Horse boarding prices near me – Know before boarding your horse!

Everyone dreams about buying and riding a horse across the wild and the waters. So all you have to do is go and purchase a horse. No big deal, right? Well, it seems fine. But guess what, anything is easy said than done. There is a massive barrier between that dream and reality, and that is the cost. The cost of maintaining a horse differs from purchasing to maintaining. From housing to food, the costs will vary from the places you live and the type of horses you want to maintain. We are going to dig through horse boarding prices near me, which will comprehensively decide how close you are to your dream. 

Horse boarding facilities and horse boarding prices near me 

Boarding a horse is a cheaper way when compared to doing it on your own. There are many factors that affect boarding horse costs. Many stables have more than one boarding.

There are three main things that affect boarding costs significantly. They are the location of the boarding, facilities, amenities available, and services provided.

Where is it located?

If the stable is close to an urban area, then the price will definitely be higher. There are taxes and land costs, which are also high in urban areas, given the size of the board.

Then, if the amount of boards in a single area is high, the price will rise competitively depending on the demand. In a rural area, there is a lot of space, and fodder is easier to get, which makes it a bit lower than in urban areas.

So you can consider the driving distances and costs and decide the suitable location of the board. 

Are the facilities and amenities available?

Costs go up as the facilities go higher. Wash racks, trails, jumps, indoor arenas, groomed riding rings, new barns, automatic waters, or feeders will reflect on the price you have to pay.

Well- equipped facilities mean it is going to affect your wallet a little bit harder. 

Services provided

The expensiveness of the board rises with the services provided. This might even add an extra price to your regular board bill. There are many different levels of care, ranging from complete self-care to full board.

The contract that the board provides states all the things you should know about services. Some extra services are supplements, lessons and training, stable shows, and veterinarian visits.

What is Self-Care Boarding?

This is about the horse owners wanting to spend more time and interact with their horses on a personal level, even if they are boarded. These boards provide your horse with a stable and pasture.

But generally, that’s’ it. You have to take care of their daily needs. Since these boards do not offer full-care services, the prices are lower, so it is a cheaper method. It also ensures horses’ care and your interaction with the horse. 

There are many benefits you can obtain through self-care boarding for both horses and the owners. They are as follows: 

– You become aware of the horse’s health.

– Good space is provided if you don’t own a facility

– Cheap

– It helps to develop a strong bond between you and the horse, a well-established relationship.

– There may be more experienced horse owners who would help you in taking care of your own horse. 

– You are responsible and in charge of your horses, well-being, and growth.

When we go through the responsibilities you have to undertake, it includes that you take the horse seriously. The horse’s wellbeing and care consist of good health maintenance.

This is basically about keeping the horse’s space clean, comfortable, and mucking out the stall. You should purchase food like hay and grain in the right type and amount.

Veterinarian appointments are also a part of the schedule. This helps to ensure its’ inner and outer health both accurately. 

Some facts you need to be aware of when looking for a boarding for your equine

When entering self-care, you have to sign and uphold a contract. You can choose any board option. It is better to go through the contract thoroughly before signing. It usually outlines facts as follows: 

– The space allocated for the horse

– The methods of horse feeding

– Extra expenses that should be paid for

– The handling of emergency situations at the site

– Operative hours

– Vaccinations required

– Provided amenity facilities

– Rules and regulations regarding health and safety 

– Training. 

The contract helps to identify the expectations and ensure the safety of both you and the horse, legally. It is better to avoid Word-of mouth contracts as they can change and put you and the horse at risk most of the time. 

In self-care, it is essential to clean yourself up afterward. You have to sweep the grooming areas after a session. You should clear manure from the training rinks.

The training equipment, such as barrels, jumps, and trotting poles, should go back to its place.

It is better to leave the facility in a state better than the way you found it because this will give some insight to the owners about how much you care for your horse and how much you take this seriously. The impression is essential. 

What to do when a problem arises with horse boarding?

If you find a problem with the stable, where you think something is wrong or not good enough for horse caretaking, it is better to talk directly to the stable owner than to speak in other places.

Don’t leave nasty messages on notice boards or pass them around. Excellent communication is the key to releasing a good vibe on the boarding space. 

Stealing and misusing things is also another trait that people look down on. If you want to use a piece of equipment, it is better to ask for permission.

