Question by ?Amore Per Cavalli: Fun Question: Your Dream Horse Business?
If you could have your OWN horse boarding/lesson business (maybe you already do, but maybe you wish you had certain things on your farm that you don’t currently have):
How many barns?
How many stalls per barn?
How many riding arenas?
An indoor arena?
Round pen?
What kind of stall doors – dutch or sliding (or other)?
Bedding? (sawdust, straw, other?)
Barn features (lounge, bathrooms, etc)?
How many acres?
How many pastures?
What type of hay?
What type of grain?
What riding disciplines?
What amenities would your boarding service provide (blanketing, feeding, turnout, etc?)?
And…what would you charge for board?
NAME of your boarding farm?
Best answer:
Answer by Jenna(Fishy)
I’m living my dream at the moment, it just needs a ton of fixing, I bought it as a foreclosure farm.
2 regular size barns. 3rd small barn is having plans drawn as we speak.
1st barn has 20 stalls. 2nd barn has 20 stalls. 3rd barn will only have 4 stalls.
3 riding arena so far, thinking of turning the smaller into a dirt lot turnout run.
1, it’s not really indoors, it’s covered by a steel structure though.
2, both flood bad though.
1st barn has a mix of dutch doors, sliding doors and open stalls without doors. 2nd barn has sliding doors. 3rd barn will hopefully have sliding doors.
Bedding in 90% of the stalls was saw dust. the other 10 were not being used and just had dirt floors.
Both barns have an apartment on top, which I was told was for managers. They have pretty average tack rooms, feed rooms and bath rooms, no real lounges-but that’s my plan for 1 of the apartments.
It’s 400 acres total, only 350 is actually open land for horse use.
25, 14 acre pastures. I’d some how like to make 7 acre pastures, but I’d never fill 50 pastures.
The grass grown is timothy/alfalfa blend, the hay changes depending on my horses needs.
Grain also changes depending on individual horse needs.
I’d like to have it welcome to everyone’s discipline. In my area it’s mainly western and saddle seat though.
I’d to have all boarding services provided for free.
My plan isn’t to really have ‘boarders’. When I was younger, my mom would take in horses for people who couldn’t afford board and let people keep their horses on our and for free so they wouldn’t have to sell their beloved horses. My mom passed 2 years ago and I’m trying to get something like that started in her memory.
Katherine’s Loving Memory Farm.
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
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4 Responses
I’m going into training for show…
I would like two medium barns or one large barn with a separate barn farther away (for quarantine or foaling).
Ideally, the two barns would have enough room for a combined total of about twenty-five horses, not including tack rooms, grooming stalls, etc.
There will be two riding arenas- both outdoor, but one covered. There will also be three round pens.
I have no preference as to stall doors :/
All stalls will have wood shavings for bedding- absolutely no straw.
At most, the property will consist of ten acres. Some land will be left untouched for pleasure riding (I live in the desert)
There will be three pastures to allow for pasture rotation.
No hay will be fed- only hay pellets.
Grain will be based on each horse’s specific needs, but all show horses will get U-Gard for ulcer prevention and some form of joint supplement.
The show horses will do western pleasure, hunter pleasure, english and country english pleasure, halter, and they will win everything!
I will not do boarding; It’s either put your horse in training or please leave. Training will include conditioning, lunging, turnout, feed 3x daily, stall cleaning, blanketing, farrier service, all care before/during/after shows, etc.
Training fee will be 650 per month to start (that’s cheap compared to everyone else), may or may not increase
I have not decided on a name
Posted on June 6th, 2011 at 1:58 pm
I did something like this for an economics paper my senior year of high school :) Only it was more focused on the costs, not the fun particulars like you have.
I don’t want anything huge, so I’d probably only want 2 or 3 barns. A main barn with 10 stalls, 1 smaller barn with 5 stalls, and the smallest barn with 2 stalls, but big (like foaling stalls). I’d want the stalls in my main and medium sized barn to be 12X12 at the smallest, and all with paddocks (12WX24L). The big foaling stalls, 20X20, with paddocks, 20WX24L. I’d also want a seperate hay barn.
All my stalls will have dutch doors. Automatic waters, rubber floor mats. For bedding, probably shavings. The center aisles will be cement with rubber floor mats so the horses won’t slip (the stalls won’t have cement under the floor mats). I’m a bit of a neat freak, so the aisle has to be something that’s really easy to sweep and keep clean.
