The price of boarding a horse
It has been years since I last had one of my horses out at a boarding stable. The last time it was when I sent a horse out for driving training. At that time the price was reasonable because it included full time training. Several people I know pay over $500.00 a month to have their horse boarded in a stall at a stable with access to a riding arena and fed 2X a day. When I boarded my horse full time 10 years ago without training it was $350 a month.
I know that costs have gone up but most of the time when you are boarding a horse you are helping the landowner pay for their mortgage payment. That is in fact how many people can afford to buy property in the countryside, they board horses. What I would like to know is “will the prices of horse boarding come down with the price of horse properties?” If the horse industry is to bounce back from the current dismal situation of people selling off horses because they can no longer afford to pay the high boarding prices, then the people that have boarding stables should start to drop their prices. All I can see right now is greed – the boarding stables getting what they can, while they can. Don’t tell me the price of feed has gone way up and that is why the high board prices, I know different. I have 6 horses and I have also been a professional horse trainer. The costs of feed, insurance and supplements for 6 horses are about $200.00 a month. That does not include vet or farrier fees since those costs would not be included in a horse board cost anyway.
While I am on the subject of the cost of horse care, here is another item that gets to me – horse rescues asking for $200.00 a month to “sponsor” a horse. Unless they are boarding that horse the cost is way out of line. It looks to me like they are just trying another way to make some money when they claim to be a non-profit. What does non-profit mean to you?
