Horse boarding is a type of business endeavor wherein an individual provides stalls where horse owners can temporarily place their horses to be taken care of. Taking care of horses includes feeding the horses, cleaning their stalls, and taking them for their regular run or exercise.
Some individuals have started horse boarding, while others still plan to create their horse boarding facilities and business. Why settle for digital horses you see in online gambling when you can take care of your horses?
Those planning to establish a horse boarding business may ask, is this business profitable?
Yes, according to experienced horse boarding owners, this type of business is profitable and is still able to generate profit. However, profit generation may be a challenge, especially at the initial stage of the business. Therefore, it all depends on how you manage the business as to how well it will perform and generate a substantial amount of profit.
What factors contribute to the challenging income generation of horse boarding?
Expenses
One of the significant factors that influence the challenges of gaining enough income from horse boarding is the overhead costs of necessities and services, such as hay, grain, barn help, etc.
Maintenance
Maintenance also contributes to additional expenses. Hiring people to maintain the place and the animals can be costly over time. In some barns, some students help in stall maintenance in exchange for horse-riding lessons. But in general, experienced horse boarding owners say that the fewer people and animals you have, the easier it is for you to control. If you have many animals that need maintenance, you must wisely manage that care costs do not overlap your income.
In some stalls, they still struggle to board horses. As a matter of fact, a considerable part of their income comes from clients who come not to place their horses for care but to avail of other services.
What are these services that also generate income among horse boarding facilities?
Services
The essential services of horse boarding facilities include taking care of clients’ horses, including feeding these horses, cleaning their stalls, and taking them for their daily exercise. More clients place their horses on horse boarding facilities during winter as other outdoor horses from other farms need a warm place to stay and be maintained.
Aside from these services, horse boarding facilities also offer lessons, training, and practice opportunities, mainly horse-riding and horse care. With the horses boarded on their barns, owners take the opportunity to utilize these horses for these extra services.
Some horse boarding facilities also offer full or half leases of their horses, owned mainly by the facility owner. Some people prefer to lease horses first before deciding to buy one.
Some facilities also offer therapeutic programs, such as for individuals with autism, etc. There are also instances where business owners resorted to the reselling of horses, where they initially buy, train and resell horses at national shows. However, this type of business proved to be hard in generating income and also needs lots of work, time, and money.
So, if there is a wide variety of services that a horse boarding facility can offer, why is it still hard to generate income from this business?
Cost vs. Income
The profit of some horse boarding facilities struggles to catch up with the cost of expenses and maintenance. The hiring of barn workers has been a significant issue in this dilemma. Furthermore, there is also no assurance on walk-in clients. Often, if there are, they are only availing minimal services for the short-term. If these facilities lack clients for their lessons, leasing, therapeutic care, and other services, they cannot generate income.
Experienced owners say that you need to be a competitive owner to manage the flow of profit and expenses and make both ends meet but still generate a good profit.
Fortunately, there are still ways to improve your income in this business.
- Determine if you have a business plan. If none, take time to recalibrate everything into a good business plan that lays down everything, from finances, services and programs, and other factors. This will allow you to see both your short-term and long-term objectives and thus guide you in your finances, especially in allocating a budget for certain things and anticipating some potential expenses.
- To maximize your facilities and resources, only offer full care boarding. Full care boarding spares you from short-term care that equally consumes cost on your part. But you can still provide grooming, clipping, braiding, and exercise services for walk-in clients.
- Buy your stocks of hay in the summer, which should also cover your winter use. Hay is relatively cheaper in the summertime. Take this chance to purchase enough hay for seasons to come.
- Allow trainers or instructors to rent your facility. This is an excellent idea since these people tend to bring their own clients, and you no longer have to think of encouraging people in.
- Invest in good field management. This cuts down your hay expenses.
- Leverage social media and local events to garner clients to your facility. Everyone is on social media, and if you target the right audience, you will be able to entice those interested in your services to go and try out your facility.