# Gently approaching "Board Increase"... Ideas?



## sillyhorses

Okay... so, we live in the Mid-West, and hay prices have increased drastically. Due to this, we are forced to have to up our board prices this year, which we have not done in over 4 years. We have a barn full of great boarders and good friends, and know they'll understand, but some may not be able to afford it. Lucky for us, our hay farmer is a good friend, and is able to hold his prices fairly steady until winter, when demand for hay goes up around here... 

So, we are looking at hay costing us an additional $20-$30 per horse/month (depending on which of his hay storage barns he pulls from - we get it delivered monthly). Before November 1st, I will be giving our boarders a notice that, as of December 1st (when board is due), board will be increasing  The only reason we have been able to avoid increasing the price thus far this year is that we have been feeding hand-pulled round bales (to inspect and portion without waste - which takes FOREVERRRRRRRRRRRR). I just paid $5.00/bale of our standard mixed hay for the first time today. 

There is even a slight possibility that we might run into hay costing $10-12 bale if he runs out of his own stock and has to buy it at auction. As of this past spring, a good bale of timothy/alfalfa/grass mix cost us $4.00 for approximately a 60lb bale - The hay is the same, the price is not. We've been kind of eating the price increases (to the extent of no profit, just enjoying that we have a barn full of good people)... but, now that it is turning us upside down and not even breaking even, we are FORCED to increase board. 

So, we are thinking of increasing board $30.00, and offering our boarders the option of working off like, $15.00 of it, so... we'd still be eating some of the cost, but they'd be freeing up some of our time by cleaning their horse's stalls. This would be purely optional on the part of our boarders... but, we thought (in addition to a price break-down for those of our boarders who aren't "in the know" about the actual costs associated with equine care and keeping - you know, for the people who have only ever known a flat-rate boarding fee) it might help soften the blow? Plus, we'd be benefited by obtaining some much needed free-time!

*Boarders - what are your thoughts? BO's any experience with this, and outcomes of similar situations? *

We tried to raise board ($10.00) a while back, and it was at a point when we had a hodge-podge of boarders who we considered friends and those we considered simply basically business clients - one of the non-friend boarders freaked out (rude, aggressive) to the extent that we asked them to seek services elsewhere and only return to the barn when it was to load up their belongings. Another few boarders stayed on a few months, before parting on good terms - they gave us their thirty days and told us they simply couldn't afford to board here.

I think this is the biggest dilemma with befriending your boarders  It makes me sad to have to raise prices, and we know people will understand... it just sucks because I'm certain a few of our favorite people will end up seeking pasture board elsewhere. (We are a full-service facility with an indoor arena and access to beautiful trails - prices at all local boarding facilities comparable to ours are up at least where we are headed with ours).


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## Corporal

All you can do is be honest. You are not running a charity, and hay costs $. Those of us with horses in the back yard, like me, can sympathize. DH and I are gonna have to refinance to replace the roofs on my house, 4-car garage and barn bc the shingles are falling apart. It's probably gonna run about an extra $30K.
You also have upkeep of the facilities. If you feel so inclined, you might be able to think of some work/board exchanges, bc I know if you lose a boarder you do lose some income, and keeping them there might help the bottom line. DON'T WORRY if you have some boarders move. The economy just sucks, so some empty stalls are just symptomatic. IMO, you won't discourage new boarders. People are smart enough to come to you bc of word of mouth, anyway.


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians

I'd send out a nice letter reminding folks that prices for everything, feed, corn, utilities and hay, have been going up for years and this will be your first increase in 4 years. Then I'd raise it $50 so that hopefully you won't have to do it again for another 4 years. You'll lose a few but you get some different ones to fill the gap. If you can maybe put up a corral outside, I'd offer pasture board instead working off board, that never seems to work out well. Good luck, we're on year 2 of this stinkin drought and hay is outrageous down here.


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## mls

Do you feed hay all year? If not, you could do a hay surcharge to get through the winter months.

I would suggest NOT allowing the $15 work off. Some would do a great job and others would do a haphazard job.

