# Full Board vs. Self-care



## DutchFeather (May 9, 2011)

Ok, so I'm boarding my horse now that I've moved into an apartment and can't keep him at home. I have an arrangement with a friend who has an empty stall that baord him at her private barn. Full board is $400 a month and includes hay, grain, bedding, turnout, am/pm feed, etc. But, I'm going to be buying my own hay, grain and bedding and doing all my own chores (she only lives about a mile down the road from me). So my question is, how much should I expect to pay for self-care, verses the $400 for full board?


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## Klassic Superstar (Nov 30, 2009)

I have seen price ranges go from half the full board cost to 2/3 off. I used to board at a full and self care. full was 430 and self care was 200. You had to buy your own hay though, you could use their shavings and buy hay from them if you couldnt buy a whole load. every place is different esp with this economy now. Also depends on what all the barn has to offer such as daily turnout, paddocks or pastures, indoor arena and or outdoor.

I would say if your paying your for yur own hay, grain and bedding and feeding and cleaning (im auusming turnout bringing in and out as well) it would be about 200 in a fair place! Good luck!


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## Beauseant (Oct 22, 2010)

Around here, self care usually runs about half the price of full board.....so as Klassic said, you should expect to pay about $200.

We board at a private residence farm where we are the only boarders and we do self care.. and the property owners charge us $200 a month...per horse. 

We do everything ourselves and have the entire property to ourselves: 3 pastures totalling 23 acres, 1 dry lot paddock, 1 horse friendly pond for them to swim in, six stall stable, heated tack room and bathroom....both barn and bathroom have hot and cold running water year round.....so with all those ammenities, we consider 200 per month a good deal, especially since we are finicky horse owners and want to do things our way..... so we LOVE self care.


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## DutchFeather (May 9, 2011)

That's about what I'm thinking, because when I budgeted out how much hay/grain/bedding will cost, it was about $200-$250, so roughly half of the full board. The BO has three of her own horses, and boards out her 4th stall, so it'll be just the two of us. She seems really nice and lives only a mile down the road from me. Her facility is simple, being a private barn, so there is no indoor, but there is plenty or pastures for rotating and the stalls are nice and big, whch is a good thing since I have a belgian. Thanks guys.


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## Beauseant (Oct 22, 2010)

DutchFeather said:


> but there is plenty or pastures for rotating and the stalls are nice and big, whch is a good thing since I have a belgian. .


 
A good thing, indeed!!! We have a Belgian also, and that girl can eat!!! 


We have 3 pastures to use, all 3 are huge, but we only use one which i am estimating the one we are using is 10 to 12 acres....we thought it was big enough for only two horses. We were wrong...they've severely injured the grass in the field...it may need reseeded come spring....:-( I feel so bad about it....but we have never had to do pasture management before....so i asked the property owner...he said the one pasture was surely big enough for only two horses, so we didn't rotate..... and now we have a pasture that may not recover.....i blame it all on the Belgian!!! she is a feathered lawn mower!! And if she's hungry enough she not only eats huge mouthfulls of grass by the blades, she'll pull it out by the roots!! :?


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## DutchFeather (May 9, 2011)

Not to mention that their size and hooves are more damaging that those of a lighter breed. We had a few QH in a our field with no problem. As soon as we added a belgian and took out a QH, it was a disaster space an we had to move pastures.

The BO and I discussed prices today, and have decided on $200 for "rough" board with self care. I buy all my own hay, grain and shavings and do all my own chores. It should work out fine.


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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

You also need to budget in the cost of someone else attending to your chores should you have to miss a day or two. It might be easier to apply for a job there part time whereby you pay your full board and they pay you. No - we'll just take it off your board- because someone always winds up a loser.


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## Kawairashii Ichigo (Jul 18, 2010)

For me I get all my hay for free (My landlord deals with hay and sells most his stuff to the racetrack, so it's fairly decent stuff), and I'm learning to trim my ponies feet for free by him to (He's really good at it, after he trimmed Shnooks feet he was running and prancing and his steps felt like a million bucks.). But if it wasn't for that, one of those round bales costs $25. and it took my 14.2 pony about a month and a half to finish it with the whole bale up for "24/7 free choice hay" in the shelter. That plus 35 bucks for feet trimming and I pay about 30-40 in grain per month.


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