The most common response I get when I tell people that Henry is away at rehab is “Wow, that must be expensive!”. If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard that, I might almost be able to cover the cost of rehab. (Heh… no, not really…)
And while yes it’s expensive, it’s really not that bad when you look at the services we’re getting. Most people that have heard the overall 30-day figure have said “that’s really not that bad, considering”. They’re right, it’s really not that bad, considering. From all the shopping around I did, what I’m paying is pretty average for a rehab type of facility. I kinda wish I’d known a long time ago just how (relatively) affordable this kind of thing can be… I guess I just assumed it would be crazy big bucks.
So for the sake of spreading the word in a “the more you know…” kind of way, I figured I’d share some numbers. Hopefully you never need services like this, but if you do, maybe this will help you figure out whether or not it could possibly be within your budget. Like I said, most of the places in Texas that I looked at were very similarly priced, so I would assume the costs would be relatively comparable elsewhere too.
The way our particular rehab place works is that there’s a basic board fee, and then whatever rehab services you opt for (the aquatred, laser therapy, saltwater spa, theraplate, etc) add a set per diem cost on top of that figure. Pretty standard setup across the board, from the research I did. The base board fee is $600 and includes:
- double size stall
- whatever feed you want (mine eats Triple Crown)
- coastal hay (pretty much constant, so however many flakes per day that they eat)
- a flake of alfalfa at each meal
- daily grooming
- fly mask on/off or blanketing if necessary
- turnout, if the horse is allowed (mine isn’t)
Already a pretty good rate with the alfalfa, premium feed, and daily grooming thrown in. A nice perk is that the owners live on site plus have other employees there daily, so there are always people around. They also let me leave my trailer there for no additional charge, which is nice.
Beyond the basic board rate, things take a pretty individual turn. My vet only had two specific requests: aquatred 5x per week, and bandaging when necessary (the vet laid out criteria for when he wants the leg bandaged, so it’s up to the facility staff to determine the necessity).
The rate for the aquatred at this place goes up or down depending on how often you use it. Once a week, no price break, but the more you use it per week, the cheaper it is per use. Most places I saw just had a flat rate, so getting a little bit of a price break was nice. With the frequency that Henry goes in the aquatred, it brought that figure down to only about $23 per time. Use of the aquatred also comes with time on the equiciser (at a walk, to warm up and cool down) which is a nice inclusion. So figuring he’s in the aquatred 5 x a week at a rate of $23 per time, that adds about $460 for the month.
As for the rest of the services, I can’t really speak on individual pricing. I know that just like the aquatred, they too had a sliding scale depending on how often it was used. I suppose if you wanted to utilize lots of different therapies, things could get expensive pretty quickly, but it’s also pretty easy to tailor a program that will work for you and still be relatively affordable.
breedrideevent.com 
hah i wonder if rehab is that cheap around here… i mean, thats less than i pay for my regular monthly horse addiction…
i wish i had picked something cheaper, like cocaine
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as an aside: i feel like such a creep bc im always the first comment but you come up right away during my morning coffee & blog time
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i am also usually the first responder (or close to it anyway) LOL i admit freely i stalk her. Course she is actually here in DE this week so I can stalk her in person for now LOL (#creepmuch?)
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Yeah, Michele is definitely the creepiest
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Considering what you’re getting, sounds pretty reasonable! I like that you broke things down by price — I always assume stuff is $$$ so don’t even explore it, but you’ve posted a couple of times about things (like Henny’s initial spa day) and I’ve been like “huh, that’s actually pretty affordable!”
So thanks for making me eager to spend even more money 😉 lol
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That’s actually way more reasonable than I would have figured. I hope I never have to find out what the rates are here in AB though
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I have Badger on full board with my trainer since I can’t be in two places at once after work everyday. And it’s more money that Henry’s rehab. That’s totally reasonable for what you’re getting. I wish there was something like this near me.
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Oh man. That is really pretty reasonable! I’m lucky because my barn manager is really great at care, so I can have a lot of the wrapping and hand walking done without a huge whack to my pocketbook (though my board cost for a stall SKYROCKETS). I would think the biggest issue for me putting my horse in a rehab facility would be losing my spot at my boarding facility, or having to pay double board to hold it. That’s a huge financial burden, or psychological one if I don’t pay to hold my spot.
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When my sisters horse got hurt and she was here so I could take care of her, I looked around for rehab places bc I was curious… We have like none. Your only option is the vet hospitals which is super expensive ($550 for 2 nights of observation and I provided the food for the pony when we first got him 😩)
Defiantly a business opportunity for someone around here.
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This is really interesting! Thank you for sharing the numbers 🙂
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Having recently become re-acquainted with human physical therapy- I can appreciate how costly rehab can be. But it sure does seem like you are getting a good value for an expensive service!
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now i’m curious to snoop around here for comparables. it really is good to have a sense of actual costs should the situation arise (knocking furiously on wood that it never does). definitely not cheap (esp, as Austen says, if you have to factor in double board for holding a stall) but not glaringly cost prohibitive either. oh horses. i can rationalize just about anything for them…
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Deff better than sitting on stall rest & going stir crazy. Here’s hoping I can find equally reasonable rates should I ever need them in Europe 😶
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Reminds me of the old commercial…
Board at rehab. $600
Aquatred services $460
Knowing Henry is getting the best of everything…priceless.
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Definitely good to know, thanks for sharing!
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Interesting – thanks for sharing!
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Thank you for being so transparent about costs! Money is always a touchy subject, but like you I thought places like this were solely for the independently wealthy. Cool to know it’s not tens of thousands of dollars
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Was having a little cry to myself this weekend about how expensive horses are and how I have to travel for every show. Am now so much happier as it appears NZ is one of the few places I can afford to have both a mortgage and a competition horse… although we simply don’t have the sort of facilities in most places in NZ that you have in NA and Europe, so envious of that for sure. I’m not sure what I would have done with the tendon pony had there been a choice between endless hours sitting in the surf or paying $$$ for scientific therapy like aquatred (paying, it would have been the paying as might have saved going entirely mad and freezing to death)
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