I’m trying to help friends with ideas and rules for pasture Boarding only. There are miles of trails, run in sheds and a barn with a few stalls for layover visitors or an injured horse. A few wash racks, and trailer parking are already there. What else?
That sounds lovely. Is there an arena? That’s the difference between people who just trail ride or don’t and everyone else.
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Grooming area and area to tack up that is out of the weather would be attractive.
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Does she plan on graining the horses for owners? Growing up in the mid-Atlantic area, it was the norm for barns to grain pasture boarded horses. Yet when I moved away from home, I realized that is not typical in many areas of the country.
Offering 2x daily feedings is definitely attractive. Also, if she doesn’t have a way to separate the horses for meals, feed bags like the Cashel Feed Rite are amazing.
Ive only ever pasture boarded. Where I’m at currently , the barn and corrals are “shared” if someone has a hurt horse, or the farrier coming, or whatever it may be. Any grain is fed on your own. They do have an arena and places to park our trailers.
I store all my stuff in my trailer. Nothing is in their barn, but some of the boarders have tack in the shared tack room.
There is no wash rack … just the garden hose!
In the winter, the BO feeds round bales.
The setup works well. There are two smaller close pastures for those of us who ride every day, and then there is a big back pasture 160 acres. There are no shelters in the pastures but there’s plenty of “natural” shelters with low places and bushes. In the winter, the horses spend most of their time by the barn anyway. It’s well protected by trees for wind.
I second a place to keep tack that is secure and a place to groom/tack up that is out of the weather.
Hay in field in winter and a source of water that does not freeze.
I am also from the mid-atlantic area and graining of pasture horses is normally done by the barn. Some places it is twice a day and some once a day. I would want that grain fed daily by the barn.
I want someone to really look at the horses at least once a day preferably twice a day. Something a little more than driving past the pasture on the tractor and doing a head count to check they are all alive. More like glance at legs to check for cuts, swelling, sprung shoes. They don’t need to actively run their hands down the legs or pick up feet. Just looking for the obvious cut that needs stitches and is hopefully caught soon enough that it is still viable to stitch. For the shoes I want to make sure they aren’t walking on their clip if the shoe has partially pulled off. One advantage of stall board is that if you have good handlers they notice that a horse is lame or missing a shoe as they are leading them in. With the added hands on of leading in/out it is more likely injuries get noticed on a more timely basis.
I board because I can’t be there everyday so need the facility to feed grain daily and to notice situations where a vet or farrier needs to be immediately called. So my answers come from that point of view.
OP- your friend should consider whether she wants to deal with changing blankets for pasture horses or not. Would it be part of the board or an add on service available for a fee? Last night it was a low of 35 degrees and today it will 72 degrees. I can’t get there to pull their blankets before I go to work and my guys would sweat in what they needed to wear last night. I would need the option to pay for blanket service or have it included in the base board.
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Water, electricity, safe fencing, safe shelter, secure tack storage, reasonable footing, proper manure management, and a restroom are requirements for any barn I would consider using. A wash stall is a bonus, but a hose outside is enough for a casual rider. Having trails means your target market is likely casual trail and/or endurance riders. If you have an arena which is properly maintained, your target market can be expanded.
I’ve boarded at two places which offered both self-care and full-care and saw how messy/troublesome self-care can get. If I were ever to offer boarding, I would never allow self-care! Barn owner has too little control over how the horses look since feed quality/quantity is out of their control, and there is no guarantee those boarders’ cleaning schedules are to my personal standards. Plus, horses are creatures of habit - when certain groups are being fed at different times than others you will see pacing, chewing, rushing fences - all of which is excess wear & tear to my property.
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Do not allow self-care. Feed and hay should be covered in the board price.
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Don’t allow self-care. Provide a feed shed/room of some sort that’s secure from rodents, and you as the owner or via employee—feed those horses either once or twice a day. We have good grass here and provide salt and equimin mineral blocks, so I only provide ‘feed’ once a day to deliver concentrates, though I do check them twice a day, eyeball the herd, and check the water. I would never allow truly self-care as there’s always one who just won’t do right by their horse and if one gets pulled out to eat, the others pace the fence, paw, etc. I have boarded and done self-care and the other horses that were pasture puffs learned to ignore my comings and goings but if you have active boarders, I find that too many cooks in the kitchen spoil the broth.
If there’s a place to establish a wash rack (gravel pad with a mat over it) to reduce mud, great, but depending on your boarders, this may or may not really matter. And if they need places to tie horses, provide something so they don’t tie horses directly to trees and in time, kill the trees.
Keep it simple.
JM 2 cents.
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These are excellent suggestions! We have covered No self care (experienced trouble with that before), feeding and blanketing. Outdoor wash area is being set up, stalls will be for sick, injured etc. Manure management is being addressed, water is readily available from a creek or hose. Thanks for the reminder about a restroom!!! We kept thinking about the horses, and forgot about the people! LOL
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I do pasture board and my horses are doing better than they would in a stall. It is great to have and I’m happy to hear that your friends want to provide this option. Below are some comments about my current arrangement.
My horses’ pasture has a fantastic run in shed that is extra deep and wide with a manger that runs the length of the back wall. It provides ample room for all the horses to sort themselves out while staying out of the elements and during feeding. The shed also has an attached area for blanket storage and a few bales of hay.
I have access to a day stall (up to 90 minutes a day) in the main barn and I frequently take advantage of this. It gives me an out of the way place to do body work, give my mare an extra flake, and allow for some TLC time. I pay a small additional charge for this amenity. I keep it clean and the barn provides shavings (I go days and even a couple of weeks without adding any bedding).
I wish we had well designed areas just outside the pasture and outside the main barn or tack room to tie horses. This would allow me to groom and tack up outside and not take up barn space. My current facility doesn’t have a single tie up area outside and it is one of the few features lacking.