On each stall door there will be a whiteboard so that the horses feeding/graining schedule, along with any medications he/she may need can be written and seen easily. I’d probably feed grass hay, and the boarder can supply whatever grain he/she wants the horse to be given. (Hay and bedding can be changed to what the boarder prefers, but they will have to provide it themselves.)
In the tack room, I want one saddle rack and one bridle rack per stall…So 15 of each (I’m gonna need a big tack room..). Boarders can choose to use the bridle/saddle racks I provide, or they can have their own tack trunks…Whatever floats their boat lol. One wall will have shelves to keep grooming supplies, fly sprays, first aid kit, etc. Also, hooks for people to hang up jackets or whatever if they want.
Across from the tack room will be my “office”, and a bathroom. Not sure what I’ll have in my office just yet…But I’m gonna have one. Lol.
One main riding arena, covered. A second outdoor arena, and an enclosed (don’t know if that’s really the word I want, but I want it so that horses can’t see out and get distracted while you’re doing roundpen work) roundpen. Both arenas are going to be pretty big.
I want one smaller pasture (acre and a half maybe) where I could put one horse if it can’t go out with others, or a mare and baby, or whatever. A larger pasture (5 acres) where multiple horses can go, and then a main big pasture (10 acres). [sizes would need to be adjusted depending on where I plan on having my barn- in my area, you need one acre for one horse. I know other places you may need more room for one horse].
My boarding would offer: Turnout, feeding, blanketing, worming IF you ask, in writing, in advance. Stall cleaning, exercising if you ask in advance (lunging). Grooming if you would like. I’d also have a trainer on-site. And an indoor wash stall with hot and cold water.
What I would charge….. I have NO idea. $ 450/month seems reasonable to me, but I’ve never boarded in my life, and don’t know what the rates are in my area…I think the guy who used to live down the road charged $ 400/month for board, and that was supposed to include “daily grooming, stall cleaning, and turnout”, and he was “training” all the horses he had boarded…. I think I groomed more horses there then he did, and his wife cleaned stalls every other day (if that) instead of daily like promised…And I’m not sure I ever really saw a horse being trained, except on days when the owner came to see how the progress was.
Hehe that was fun. I can dream big, for sure :)
Posted on June 6th, 2011 at 2:43 pm
Mine wouldn’t be a business but a rescue. There’s only one large animal rescue in my area and sadly they are just swamped.
The farm I live on now is 30 acres but right beside it, there is another 30 acre farm that is for sale and behind it there are 200 acres of open fields that are for sale. So I would buy all three (once I win the lottery of course) and start my rescue.
I would probably have about 80 stalls – enough to make sure that all the horses could have access to a stall if need be and probably 2 indoor arenas or at least covered pens, so if the weather got really bad like it did last winter, they could still get some exercise in the arenas.
I would split the land up, I would have several large multi-acre pastures and several small paddock type areas for horses that need private turnout while recovering. And I would also have an area where I would grow my own hay- both square bales and round bales- probably timothy hay.
I would also have a veterinarian on staff, so no matter what, I always have a vet right there to take care of any issues.
It’s a huge dream but once I hit the lottery, I’m sure I can pull it off. Now I just have to remember to buy a ticket :)
Posted on June 6th, 2011 at 2:56 pm
How many barns? – two.
How many stalls per barn? ten.
How many riding arenas? 4.
An indoor arena? two.
Round pen? one.
What kind of stall doors – dutch or sliding (or other)? sliding.
Bedding? (sawdust, straw, other?) sawdust fo sho. LOL.
Barn features (lounge, bathrooms, etc)? All the works. lounge, bathroom, hayloft, tack room, wash racks, and a kitchen because I’m an oinker. LOL.
How many acres? 50.
How many pastures? 3.
What type of hay? Alfalfa/orchard grass.
What type of grain? Strategy.
What riding disciplines? Anything you wanna do. Mostly eventing… there would be two cross country courses and a dressage arena as well.
What amenities would your boarding service provide (blanketing, feeding, turnout, etc?)?
Feeding, turnout, and grooming.
And…what would you charge for board?
$ 200 for pasture board w/out graining. $ 250 for pasture board with graining. And $ 300 for full care.
NAME of your boarding farm?
Moonlight Meadows. hehe
Posted on June 6th, 2011 at 3:43 pm
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