Five Things To Look For An Excellent Horse Boarding Facility

Finding the perfect horse boarding for your horse away from home can be pretty challenging. Sure, we all would love to have a facility at our own home, but for many of us, that is not plausible. That’s when we rely upon onboarding facilities for our horses. We all want to provide the best possible care to our horses, but it also has to fit your budget. 

Here are five things any individual look for in a facility for horse boarding:

Price:

On average, most horse boarding facilities range from close to $200 - $450 per month. Extra services such as exercising your horse daily, climate-controlled environments, etc., can be offered by some facilities. Most of these facility centre are upwards of $550+ per month. To keep the maintenance cost on the lower end of the spectrum, you can expect the bare essentials – hay, spacious outdoor pens and freshwater. These facilities may charge extra an individual for adding supplements to their horse for feeding and exercising, graining grooming etc.

Location:

Ideally, you don’t want to horse boarding for more than 30-40 minutes away from your home. Any further might dissuade you from going to visit your horse as often as possible because of the cost of fuel and drive distance. It is the horse owner’s responsibility to monitor that your horse is adequately cared for, even though your horse is in someone else’s care. Depending on where one lives, this might not be an easy option but if it is, try to stay as close as possible to home. Living farther than 30-40 minutes away, on your part, will require extra planning, such as spending long days of the weekend with your horse.

Cleanliness:

For any horse boarding facility, cleanliness is extremely important. Flies, ticks and mosquitoes carry several diseases that can be deadly and dangerous for your horse. When facilities are not clean enough, as much they should be, these insects usually stick around. When an individual the facility for the first time, see that their stalls are cleaned every day and that there is a well-established plan for the dung, such as composting.

Turn Out:

When estimating the turnout methods at a facility, there are a few different factors to consider. Make sure pastures or grazing are not overcrowded. Not only the horses in the herd will also develop a pecking order which can, in some cases, become aggressive, but this will limit the amount of forage your horse receives. Ensure the fences of the facility are at least 4 to 5 feet tall and made of sturdy material. Always, always, always avoid barbed wire fences.

Feed:

Check the facility’s source of forage. At least 50% of the diet of the horse should be forage. This means either hay or grass. Even if there is not enough grass to feed all horses, make sure that the facility provides plenty of excellent fodder for them; the hay should be sweet-smelling – green and not crusty or brown. Nothing will give you the best peace of mind, like knowing that your horse is in good care.