Thank you for the detailed reply. We have also considered the need for tie areas so multiple riders could tack up at once. Thanks for confirming this need.
This - a covered place where the vet and farrier can safely work in the dark or rain.
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I have my own place and don’t board, but here’s my 2 cents. It took a while to break myself of the thought that horses had be in stalls at night. Now I have a cute little barn that is mostly used to store feed, hay, tack and cat food. I built a cute little wash rack outside.
I ‘feed’ the horses once a day, in the evening. (Winter is am and pm) 2 get their vits and have hay for about an hour or two. That is how long it takes the OTTB to eat a couple flakes of alfalfa. If I didn’t have him I would rarely stall them. They have access to hay outside until the pasture comes in. They don’t poop or pee unless I leave them in over the 2 hour mark. After all these years of cleaning stalls I now usually have cobwebs, not manure in the gorilla cart.
I use the aisle for grooming, vet, farrier, tacking and some training. Of course the most important use of my barn is a place with chairs for petting cats while I relax.
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I agree with a covered place to tack up. I’m a bit surprised about those requiring a bathroom. I have boarded many places where you used a stall or around back of the barn! A fairly level area without horses in it to ride or lunge or check for lameness would be a minimum for me if there is no riding ring. Also decent cell phone reception in case of emergencies.
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I also am a pasture boarder by choice. I just don’t like the idea of keeping my horse stalled for any length of time.
If I were to say what my ideal would be:
- an indoor arena
- outdoor arena
- round pen
- a place to tack up out of the weather
- an area to wash horse, with a hitching post, or other such place to tie up
- a place to store tack, etc
- bathrooms
- a stall or small area that horse can be kept in case of emergency.
- turn out on actual grass when available
- places to tie up horses outside
- when on dry lot, access to hay at all times ( ie round bales or what not)
- Shelter that is actually deep enough and wide enough for the number of horses turned out there
- Horses sorted by temperament rather than sex (I have no idea when this whole gelding and mares must be kept seperate thing started by it is a pet peeve of mine)
- a place to keep my cart (when I get one :yes: )
- Permanent fencing
- clean and well maintained
- area for hand grazing
- adequate water with heaters in the winter
- adequate shade
- use of fly prediators
- SmartPak friendly
- am/ pm feed
- Adequate parking
- Easy access to BM or BO in case of emergency
- no nickel and diming, either say you put on blankets or you don’t , I hate having to pay $10 for everything … including being turned out on grass during the summer month. $10 a week! He is a pasture horse … being on pasture should just be a given!
Now as I said that is my ideal.
Some things I can give up. I don’t have most of that at the barn I am at now.
I don’t have a place to keep my tack and my car has become a really messy tack trunk and I am finding that I am not liking to smell my fly spray everything I get in my car.
We don’t have places to tie up outside and I really wish we did. Although my boy is learning to ground tie rather well.
I stay because of the indoor and 24/7 access to hay. Plus I live in a northern area, so a place to get out of the weather is really needed. So even though we only have a small indoor, it is indoor.
Blanketing a horse that lives out 24/7 can be a royal pain, so charge extra for it. I only pasture board and I will not cover blanketing. If you want to have your horse blanketed, then your horse needs care beyond pasture board. All my horses go naked year round. FWIW, my farm offers large run-ins, small herds, graining, free choice hay in the winter, automatic and waterers. I have an all weather outdoor, a roundpen, and lots of trails/access to trails. Experience horse people on the premises and fully insured. My farm is in Virginia and out weather is mild. The Fjords do great but I also have had TBs , QHs and warmbloods manage very well naked year round. The best way to keep a horse warm in winter is to have plenty of hay for them to eat.
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Pasture for mares only; pasture for geldings only; no mixed pasture.
A refrigerator where boarders can keep bottled water cold is great, especially in hot weather.
Definitely a rest room, to save the grass behind the barn and keep the smell down inside. What if a boarder suddenly came down with an intestinal emergency?
Covered area for farrier to work in.
Boarding rules posted where everyone can see them, including rules for feeding/not feeding the barn cats and not locking them up in the tack room (or the feed room hoping they will catch all the mice/rats).
Fencing that incorporates separate feeding areas. Some horses need to eat separately from others, especially when taking meds.
A plan for the entire herd, to deal with severe weather, tornadoes, north Easters whatever. You don’t want the stress of having to choose who gets shelter and who is left to fend for themselves.
I board at a lovely pasture board farm, and I LOVE it. The only things that are missing is an arena with decent footing (we have all grass arenas, still good footing but I do miss a “real” arena) and a bathroom.
Other things to keep in mind are a LIT, DRY area for the vet to work in an emergency. For us, one of the run-in sheds is split into two stalls with gates that remain open unless a horse is on layup. There are lights in there for when needed, especially in the case of a vet needing to do something in the dark or rain. This is especially important if you don’t have a barn as we don’t. If you have an actual barn, this might not be necessary.
Something else that is a huge treat for me is having horses be split for feeding time. While on pasture board it’s not super common to split all the horses up during feeding time, it’s extremely important to me because my super easy keeper draftx lives with all hard-keeping TB’s who eat a ton of grain as opposed to his meager handful. My barn has small panel stalls set up along one side of the pasture. The panels are low, not as high as a round pen would be, and there are 6-8 set up in a row. The horses learned quickly to each go in their box to eat, and then they’re let out after. Such a perk, and something I would certainly implement if I ever opened my own place down the road and offered pasture board!
Other things like mentioned above are a tack room! It amazed me how many places didn’t offer storage or tack room space for pasture boarders. Grooming/tacking areas are huge too, easy enough to build outdoor tacking stations.
