Everything is SO expensive, huge increases in fertilizer, hay, shavings, feed and not to mention LABOR! Some barns closed during covid because they couldn’t keep help. Typically barn around here with stall board and decent group turnout are $850-$950. Nicely kept pastures with board fencing get upwards of $1100. It looks like a $100-$200 per month jump this year.
SE PA, horsey area. Stall board with turnout pretty much starts at $1000. My hay prices are up 50%, feed and shavings double. Luckily labor prices are stable - my horses are at home. I’m so glad I’m old and comfortable these days. I don’t know what I would have done when I was young and poor.
Central NC, not close enough to Tryon to be in the “horsey” area.
Stall board at a show barn starts at $750 and goes up to ~$1400. Most are closer to that $1000 number, and none have stalls right now.
Stalls at a halfway decent non-show barn are around $650, give or take. Care and amenities can vary wildly within that.
Pasture board is usually $300 for bare bones (and I wouldn’t put a horse in those places myself, not unless forced), $450-$500 will get you a round bale/grain and safe pastures with a ring.
Mid hudson valley, NY. paying $600 for 24/7 board in a nice 1 1/2 acre (est) field, hay and grain is supplied! we are on like 80 acres and we have an indoor + decent sized outdoor. if i wanted to do full board tho it’d be $1,000 but honestly the facilities make up for it. all the stalls have 12x12 runouts and its generally very well kept. BO is also soo generous with hay which i love, they always have it available
Midwest/NW IN.
Mine are at home, last place I boarded was almost 20yrs ago & IIRC, $325/mo for a family-run, mainly 4H barn. Turnout was minimal, small fenced pastures of less than 1/2ac.
But there was a small indoor, larger outdoor & access to a small network of trails.
Friend is raising board at her very non-show barn from $375 to $410.
She has decent-sized pastures - 2+ac - buy turnout is sporadic. Always Too Cold, Too Wet or other random reasons to keep horses in.
Indoor, outdoor, but no trails accessible from the barn.
Add schizy management practices - longtime boarders making physical “improvements” with their own money & thus feeling they are part-owners. This feeling enabled by BO.
Wow. I don’t know how your friend survives with those prices. We have had several barns close since Covid and the general consensus was the hard cost per horse was near $700 a month. Those barns provided feed, hay, blanketing, excellent turnout individual or in pairs. Pastures were well fertilized and mucked 2-3 times a week. Good arena with jumps, fly system, etc. No lessons required at my barn or at two others. Those requiring lessons & showing make the most money from those fees. Pasture board in our area at a nice barn has gone up anywhere 600 - 800. Those are fed twice a day and great grass and hay in winter.
Horses are truly becoming for the wealthy only.
Southern Middle Tennessee.
Full board at non show/training facilities recently increased from $350/month to $450/month.
The high end senior retirement facility also increased their full board rate by $100 to $750/month.
Similar to a previous poster, I am retired with my senior horses at home. Hay, shavings and needed supplements are becoming more expensive with each passing year, but I still could not afford board for these two in today’s world.
I haven’t had a horse for 20 years, but the last board I paid at a private place was about $250. I think But at my old boarding barn I had occasion to run by there about a month ago. I asked what the board was and they said $650. There were a lot of horses, and the amount of stalls had nearly doubled. They looked mostly filled. They have a small indoor arena and a large out door one. There is turnout, but not enough for all to go out, and no run in stalls. This is really out in the country near Kansas city.
SE Massachusetts. I have mine at home now, but I recently did some back of the envelope math to see what I would have to charge if I were to take in a boarder. My break even cost (not passing through anything for land, equipment, water, electricity, insurance, maintenance, etc.) is around $1200 per month. More than half of that is labor. I know board prices range wildly around here from $500 to well over $1000 depending on the facility and program. The “better” places generally have some kind of training requirement. A place I used to board at west of Boston now charges around $1500 plus training.
Same here in Eastern Connecticut
I’m in eastern NC. I’ve been at three different barns since selling my own place 4 years ago. The first was $400 for pasture board. Group turnout in large, lush pastures with shelter. Fed twice daily, hay when pasture was gone. Stall board was $500 for basically the same but you had a stall if you wanted your horse in for bad weather or separate feeding. Okay care. Hot water.
Second place was $525 for stall board. No pasture board available. Feed, hay 2X per day, stall cleaned and bedded (sparsely), daily turnout for as much as you wanted (kept mine out 24/7 unless weather was bad (in during the day in the hot summer…no shelters in the pastures). Good care. Hot water.
Third (current) place is ideal. Horse has 24/7 turnout with a good friend. They share a brand new 2-stall barn with 12x12 stalls. There is a 12-foot overhang in front of the stalls and a 12x12 tack/feed room. We have a 10x12 hay shelter as well (which was basically given to me at the previous barn and the new BO moved to the farm for me). SELF-CARE. I provide all feed and hay and do all of the feeding for my horse and the horse that lives with him (a friend’s horse). There is the ability to have either the BO or another boarder feed for a fee. I only live 8 minutes away though, and I like taking care of my own. BO and BM are very accommodating and hard-working. Pasture is dragged routinely, mowing and upkeep are always done, and all I have to do is ask (Build me a hitching post? Sure. Help mount fan? Sure. Can I put horses out in unused pasture with more grass for a bit? Sure.) I pay $200/month and provide all my own feed, hay, and bedding. Hot water in washrack, trails, lots of land to ride on, and both the owner and manager live in sight of the barn. I love it. I wouldn’t be surprised if board increases at some point, but I think they are so smart to keep it self-care. The cost of feed and hay is astronomical, and add to that all of the different diets and nutritional requirements of various horses. I think allowing owners to have the absolute say on what their horse eats and provide it themselves is a surefire way to take a lot of the headaches and expense out of running a boarding barn.
