[Laneco]

I grew up with horses, and spent my teen years training horses professionally. We did board horses as well.

There are different types of boarding stables. A higher end stable will include the cost of feeding the horses (aside from specialized supplements which the owner must supply), stall cleaning, and turn-out. Horses are normally fed twice per day at a stable, though some horses are "free-fed" meaning that they always have hay in front of them. Figure 1 pound of hay per 100 pounds of body weight twice per day. So a 1,000 pound horse will eat 20 pounds per day. I think you know that it all goes somewhere. Stall cleaning is literally a non stop operation on a larger facility. Though 20 pounds dry goes in, mixed with water, grain, etc., figure 30 to 40 pounds including the soiled bedding very easily. Just a rough bit of math is that 30 horses are going to generate 900 pounds of waste per day...

A live-on site manager is really a necessity. Their housing and even board for a horse for them can be bundled into their actual salary. Limit the hours that other people are allowed on the facility and this will reduce both the workload on your manager and some of the risks that stables tend to have. Make rules and STICK to them such as mandatory helmets, proper footwear, etc.

Regarding the risks - commercial liability insurance is needed along with standard property insurance and some type of care/custody insurance. You will also need to be able to place a lien on a horse for unpaid board. That works somewhat like a mechanics lien on a car and can sometimes be the only way that people will pay up. Unlike a car which you can park in a back lot, you will keep feeding the horse and incurring costs every day until the owner pays up.

Run well, with good clientele, they are an absolute money maker and the value of your dirt never goes down (for future development purposes). Run poorly, you will accumulate low end clientele (like the car business) except that you will be literally eaten out of house and home.

angela