# Horse boarding too expensive?



## churumbeque (Dec 20, 2009)

If the pasture is safe and he is well cared for it sounds like a no brainer.


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## beatehs (Sep 3, 2015)

*I know your dilemma...*

We now live in the Netherlands and I have two brood mares, one 3 month old colt and two more foals on the way. Which is not a problem here, but with my husband wanting to work in New York City... Well... That will be expensive! 

USD1700 pr box! I do today pay USD 520 for stabling for all 3 horses I have! Quite the dilemma! ❤ 

Flying the horses to the US is approx. USD 3000 pr horse, so that is cheap compared to stabling! But what are my options??? 😱😱😱


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## SueNH (Nov 7, 2011)

beatehs, look at stabling out on Long Island or north of the city in what the city folk refer to as upstate. The roads are good here. It's still real expensive in New York.

The further you get away from the city the harder public transportation gets too so be ready to drive a distance. I'm 6 hrs north of NYC and forget about any public transport.

This area you are still paying about $650 a horse for a place with an indoor ring and box stalls. Some can be found cheaper but not much.

OTTBlordy, where do you live? Check feed stores, craigslist, local horsemen's associations.


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## natisha (Jan 11, 2011)

OTTBLordy said:


> I have a slight dilemma on my hands. I make more than enough money to afford a horse, but board around here is pretty expensive for full care. I found one barn that will deduct board as I'm able to come out and clean stalls, but unfortunately I tend to work 12-14 hours at my job and realistically I'm barely going to be able to make it out to clean.
> 
> This boarding predicament is making it so that I need to sell my horse if I don't find something better, which is distressing to me. I'm thinking about just boarding my horse to pasture (which is free except for grain) until winter, and then seeing how poor I am around then.
> 
> Any other suggestions? This horse is a great boy he's literally a dream I don't want to sell him.


I'm confused by the contradictions.


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## OTTBLordy (Sep 4, 2015)

natisha said:


> I'm confused by the contradictions.


I make more than enough money meaning for vetting, farrier, tack and supplies. I don't have enough money to be paying almost $400 in board on top of all of my other payments for renting an apartment, car payment and insurance, gas, groceries. I don't have time to clean stalls because I'm in the social work field and work about 12-14 hour days, so I can't go down to partial care....I bought him thinking my board was going to be cheaper than it is, but then I was told I'm required to supply grain and hay, which around here is hundreds of dollars on top of paying extra board for full care. 

I'm reluctant to do pasture boarding for a 5 year old with so much potential. I feel like it's a loss for him if that makes any sense so I was looking for suggestions. Pasture boarding seems like a thing for senior horses not an OTTB that's 5. I don't know if it benefits him at all to do that or rehome him.


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## LoriF (Apr 3, 2015)

natisha said:


> I'm confused by the contradictions.


I was thinking the same thing.

Personally, I think pasture board would be better for an energetic 5 year old than a senior horse. He can tolerate the elements easier. All of my horses are pasture boarded, but I do have use of a stall if needed. Right now I am using it for my senior horse who stopped sweating this summer so she can stand in the shade under fans all day and she gets let out at night.


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## LoriF (Apr 3, 2015)

Also, with pasture board (if there is plenty of grass in it) would eliminate the need for buying hay except for winter.


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## DancingArabian (Jul 15, 2011)

OTTBLordy said:


> I make more than enough money meaning for vetting, farrier, tack and supplies. I don't have enough money to be paying almost $400 in board on top of all of my other payments for renting an apartment, car payment and insurance, gas, groceries. I don't have time to clean stalls because I'm in the social work field and work about 12-14 hour days, so I can't go down to partial care....I bought him thinking my board was going to be cheaper than it is, but then I was told I'm required to supply grain and hay, which around here is hundreds of dollars on top of paying extra board for full care.
> 
> I'm reluctant to do pasture boarding for a 5 year old with so much potential. I feel like it's a loss for him if that makes any sense so I was looking for suggestions. Pasture boarding seems like a thing for senior horses not an OTTB that's 5. I don't know if it benefits him at all to do that or rehome him.


To be frank, no, you don't make enough money for a horse. Nevermind "more than enough". Boarding is part of the costs of a horse and if you can't afford that, then you can't afford the horse.

Have you had an OTTB before? Most OTTB's do VERY well on pasture board and not cooped up for extended amounts of time in a stall. They need to move around. Especially a baby. It's actually often recommended that an OTTB be put out to pasture for a few months to allow their brain time to reset from the track.

Pasture board does not influence a horse's "potential". Plenty of horses, yes, including show horses and competition horses, do better with pasture board.

If you're paying $400 for full care board, full care board includes grain and hay. If they're not including that in board, then they're not offering full care.

If you're working 12-14 hour days, how are you going to have time to invest into working with this horse anyway? A young horse needs regular work. If you're having trouble affording board, how will you afford the services of a trainer? Or show fees (assuming you're interested in showing, due to the mention that the horse has potential, in which case regular lessons and show fees are a consideration).

I suggest putting him on pasture board or broadening your search area and finding a location that might be a little further away.


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## SueNH (Nov 7, 2011)

Being kept in a stall isn't that wonderful for most horses. They are creatures of the wide open plains. They are better off moving and eating a little bit often. I'd choose a pasture every time over a box stall for a healthy horse.


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## NBEventer (Sep 15, 2012)

Pasture board is ideal for most horses. There are more and more grand prix horses and top level eventers living outside between competitions these days as people see how beneficial it is to the horses health and well being. 

I have a beautiful, well bred yearling filly who is out 24/7(and Im in eastern Canada with harsh winters) with my other 2 competition horses. She thrives on full turn out. This is a warmblood filly who has loads of potential and worth 5 figures. 