Unless they have had their head in the sand, they know hay is very pricey in parts of the country right now. Owning a horse is not a necessity. Maybe they have to give up Starbucks and make their own morning coffee, eat out 2 less times per month, etc. $30 can be tough on some budgets but not impossible.

However for you $300 is a lot of hay.


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## HorseMom1025

I think it's very reasonable. I'm a boarder and our rates went up $25 per month two months ago. The owner explained the situation and broke down the costs for us. You are running a business an a business, to survive, must balance the budget. The reality is you need to cover your costs to stay in business. I doubt if you, or our barn owner, are making a ton of profit.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## nikelodeon79

I wouldn't advertise the $15 off option. What if ALL of your boarders were to decide they wanted to do stall cleaning? You'd be out a lot of $$$ you need to buy hay.

If someone really can't afford it and comes to talk to you, you can make a decision on a case by case basis. 

Or, if a really great boarder is leaving and you feel it's because they truly can't afford the fee, you could pull them aside and offer the $15 deal.


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## sillyhorses

Dreamcatcher - yeah, I totally understand working off board not working out well. We had a mother/daughter here a while back that were very sweet, but after many reminders that they needed to improve their work, we told them we could no longer afford to allow them to work off their board. Gave them a 30day notice of this - and they FREAKED out. That is why we are kind of going "hmm... do we offer that option, or not?" 

I like many ideas about pasture board, but... I guess we are paranoid about what will happen with the horses outside in the night. Will something send them through a fence? Will they colic and we won't know? Will they fall down and injure themselves if they get scared? :/ I think I'd be open to it for certain horses, but I feel like we'd be opening up the potential for scary things to happen that we don't like dealing with  While our property is very level, no rolling hills or anything... we are next to woods, and who knows what will happen if deer crash through nearby at night?


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## sillyhorses

Good idea Nickleodeon...
So - instead of "For those interested, we may be willing to offer an exchange of board services for work?" should I say something more along the lines of:
"Please do not hesitate to ask us any questions. We encourage you to discuss potential options with us before deciding to move if you simply cannot afford board."

I literally worked it out, and the profit for us is $0.17 per hour, and that is just feeding/turning out/cleaning stalls... not including watering our arena, maintaining the property :/


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians

sillyhorses said:


> Dreamcatcher - yeah, I totally understand working off board not working out well. We had a mother/daughter here a while back that were very sweet, but after many reminders that they needed to improve their work, we told them we could no longer afford to allow them to work off their board. Gave them a 30day notice of this - and they FREAKED out. That is why we are kind of going "hmm... do we offer that option, or not?"
> 
> I like many ideas about pasture board, but... I guess we are paranoid about what will happen with the horses outside in the night. Will something send them through a fence? Will they colic and we won't know? Will they fall down and injure themselves if they get scared? :/ I think I'd be open to it for certain horses, but I feel like we'd be opening up the potential for scary things to happen that we don't like dealing with


Can you set up some pipe corral for them? That way at night, they go into their own corral and nothing can run them through a fence. I've had boarders horses here on pasture and the only horse who got run through a fence was MINE. LOL! He was new here and I think he just didn't see the fence in time and popped through it. I have a 'mare motel' thing with pipes and shade cover and they can go in there at night if they need to, I rarely have pasture injuries. Not gonna say never, horses are horses.


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## Corporal

Dreamcatcher Arabians said:


> I'd send out a nice letter reminding folks that prices for everything, feed, corn, utilities and hay, have been going up for years and this will be your first increase in 4 years. Then I'd raise it $50 so that hopefully you won't have to do it again for another 4 years.


I like this idea. You can also gently reiterate your facilities and remind your boarders about ALL of the things that you provide, i.e., how you keep an eye on their horse's welfare when they are on vacation for 2 weeks.


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## mls

sillyhorses said:


> "Please do not hesitate to ask us any questions. We encourage you to discuss potential options with us before deciding to move if you simply cannot afford board."


Nope. Just offer - "If you have any questions or concerns, we are happy to meet you with privately."