And if you tend to leave your equipment in the boarding, better to have a name tag on it so that it won’t be replaced or lost. 

You are here to take care of your horse. But as you know, it is a boarding facility, which means there are many other horses in the stable belonging to other people.

So, you should know to have respect for the other horses and their owners as well. You should not pet or handle other horses without their owners’ permission. This handling could be of any type; feeding treats, grooming, etc.

The same goes for your horse as well. They will respect your horse if you respect theirs.  

Understanding a boarding facility

When you leave the horse at the boarding, if you are not doing self-care, you might need to check on your horse. But if you call the facility several times a day to check on the horse, it might cause a little bit of irritability to the owner.

So call them on occasional times only and not always. If the horse has any need, the owner will definitely call you. So make sure to provide the necessary contact details and correct ones as well. 

And sometimes you might get too worked up; you would want to go somewhere, take a couple of days off, or go on a business trip which takes you away from your usual horse-care schedule.

If it comes to that, you need to consider increasing boarding and self-care on the horse on-site as you would decrease its’ daily self-care from your side. You can ask the facility about the other options.

If you feel like struggling a bit, go and talk to the facility manager, and he would definitely be happy to lend a pair of extra hands in to play. 

But after all, if you are not satisfied with the facility and if it is not working out well for you, it is better to move on without causing much of a scene. You can inform the related personnel, and notice as mentioned in your contract, and move on. 

Setting up your own boarding facility

There is another option; you can choose to build your boarding facility. This might be costly than just boarding your horse elsewhere. But there are many advantages to moving along this method.

You can carry this out as a business and be closer to your horse or just make the space for your horse.

How does the monthly cost vary?

You can use a stable or barn to board horse if you are considering housing. One can even use the land to board a horse. The arena is your coverage area, and you can assign horses to their stalls and trails.

The prices can go from $400 to $500 per month, but if it is an urban area, the price varies from $1200 to $3000. This cost might not include mucking out stalls and feeding.

But if someone owns the land, they can save some money and consider covering the rest of the remaining costs.

If we go through the monthly cost of providing bedding, pasture fence maintenance, and utility payments, it would cost around $300 averagely.

For moving the horse, where the requirement of a trailer comes up, and it usually costs $2000 the lowest, and a top model costs around $50000. 

Food

Next comes the food for the horse. A horse’s diet depends on the type and the size of the horse. Let us analyze generally.

So an 1100-pound horse is likely to eat and feed on the hay, which would cost about $200 per month. But the horses which are left to graze on grass freely will help to reduce this amount.

Hay cost changes with the time of the year. The type of hays and the amount required will change for different horses.

In urban areas, hay is expensive, but it is the opposite in rural areas because they produce enough hay. Pre-packed feed for horses is also available. Those can cost from $10 to $50 per month. 

Storage

One primary requirement of a boarding facility is storage. There has to be a storage for food where you can keep complete feed pellets and grains.

Then you need bedding storage where you can keep bulk shavings or individual bales. Then hay storage also needs to be put up, a loft, or a part of a building to store hay out of the weather.

Other expenses

Then you have to consider general expenses. You have to set up insurance, including commercial liability, custody, and control insurances.

Then you have to cover workers’ compensation and vehicle insurances as well. But sometimes there might be no workers. But some people tend to bring help.

It could be long term or hired. These helpers would feed the horses, clean the stalls, bring horses to turnouts, carry out repairs, and even mow the lawns and fields. 

While doing all this, the central part of the bill also adds up. That would be water, electricity, gas, trash removal, and sewer costs. You cannot neglect these as they are the basic requirements to fulfill all the other needs.

Additionally, you cannot forget the government involvement because you would have to pay the taxes and accountant fees.

You have to cover property taxes, state taxes, etc. mortgage and rent costs as well. Then, you have to take a business permit. 

Horse care

Taking care of the horse is the next essential step. For Horses’ hooves to function well, you need to trim them regularly. Trimming might cost between $20 and $50 per month.

Then next comes the shoeing of the horse. This generally takes up about $70 to $100 in rural areas. But when it comes to urban areas, the price gets higher, about $110 to $140.

Then for the stalls, you might need to fix horses in wash stalls, water vessels, blankets, saddle racks, and even sprinkler systems. Low maintenance boarding would not need most of them. 