And if you can't afford board, you can't afford your horse.


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## amberly (Dec 16, 2012)

We board our horses in pasture and they do jsut fine - I'm not sure why people prefere an enclosed space with no room to run, but I do know a few reasons.....don't yell at me, I have horses inside too....


anyways - if your horses don't need grain then tell your barn owner - it cuts down on cost and depending on what you are doing you may not even need it.
We have three horses - two are 24 and one is 9 and they don't take grain and live in the pasture. Healthy as can be with plenty of years left.


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## OTTBLordy (Sep 4, 2015)

Thanks everyone for your replies! Sorry if it seemed silly of me to ask about pasture boarding, but my entire life I boarded my horse at a barn with literally no pasture. I would just go every day for like 7 hours (I was cyber schooled so I could spend that long) and make sure she was worked and let out in the paddock for a while. Seems like such a simple answer, but to me I was like "is that even healthy?!" :biglaugh: I ended up finding a barn about 50-60 minutes away that is much cheaper and all included! Phew, I was flipping out.

Me working 12-14 hour shifts isn't permanent. We're very short staffed right now, and I am working a loft of OT until the middle of October. Trust me, I still get out to see my horse. I just sleep less. I currently work third shift, so I just pop over to the barn in the evening then throw him out to pasture when I'm done. 

And I can afford a horse, and board, just not when the board is close to $400, which was EVERYWHERE around here. Luckily I started broadening my search and just being willing to fill my gas more often.  Thankfully things are working out. I love my boy and just want what's best for him. And no, I've never had an OTTB before. I had a Saddlebred/Morgan and a Shire/Morgan before. That's why I joined this community to get some solid advice about OTTB's. So, forgive me if I ask a lot of questions.

My boy has been getting extra grain recently because unfortunately he's very skinny. He came from Mountaineer and they raced him skinny as a rail...I'm trying to get 300lbs on him per the vet's recommendations. I decided I'm just going to buy oil and mix it in his feed to help so I can save money on grain. I made sure the new stables knows about his weight problem so they can help me get weight on him.


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## Saskia (Aug 26, 2009)

I see the board arrangements on here sometimes and I know I could never afford full care. At least not while I'm studying. Even recently when working a lot more spending $500+ a month is not an option for me.

I've always viewed full care as a luxury. I've been places where full care is $100+ a week and next door you can put your horse in a shared paddock for $20 a week. It means you need to be committed to horse care but it's far cheaper.

I've always found places like this, head out on the rural outskirts of most cities and someone somewhere will have self care paddock board.

The reality of situations for me in the past has been that there are just some areas, large cities etc where I could not afford to keep a horse. Board was high and travel to the outskirts would be hours a day. So you have to make choices. I've chose not to go to certain universities or apply for jobs because it would mean that I would no longer be in a situation to ride.


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## NBEventer (Sep 15, 2012)

The other thing to do is look into private barns. An example, I have my own barn and 3 of my own horses. I like keeping one boarder as it gives me a riding buddy and someone to help out with chores when I can't do them. My current boarder is awesome because she just does all the chores two days a week and whenever im away. Anyway I charge $225 a month and that includes feed, unlimited hay, full turn out on a grass pasture with round bales, a stall to come in to eat and bad/stormy weather, blanket changes, doing fly spray and any meds/extra care needed. Lots of private barns will do something similar. Just post on local groups on Facebook, craigslist etc that you are looking for somewhere to keep your horse.


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## verona1016 (Jul 3, 2011)

Saskia said:


> I've always viewed full care as a luxury. I've been places where full care is $100+ a week and next door you can put your horse in a shared paddock for $20 a week. It means you need to be committed to horse care but it's far cheaper.


It's not always cheaper when you consider the other costs of self-care. My barn is very close to my house (~10 miles), but I still burn more than a gallon of gas each round trip. One trip a day at current gas prices is more than $100/month. If you have to go twice a day, then that doubles, and a lot of people end up keeping their horses much farther from home than that to find affordable board rates. If you also have to add in costs for hay, hard feed, and bedding on top of driving, you often don't save much over full care board and you lose out of on a lot of time spent driving and doing chores.


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## beatehs (Sep 3, 2015)

Carl Hester has one of his world cup horses on pasture stabling. He is of course rugged up and wearing leg protectors. But he lives out 24/7. ??

I have the full sister of one of Carls previous world cup horses (Pro-Set) and she thrives on pasture life! Way happier, less stressed and far less injuries! ? She is 9 going on 3, but hopefully having a baby of her own will make her grow up and stop stealing foals. ?? 

I would gladly have my horses on grass stabling permanently, but here in the NL, at least this close to Amsterdam, the ground is too soft and becomes soggy mud fever country... ? But April to November 24/7 outside! ?

Thanks for the tips! I will look at stabling out towards Long Island. So far I have, to my Brooklyn husbands HUGE dismay, looked in New Jersey! ??


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## PartialToGray (May 28, 2014)

beatehs said:


> Carl Hester has one of his world cup horses on pasture stabling. He is of course rugged up and wearing leg protectors. But he lives out 24/7. ??
> 
> I have the full sister of one of Carls previous world cup horses (Pro-Set) and she thrives on pasture life! Way happier, less stressed and far less injuries! ? She is 9 going on 3, but hopefully having a baby of her own will make her grow up and stop stealing foals. ??
> 
> ...


I live an hour north of Manhattan and have full board at $500 per month, indoor and outdoor riding rings, pasture turnout during the day, all feed and hay included. Looking North of the city will probably be your best bet, as the HUdson Valley is horse country with many barns at decent rates.


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