Some folks are very private about their financial situation. Those folks might have a barter offer that would benefit you instead of working off board. Oil change, discount at the hardware store, etc)


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians

sillyhorses said:


> Good idea Nickleodeon...
> So - instead of "For those interested, we may be willing to offer an exchange of board services for work?" should I say something more along the lines of:
> "Please do not hesitate to ask us any questions. We encourage you to discuss potential options with us before deciding to move if you simply cannot afford board."
> 
> I literally worked it out, and the profit for us is $0.17 per hour, and that is just feeding/turning out/cleaning stalls... not including watering our arena, maintaining the property :/


I wouldn't say anything. If someone says they have to move, they'll generally say that they're going somewhere cheaper or you can ask them if the raise will be a hardship. That way it doesn't get out that you are 'negotiating' board. After doing this for years, I don't give discounts anymore, unless it's for multiple horses, it always seemed to be the ones who aren't paying full freight that turned out to be the problem children. I charge what I charge and I used to have a waiting list. Right now with the drought, as boarders sold off their horses I stopped taking in new boarders. With hay and feed the price they are right now, I couldn't break even if I had a TEAM of accountants. Hay is also so short that I didn't want the responsibility of having contracted to feed other people's horses. 

Once the drought breaks and things go back to normal, I may take in a few more boarders again, but I'll actually have to think about that. It's been nice and quiet around here since spring.


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## HorseMom1025

sillyhorses said:


> "Please do not hesitate to ask us any questions. We encourage you to discuss potential options with us before deciding to move if you simply cannot afford board."
> 
> I literally worked it out, and the profit for us is $0.17 per hour, and that is just feeding/turning out/cleaning stalls... not including watering our arena, maintaining the property :/


The wording above is perfect. It allows you some leeway as to who you offer other incentives to. (Long time boarders with good records vs. everyone.)

You probably should consider a higher increase if you are only making $0.17 per hour and it doesn't include big ticket items like maintenance and watering!

While I would cringe a little at a $50 increase, I would be accepting of it if I understood where the BO was coming from (seeing old and new costs side by side). I understand horses are luxury items that cost a lot of $$$$. Animals have to eat and we're all feeling the pinch in the grocery budget. 
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians

I'd flinch at the $50 increase but as she said, .17/hr profit is not gonna cut it. $50 bucks breaks down to $12. + a little per mont over 4 years. Instead of nickel and diming them over 4 years, she's waited until she just can't wait any longer. If she goes up $50/month then hopefully she'll cover herself for a couple more years increases too.


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## Muppetgirl

I am fortunate enough to be able to work off my board and bank any hours over and put them toward times when I cannot work it off, ie vacations etc.

After reading your post I can understand exactly where you are coming from. If I couldnt work off my board I know that I could afford it, but it sure would put a dent in my monthly expenditure!!!

I think though, as a business owner you really need to take care of your own interests first. If you start making deals with everyone it could get messy, and what happens when the 'exchanging' of services doesnt work out? 

I would simply and politely explain the situation to the boarders individually and gauge their reaction, then work from there.


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## sillyhorses

Thanks guys... MLS - I like your wording much better than my own - it is more concise.

Dreamcatcher - with lessons, etc. we are hoping that we actually won't have to take on new boarders as the current ones leave. However, we don't want them to leave all at once! Plus, we're kind of hoping they only leave after they just don't own horses anymore. We have a few "sworn for life" boarders who say they'll never go anywhere else... which is a "nice" thought, although possibly not entirely financially possible for them. 

"it always seemed to be the ones who aren't paying full freight that turned out to be the problem children." - Isn't that the truth!?!? I'm glad we aren't the only ones who have think that! We've actually questioned ourselves sometimes, like "Are we expecting too much by expecting these people to be grateful for the great deal they are getting?" Ugh.


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## HorseMom1025

I've watched our BO get burned in so many deals. She is so nice and wants to believe that everyone is upfront, truthful and honest. Unfortunately, I've seen so many take advantage of her good heart and get angry when she finally starts getting firm and asking for the money she is owed. I'm very careful to ALWAYS pay my bills on time. 

The others are right. Take care of the business first. Remind anyone who objects that you must cover your costs to stay open.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## egrogan

I agree with the suggestion to just go up $50 now instead of an increase now, and increase soon after, etc. I love the place I board, know how hard the staff all work, and I want my mare to have high quality hay in abundance. If all that costs more than I was paying, I'd want to pay the fair rate rather than being subsidized by the BO's kindness.


