# Continue to board or bring home?



## DraftyAiresMum (Jun 1, 2011)

My boyfriend and I are in the process of buying a house and we're talking about getting horse property so we can have Aries at our place. So, I double-checked with my BO on how much she feeds Aries. According to her, he goes through about 2.5 (120lbs) bales of alfalfa per week. Right now, 120lbs bales of alfalfa are running about $19-20 per bale (this is bought individually, not in a load). Based on the BO's calculations, Aries goes through ten bales per month.

So, if my math is correct, that would mean it would cost right at about $200 a month to feed Aries (this is just hay...grain is not included in my board, so that wouldn't change). Right now, I'm paying $185 a month in board, which includes him being fed three times a day, his stall cleaned daily, turnout a few times a week, his water filled/changed as needed, and use of the arena. 

Where we're living now, he's exactly two miles from my house. Depending on where we end up buying a house, that could go all the way up to ten miles away.

So is it really worth it to bring him home? What would you do in my shoes? I'm seriously conflicted about this.
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## Skyseternalangel (Jul 23, 2011)

Since it'd cost a bit more to bring him home (apparently) the next thing you should look at would be quality of life.

Would he have a better quality of life at home or being boarded?


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## MyBoySi (Dec 1, 2011)

I personally love having mine at home. Hay is cheap in NY.. I pay $2.50 for 40lb bales of quality grass hay and go through 50-60 bales a month. They get grain as well, another $100 a month easily. 

I have the option of keeping them at my aunts barn as well 15 mins away and have in the past. When I have them there I only have to pay for grain and hay in the winter as she has pasture. Everything is done for me, feeding, stalls, water etc. 

I way prefer keeping them at home and doing everything myself. To me the work is part of owning a horse. I don't mind scooping manure, feeding them 3x a day year round, watering etc. for the privilege of walking into my backyard anytime I want to interact with my horses. 

I also love the fact that what I say goes, I can do what I want, no BO to answer to or other boarders to offend. 

I also have miles and miles of amazing trails..
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## deserthorsewoman (Sep 13, 2011)

Do the math....according to your BO Aires eats 43lbs of alfalfa a day...unless he's a 18hh Clydesdale ....no way. 
And even if she buys bulk, I doubt she'd go for breaking even only with boarding. 

Now the quality of life thing is a different matter. Unless he's living by himself and doesn't care at all about other horses, he'd be miserable living alone.


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## DraftyAiresMum (Jun 1, 2011)

MyBoySi, I don't mind mucking and all that. In fact, I rather enjoy it. I used to work at a friend's barn doing exactly that and for the first year and a half I owned Aires, I did my own stall and water. My new barn only does full care, though, which is why I don't do my stall now. I also don't mind having a BO, as she's super chill and really nice.

DHW, I'm just going by what the BO said. The bales are three-string, which around here are 100-120lbs. He gets fed three times a day. Granted, his breakfast is grass hay, lunch is 50/50 grass and alfalfa, and dinner is alfalfa, but the grass hay is also a three-string (100-120lbs) bale and is running about $18/bale. When I moved him temporarily last week because of the fire, he went through a three-string 120lbs bale of alfalfa in three and a half days, being fed about 10-15lbs per feeding, but only being fed twice a day.

As for him being alone...he is actually ok by himself. He was by himself the first couple of days when I moved him and he wasn't stressed, was eating fine, and drinking normally. I also will probably have a good friend of mine who has two horses renting a room from me, so he wouldn't be alone. Barring my friend not working out, I planned on adopting a donkey from a local rescue, at least until we get my boyfriend a horse.
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## texasgal (Jul 25, 2008)

I'm kinda in the same boat, draftie. we've got one horse at the house ... two in a totally free pasture down the road.. fat as pigs.

I want the home soooo bad, but it will triple our feed bill .. what to do?

*sigh*


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## deserthorsewoman (Sep 13, 2011)

DraftyAiresMum said:


> MyBoySi, I don't mind mucking and all that. In fact, I rather enjoy it. I used to work at a friend's barn doing exactly that and for the first year and a half I owned Aires, I did my own stall and water. My new barn only does full care, though, which is why I don't do my stall now. I also don't mind having a BO, as she's super chill and really nice.
> 
> DHW, I'm just going by what the BO said. The bales are three-string, which around here are 100-120lbs. He gets fed three times a day. Granted, his breakfast is grass hay, lunch is 50/50 grass and alfalfa, and dinner is alfalfa, but the grass hay is also a three-string (100-120lbs) bale and is running about $18/bale. When I moved him temporarily last week because of the fire, he went through a three-string 120lbs bale of alfalfa in three and a half days, being fed about 10-15lbs per feeding, but only being fed twice a day.
> 
> ...


