Let’s talk boarding
Nov 09 2010
This came up yesterday and it’s an interesting topic. Where are you, what do you pay for board and what services are included in that price?
I have several horses in Washington state on mostly pasture board (they can be brought in, in the event of severe weather, and do have shelter). I pay between $150 – $200 a month for them depending on what they eat. It basically just gets calculated up, adding in supplemental hay, grain, etc. They are all “useless horses” and it’s the cheapest place to keep them and know that they’ll be fat and happy. Everything from hay to farrier is much cheaper in Washington, and the horses get to enjoy 24/7 turnout which is very rare in the L.A. area.
Then I have a couple of different places I have boarded at in Los Angeles. My favorite is $400 for a base boarding charge which includes a 12 x 24 pen with shelter, daily cleaning, and alfalfa twice daily. It doesn’t include any bedding or turnout – you can bring your own bedding or buy theirs, and turnout is $3 a day if you want it. Overall it’s a very nice facility with multiple arenas and it’s quiet, not near a busy road or anything, and there are people there 24/7 living in the barns, which I really like.
There are a couple facilities I’ve worked horses at that are $350 including bedding, but they aren’t as nice and don’t have the same facilities. One of them is a nice facility but in a really bad neighborhood, with the arena right next to a very busy road.
Nowhere that I’ve seen in California seems to include grain, which was surprising to me since everywhere I’d boarded in the Midwest did. And most places in the Midwest turn your horse out as part of the deal, whereas that is unheard of here.
So this is an interesting topic: If you board, what do you pay, and what is included? What do you pay extra for? What services are included that are really nice? (As always, it’s totally acceptable to put in a plug if you board at a GREAT place and want to recommend it to other FHOTD readers, and it’s also fine to warn people if you’ve had a bad experience). But mostly what I am curious about is what the end of the month cost really ends up being, after you factor everything in.
If you’re in or around Los Angeles, don’t forget to join us for CUPCAKE CAMP on November 20th! A very fun event that will partially benefit Angel Acres Horse Haven Rescue and help Thoroughbreds!
(I promise, I’m not personally baking. It’s safe…really.)
317 comments to “Let’s talk boarding”
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Does anybody know a good place to pasture board around Augusta, Georgia?
Thanks!
Yep – my place! Safe, inexpensive, family atmosphere! Check us out at http://www.longleafsporthorses.com
Does anyone have a good link for a list of things to consider when part boarding? I’m thinking of part boarding a horse at my barn (getting back into riding after 10 years away). Thanks fugsters!
I am the newly hired barn manager at a BEAUTIFUL facility in northern illinois. Our website is http://www.horseridinglessons.webs.com We charge 150.00 for pasture board which includes lush pastures seasonally and hay when the grazing is no good. If you want grain it is extra only because of the high hay prices this year. Owners are on site 24-7 and treat the horses like gold. Check it out if you are in northern IL or southern WI.
$400/month in Boston area. Horse out 24/7 with shelter, water, all the hay she can stuff her face with, and her buddies… unless it’s seriously inclement (mostly rain…snow is NBD) or I ask. Horse also has her own stall, and grain is included. Outdoor ring but not professional footing or anything. Happy as a clam
Nicest BO ever.
I’m in Washington, north of Seattle, and pay $425 per month for full care with daily all-day turn out. Blanketing/blanket removal is included, breakfast and dinner in stalls then out on pastures all day; in the winter, the in-stall meals include getting their grain as a hot mash. They’ll bring in and hold for vet & farrier. Most recently, when my guy scraped himself somehow, the barn owner dressed the scrape for me since I couldn’t get to the barn every day. There’s an indoor wash rack with hot water, a proper bathroom (not portapotty), an outdoor sand arena and an indoor dirt-footing arena with a small, no-frills viewing area. And in the year and a half I’ve been there, the place has proven to be genuinely drama-free. So in my opinion, a bargain at twice the price.
I’m also in Seattle–would like to know where you board, please!
My first boarder paid me $80 a month. She got pature for her horse; hay; salt block; water. She cleaned his pen and furnished any extras. This is what she could afford to pay, so we worked out this arrangement.