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## Corporal

sillyhorses said:


> Good idea Nickleodeon...
> So - instead of "For those interested, we may be willing to offer an exchange of board services for work?" should I say something more along the lines of:
> "Please do not hesitate to ask us any questions. We encourage you to discuss potential options with us before deciding to move if you simply cannot afford board."
> 
> I literally worked it out, and the profit for us is $0.17 per hour, and that is just feeding/turning out/cleaning stalls... not including watering our arena, maintaining the property :/


IMHO, this wording is TMI and softballing it. _This is a business,_ and your wording should indicate it. Boarders can and SHOULD HAVE taken it upon themselves to ask for a breakdown of services already.
Just go out and raise the board.


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## RitzieAnn

I have never paid board for "full care", so my thoughts may or may not be helpful. The barn I frequent (I still haul in & on occasion rent a stall for a month) is self care. If you cannot supply the time, work it out with another boarder. However, when I took my first horse there, they used to supply bedding. That horse passed & a year or so later I got the mare I have now. Bedding was no longer supplied. She didn't want to deal with raising rates, factoring it in/etc, so they cut out bedding.

At that barn, each horse had a stall & a turn out paddock. If you want the horse in, supply the bedding. Personally I liked it. (I really dislike shavings in the horse stall). It saved the BO a lot of money on shavings, and since most of the barn switched to pellets, the manure pile was stunted in growth. So it saved them time & money in managing Mt Poopy.

Just a thought. If you are super worried about charging more, maybe look into seeing how much it would save you if people supplied their own. Of course, if you include stall cleaning in your fee, I suppose that wouldn't make sense.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians

I don't know about anyone else but I only pay $250 for a truckload of shavings because I buy in bulk. I order 2 truckloads at a time and it should last from 9-12 months depending on how much ugly weather we get winter and spring. And I bed DEEP. Cutting the bedding wouldn't save me that much, but might help someone else. Now, not having to pick, that would be a time saver, if I'm full and everyone has to be stalled it's a 2 hr job.


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## sillyhorses

Well - this evening, after my spouse begrudgingly opened a horrendous looking round bale to "sort through", we had to pile it all back up and tie it to send back to our hay guy (who has cows - one of his hands accidentally delivered a cow bale to us). We dug into our first $5.00 bale of hay... 

One of our boarders was chit chatting as we were moving (and groaning about) the hay, and he says "Well, people are just going to have to understand that if they want their horse to actually have quality hay and consistency, they are going to have to pay for it at a higher rate for a while. And if they want substandard quality then they are just going to have to go elsewhere. People will just have to deal with it." 

YAYYYY! So glad people DO recognize this... takes a bit of a weight off of our shoulders! The person who said this is one of the people we were most concerned about not being able to afford it if we did have to increase price. 

Also - the boarder was able to see that there is no difference between our $4.00 bales and our $5.00 bales...


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## stevenson

Get a good hold harmless agreement. be sure to have liability insurance paid up, offer turn out, put it in a boarding agreement, that turn out can have many hazards, if horse is kicked,bitten,run through a fence etc etc you are not liable for Vet bills or death of the horse. You will need to find the wording for your state. If someone cannot afford the extra fee, you will need show them exactly how you want the pens cleaned etc. You will need to make an agreement for how many pens per month, and for how long 6 months, one year etc..


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## Poseidon

The rate at my barn just went up $30/month starting in November. My BOs just posted a sign on the bulletin board in the office and left it at that. I work there at least 4 days a week to work off my board and only one person made any concerned comment to me about it because she has 2 horses, though she had just brought 4 brand new winter blankets for them, so I'm not sure why it was a sudden concern.

Anyway, I digress. Around the time that the notice was posted, I was talking to my BO about how much grain she would need to pick up one day and said I would just figure out how much we went through a day. 30 horses total. 7 get feeds provided by their owner and 23 get grain we provide. 90lbs. 90lbs of grain a day, we go through. The price of it doubled a couple months ago. At some point, my little note adding it up was posted by that board increase note along with a newspaper clipping a boarder put up about the hay price increase.

