Primo Equestrian

Couldn't have said it better myself

We need to have a realistic conversation about what boarding a horse actually costs.

Because sometimes I see boarding ISO posts and genuinely cannot figure out how people think the numbers are supposed to work.

Let’s use some pretty conservative numbers.

And for context, these are Ontario numbers, based on purchasing tested hay. Costs obviously vary depending on where you live, what forage is available, bale size, quality, and how your facility is set up.

Hay alone can easily cost $200 per horse, per month.

Now let’s say your horse needs grain twice a day. You supply the grain, supplements, medications, whatever goes into the bucket.

For the sake of some very simple math, let’s conservatively say preparing and feeding it takes ONLY 10 minutes per feeding.

That’s 20 minutes a day.
10 hours of labour per month.

At $25/hour, that’s $250/month in labour just to provide two feedings a day.

Add the hay and we’re already at $450/month.

That’s hay and ONE relatively basic daily service.

We haven’t paid for ANYTHING ELSE.

We haven’t paid for manure removal, stall cleaning, fencing, shelters, water, hydro, insurance, taxes, equipment, fuel, maintenance, repairs, snow removal, arena harrowing, drainage, pasture maintenance or any of the other expenses involved in keeping horses on a property.

And I think this is where a lot of boarding operations accidentally make the numbers look better than they actually are:

They don’t account for their own time.

If you spend two hours fixing fencing, those two hours have value.
If you spend your morning filling hay, cleaning troughs and maintaining paddocks, that time has value.
If you spend your evening changing blankets, bringing horses in or checking an injured horse, that time has value.

Every hour you spend working at your boarding facility is an hour you could theoretically be working somewhere else and getting paid.

Your labour does not become free simply because you own the property.

And obviously, there are economies of scale. Feeding ten horses doesn’t necessarily mean ten separate 10-minute blocks of labour.

Some facilities also have enough appropriate pasture to significantly reduce hay consumption during the grazing season.

But neither makes the cost disappear.

Pasture itself requires land and maintenance, and here in Ontario, grass certainly isn’t replacing hay twelve months of the year. The mortgage doesn’t stop in June. Insurance doesn’t stop. Fences still break. Equipment still needs maintaining. Staff still need to be paid.

And then I see what people are sometimes looking for:

Multiple feedings every day. Blanket changes. Boots on and off. Feet picked. Fly spray. Supplements given. Horses brought in and turned out. Stalls available whenever needed. Trails. An outdoor arena. An indoor arena. Good footing. Lots of turnout. Shelter. Constant forage. Someone keeping an eye on their horse.

And somehow all of this is supposed to cost a few hundred dollars a month.

Every single thing on that list requires labour, infrastructure, money, or all three.

Wanting those things isn’t unreasonable.

Wanting excellent care for your horse isn’t unreasonable.

But at some point, what you’re asking for and what you’re willing to pay for it have to exist in the same reality.

And this is also why boarding by itself is often not particularly profitable.

I’ve talked a lot about the lack of access to species-appropriate boarding, because it IS a problem. There are owners desperately looking for better options and unable to find them.

But I think this HAS to be part of that conversation too.

We cannot ask boarding facilities to provide increasingly individualized, labour-intensive, species-appropriate care while expecting the people providing it to subsidize our horse ownership.

Horse ownership is a luxury.

The people feeding horses twice a day, breaking ice and shovelling in February, fixing fences, maintaining arenas, cleaning troughs, managing pastures, filling hay, changing blankets and monitoring horses deserve to be paid for their labour.

If we want better boarding options, those facilities have to be financially sustainable.

And sometimes that means accepting that good horse care costs more than we wish it did.

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐔𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞: 𝐃𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐒𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐒𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠?

When you're working a horse during the heat of summer, cooling them down quickly and effectively is important. One of the most common ways to do that is with a hose. But this is where the debate begins: Should you leave the water on the horse, or should you scrape it off?

I still remember the first time I heard this debate. I was an undergraduate in an equine program, taking care of the college horses during a hot Missouri summer. We were told you could never, and I mean never, leave water on a horse. The reasoning was that the horse's body heat would warm the water, creating an insulating layer that would actually slow cooling instead of helping it.

It's a belief that has been passed around horse barns for decades. But is it actually true?

A study by Takahashi et al. (2020) put this long-held recommendation to the test, comparing sweat scraping with four other cooling methods to determine which cooled horses most effectively. Let's dive into the research and see what they found.

𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐌𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐝𝐬

This study used five Thoroughbreds that exercised on a treadmill until their pulmonary artery temperature reached 108°F (42°C).

The researchers then evaluated five cooling methods:

• Control: Horses were walked only with no additional cooling

• Fan: Horses were walked with fans moving air at 6.7 mph (3 m/s)

• Intermittent Water: Horses were walked and 1 gallon (4 liters) of cold water (50°F/10°C) was applied over the body every 4 minutes

• Intermittent Water + Scraping: Horses were walked and 1 gallon (4 liters) of cold water (50°F/10°C) was applied over the body every 4 minutes and immediately scraped off

• Continuous Water: Horses stood stationary while tap water (79°F/26°C) was continuously applied

Researchers measured re**al temperature 30 minutes after exercise and recorded how long it took each horse's pulmonary artery temperature to drop below 102°F (39°C).

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐬

💧 Continuous water application (without scraping) was by far the most effective method, with horses reaching the target temperature in 2.1 ± 0.6 minutes.

💧 Intermittent cold water application was the next most effective. Interestingly, horses whose water was not scraped off cooled slightly faster (9.8 ± 2.4 minutes) than horses whose water was scraped (11.6 ± 2.0 minutes).

💧 The control and fan-only treatments were the least effective, requiring 25.4 ± 6.0 minutes and 14.5 ± 6.0 minutes, respectively.

𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧

This study found no cooling advantage to scraping water off a horse. In fact, horses cooled just as well, or even slightly faster, when the water was left on.

The authors concluded that continuous water application is the most effective way to cool an overheated horse because cool water continually absorbs heat from the body and carries it away. While continuous hosing isn't always practical, intermittent application of cold water is still highly effective, and scraping the water off doesn't appear to improve cooling.

𝐓𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬

🧊 Continuous application of water is the fastest way to cool a horse.

🧊 Intermittent cold water is also effective when continuous hosing isn't possible.

🧊 This study found no evidence that sweat scraping improves cooling.

These findings challenge one of the most common recommendations passed down through horse barns for decades. At least based on this research, you can put the sweat scraper down and focus on getting plenty of cool water onto your horse instead.

Do you still use a sweat scraper after hosing your horse?

Cheers,
Dr. DeBoer

Takahashi Y, Ohmura H, Mukai K, Shiose T, Takahashi T. A comparison of five cooling methods in hot and humid environments in Thoroughbred horses. Journal of Equine Veterinary Science. 2020;91:103130.

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📍 Primo Equestrian , Central Saanich
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Join us for a one-day horse experience where kids will get hands-on time with our friendly horses while learning the basics of horse care in a safe and supportive environment.

🐴 Grooming and brushing
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📅 Aug 24, 26, 28
⏰ 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM
📍 Primo Equestrian , Central Saanich
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