Board was actually $150 a month. I offered all the hay; large pastures; stall only if necessary; tack room; trailer parking; round pen/arena; private trails; large pastures with shelter; custom blended grain (wet beet pulp, pellets, supplements; soybean oil); fresh water in clean tanks. I did all the pasture maintenace; held horses for farrier and Vet if needed; blanketed/fly mask if needed; horses in for dinner feeding and visual check; and some other necessary care for the newbies or non caring owners.
Finding good boarders was getting tougher and it began wearing on my nerves. I do not board at this time and not sure if I will again. The extra income helped defray some costs but half the time was not worth the hassle.
Here in Topeka, Ks i’ve tried two different facilities. first one was the Topeka round-up club. AVOID THEM LIKE THE PLAGUE. my horse was fed moldy hay, the pasture was knee deep in mud, and the shelter was deplorable. Upon expecting the property i was shown a DIFFERENT pasture (the one only used at night when they feel like it aka NEVER). I also discovered that the pasture wasn’t even fully fenced in! My horse had acess to 125+ acres of woods, hills, dangerous ravines, etc…and worst of all, all he would need to do is walk along the river bank and he would have access to an entire trail system of 500 acres. HELL NO. During that time, they decided the horses were to ‘fat’ in the pasture, and CUT OFF HAY. this is the beginning of autumn, there is NO grass, and they are going to take away hay? -pulls hair out-. At the time i did not own a car, and it was the only barn i could travel to. The nano-second i found another facility, we moved him.
Currently both of my boys are boarded at Rockin V Ranch. I cannot sing enough praise about them! The facility is spotless, the horses well cared for, pasture kept clean, etc. I personally pasture board, as my boys are happiest outside. They are given hay/grain 2X a day in large quantities, and have a massive run to they can go in during bad weather. The mud/poop is scraped out of the pasture regularly, and the automatic waterer is heated during winter. They are very understanding, and will go out of their way in the best interest of the horse. For example, i took in a last minute rescue filly that needed to be kept indoors, away from other horses. They made space for her- no problem. If something is ‘wrong’ with one of my boys, i know immediately, Even if it is no more worrisome than a nose bleed (my draft is prone to them due to the dry winter). $200 per horse, plus i have access to both an indoor and outdoor arena, wash stall, round pen, whenever i need. The family lives on location, and there are two apartments adjacent to the barn. My farrier lives right there, which is a blessing
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When it came time to move my Arabian to the property, the owner was beyond helpful. I was in the hospital at the time, and my boy is a STUBBORN loader. he waited patiently until my boyfriend coaxed, pleaded, and did everything he could to get him into the trailer- and than moved him to the new facility for us. If you ever need to keep a horse in Kansas, Rockin V is the place to go, for sure.
I know that I am very late replying to this topic, but I can’t say enough good things about my barn owner, Al Dias in Sacramento, California. I suffer from post-polio and arthritis and Al helps me immensely with my Arabian mare, Lottie. Al really loves the older horses and he runs the greatest stable for retirement board. Al had to put his old black gelding down last year who was 44 years young. Al charges full board of $280 per month for 10′X12′ stalls with 1’0″x16″ runs, and $270 per month for 20′x20′ corrals with run-in shelters, with excellent top-quality timothy hay fed in the morning and alfalfa hay fed in the evening. Boarders have to supply their own grain, which will then be fed. The full board also includes turn-outs of all the retirement horses into pastures. You can reach Al Dias at (916) 363-1062.
Lorna G. Kirby, PE
In the midwest, where I learned to ride and owned a horse for a brief period, boarding was $175 a month for pasture board and between $200 and $400 for indoor board, depending on the amenities you wanted.
Outdoor board did include haying and water buckets everyday. The horse were on grass, 40+ acres with a running river and lots of tree cover. The fee did not guarantee they would be brought in during inclement weather. They would be ushered into the indoor arena if the temperature, with windchill, dropped under 10 degrees at night. During the day they would be put back out. (rounding them up took all the cow horses and their owners bringing them in) But rain/snow/sleet they were outside.