Central Florida. Depends on what you want. Large (200 acre) farm, lots of T/O, no rings for any type of riding. $700 +/- . One barn has retirees, one has some riding horses and there are some I think on 24/7 T/O
Not far from there, lovely farm, (not show barn) numerous good size pastures, two riding rings, one HUGE one w/ cover, round pen, $1250. Both have good care, feed nice hay, have grain choices, do supplements, etc.
Edited to add: we have to pay a crap ton of $$ for decent hay down here.
NWNY - $650/month
Lower level show barn (local H/J, some smaller rated dressage shows, nothing A circuit). Stall board includes up to 6lbs Purina grain, plenty of first cutting grass hay, blanket changes, 8-12 hours of daily small group turnout in safe pastures. Indoor, two outdoor grass rings. Owner/trainer lives on site. Facility backs up to county park on 900+ acres with horse trails, public outdoor arena, and trailer parking. Really fortunate to have access to this program and being able to hack across the street to trail ride is a treat.
Previous barns ran $500-$700 a month. Show barns are more like $800-$1200 a month depending on facility and location - 45 minutes east is a much more affluent, less rural area.
Boston Metrowest. When I wanted a full care facility two winters ago, I drove 45 minutes to keep the board under $1K (it was $950). I believe that barn is now up to $1250. Very nice facility with beautiful indoor, outdoor, trails adjacent to property. I pay $350 for a rough board situation in my town which is a huge bargain.
That makes since since the majority of that is profit for them. The property maintenance (mowing & fertilizer/seed) are major costs along with labor and equipment. You are lucky
What I see is that even smaller show barns require lessons and showing, so that covers a lot of their overhead. usually a lot more horses on property. Smaller barns like ours, don’t have that help. Board is going up $200 this year. To be fair, only one increase before now in about 8 years? I can’t buy property and build for less than that.
NE Ohio - horsey area. Right now I pay $850. Small private barn where two retirees handle most of the horse care, the wife of the couple being the life long horse person, dressage judge and trainer. They live on site. New full size indoor dressage arena, turnout, across the street from some trails and close to many bridle trails, show venues and vets. Not counting the owners horses, I am one of 5 other boarders. 25 minute drive from my house and there is also internet there which is great if I need to wait for the vet or something like that I can camp out with my work computer and still get things done. I was also able to spend the night there for vaccine watch this spring and they were incredibly accommodating.
My first barn was a unique trail barn on about 1000 acres and 20-30 miles of well maintained trails. Outdoor no indoor. Board there ranges from $650 to $800 depending on the type of board. Care was adequate, lots of turnout but the fencing wasn’t always the best maintained.
Second barn was cheaper and everything reflected that. $425 for self care and $550 for full. Inconsistent and not great staff until it turned co-op and even then it was a little dicey. Constant fencing problems, pasture accidents and breakouts. Moldy round bales, inconsistent hay, the indoor was riddled with nails and screws, infrastructure sprial and the BO/BM was an emotional crazy person.
From there I had a month and a half detour at one of my trainers barns that was $1100/month. Very nice place, indoor/outdoor, some trails, decent turnout, however the barn owners/managers had next to no people skills and very unapproachable. Very strict barn hours, its was a nightmare trying to schedule riding between lesson schedules and everything cost wise was ala-carte. They were charging a lot more for comparable facilities/care.
The barn I am at now is by far the best. There are a few things I don’t love, but they are trade offs I can live with given the care level is so high.
You can go higher or lower depending on what you want or are looking for…the lower cost places though it seems like you get what you pay for.
Maybe because none of this is available?
Except the “no lessons required”.
I expect her increase is Plan B, after the other “owners” agreed to chip in $100 each for hay.
Always short on hay, insists on an alfalfa mix for “inside” (grass hay tossed into pastures for afternoon). Not a single horse there needs alfalfa.
My thought is it’s a leftover from when her husband was alive & they bred QH.
The longer I see this place managed w/o him, the more I think he had the only Clue.
Center of the country . $750-$900 month full board. I am at the highest barn. 12X14 stalls, daily paddock turnout but I have a private 2 acre pasture I turn my two in but I have to do it. No blanketing. Heated huge barn with 2 giant indoor arenas that are also heated. Alfalfa is an uncharge, 6 min from my house. Covered trailer parking for $100/month.
Currently paying $850/month. Private barn with only a couple boarders, on a big property adjacent to land trust property, so lots of hacking, footed dressage arena with mirrors, and big grass field for jumping, fitness, schooling, etc. BO was willing to feed any grain I wanted, which was awesome, as I have a picky and somewhat harder keeper and I’d found something he generally eats. Grass hay is included in the regular board; I pay the additional $50/month to have alfalfa fed with his meals 2x day.