Findeight said. This is not a lifetime commitment. Go to the closer location first. See how it goes. It will be convenient to do. If it doesn’t work out, then move.
I would go for close to home if you can be sure the care will be good. Take a look around and see if all the horses are happy and in good weight. That should give you an idea. Simply ask the BM how many horses would be allowed in the turnout your horse would have.
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I also quickly figured out Barn A as I have been at the sister facility of Barn A since it was built – first on stall board with my very high maintenance gelding and since then on various half leases in stall and field board. The care is excellent – I live 40 miles away, have taken trips where I was totally unreachable, and never worried about my high maintenance diva – and I have boarded at other barns where I felt I needed to be there daily. You can get a good idea of how much turnout the stall board horses at the sister facility have been getting this January if you pull up the sister barn’s twitter feed (it is public). Turnout (and how the horses are blanketed) is posted daily. Unless it is really snowy/icy, they have been going out.
The hacking out for Barn A is fabulous –it has easy hacking access to about 2,000 acres of private land that has been placed into conservation easements (so won’t be developed), with woods with maintained trails, and hay, corn, and soybean fields with grass hacking paths around them.
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Me, i would choose based on what is nicer for my horse. Horse’s health and happiness supercede my convenience. For me, it would be A. Wholeheartedly A
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Barn A for me as well
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So, my only qualm about this setup would be how separation anxiety and attachment issues are handled. Barn A advertises that horses can use their stalls for “Optional four-month summer turnout management program for sugar sensitive horses.” And although I can’t find it now I swear the email I got from them said something about lay-ups. In my experience having 3-5 equines at home, that small herd setup tends to lead to attachment issues more than a larger barn where horses are always coming and going. If your horse needs to be on stall rest or even in for the day for the farrier, and panics alone in the barn, I wonder how they plan to deal with that. I would be extra concerned due to the open, European-style stall fronts that could invite an escape attempt. It might work out okay, I’d just want to know what the plan is. I’m not sure they would have dealt with that in the main barn because it’s so large and busy.
Over the past eight years I’ve had nine horses and two donkeys at my farm, 3-5 at a time, and I’ve only had one equine (a very confident pony mare) who truly didn’t care if she was alone either in the barn or in the field. A second one (older, benevolent-dictator type of dominant gelding) cares a bit but can handle being alone 98% of the time (like he usually just chills at the gate or maybe walks around and neighs once in a while, but if something else is going on like cold gusty wind or construction next door, he will start galloping). The other nine I could not trust alone. And all of my neighbors do have horses too, but seeing horses next door is apparently not enough. IME separation from the herd seems to be the one thing that can make an otherwise sensible horse completely lose its sense of self-preservation.
Over the years I’ve had to be creative when one horse needs to be on stall rest. For example, I was able to turn the pony out during the hot summer days alone so she could be a barn buddy overnight while others got turned out. Another time I took my sound horse to a friend’s farm and brought home her lame horse who also needed stall rest. A couple times I’ve just had to not turn anyone out until they can all go, which really sucks (they have runs off the stalls but it’s not the same as real turnout). I can do those things because they’re all my horses and I don’t have to worry about customer satisfaction or staff compliance. But I wonder what the plan is at Barn A.
I really appreciate everyone’s thoughtful responses. Barn shopping is really difficult and full of trade-offs, I wish I could buy a farm and have them at home but it’s just not possible right now.
I decided to go with Barn A. I just feel a lot more confident in the care there. Not that Barn B would be bad but the staffing seemed low for 60 horses and that worries me. I’ve been at my current barn for almost 5 years and I was pretty happy until the last 6-8 months. Staff turnover and barn-owner burnout means I now pre-package my own food, check blankets every day because my horse is sweating or freezing half the time, gate latches are broken or left open, the list goes on.
I am very cautiously hopeful the new situation will be better, and we plan to move closer to there this summer.
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One thought on driving distance, in many cases being close is not about convenience. Its about going to the barn period.
Maybe hasty to assume its just convenience. The extra hour or more of drive time may just not be there depending on career and family obligations.
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