As soon as I'm healthy enough to ride again, I'm buying a jumper to keep out here. Due to a number of circumstances, I already know what barn I will be boarding at. My dilemma is which situation I should board under. There are two options, 1) a community corral with about 20 other horses (separate corrals/sheds for mares and geldings), a 3-sided run-in shed (arguably not large enough for every horse to take advantage of at once), dirt ground and hay fed every day, and 2) a stall with run, hay and grain fed daily. My issue with the stall is that there is almost no opportunity for the horses to just graze and be a horse. There is no pasture to turn them out in, only the 2 arenas if no one is riding in them. I would hate for the horse's only time outside the stall to be working/ridden, but I worry that the community corral isn't adequate. The horse I currently ride (but do not own) is in the community corral, and occasionally has had wounds from the other horses to the point where I couldn't ride him. They are never dangerous wounds or require special care, but instead in places where the saddle/girth would rub and make it worse. He also needs to put on weight but has a hard time doing so since they are only fed hay, no grain, and he gets bullied away from the hay by the other horses. Also, the winters here can be very harsh and I wonder if the extra protection of a stall is worth it.
Any thoughts on which is the better option, or if there is a way to improve either option? Thank you so much for reading, and your advice is very much appreciated!