Does boarding horses make any money?

[Sandy]

I have a small stable of 8 horses. 2 are my own, and the rest are boarders. I've kept horses for the past 6 years. The stable I kept my horse at previously no longer boards horses because it doesn't make any money. I take pride in my care, and can only cut so many corners, as I need to ensure quality feed, care and safety.

I am raising my board, but still in number crunching, I'm finding I am not getting anything for the 3-5hrs/day I spend cleaning, repairing, handling etc. Do any of you make money at it? Do you make any more by keeping more horses and buying supplies in larger quantities? Or do we just do this for our own pleasure. I'm seriously debating ridding of boarders (except one). So I can have a bit more of a life of my own. Then if I ever wanted to take a vacation, it's not so much work for the person to help out too. What do any of you who may keep or board horses think?

[slc2]

"It depends". How do you figure you aren't getting paid for your time. I would wager that you are actually being paid A GREAT DEAL for your 'hours'.

If you support two horses with the boarders, you have to figure how much it would cost you to board them elsewhere, into financial gain of your barn. That could run you up to 1800-2000 dollars a month that your barn saves you, or you might not even be able to FIND a place that gives the same care you do.

You have to figure something into what you save for aggravation, time spent driving to a boarding barn, it costs about a dollar a mile to drive your own car. Figure that into financial gain of your own barn.

You also have to calculate in something for the equity in the property. A property with a barn and facilities is (when the economy straightens out) worth a great deal more than pouring money down the drain at a boarding barn. Your equity has a value. Figure that in. You do spend time maintaining your property, but horse properties are quite valuable. A property that is maintained can go for several hundred thousand more than one is not. A maintained, in use horse property is valuable.

It costs me very little per month for supplies for each horse at home, and I know that most boarding barns have cheaper bulk supplies than I do. It costs me about 200 a month for top quality hay and bagged bedding. In my area, I would pay about 800-900 dollars for a place with good care and a decent indoor and outdoor arena, where I could really train my horse and get him ready to show.

That is a difference of six hundred dollars a month. At ten dollars an hour, that's 60 hours a month, or two hours a day, that are already paid for, without figuring in any other savings at all.

You also may be spending time at the barn that you don't need to spend. I'm sorry, but I really don't believe it requires 5 hrs a day to take care of 10 horses, especially if they are not 'done up' like show horses. Either you're socializing a lot, your place is not set up right, or you're over-estimating. It took me 20 min to feed and hay in the morning, and about 20 min to turn out. This is 12 horses. It took me 20 minutes to feed lunch and check horses. It took me 2 hrs to clean stalls. It took me 30 min to bring in and feed dinner. THat's 3.5 hrs.

However, even at that cost, they would rarely be changing blankets, many days horses wouldn't go out when the help was busy or not available, and I would not be allowed to move jumps so I could practice dressage work. Furthermore, I would most likely have to pay someone extra to turn my horse out when I was out of town on a weekend (no turnout on weekends at many barns), I would still have to pay someone to hold my horse for the farrier (not included at many barns).

PLUS, I would have to pay a ring fee of up to 10 dollars a lesson or more every time my riding instructor came over. That could run a lot of money a month if I take frequent lessons. At 2 lessons a week, that's close to a hundred extra a month. I save that as well, if my instructor comes to my barn. If I have to haul out because my instructor is not allowed at the boarding barn, my costs of having my own instructor can run more like 20-50 dollars extra a lesson! Again, money I save if I have my own place.

Or more likely, I would only be allowed to use the 'barn instructor', and couldn't work with my own instructor at all. I might even be pressured to use the barn vet, the barn dentist, and the barn farrier. I might not like them.

I might have up to a dozen people in the ring with me, or be required to ride after lessons, or barn hours may be short and I'd just have to not ride that day. I would have to deal with hours when the barn was not open, and days when it was closed entirely. One place the arena was closed for a week while they cleaned it, and waterers dripped so bad horses slipped and fell in the arena. One place the entire barn was to be closed for a week to repair a floor, and we would not be allowed to ride, visit the barn, or even take our horses out of their stalls during that time (and the help would not be turning out). At the same place, I was required to catch their cat and lock him in the tack room before I left - a chore that occasionally consisted of following the cat around for up to 45 minutes, and getting scratched and bitten.

If my horse got injured (this happened to me) I would have very little luck controlling the situation at a boarding barn sufficiently to allow his recovery. If a 80,000 dollar horse is ruined and must be retired, vs at your own place where you can keep him quiet and keep an eye on him, that is 80,000 dollars you saved.

What's it worth to not have that aggravation, to have control of your footing in your arena, to make your own rules, to have the arena to yourself, to not have to drive when the weather is bad?

[Sandy]

Thanks slc2, well thought out. I do still keep my own horses, definitely a savings in that sense. but the costs i worked out, was the cost per horse, just for feed, shavings and hay per month added up to the same amount I was charging for board after I raised it. So I wasn't factoring anything in for my time, which takes longer when I have to repair fences and stalls on a regular basis. And these things also add to my costs, the little repairs here and there and constant maintenance, cleanup in teh barn and around it. I find the 4 horses get along well, less stressed themselves, since they don't have the higher strung, harder keepers getting things all stirred up.
Standard5acres also had a true point, it's the harder keepers that add up. My 2 and the boarder I still have with her 2, are all easier keepers, the rest of those boarders' horses ate 4-5x what ours got. I may some day go back to boarding if I was not commuting to the city for a full time job in addition to taking care of 8+ horses. I find the 4 way easier to manage now than 8, and now have time to spend with my own horses, as well as cook dinner, etc when I get home from work.
Overall, I really should have set a board rate at a price that does cover what I want it to, and if the boarders want to stay with me they can. And like Standard5acres said, I wouldn't and couldn't count on the board as steady income, since sometimes there are gaps between someone coming and someone going. And that is definitely a better plan, to have them purchase their own feed. I just didn't want to end up with so many feed bins for every different type of feed each boarder decided they wanted. I would set the situation up better, with run-ins, so less handling needed, and less worry when the weather changes, and automatic waterers outside, and heated waterers for winter. I can do all that with just the 4 horses since it takes less power, and I don't need multiple heaters etc, Because not all get along so well, I hadn't been able to keep them all out in the same larger paddock, I had ot separate the troublemakers and kickers (yet another expense having to fence off separate paddocks for these ones). Which then made it difficult to have one large heated water trough etc. I am happy with the decision to cut back for now, and if later on I get a job closer to home, or manage to figure out something where I can work from home, then the boarding would be a much easier side job too.

I still love doing it. I appreciate all the perspectives I've been given on this subject, and will use them in future, or even now on my smaller scale.

[slc2]

Another thing I figure in favor of having my own place is ah...oh dear...lifestyle. I'm living a kind of life I love. Being surrounded by horses and land. I see sunrises and moon rises. I see my neighbor's cows. I see birds, wild animals (little tiny ones, granted). I'm not sure I can put a dollar value on that.

Boarding IS aggravating. You have to deal with personalities and schedules. And it won't get you as rich as investing in the stock market...