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Featured Article (February 2008)Equine Dream Jobs: Article and Photos by Bill Weisenburger After a tough day at work, there was no place like the stable to go and unwind. A few minutes brushing Jake the Wonderhorse, a few licorice treats and a quick touch-up of his stall made the day seem a lot better. After that I always stopped by the barn office and spent some quality time with Jim and others of a like mind. We talked horses and solved the problems of the day. If only the boys and girls in Washington would listen to the Stable Denizens Political Action Committee, all would be right with the world!
My daily snapshot of the boarding stable made it seem like Nirvana. Think about it. As a stable owner you get to play with horses all day, talk to fellow horse lovers, clean a stall or two…and have people pay you to do it. I know that I am not the only horse owner who has had similar thoughts. Just start a boarding stable, play all day and count money all night. Unfortunately, like most great thoughts, if it was that easy, everyone would be doing it. And the one thing that owning a boarding stable is not, is easy! What are the Expenses There are many aspects and costs related to running a boarding stable that do not meet the eye of the casual observer. Insurance The first and quite possibly most important is insurance. Fortunately, Virginia has the Equine Activity Liability Act, § 3.1-796.130. This law provides a lot of protection for the potential stable owner from law suits due to injury. While it would seem that anyone climbing on top of a 1200 hundred pound animal would realize there is some danger, law suits do happen and they can be catastrophic. The Virginia Equine Activity Liability Act, while a great law, does not provide protection to a stable owner who is foolish and refuses to take reasonable precautions. A good lawyer and a knowledgeable insurance agent can be the stable owner’s best friends. A tightly written "hold harmless" agreement must be signed by everyone who frequents the stable. The same document must be signed for minors by the parent or guardian. An insurance agent familiar with equine activities is required to insure that a policy is written that covers all aspects of the operation. Get a lawyer and an insurance agent who understand the horse business! Facility Next you need a facility. Boarding stables require barns, probably an office, a place to store tack, grain, hay, sawdust and equipment. People bring their horses to a stable to provide a safe environment for their animals and a safe place to ride. Stables need to have a riding arena, a round pen and turn out areas. All of this translates into land. If you were trying to put a stable in Manhattan you have to be "The Donald." If you put one in the middle of South Dakota it would probably be cheaper, but then where would your customers come from? The amount of land required depends on your intended activities, location and of course, budget. Economy Factor Like most recreation based businesses, the success of a riding stable is connected to the economy. When the economy is on the upswing, folks have money to spend on Ole’ Paint. When the economy is not so hot people tend to cut back on leisure items and the reasons the economy is slow tend to hit the stable particularly hard. One glaring example today is the cost of fuel. Horses and oil and seem to be diametrically opposed. Horses run on hay not oil . . . but stables run on oil. Stables use tractors to move feed, tend the riding arenas, haul sawdust and spread manure. Trucks and trailers use fuel to move horses to shows, vets and sales. Do not forget the cost of the equipment. A reasonable tractor, a dependable truck and a safe trailer could cost . . . a lot! There are other obvious costs associated with running a stable that are dependent upon the economy as well. The price of grain depends upon production costs and availability, especially in the age of ethanol. Hay will need to be trucked to the stable and in drought years can be hard to get and harder to afford. Most stables have at least one employee on the payroll and have independent contractors and part-time folks to help with lessons. Hidden Costs As a horse owner, you are probably well aware of many of the other expenses. While such costs are generally handled by the individual horse owner, the stable owner must cover them for horses the stable owns. There are "hidden" costs to running the business. All stables will need electricity and possibly city water and sewage. Stables require a plethora of hand tools that are always lost or broken. When was the last time you thought about renting a porta-potty? Of course you need a plan to handle a lot of "horse exhaust." Show Me the Money So far we have discussed costs and headaches. If you are not scared off yet, let’s get to the fun part, making money, which means working with horses and customers. The successful stables in our area are multi-faceted with several sources of income. They board horses, teach riding, coach riders in various disciplines, sell tack, train and sell horses and have breeding programs. The focus of each individual stable may be different, some are geared more toward lessons and others more focused on boarding and training horses, but they all seem to require multiple income streams to stay profitable.
Sweat Equity Owning a horse stable takes a lot of planning, a considerable financial investment and gallons of sweat. While the customers are at their 9 to 5 jobs, dreaming of owning a stable, the stable owner is cleaning stalls, training horses, mending fences, repairing barns, scheduling lessons and……the lord only knows what else. At 5:00 p.m., when the customers come to ride, the stable owner puts on the happy face, teaches lessons and interacts with the proud parents of the next Grand Champion. At 9:00 p.m. when the lessons are done and the customers are gone, the stable owner does the books, takes a shower and prepares for sunrise the next day. That is if one of the mares is not ready to foal. In our area, stables sit on land which is worth a lot of money to developers so the natural question is why not sell the land and retire to Florida? The answer was not easy for the stable owners with whom I spoke but it comes down to living a lifestyle and doing something they love! They all tend to think of their stable as a community center and their customers as extended family. They took great pride in seeing youngsters grow up at "the barn" and become successful riders and adults in our tumultuous world.u
Max Francis says, "You are never too young to learn about horses! Read the Virginia Horse Journal."
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