I've boarded my horse at the same facility on the Colorado Front Range for about a decade, and I'm curious what other boarders are currently paying for comparable care.
Since 2022, my board has increased by over 40%, sometimes with more than one increase per year. We just had another $50/month increase in August, bringing my outside run-with-shed board to $795/month. Rising hay prices and the drought were specifically mentioned as reasons for the increase.
Now we've been notified that starting October 1, there will be an additional $85/month hay surcharge, bringing my total to $880/month. The previous notice did mention the possibility of a surcharge if hay costs increased beyond what was covered by the new rate, so this wasn't completely out of nowhere.
I completely understand that hay, diesel, insurance, labor, equipment, and pretty much everything else have become more expensive. I'm not expecting board prices to stay the same forever, and I'm not questioning anyone's right to raise prices. What I'm struggling with is the cumulative increases compared with the level of care and facility I'm getting for the money.
For $880/month (including hay surcharge), my horse lives in an outside run with a shed. He gets hay twice daily, a small amount of senior feed twice daily, daily manure removal from his run, an automatic waterer, and access to indoor/outdoor arenas. I provide additional senior feed, buy my own shavings, and clean his shed myself every day.
The facility is pretty basic and there haven't been many improvements over the years. The road base footing in my horse's run gets extremely hard and compacted. In the past, my horse developed really bad sores, one of which progressed to a life-threatening infection. At one point, I paid out of pocket for a truckload of sand and equipment rental to completely redo the footing in his run. The outdoor arena is extremely dusty and isn't watered, and there are ongoing maintenance and safety issues around the property that have been brought up but haven't been addressed.
Water maintenance has also been an ongoing concern. Years ago, my horse coliced badly enough that he had to be hospitalized. The hospital told me he was severely dehydrated and he needed IV fluids. The visit ended up costing me nearly $4,000. When I came home that night, I checked his automatic waterer and found disgusting water with some type of white mold or growth in it. I can't know for certain whether the dirty water contributed to his dehydration, but I've always wondered whether he wasn't drinking enough because he didn't want to drink it. It happened when I first moved him to this barn, and I didn't realize that I needed to check his waterer myself every day.
Since then, I check and clean his waterer myself rather than relying on the barn to do it. Cleaning the waterers is supposed to be included in board, but in my experience they can go a week or more without being cleaned. There is also a major mouse problem, and I've repeatedly found drowned mice in my horse's waterer, so I check his water religiously.
The pricing structure is another thing I'm struggling to understand. Full stall board with daily turnout is $935/month, only $140 more than my current $795 outside board. Those horses get their stalls cleaned and approximately a bag of shavings per day, water buckets manually filled multiple times a day, fans over their stalls, individual turnout and bring-in by employees, and blanketing services. The turnout areas and their water also have to be maintained.
Meanwhile, my horse requires significantly less labor and fewer barn-provided supplies. I provide my own shavings, clean my own shed, and he has an automatic waterer.
I've stayed at this facility for about a decade, so obviously there are reasons I've stayed. I'm also not looking to debate whether boarding facilities are expensive to operate or whether barn owners deserve to make a profit. I completely understand both.
I'm specifically hoping to compare what other boarders on the Front Range are currently paying for a similar level of care and facilities.
If you board in Colorado, especially along the Front Range, I'd love to know what you pay, what type of board you have, what's included, and whether you've recently had board increases or separate hay surcharges.