If someone does raise concern about it, I would explain the costs of horse ownership has gone up considerably and so have your operating costs.


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## starlinestables

I've upped my board once a year for the last 4 years because we've grown so much and added so many things. I've also posted a similar thread and it was quite the debate. Feel free to look it up but I'll post what worked for me below. Most of my boarders are pretty frugal so I understand the stress of breaking the news.

I simply tell them why and like the others have suggested simply make yourself available for questions.

What I wanted to add was a few ways you and your boarders can save money. When I needed to up board $50 dollars per person to cover the costs and make a profit.. I was able to cut cost elsewhere and not have to raise board as much.

- If you don't already, figure out how much the average horse eats per day and charge more horses that eat more than average.

- Cut labor costs by cleaning stalls 6 days a week instead of 7 with the option of staying out on the 7th day. This was a huge debate topic in the last thread but it has really worked out well and all of the stall boarders love it.

- Horses who eat 4lbs or less get fed once a day to save on labor. Boarders still have the option to feed twice but pay a little extra for it. Out of 24 horses (We have 30 total) that get less than 4lbs, only 1 still wanted it split between two feedings and it saved an hour of labor every day for a total of $250-$300 a month savings.

- Slow feeder hay nets (which are a pain) do make the hay last almost twice as long and saves a bunch on waste. 

-Feed coupons. When purina did monthly coupons, my boarders and myself signed up with every email we had and then some so that we could print coupons. My boarders gave me the coupons and then I took that amount off board and then I'd use them to go buy feed. One boarder saved $100 on board one month with her coupons. Even though we have switched to a similar, cheaper local feed the idea is still an option. If they bring me coupons I can use, I will take it off their board in a heart beat. 

- Raise lesson fees by $5.

- Lesson horse discounts. I give some boarders a discount on board per lesson their horse is used in. I have 5 boarders who participate and love it.


Just ideas.. they may not work for you but you never know!


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## verona1016

Board at my barn went up in July- same situation where the BO was paying more each month for feed, hay, labor, etc. than was coming in.

She buys all the hay for the year in one go (it's quite impressive to see a year's worth of hay for 76 horses being brought in and stacked!) so she offered a small discount for those who were willing to pay for their 'share' of hay upfront. I ended up dropping to partial care (same services, but with the boarder providing her own hay & grain and I was providing my own grain anyway) and 'buying in' to the barn hay. Unfortunately, they feed by the flake and some of those flakes are TINY. I don't think my horse is getting the 20 lbs/day average that I paid for, so next year I will probably buy my own hay as well.

Regardless, there were definitely people who left because of the board increase, but from what I have heard, most of those who left were already behind in board. The barn was completely full last December, and probably has 20 empty stalls now (not entirely from boarders leaving... there were also a number of very old ex-school horses who passed away, and 2 who died of colic)

I do get a discount on my board for feeding once a week- not because I needed a discount, but because the barn needed a new feeder for Saturday nights and they'd rather pay someone they know than bring in someone from outside. If you're currently paying for outside labor to clean stalls, feed, etc. then maybe you can replace that labor with boarders who don't mind do a little extra labor for a discount.


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## gunslinger

I'd just blame the weather and Obama, not necessarily in that order....while we can't do much about the weather we can do something about Obama.

I mean, what ISN'T going up in price?


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## NeuroticMare

I am not rich by any reach of the imagination, but I am willing to pay for quality care. A barn I used to board at raised their board $25 a month (and I have two), and BO was afraid to tell people but I said that honestly, the extra $50 was worth peace of mind. Unfortunately, some time after that, the barn worker quit and they never had anyone in as good, and all the "extras" he did for the horses went away, and it was no longer worth the value. Yes, the same hay and shavings and grain, but not that extra care. I left. Actually, it wasn't just about value, even if they dropped the price $100 at that moment, the care was no longer what I wanted.

Being a good barn and caring owner for both the horses and the boarders (and I can tell you are, by this post!) goes a lot farther with most people. Not just the people with $ at their disposal, but with horse lovers, and that's who you want there!


