Detailed description
My dream is to own/run an equine boarding facility. The reason this is a dream of mine is because I have always loved horses. When I got my mare, Rain, I knew I wanted to make a career out of working with horses; she is my inspiration. Shortly after I got my mare I became the care giver for a mare, April, owned by a friend of the family. Recently I have been entrusted with the full care of my aunt’s two horses and I love it. I have also been to many local boarding facilities that are not good at all or are managed inefficiently and know I can do better.
My beautiful mare, My Inspiration, Rain.
I want a smaller facility maybe around twenty stalls in all. The goal is really to have something I can run by myself or with just one employee. I want the barn to have an attached indoor arena with sky lights and lots of natural lighting. The tack room would be inside the main barn and would have separate ‘lockers’ for each boarder that can be locked. I would have a separate hay barn and shavings barn; but with both close to the main barn. I would have a designated area for composting the waste and would use the compost to fertilize the fields. There would be a graveled area large enough for several horse trailers to be parked. I am determined that every stall has an attached outdoor run and would have separate pastures/runs for turning out horses. For the aspects of this project I will want twenty acres because I will need enough space for all the buildings, horse runs/pastures, trailer parking, composting, and a large hay pasture. With a hay pasture I will be able to more cheaply provide quality forage.
Examples of how others have achieved the same type of dream
There aren’t many articles or stories of how others have succeeded at starting and running a successful boarding facility. I thought I would be able to find success stories on the websites of different boarding facilities but most only say where they are today and not how they got there. I was able to use interviews I gained on a very recent tour of a facility and an interview I participated in with my class (all within the last two weeks).
I have recently taken a tour of a large family owned Dressage barn in Oregon called Devonwood. The business is a little different from a normal boarding facility because at Devonwood you and/or your horse are in training while you board there. Devonwood also hosts shows and events. The owner said that when she took over from her family she had to completely re-due the management. One example was how employees were classified on the businesses taxes. She attributes her success to hard work and good word of mouth which is one of the most important things for a horse business. She has also started branching out to other horse disciplines to bring in more clients. When the family was building Devonwood they visited many successful barns and took different attributes from each facility they viewed. Their feed room was modeled after one barn, their cross-tie areas were designed after another, and so forth. Devonwood’s website is devonwoodec.com and contains a great deal of information about the facility.
I also talked to the co-owner of Mann’s Quarter Horses in Scio, Oregon. Gail Mann and her husband started this ranch many years ago and literally built it from the ground up. Mrs. Mann said the best thing to remember in this industry is to be honest and never advertise anything that can’t be proven with facts. Though this is not strictly a boarding facility it is a ranch that will board horses for breeding or training. Mrs. Mann did talk about caring for boarded horses and how important it is to be knowledgeable. Clients are entrusting their horses care to you and you need to know proper care, proper feeding, illness warning signs, and what to do in an emergency.
I read an article Boarding Horses on Your Hobby Farm that talks about what it takes to start a small boarding facility. One of the first requirements it mentioned for a boarding facility owner is horse experience. It is important that the owner of the facility is knowledgeable so that they can properly care for the horses, they can watch for warning signs of illness, and they need to know how to deal with emergency situations. The article also talks about the different classifications for boarders in relation to the care the horse receives from the facility. For example there are full-care boarders where all the horses’ needs are cared for by the facility. There is partial-care, where the boarders are still responsible for a significant portion of the horses’ care. Self-care is where the boarder is responsible for all of their horses care. Some facilities offer any mix of the three. Before starting a boarding facility it is also important to determine what type of horse you will board. Senior horses take less special amenities like arenas but may take more physical care. Stallions need different management than geldings or mares and can be more difficult to house around other horses. Broodmares take more supervision and larger stalls. The article also covers several aspects of a business plan and ways to manage everyday business.
Barrier/Support system
One large barrier is that there are a lot of boarding facilities around the area where I live and some are rather large ‘high end’ facilities. However, this is also a benefit because many of the owners of these facilities will give you advice or allow you to tour their facility.
Current Finances
I live at home and my parents pay for everything as long as I am getting good grades and helping around the house/farm. Except for clothing, tuition, books, and fees, the expenses are a reflection of the whole household’s expenses.
Budget for my Dream
I chose to look at the difference in cost if I were to purchase a property that already had all the buildings I would need or if I were to purchase a property with no buildings. I am making the assumption that the property with buildings would have some fencing but as I know from experience there may need to be more fencing added or repairs done to existing fencing. I am also making the assumption that the property with no buildings also has no fencing and is essentially bare. I would also assume that the property with buildings had the proper gravel throughout whereas the property without buildings would need gravel.
The cost of the main barn/arena is higher than the hay barn or the shavings barn because it includes all of the stalls, the tack room, water hookups, and electricity. The cost of the shavings barn is less than the hay barn because it can be smaller as shavings do not take up as much space as bulky hay bales.
I was looking at a used tractor for the cost of the tractor and attachments because the price of a new tractor is outrageous when you can still find good used tractors. The stall cleaning equipment reflects things like muck rakes, wheelbarrows, brooms, and shovels. There would not be enough wheelbarrows for every stall as just one wheelbarrow costs around $200! Miscellaneous includes items like water buckets and stall mats.
Though the prices are not exactly what I would pay they are based on averages from what I had found while researching. It is especially hard to guesstimate the cost for things like fencing and gravel because I don’t have the measurements that would be required. The difference in the cost of the properties shows the value that buildings add to real estate. The main reason to purchase a property with all the buildings already on it would be to save time because you could pretty much just open the boarding facility the day you get the keys. However, purchasing a property that has no buildings will be significantly cheaper but may take months to build everything. Those are months that you wouldn’t be open and could not turn a profit.