I bought 120 lb bales ....started weighing and counting flakes and came out at 85 lb bales. 
So, you'll never know until you weigh it. Just saying;-)

I'd say find a place first. Then decide. 
You will give up freedom when you have him at home. I haven't had vacation since...ever.....
short, lots of things to think about.


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## JustDressageIt (Oct 4, 2007)

Some things to consider:
- being "alone" for a few days is totally different than living alone 24/7. Was he still semi-around other horses when he was alone? Being kept in eyesight of other horses =\= alone either. I am really against horses being kept totally alone. 
- vacation will be nonexistent or very planned. No just skipping away for the weekend. 
- you're on your own. No asking your BO if something seems off, no lessons, etc. 
- make sure you have easy access to hay/farrier/ etcetera. Do you have storage for hay? Adequate storage, I mean, in case hay becomes scarce/through the winter.
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## DraftyAiresMum (Jun 1, 2011)

JustDressageIt said:


> Some things to consider:
> - being "alone" for a few days is totally different than living alone 24/7. Was he still semi-around other horses when he was alone? Being kept in eyesight of other horses =\= alone either. I am really against horses being kept totally alone.
> - vacation will be nonexistent or very planned. No just skipping away for the weekend.
> - you're on your own. No asking your BO if something seems off, no lessons, etc.
> ...


We don't vacation anyway. And if we do need to be out of town, I have friends and family that would feed for me.

As for the amenities thing, the only thing I might miss (depending on what we get) would be a large arena. Other than that, my barn doesn't do lessons or anything like that.

Hay storage again depends on the place. The one place we are looking at has a nice, big shed for hay (could easily fit 50+ bales in it). 

My farrier serves our quad-cities area, so again, no big deal, and there are three places in my town that sell hay and deliver.
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## Cacowgirl (Feb 19, 2011)

If Aires is eating $200 worth of hay every month & you only have to pay $185 for board & care, well that answer looks pretty easy, right? I would get settled in the new place first & see if there are trails or people to ride with before moving your horse. You might like the barn better or even seasonally.


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## xGirugamesh (May 16, 2013)

I think you have to consider what's more important right now in your life. Price or convenience? You're definitely getting a better deal at your boarding place, but if you can afford to keep at home comfortably, I don't see why not.


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## Viranh (Apr 7, 2013)

Please keep in mind that you may need to store several hundred square bales, not just 50. I go through about 300 for my two horses, and one of them is an air fern these days, and both are 14hh-ish, so not big horses. If I could not store a years worth of hay, I might not have any at all. Hay is always super scarce come February through to first cutting in June, and extremely expensive when it exists. You'll also get know the joy of loading and unloading 300 square bales in June weather.  That said, I prefer to have my horses at home. It is cheaper, and I can control their diets more carefully. I'm so busy sometimes that I only see them when I feed, too, so if I boarded I might not see them at all.


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## Shoebox (Apr 18, 2012)

How far do you drive for boarding? How much would you be saving in gas not having to drive out there to see them?


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

DraftyAiresMum said:


> My boyfriend and I are in the process of buying a house and we're talking about getting horse property so we can have Aries at our place. So, I double-checked with my BO on how much she feeds Aries. According to her, he goes through about 2.5 (120lbs) bales of alfalfa per week. Right now, 120lbs bales of alfalfa are running about $19-20 per bale (this is bought individually, not in a load). Based on the BO's calculations, Aries goes through ten bales per month.
> 
> So, if my math is correct, that would mean it would cost right at about $200 a month to feed Aries (this is just hay...grain is not included in my board, so that wouldn't change). Right now, I'm paying $185 a month in board, which includes him being fed three times a day, his stall cleaned daily, turnout a few times a week, his water filled/changed as needed, and use of the arena.
> 
> ...


ESPECIALLY in AZ, I'd leave him at the boarding barn. I kept 25 horses in Tucson and boy would it have been nice to have someone else doing the chores!