Training

This is not enough to get a horse ready to run. There are the riding requirements for safety and the horse’s comfort. They include saddle and pad, bit, halter, bridle, and lead.

For this, it might cost $200 per month as a new set would generally cost up to thousands of dollars. There is second-hand equipment as well. These might be lower in price, but still, they would not last that long.

Grooming needs few brushes, curry comb, mane, hoof pick, tail combs, scrapers, sponges, and a bucket to hold all in. And again, the cost would generally be around $150. But might vary on the quality. 

Health

If we look at the health of the horse, you have to maintain good health unless you want to add more costs to the bill. An annual checkup is mandatory, just like we do.

This might include vaccinations, teeth cleaning, worm treatment, and deworming. This cost ranges between $60 and $250. Prices vary with the veterinarian.

You will have to pay an extra payment if the veterinarian visits the boarding facility from a distance. Then there are emergencies; ones you never plan for. Those cost around $500 upwards. 

When it comes to training yourself in riding a horse, lessons start from $20 to $50 an hour for private lessons. Per month, an approximate amount of $800 goes for training lessons.

There are special training lessons you can take, and they cost you about $500 per weekend. 

Then after a few years, comes the repairs. The buildings and the sheds need repairs and upkeep. The arenas require excellent footing, moistening the footing, and harrowing as well.

You need to fix and install mirrors and lights we well. For the pasture’s upkeep, the owner should add fertilization and carry out grass, seed, and weed management.

You need to include machinery to manure and bedding disposals. Managing mucks from stalls, letting composting take place might also cost a bit. Sometimes the fly attacks take place due to the owner’s fault.

So the owner has to maintain it as well. Tractors always involved in this scene, and you need to have the roads and parking cleared for them. 

Horse boarding price list

Let us review the general rate of a boarding facility.

There are three types. 

• Self-care
• Partial- care
• Full care

Self-Care

This includes water, electricity, pasture, and the use of an indoor stall. Usually, the premises can be accessed between 5.00 am to 10.00 pm. The cost – $125 per month.

Self-care boarders are responsible for supplying feed, watering the horse, stall cleaning, taking horses out, bringing it in, providing their own sawdust, and other beddings. 

Partial-Care

This also includes usage of indoor stalls, morning and evening urn out services, feeding, watering, and graining daily. In partial-care, you will get water, electricity, and pasture as provisions.

The access time is the same. The partial care horse owners should supply all feed for the horse, stall cleaning daily, and providing bedding. This costs around $175 per month.

Full-care

Full care costs about $200 per month, and this package comes with the same types of items. Use of indoor stalls, evening and morning, turn out services, feeding, training, and daily watering and daily stall cleaning.

Water electricity and pasture include the same access time of 5.00 am to 10.00 pm. The full care package owners should supply and feed for their own horse and provide sawdust and other bedding. 

A private barn option is also available where you keep the horse in his own space. This also includes a private barn, which costs about $500, and full care private barn costing about $800.

If we analyze horse boarding legally, it falls under the category of bailment. Bailment is generally placing your property under the custody of another. In this case, your property is your horse.

The agreement usually says that the bailee; or the property caretaker is responsible for the property’s safety. There are two types of bailments; one is gratuitous, meaning not to pay with the ordinary standard of care.

Where it basically requires a safe environment with adequate resources. Some prefer this method. The other one is to pay care where they provide reasonable care.

In both cases, a written agreement is essential among both parties to protect you and your horse when boarding. In failing to do so, it marks a red flag for the manager and the boarding establishment as lax and unprofessional. 

If you own your own horse boarding place, it is better to advertise about it to attract more people. The areas of advertising should be strategic.

Places such as horse shows, feed stores, tack shops, local equine business places can be used for this. One happy customer can recommend your business to dozens and dozens. 

Wrap up: Search for ‘Horse boarding prices near me’ to get the best care for your horse. 

Usually, everyone has a choice; you can either go with boarding your horse on an excellent boarding facility at a reasonable price with any type of care you prefer.

You can even start your boarding facility just for your horse or as a business. In the end, whatever method you choose, just make sure it is not just about how you feel; but also for the best and the safest option for your horse as well.

At the end of the day, it is all about raising a high horse with a remarkable personality and an unbreakable bond that is going to build up between you and the horse.