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## fanofthearts

What I hate about getting board increases is when I get a list of what everything costs. For me it makes me feel like I should feel guilty with what I'm paying. If you want to increase the board because of hay cost, lighting cost, heat costs, or you just need more money for your services, do it. If someone questions it then explain why. I'm a boarder, if I have an issue with the money I will talk to the BM myself, everything is going up and honestly I don't want to have a list of your expenses. 

You guys sound like you have an awesome place and some good boarders, you can't help but be friends with the people you see every day. I'm sure they will understand, I personally just don't like getting a list of someone else's problems. If you need to increase board, you have to do it. Good luck!


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## KountryPrincess

Just raise the prices as you need to and move on with your life. Raising prices once in 4 years is reasonable and be sure, as someone else said, you raise them enough so you don't have to do it again for a while. As a boarder, I understand the need to raise prices, but if someone is raising them every year, I get annoyed. Just raise the prices and let the chips fall where they may. There will be initial backlash, but things will settle down eventually. 

At my barn last march, they raised the prices by $25 a month. I never heard such whining. People that I know who are, for lack of a better word, loaded with money, moved their horses. Give me a friggin break. Horses are expensive and a luxury. Period. If people haven't figured that out by now, they never will. Even though you may lose a few boarders, you may gain even better ones. If you run a good facility and offer good amenities, people will pay to be there. Keep your chin up


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## sillyhorses

Thanks for all of the great advice, everyone! What we have decided to do is to break down the costs associated with EACH individual horse being here into an itemized list, then add in the amount for the specifics of each horse (type of feed/cost per lb/amt per month)... basically, just showing our 'per horse' budget, but customizing it per horse (as opposed to saying "we feed up to 'x' amount" per feed, as we will with incoming clients). Anyhow... this has helped to reduce the amount of the increase per boarder, and hopefully will make sense to them. ANNNNNNNNNND - hopefully they'll recognize the effort we have put into trying to keep prices lower for them. I also included in the general portion of the note that, should current horse's needs change and additional feed required, it will be immediately reflected in board. Some of our boarders who have multiple horses were looking at an over $200 overall increase in board... by doing it this way, no one individual's board went up over $115 (overall).

Oh... and, after showing the "per horse" budget, we showed where (with incoming clients) the service fees (for the work we perform) will be $40.00 per horse, but we significantly reduced it for our current clients to show our appreciation for their continued loyalty. I hope it sits well and makes sense with our boarders... I think it will.


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## HagonNag

The farm we board at recently changed hands due to the death of the owner. We've been there for years, and the new owners are making a LOT of really nice and expensive changes. We pasture board and the rate recently went up $50 a month per horse. (We have 2) Additionally, the farm now provides all feed and hay instead of us buying it. I honestly think we are coming out ahead on this deal (no drought here) and I worry a little about the future. The nice part is that we are retiring soon and we'll be doing more out at the farm. As it stands now we feed and water and generally keep an eye on things while they are away and we always pitch in with repairs to fences, waterlines, and general farm maintenance. We've been known to hold their horses for farrier or vet visits and I know they would do the same for us. We LOVE this place, and the owners (past and present) and we'll do whatever it takes to keep our horses here. They have always treated our horses like their own and it really gives us a great feeling of security. I can't imagine having to move our horses. I don't even want to think about it.

As my husband says...if a fence breaks, HE isn't the person fixing it in the middle of the night. I've heard of some horrendous boarding problems from friends online. You cannot put a price on peace of mind. If you have to raise prices to make a profit, do it. Your good boarders will understand. Let those that don't try to find other places. I'm sure you aren't the only farm facing this problem and they might be very unpleasantly surprised at what they find available for their horses. If you can make accomodations for the boarders that you value and trust, that's great. But don't put yourself last. The boarders that value and depend on you want you to stay in business!!! If you aren't making a profit, then it's just work you are donating to others. And eventually you'll tire of it and then there will be one less decent boarding place.


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## GhostwindAppaloosa

my biggest pet peeve about running a boarding business is that many boarders feel like we should be running a charity. Honestly.. i would raise it slightly more.. to cover your cost .. we live in the midwest also (ohio) and im telling you hay is only going to get worse.. hay here is going 10-14 a bale and is going up.. I think a one time increase will be easier for them to stomach than having to raise it twice..


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