Horse businesses are notoriously difficult to make profitable. Between the dips and dives in the economy, and the ever-rising costs associated with horse care and management, it’s not surprising that operating a horse facility is often a labor of love. And one that requires much hard work.
Increasing the amount of income, alongside keeping the costs reined in tightly, is the best way to track forward to economic success.
There are many ways to improve horse boarding business and lesson revenue stream. A positive aspect to the horse industry is that the number of newcomers to equine ownership alongside returning members to the equestrian community are on the rise. The post pandemic resurgence into country living and the equestrian lifestyle that can go with it is still very much on a positive trend.
The forecast for an increase in horse ownership is always a good thing for operators of horse facilities. Whether you offer straight boarding or an enterprise that offers a mix of livery, lessons and horse training options, this news offers a welcome solution to management of equestrian based businesses recent woes.
The increasing costs is a trend in the horse industry, for all aspects of horse care, from veterinary ambulatory attendance to grain and forage expenses, to rising insurance and building costs, may mean that the horse boarding business is not an easy industry in which to make money. But take heart, it is possible if you think outside the regular box of horse care.
Strength in Numbers
Horse aficionados that seek to care for their own equines but don’t have access to the property required to go forward with backyard ownership have always been a huge part of the horse industry.
Offering rough board, partial board, barter board are all on the table when it comes to making a little extra money and keeping the horse barn cantering around a profitable arena.
The income stream available from partial board is not one to be missed. By adding the option for access to a stable, horse property owners that take advantage of this in-between option that provides horse owners with an affordable stabling option, are taking a great stride farther to improving their profits.
There is, after all, strength in numbers. The more equine aficionados you attract to your horse facility, the greater the opportunity for you to leverage their interests into producing more revenue.
Another benefit of attracting more equine bodies and their buddies to the farm is that given you run a good horse care operation, even during downturns in the economy that cause shifts in the numbers of people owning their own horses, the larger number of farm clients will help mitigate the downside of temporary losses.
Consider the horse owning client that is suffering a temporary experience and needs to step down from full-board services to a more affordable option. Perhaps their horse has become injured and cannot be worked, or the animal has aged into retirement, or perhaps their personal income stream has diminished. By having a second string to the stabling bow with partial board options, this client will not need to go elsewhere. Clients can be hard to acquire and generally do not desire to move livery when they are happy with the quality of care at hand. Lowering your customer acquisition costs by keeping clients on board, perhaps while they search for a new horse, is a smart move.
Clients that move in to use the shed-row stabling option may also become full livery clients and revenue producing equestrian students as their level of comfort and ability increases over time and they seek to transition to competitive riders or have their young performance horse trained up by a professional.
From a property value and resale perspective, more stable ‘real estate’ will also add to both the curbside appeal for sale as well as increase the turnover revenue number that ultimately will determine the price that can be asked when selling the horse business.
Also consider the opportunity that by adding more mouths to feed on site a bit of extra cash can be garnered by sales of hay and bedding supplies, storage charges for tack and equipment and horse trailers. These can all be offered à la carte for extra fees. The more equines there are to bed and feed the larger the quantity of supplies that will be needed to accomplish the task, which can also be leveraged into greater buying power and less per unit costs thus improving the profit margin.
While a variety of stabling designs and options exist, there are certain types of styles that make more sense than others. In this case, the shed row barn is a good choice.
The building of a shed row barn can yield great rewards for those that have the foresight to take to heart a bit of Agri-tourism smarts and read the room. That room being a barn.
A Stable Solution
One of the least expensive and most cost-effective stabling solutions has always been the shed row barn concept. A design that performance riders embrace for the fresh air factor, and you don’t have to be an Olympic eventer to know why.
Horse owners that seek rough board for their equines may be content with access to a paddock or pasture for their horse. Either an individual turn out or the cheaper option of a herd turnout. Horse folks may be happy to provide pasture picking services and their own provision of hay or grain. But there is always a need for a stable to call their own.
The stable offers many advantages for proper horse care. It provides a space where the animal can be sheltered in bad weather; a place where the Equus can rest and relax and be prepped for vet or farrier visits; a confined safe hold where the horse owner can quietly groom and tack up their equine partner for riding; a clean stall where the equine can be bathed and beautified, braided and blanketed in preparation for competition/show prep; and a stable that offers respite for the horse if ill, lame or debilitated.
The Shed Row Solution
The shed row design of a horse yard offers a multitude of benefits for the horse property owner that wants to increase revenue by adding some extra services but does not want to involve themselves in a full-board scenario. Perhaps the horse property owner would prefer to keep their center aisle barn and personal horses separated from the boarding population. A dual barn operation is a smart business move.
Shed row designs offer a myriad of methods to create a private courtyard in British style, a boomerang or L-shaped design that offers certain advantages or a corridor design where stalls face each other creating a center aisle aspect that provides a good working space.
The courtyard design in particular provides privacy and security, as well as maximum shelter from cold winds while keeping the work area centralized and easy to supervise.
The addition of an overhang to a shedrow barn is an inexpensive way to create more space for storage and shelter.
Lesson Up
Horse facilities that offer lesson horses often try to keep the expenses of keeping the lesson horses as cost effective as possible. The provision of shed-row stabling offers an easy method to bring horses in during times of inclement weather or when they are booked for a busy schedule of lessons, without interference with other activities in the main barn where the horse owner may be working with their own performance horses.
For haul-in lessons and quarantine needs, a separate shed row barn design also offers a great solution for stabling space that minimizes the risk for transmission of disease between equine residents.
Diversity Works
A varietal style approach to horse barn designs on a property can offer a mixed bag of boarding/training/lesson options creating a flexibility in the business model that provides an opportunity to diversify income streams.
A shed row barn design has been favored in the racehorse world for eons as the most inexpensive means to house the most horses at any one time. Give it a look. You may be pleasantly surprised at how it can help you improve your bottom line.