Indoor boarding included up to 2 scoops of whatever grain/feed was being fed twice a day (what was fed changed as the supply dwindled. for awhile it was just oats, then it was just sweet feed, then a combo. The horses were never weaned onto a new feed when the change happened)up to 4 flakes of hay a day(grown by the owner of the boarding barn. It was a mixed bag of hay). Fresh water buckets twice a day A clean stall every other day, with fresh bedding every other day. Turnout was extra, blanketing was extra, fly masks were extra. If your horse needed extra feed/supplements you had to pay for those and feed them yourself or bag them in the grain room and label days/times to feed and that would be a little extra, too.
Very few of the horses on this barn were certified healthy at any given point. Coughs were rampant. Snotty noses were rampant.
My friend boarded at this barn.
I boarded my horse with the woman I bought him from. She couldn’t stand to see him leave the property, so we worked out a deal. I payed a little for board and hay, and just cleaned his paddock and stall. I could not see even throwing $175 out the window for boarding of my horse, who would have gotten the crap beaten out of him by the board horses. I would then have to pay for him to be indoors while I cared for any infections picked up from bites, scratches, bruises from kicking.
Here in California I do not own a horse yet, but I am helping a friend with her small herd. She has 5 horses out on 20 acres in Morgan Hill at $50 a month, flat rate. She pays for hay, and we did have to de-tick the herd early last month. She doesn’t have to pay for water, but had to provide her own buckets. They have no shelter save for trees, and the pasture is very hilly and rocky. On her twice-daily check ups she checks each over for scratches, bumps, bites, hoof chips and treats accordingly. One of her mares went lame out there and she promptly put her in a flat paddock at another property and treated her there.
$50 a month isn’t bad if you don’t mind doing check-ups and making sure everyone is okay all the time. She wants to move them off the pasture before it really starts to rain. It gets slick on the hills and she doesn’t want anyone going lame because of a slip/trip/fall. There are snake holes out there, but I hear hawk screams multiple times a day every time I’m out. I walk the pasture each time I’m out, to check for snakes, or holes that could eat a foot.
At the Gypsy Vanner Ranch board was between $400 and $500 depending on indoor or outdoor, and you had to provide your own feed and hay, and feed/water your own horse or pay extra. There was/is an old Hanoverian there and she was shipped from Germany. Her owner must have the funds for that.
I haven’t looked into the boarding barns that are nearer to me than Morgan Hill, but there are some fancy ones on Mt. Hamilton that look ritzy. There are some shoddy looking ones down the opposite way going into the Santa Cruz mountains.
With hay prices here I would want a barn where the hay is included in the cost. Hay was $5/bale when I left Michigan. My friend was paying $12/bale for crappy stuff last fall. Can’t imagine what she is paying for the nice, green alfalfa.
I’m gunna start off by saying I live in New York, and the barn i board at is approx. 1 hour from the city. So I’ve come to terms that my board will be extremely higher than most. I pay $700 A MONTH to keep my horse boarded and well care for. Yes. $700…A MONTH. Usual board is 725, but our stable offers a deal to boarders who pay by the the 26 of each month, which I happily do. Soooo…this is what is included in my board. I took this from their website.
•Stall -12′ x 14′ airy box stall with 2 dutch doors
•Stalls cleaned -thoroughly 2x a day (also picked out throughout the day). Pine shavings are distributed on top of 6in stall matress system. (One of the features that attracted me. My horse has pretty tough feet, but it’s nice to know he’s as comfy as possible after a long day!)
•Water buckets – scrubbed once a day and filled as needed (a min. of 2x per day)
•Regular feedings – hay and grain 2x a day. (Lunch hay available as needed). (They also personalize your horses feed. They offer a variety of feeds, from senior to pregant mare feeds. They will weigh out your hay and grain to make sure your horse is getting the right amount. Which is AWESOME. It’s all included in your board-no paying extra like other barns in the area.)
•Worming -we perform bi-monthly fecal floats and horses are wormed every 6-8weeks. We are on an alternating cycle of Ivermectin, Strongid and Safeguard. (Another feature I LOVE. Many barns in my area do not offer this, and it’s just one less things I need to worry about!)
