"Gently approaching a board increase... any ideas?" That exact question was asked on The Horse Forum, and versions of it surface on the Chronicle of the Horse forums year after year, usually from a barn owner who has been putting the conversation off for months. Hay went up. Bedding went up. The insurance renewal came in higher again. And board is still sitting at the number it was three years ago.
If that is you, this is the playbook: how much to raise, how much notice to give, what to say, and a letter you can copy. But first, the part nobody puts in the spreadsheet.
Why This Conversation Feels So Hard
Boarders are not customers in the usual sense. They are in your barn aisle every day. They have seen you at 2 a.m. walking a colicky horse. Some of them are genuinely your friends. Asking friends for more money feels awful, so many barn owners simply do not, year after year, while their own costs climb.
The result is an industry that quietly underprices itself. A survey of more than 1,500 horse professionals, published by The Chronicle of the Horse, found that most barns lose money on boarding and only a small handful call it genuinely profitable. Part of that is board rates that were set years ago and never touched, because the conversation felt too awkward to have.
Here is the reframe that helps: a board increase is not you against your boarders. It is you keeping the barn solvent so their horses keep getting the care they came for. A barn that undercharges eventually cuts corners, burns out, or closes, and none of those outcomes serve the boarder. Charging enough to do the job right is part of doing the job right.
Small and Predictable Beats Big and Sudden
If there is one point of consensus among barn owners who have handled this well, it is this: a modest increase on a regular schedule beats holding the line for five years and then needing a big jump.
Small annual increases work because:
- Boarders can budget for them. A $25 or $50 bump with proper notice is absorbable. A $150 jump out of nowhere sends people barn shopping.
- They feel like normal business, not a crisis. When increases arrive on a predictable rhythm, nobody reads drama into them.
- They keep you honest with yourself. Reviewing your rate every year forces you to look at your real costs every year, before the gap gets scary.
If you have not raised board in a long time, resist the urge to catch up in one move if you can. Two smaller increases a year apart, announced together, are usually easier for everyone to live with than one painful jump. If your situation truly demands a big correction, the notice and the explanation below matter even more.
Know Your Number Before You Announce It
Before you pick the new rate, be able to answer one question: what does a stall actually cost you per month? Hay, grain, bedding, labor, utilities, insurance, property upkeep, and the hours of admin nobody bills for. If you cannot answer that, work it out first, because it changes the conversation completely. "Board is going up $50" invites debate. "My cost per stall went up $62 this year and I am passing on $50 of it" ends the debate before it starts.
This is also where good records quietly earn their keep. Barns that track expenses and services per horse in OnStride™ can see cost creep in months instead of years, and time their increases to reality instead of to panic.
Give 30 to 60 Days Written Notice
The standard barn owners keep recommending to each other is 30 to 60 days, in writing, to everyone at once.
- In writing, because word of mouth mangles numbers. A letter or email means every boarder hears the same thing, in your words, at the same time.
- 30 days at minimum, in line with the 30 to 90 day notice periods most boarding contracts require in the other direction. Sixty is kinder, and it gives anyone who genuinely cannot afford the new rate time to make a plan without ill will.
- Everyone at once, on the same terms. Quiet side deals get discovered, and the discovery costs you more trust than any increase ever will.
Add this clause before you need it
If your boarding contract does not already have one, add a price adjustment clause at the next signing. Something like: "Board rates may be adjusted with 30 days' written notice." It turns future increases from a renegotiation into a routine notice, which is exactly what they should be.
Say Why, Briefly
You do not owe anyone your books. But a short, honest reason lands far better than a bare number. Name the categories that moved: hay, bedding, insurance, payroll. Every boarder has watched their own grocery bill climb, and they understand rising costs. What they do not forgive is feeling like the increase is arbitrary, or that it is funding something other than their horse's care.
Two sentences is plenty. Anything longer starts to sound like an apology, and you have nothing to apologize for.
The Letter
Here is a template you can copy and adapt. Keep it short, warm, and specific.
Dear [boarder's name],
Effective [date, at least 30 days out], monthly board at [barn name] will increase from $[current rate] to $[new rate].
Over the past year our costs for hay, bedding, and insurance have all risen, and this adjustment lets us keep providing the same standard of care [horse's name] receives today. We reviewed our numbers carefully and kept the increase as small as we responsibly could.
Nothing else changes: same feed program, same turnout, same team.
If you would like to talk anything through, my door is always open. Thank you for trusting us with [horse's name]. It means a great deal.
Warmly, [your name]
Notice what the letter does. It states the number plainly, gives a real reason, reassures them that the care they are paying for is not changing, and keeps the relationship warm. Notice also what it does not do: it does not apologize, over-explain, or ask permission.
See it working in a real barn.
A 30-minute walkthrough of OnStride™, tailored to your operation.
After the Letter Goes Out
Expect a few conversations, and welcome them. Most boarders saw this coming, and some will simply want to be heard. Listen, hold the line, and stay kind.
Will you lose someone? Possibly. But run the arithmetic before you let that fear set your price. Raise board $30 on a 20-stall barn and you have added $600 a month, or $7,200 a year. If one boarder leaves over a modest, well-communicated increase, that stall will very likely refill at the new rate, and a boarder who walks over $30 with 60 days' notice was probably already halfway out the door. Meanwhile, not raising board costs you the full $7,200 every single year, silently.
One last thing: do not undo the increase one boarder at a time. If someone is in genuine hardship and you want to help, be deliberate about it, put an end date on it, and know that you are choosing generosity, not being negotiated down. Consistency is what keeps an increase from turning into barn drama.
The Board Increase Checklist
- Know your real cost per stall before you set the new number.
- Raise a little, on a predictable schedule, rather than a lot after years of silence.
- Give 30 to 60 days' notice, in writing, to everyone at once.
- Name the reason in a sentence or two: hay, bedding, insurance, payroll.
- Say clearly what is not changing about the care.
- Keep the door open for conversations, and hold the rate.
- Add a price adjustment clause to your boarding contract for next time.