Does boarding horses make any money?

I have a small stable of 8 horses. 2 are my own, and the rest are boarders. I've kept horses for the past 6 years. The stable I kept my horse at previously no longer boards horses because it doesn't make any money. I take pride in my care, and can only cut so many corners, as I need to ensure quality feed, care and safety.

I am raising my board, but still in number crunching, I'm finding I am not getting anything for the 3-5hrs/day I spend cleaning, repairing, handling etc. Do any of you make money at it? Do you make any more by keeping more horses and buying supplies in larger quantities? Or do we just do this for our own pleasure. I'm seriously debating ridding of boarders (except one). So I can have a bit more of a life of my own. Then if I ever wanted to take a vacation, it's not so much work for the person to help out too. What do any of you who may keep or board horses think?

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Permalink Reply by Sandy on March 19, 2009 at 1:05pm

Thanks slc2, well thought out. I do still keep my own horses, definitely a savings in that sense. but the costs i worked out, was the cost per horse, just for feed, shavings and hay per month added up to the same amount I was charging for board after I raised it. So I wasn't factoring anything in for my time, which takes longer when I have to repair fences and stalls on a regular basis. And these things also add to my costs, the little repairs here and there and constant maintenance, cleanup in teh barn and around it. I find the 4 horses get along well, less stressed themselves, since they don't have the higher strung, harder keepers getting things all stirred up.
Standard5acres also had a true point, it's the harder keepers that add up. My 2 and the boarder I still have with her 2, are all easier keepers, the rest of those boarders' horses ate 4-5x what ours got. I may some day go back to boarding if I was not commuting to the city for a full time job in addition to taking care of 8+ horses. I find the 4 way easier to manage now than 8, and now have time to spend with my own horses, as well as cook dinner, etc when I get home from work.
Overall, I really should have set a board rate at a price that does cover what I want it to, and if the boarders want to stay with me they can. And like Standard5acres said, I wouldn't and couldn't count on the board as steady income, since sometimes there are gaps between someone coming and someone going. And that is definitely a better plan, to have them purchase their own feed. I just didn't want to end up with so many feed bins for every different type of feed each boarder decided they wanted. I would set the situation up better, with run-ins, so less handling needed, and less worry when the weather changes, and automatic waterers outside, and heated waterers for winter. I can do all that with just the 4 horses since it takes less power, and I don't need multiple heaters etc, Because not all get along so well, I hadn't been able to keep them all out in the same larger paddock, I had ot separate the troublemakers and kickers (yet another expense having to fence off separate paddocks for these ones). Which then made it difficult to have one large heated water trough etc. I am happy with the decision to cut back for now, and if later on I get a job closer to home, or manage to figure out something where I can work from home, then the boarding would be a much easier side job too.

I still love doing it. I appreciate all the perspectives I've been given on this subject, and will use them in future, or even now on my smaller scale.