•Turnouts – Horses are turned out everyday as weather permits. During the summer due to the flies and mosquitos, horses are turned out at night. (I love the fact they do night turnouts. My horse is VERY sensitive to fly bites. So I take the best measures in protecing him, which includes covering him head to hoof in fly sheets, along with fly spray. WHICH, the grooms will do before turnout. Other barns wouldn’t do that, even when I asked.)
•Medication/Supplements – horses in need of daily supplements or medication (supplied by owner) will be administered as directed.
•Facilities – access to indoor and outdoor arena as well as the miles & miles of scenic trails. We are adjacent to Schunnemunk State Park & have access to an abandoned railroad bed (tracks removed) that is home to some of the greatest trails!
My stable also uses FLY PREDATORS. Which is amazing. There a virtually NO flies around. Also, there is a live-in caretaker that performs nightly check-ups, which is a great bonus! The intructors there are also FABULOUS. They’re very open and straightfoward, and are happy to help! The best part of the stable though are the grooms. They are the nicest grooms I’ve ever encountered. They’re also very watchful. When vistors stop by, they make sure to introduce themselves and pay attention to them. They’re also very watchful of the horses. The stable had approx. 40 horses boarded at any given moment. The stable also assigns the grooms to specific horses. Which means everyday, only one groom will be handleing your horse. Only one groom will clean its stall, feed it, turn it out, etc. They’ll be able to recognize when you horse is off, and will tell you.
They also have ample room, with 6 or 7 different pastures, ranging in size. They also have a large 40 acre, completely fenced pasture…AND A ROUND PEN! I was so happy when I saw it. The other barn I was looking at had round pens, but they used them for turnout!
Another little feature I liked-EVERY rider, regardless of age or expierence, is REQUIRED to wear a helmet. If you are caught riding without one, there is a strong possiblity that you will be asked to leave. Before ANYONE is allowed to ride a horse, they must sign a contract. In this contract, it clearly states you MUST wear a helmt WHENEVER you ride ANY horse. I thought that was BRILLIANT, and I’m unsure how many barns in the area enforce anthing like that, but when i’ve visited other barns, I’ve noticed riders without helmets, so I’m assuming not.
The stable also has 2 riding areans. A 153′ x 82′ heated indoor arena with “dust-free” footing with a large viewing area, BEHIND plexi-glass (which means there are no crying babies to spook my silly little boy! YAY!) and 200′ x 90′ outdoor arena with all-weather footing. Super nice.
I pay $600 per month for a 12×12 stall with a 12×24 attached run out. I provide ALL feed. Hay (which is fed 2x daily by the barn, but I provide it only because the hay type they feed causes diarrhea in my horse), beet pulp etc. All me, we go out in the morning for his morning mash, and again in the evening for his evening mash. They only drop hay.
They pick manure out of his stall, but I am responsible for the paddock area. I also am responsible for keeping his automatic waterer clean.
I arrange my schedule around my farrier (LOVE my farrier, he is awesome). I do my own deworming, etc. It’s really just a place to live.
Sigh…
I’m buying a horse in the next couple of months, assuming I find the right match in that time. The barn I intend to board at does $350 stall, and $250 pasture. It used to be a serious shithole, but the new owner has really made it nice. Fixed crap fencing, fixed crappy arena footing, got better grain, amongst a slew of other things I know have been improved. Stalls, which are 12×16 includes shavings, hay/grain twice a day, blanketing when needed, and turnout. Pasture is basically the same, naturally without the stall. All the pasture horses have access to shelter of course. I think there might be a blanketing fee, not sure. I’m sure it’s not expensive if there is. They also have 12×32 foaling stall.
The facilities are nice. They have lighted arenas, big round pen, covered arena, and a fairly spacious “main” outdoor arena with plenty of jumps. Big pastures. There are 17 or 18 stalls I believe. 2 or 3 tack rooms…and there’s washer available. I think they might have some trails too. They have a lady who lives on the premises (there is actually a small apartment inside the barn), so someone is always there in case something happens. It’s not a super fancy place, but it’s better than many I’ve seen.
