# Boarding barn questions



## sleep4centuries (Jun 8, 2015)

What expenses come with owning a boarding barn other than feed, hay, bedding, insurance? Thank you in advance


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## Alder (Aug 18, 2014)

Headaches.

Oops - sorry. 

Cost of repairs to stalls, barns and fences, pasture maintenance, barn labor, equipment (think tractor) maintenance, electricity, parking and driveway maintenance, snowplowing, maintaining/paying for water supply.

Then there's collecting boarder's vet, farrier bills and board bills - might end up costing you or not. Be sure that you have a contract with each boarder that CLEARLY gives you rights in such matters - up to and including sale of an animal for an arrears bill. Also your responsibilities and compensation for handling emergencies/accidents when an owner can't be reached.


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## DaveNay (Nov 25, 2012)

The single biggest expense is your own sanity dealing with boarders and the guaranteed politics that come with them.


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

Make sure your boarders are paying for the farrier. Some horses need a trim every four weeks, others six weeks, others eight weeks, etc. Make sure that you can call a vet and have them billed for it (credit card number with the vet), so you don&#8217;t pay the vet then wait on the boarder to reimburse you.


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## bluemoonluck (Oct 28, 2008)

Also you need to decide on your policy re: holding a horse for the vet/farrier if the owner is unable to do it. Most barns charge a fee to go out to the barn to meet a farrier/vet, catch the horse, and hold it while the work is done. As mentioned above, you want to make sure the boarder is paying for the work directly - get the holding fee in cash prior to actually doing it, and have them give you a check made out to the person doing the work if they will not be able to pay that person in advance as well.


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

Capitalizing on what Blue Moon wrote, when you start with a new boarder, have first and last month&#8217;s rent paid, but also have a deposit on other fees. Like catching and holding. Have everything paid ahead rather than behind. As with any other business, keep meticulous records. Quicken or a similar program can help. Quarterly, give everyone a statement showing where they stand, how much is left in their account. This way, there are no surprises when you tell someone they need to pay on their farrier bill or monthly fees.


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## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

Quite honestly between the non paying clients, those who are unavailable when there is a problem and the headaches of remembering that Princess doesn't actually kick or bite, I switched to wintering bulls for more money, less insurance and a mere fraction of the headaches.


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## Irish Pixie (May 14, 2002)

I didn't own a boarding barn, I managed a big one tho, and I'd never ever do it again. 

Nut uh.


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## Agriculture (Jun 8, 2015)

There is no drama like horsey girl drama.


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## Irish Pixie (May 14, 2002)

Agriculture said:


> There is no drama like horsey girl drama.


I'd say there's no drama like horse _person_ drama. There are horsey male divas too.


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## arabian knight (Dec 19, 2005)

Irish Pixie said:


> I didn't own a boarding barn, I managed a big one tho, and I'd never ever do it again.
> 
> Nut uh.


I worked part time and lived at that boarding stable for 9 years while living in AZ.
When I started there my Shetland was the 3rd horse, well pony, on the place. When I left they had around 125 animals at the place. And I was feeding about 75 of them before going to work and then at supper time I also fed those same ones that were on Full Board.
No cleaning nothing like that, just fed hay to them and only feeding and doing maintenance did I do.

When I got back to WI. my Dad asked me if I was now going to start a boarding facility.

* I said absolutely NOT*~!! Enough said.


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## DEKE01 (Jul 17, 2013)

You guys who think boarding horses is all bad must be missing something. Just recently at the poker table I quietly listened to this guy talking about all the money he was going to make boarding horses on his vast acreage. The boarders give you five or six hundred dollars a month and you don't have to do hardly anything and since horses mostly eat nothing but free grass, how can you not make huge profits? 

After he had droned on for a while about his great deal, I broke my self imposed rule to not get involved in utterly stupid convos while playing poker. It gets me irritated and I lose focus on making a profit. 

So I asked him a few questions...and his answers

How much acreage...He described the place as "huge" and when pressed he answered, "a couple of acres"
How many horses you think you can board...SIX maybe EIGHT
What sort of facilities do you have to house the horses...fence and an old barn but both needs some repairs
What sort of amenities do you have that would make your facility desirable to a horse owner...he didn't understand the Q
Do you have a round pen, a wash stall, a hot walker, an arena, jumps, training obstacles, an area to ride off the property to public trails, parking for trailers, you get the idea...his answer was no to all of these.
Do you ride?...no
Have you ever owned a horse?...no

I don't know the specific neighborhood where he has this horse paradise, but in general in that county, a really, really good facility runs no more than $350/month for a stall and $250/month for field kept. Less desirable locations can be easily found for $100 less. A couple of counties over, in Ocala, which bills itself as the "Winter Horse Capital of the World," boarding can be high hundreds per month or even thousands when it comes with a race trainer and race track or similar exceptional facilities for the pro hunter/jumper crowd. Maybe that's how this guy had heard the big numbers for boarding. 

At that point, I was starting to get frustrated and I had really lost focus on poker, so I complimented him on his bullet proof business plan and shut up. 

I should add, I am not a knowledgeable horse owner, but my wife is, so I have picked up a little bit of info along the way. She ran a 26 horse barn for 10 years, and currently has 4 horses, so I hear lots of stories.


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## cfuhrer (Jun 11, 2013)

My mom boarded horses for about 20 years. Full service. She has recently decided to get back into it as her retirement project.

Everything said so far in this thread is solid.

I would add that anywhere you don't want borders to go and anything you don't want them to help themselves to needs to be locked down. Many borders like to come spend time at the barn and pretend that they own it and so will help themselves to extra bedding for their horse or your piece of tack that they don't have.


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## Agriculture (Jun 8, 2015)

Irish Pixie said:


> I'd say there's no drama like horse _person_ drama. There are horsey male divas too.


Point taken, but obviously you never met my former girlfriend.


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## Irish Pixie (May 14, 2002)

Agriculture said:


> Point taken, but obviously you never met my former girlfriend.


I'm pretty sure I've met several just like her.


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## RideBarefoot (Jun 29, 2008)

Irish Pixie said:


> I'd say there's no drama like horse _person_ drama. There are horsey male divas too.


In the Arab world, YES! After 20 years in the biz I got tired of handing a horse over at the in-gate to Mr. Big Name and muttering to myself "go collect your roses"

Said Trainer would spend all day in the office on the phone "networking"


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## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

I would never discourage someone from setting up a business they truly want but I would suggest that if someone is interested in boarding horses, they do go work for another facility for 6 months to see if they truly enjoy it.


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## nduetime (Dec 15, 2005)

wr wins for best answer!!!:rock:


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## sleep4centuries (Jun 8, 2015)

I have been managing the barn my horse is at for at least nine months. I'm not even getting paid it to work off board! Ahah.


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

So, I guess you&#8217;ve seen the drama. If you still want to do this, set it up right, start with by invitation only, and do it.


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## sleep4centuries (Jun 8, 2015)

I don't mind the drama too much, I just keep asking if there is anything that I can do to make it better, faster, easier and if I can do it I do. It helps that the last drama person in the barn left we are bringing in a quiet boarder to take her place.


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