# How far do you drive to your boarding barn?



## Coca Cola (Nov 16, 2016)

I will buy a new horse this January. 

I am looking for a boarding barn in Pittsburgh. Every barns are at least 30 minutes drive.

I found one for $275 Pasture board.... Horses get fed in stall 2x a day. Stay in stall during terrible weather if needed... 
I am in love with that barn. But it is 45 minutes drive. Is it worth it? I have my own car. I am afraid that I won't be able to see my new horse as much as I expect to. 

I need to know if anybody is in similar situation and how do you handle time management with school, job, and horse?


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## Chasin Ponies (Dec 25, 2013)

I boarded partial care at a stable only 3 miles from my house for 14 years and watched it go downhill drastically. No repairs, no turnout, everything breaking down, more and more silly rules, gossipy, rude and low class fellow boarders. As the place got worse and worse, so did the people moving in. Finally, after 3 years of looking I moved to a 200 acre farm with a small horse stable on it. It's 15 minutes from my house and worth the extra drive every time! 

I know that is quite a difference in miles/time but my new place is full care (and cheaper!!) so all I have to do is show up and ride or just spend time with my horses. Before with partial care, I had to buy and haul feed and hay and clean the stalls, replace fans, buckets and anything else that broke, so I never had the energy to ride plus dealing with the awful fellow boarders. My horses are now out in pasture every day and brought in every night to their stalls for feed and hay. No more barn drama, plenty of room to ride and peace & quiet. My cribber no longer cribs and is also no longer head shy. My big guy who had started getting ulcers and abscesses no longer has any of those problems and they don't bang on the stalls as they were doing at the old place.
Sometimes I go out there and just read a book and watch them happy in the pasture! 

If I drive from work to the stable it's 30 miles, same as if I drive straight home. I would hesitate to choose a place 45 minutes away as I would have the same concerns as you but if the only other choice is a bad situation closer to home, it's not worth it. 

There are not a lot of choices in boarding where I live so I found out about the new place through the horsey network-word of mouth. Some of the best places are very private and are not advertised. You'll have to compare the pros and cons between this place and the others you have found. Personally I'd rather drive a bit further to have my horses and myself happy!


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## AtomicTomato (Oct 16, 2015)

I drive 30 minutes to my lesson barn (and where I will most likely board). There are a lot of choices where I live, but I find my lesson barn has a large adult rider population, which is a bit easier to handle as an adult beginner. Lessons/leases/board are within my budget, and I know if I go away for work (happens for a week at a time every few months) my horse will be well taken care of. I trust the girls who run it with my life, so why not my horse's?

I also chose my barn location because it is five minutes from a shopping center that has a Target, a grocery store, petsmart and a dollar tree. When I head over to the barn I try to make sure any other errands I have to run are done as well over in that shopping center. Is the new barn near some other amenities non-horsey that you could make the drive "more" worth it?


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## Paintedponies1992 (Nov 17, 2013)

It takes 20-30 minutes (Depending on which route we take since there are like 4 or 5 possible routes to the barn), and I'd rather the distance and have a great barn to board my ladies and gent at.


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## Jan1975 (Sep 7, 2015)

About 25 minutes for me, and while I thought that was far at first, I now realize how incredibly lucky I am to have such a wonderful facility so close to home. There are many factors to consider, but I'd drive even farther if I had to. I'd probably drive up to an hour for a place with a nice indoor arena. Where I live, the number of days you can ride is so limited without one.


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## ApuetsoT (Aug 22, 2014)

15 minutes for me. I live in a horse dense area luckily. If I had to I could find another barn with comparable facilities at that same distance easily, multiple probably.


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## jenkat86 (May 20, 2014)

It's 45 minutes for me. Kind of a pain...but the care she get's makes it worth it.


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## Woodhaven (Jan 21, 2014)

I board at my sister's, a 10mile drive but it has everything that I feel is important for the horse's health and well being plus some great riding trails so is worth the drive, I could keep the horse at home but is better for the horse where she is.

Forty five minutes is a lot of time out of the time you will have to spend with the horse, I would prefer something closer if possible. I have driven that far in the past and it is a lot of time out of your day.


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## jenkat86 (May 20, 2014)

Coca Cola said:


> But it is 45 minutes drive. Is it worth it? I have my own car. I am afraid that I won't be able to see my new horse as much as I expect to.
> 
> I need to know if anybody is in similar situation and how do you handle time management with school, job, and horse?


I'll elaborate more on my situation. 

My barn is 45 minutes away from my house, and where I work. I work about 50-55 hours a week. I get out of work anywhere between 4:30 and 6. I go straight to the barn after that. I usually get home around 8:30-9pm. And then on the weekends, I go whenever I want. 

It works for me. My husband stays busy and we usually don't eat dinner until late anyway. It's not the most ideal scenario, considering I have the option of having my horse at home...but I have my trainer, arena and people to ride with where I board. Makes it worth it for me.


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## Mulefeather (Feb 22, 2014)

Depends on where I start from.

From work, my barn is about 35-40 minutes depending on traffic. From my house, it's about an hour. For $185 for full care board, I'll take it. There are also a lot of people with my same breed of horse, a lot of other people who drive, and the owners live about 100 yards from the stable. There's zero drama -I've been taking lessons there since April of this year. Most people just come out, ride, do their own thing and then go home. The few bad apples that have come through don't tend to last long, as most of the people who board there just don't have time for it. Draft horse people seem to be like that!

I've found a closer barn that caters to drivers, it's only 12 minutes from my house, but it's $165 more than I'm paying now. There also aren't as many draft horse or Haffie people there. Eventually I may try to find a closer barn, but for now I'm going to stick with the one I know, and the people I trust to take care of my horse for me.


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## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

It takes me about 15mins to get to my barn from my place. 20 if there's traffic.  Pretty smooth ride too, nice open roads.
HOWEVER, from work (which I drive from M-F to the barn after work) it's about 45mins-1hr.

I USED to drive 40mins to get to the barn from my old apartment- and it was well worth it. I didn't mind the drive that much.


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## Coca Cola (Nov 16, 2016)

Thanks! 

I will go with that 45 minutes barn since I feel comfortable there than other barns I visited. It is because I am deaf. It is hard to find owners who would be patient with me.


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## RaiRaiNY (Feb 19, 2010)

Right now, I drive 60 seconds. I live in a condo community with private stables. However, it's not the right fit for us, and as of Sunday, my drive will be just under 10 minutes.


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