I know they also offer grooming services for a fee, the amount depends on what you want done. It’s not in a shady area, and not on a busy road (yet it’s less than a mile off the highway). I know they go above and beyond to offer good service to all their clients. The only funny thing about it is, although the road is not busy, it still gets a little traffic, especially around 5, and if anyone is out in the front arena riding, people actually stop and park on the side of the road to watch. I have witnessed myself 3 and 4 cars stopped to watch…nobody has ever given us a problem but it’s a little awkward to have a random audience generate on the side of the road.
Forgot to mention they also bring in for the farrier/vet, and I believe they worm too (of course, boarder pays for the wormer). Barn has a proper bathroom. Outdoor washpit, no heated water. I have a feeling they will eventually put one inside with heated water though. They have a lot of space in the back of the barn to expand still yet. It would be easy to do the way the barn is built.
I live in central Alberta and own two horses. The spotless facility where I board is primarily a 24/7 turnout, providing daily visual check, twenty-four hour access to fresh water, massive private corrals (small pastures, really, all with wood fence) with solid three-sided shelters, a no-frills outdoor arena (no indoor, unfortunately), miles of riding trails, and a barn with lockable tack lockers and large box stalls for inclement weather or for those recovering from illness/injury. In the summer, my horses rotate between four different massive corrals for the grass. Hay is provided if needs be. In the winter, hay, water (heated in the winter) and oats are provided. Supplements, senior feed, mineral blocks, salt blocks and other extras are of course be supplied by me, which will then be fed. I also park my horse trailer there free of charge. The owners live on site. They’re a wonderful and very knowledgeable couple who treat my guys like they’re their own.
Perks: The boarding facility is literally five minutes away from my doorstep. The vet clinic is about five minutes away from the boarding facility. The stable (with a gorgeous heated indoor arena) where I’ve recently started taking lessons is about five minutes away from the boarding facility. The road to the boarding facility is paved and well maintained.
So what do I pay? $125/mo/each. Unfortunately the owners have decided to pretty much stop being a boarding facility, and so have kept those still there but won’t take any more boarders, which is why I haven’t named the boarding facility.
I have a really awesome facility that i board my horse at, and have for 10 years. I pay about 165$ for pasture board, and it includes shelters, grain, treats, a daily check on all horses by the owners of the farm (no extra cost for that!), Deworming (which the owners of the farm do for no extra cost,all we have to pay is for the medication), some really excellent trails, but the only downside is that its almost all outdoors. And i live in Canada. (Thats okay, we hardy canadians can withstand all weather!) There are lots of shelters for the horses, and a large building for lockers for the boarders. Oh yah, i forgot to mention, the owner of the farm is a VET. No joke. Its excellent. If you would like to see what its like, gimme an email- lexigurl888@hotmail.com
Oh, i forgot to mention they also have very large pastures, (kinda sucks when they are at the back), hay is provided year round if a horse can not have grass, (also provided for every horse in the winter time) Salt blocks, they have a large supply of tack, which we can just get and put on our horses. They also have a large supply of medical equipment, so its very unlikely we would have to call in another vet other than the owner of the farm. There is also lockers available to boarders for 25$ for a small locker and 40$ for a large one (the price is paid per year), an outdoor arena (which is kinda crappy and small, but they are building a new one)
Eastern Long Island – $1,750 a month plus tax. Includes everything, basically: mucking, turning out, grooming, blanketing, clipping, tacking up, untacking, full use of the facilities, tack cleaning, and I think that’s it?
And feeding. Duh!
WASHINGTON: I board one of my horses at Frontier Training stables. Its in Kitsap county, Silverdale Wa. Board is $250 per month. They feed Alfalfa, but can feed other if needed. You provide grain and supplements. You clean your own stalls. There is a 60×60 cover arena, 100×200 outside area, and nice round pen. All stalls have there own paddocks so you horse is never locked in its stall, there is a large pasture you can also turn your horse out in. The owner lives on site, and is also a ferrier as well. This stable is older, very laid back. All styles of riding welcome, no stallions.