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## DraftyAiresMum (Jun 1, 2011)

Shoebox said:


> How far do you drive for boarding? How much would you be saving in gas not having to drive out there to see them?


Right now I drive two miles to the barn. Depending on where we get a house, it could go anywhere up to ten miles. So, not horrible. Plus my car gets decent gas mileage, even though it's a V8.
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## TurkishVan (Feb 11, 2013)

I think you're getting a pretty sweet deal with board, actually. You might also consider the cost of a vet visit in a boarding situation (where the visit fee is most likely split amongst several people) vs. you paying the entire fee for your (one) horse. 

My Mom has about 20 acres for our horses to roam on, and it's still a pain in the butt to manage everything. You spend more time and money dinking around with faulty water tank heaters in the winter, electrical cords, fans, hay, feed, etc. than you would in a boarding situation. Before she invested in gigantic steel stock tanks (which aren't cheap), we had to chop ice on the pond at least once a day, preferably twice. And with the snow thigh high, you weren't driving to it! Moving big round bales during winter is a pain too. 

Having your horses at your own place is great, and I really love being able to watch them roam freely at home, instead of getting daily "turn out." It makes me happy to see them happy. But you really have to sit down and analyze every little cost to get a good idea of how much you're saving by bringing them home. And always do worse case scenario! I learned that the hard way.


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## stevenson (Sep 12, 2011)

Whats a vacation ? I get away for a day if I am lucky. Since you are in AZ you may be in an area that is dry or are you in Mtns and get snow? It sounds as if the grass hay is not a good quality if you have to feed that much hay. 
On alfalfa hay the 120lb bales they last one horse about 5-6 days. I dont feed grain at all. I feed a complete feed to the senior horses. 
A hay cover that would hold a retreiver or squeeze load is best. ( 80 to 84 bales) Many times you can find for less when you purchase by the ton or squeeze load. And always remember Cash talks , Checks are a pain . When I sell hay, it is a cash only .


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## my2geldings (Feb 18, 2008)

Skyseternalangel said:


> Since it'd cost a bit more to bring him home (apparently) the next thing you should look at would be quality of life.
> 
> Would he have a better quality of life at home or being boarded?


Ditto, you said it right. You need to keep in mind to think socially as well what you want to do. Big difference to between board and being home alone. Even when I had the option to bring the horse home, I boarded because of the social aspect of meeting other riders.


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## DraftyAiresMum (Jun 1, 2011)

I tend to stay away from other boarders. I had a REALLY bad experience a couple of years ago where trying to help a fellow boarder blew up in my face and made me the barn outcast. That's part of the reason I moved barns. 

I haven't been on a trail ride since I moved to my new barn, but when I do go on one, I'll be trailering to meet my best friends. 

Also, Aires wouldn't be alone. I have a friend that will be renting a room from us and she will be bringing her two horses with her (a 15yo TB gelding who is a pasture pet due to an injury and a 10yo QH mare who is my friend's barrel horse and who she wants to teach to rope).
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## PaintHorseMares (Apr 19, 2008)

In my experience, the more you handle horses, the easier they are to handle, and you can't beat having them at home for that. I don't care about any barn social interaction and honestly can't imagine owning a horse and having to travel even a short distance to visit it.


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## xJumperx (Feb 19, 2012)

I really love having my horses at home, to the point where I couldn't even imagine boarding. Being able to walk out my back door and have my horses right there is simply priceless. I wouldn't be able to see them half as much if we had to live in a subdivision and drive to a barn.
But there is a lot to think about when you don't board. The payments on a house with the land, the barn, etc. is going to be a lot higher than a house in a subdivision. There is also you having to buy a truck to haul hay if you don't have one already, not to mention the trailer. IMO, if you keep your horses at home, you kind of need these things. Unless you literally never trailer, and KNOW you can get someone out there for emergencies. Both of those things cost money. Then there is the hay, the shots, the grain, the medications, the barn accessories, you have to buy all that stuff. So yes, keeping at home is very expensive. 
But again, it's so, so worth it. Saddling up and riding at the blink of an eye, not having to speak to anyone, no BO to deal with, no contracts, no boarders ... nobody but you and your horses. Also, I adore doing all the barn chores. Keeping the place ***** and span, mucking, feeding, giving hay... The list goes on and on. 

It's personal preference, sure, but if you can afford home staying, I recommend it.


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