FAQs
What makes Close Ranch different from a traditional boarding barn?
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Close Ranch offers the amenities and quality care you expect from a premier equestrian facility in a quieter, more personal environment. Our focus isn’t on running a busy training program—it’s on creating a place where each horse can be an individual. Whether actively competing, enjoying a lighter workload, or fully retired, the horse comes first every time, every day.
Is Close Ranch only for senior or retired horses?
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Not at all. Senior and retired horses are an important part of Close Ranch, but active riding and competition horses are equally welcome. Our lighted arena, round pen, wash area, obstacle course, trailer parking, and other amenities allow owners to continue riding, training, and competing while giving their horses a peaceful home base between adventures.
Do you specialize in senior horse and retirement boarding?
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Yes. Close Ranch provides a thoughtful environment for senior and retired horses whose needs and lifestyles may be changing. We believe retirement changes what a horse does—not how much they matter. Our goal is to provide the attentive daily care, appropriate nutrition, comfortable housing, movement, and peaceful routine that help make those later years good ones.
What boarding options are available?
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Close Ranch offers both Full Care and Semi-Self Care boarding, with housing options that include community pasture, spacious private turnout with shelter, barn stalls, and barn stalls with attached runs. Availability and suitability depend on the individual horse and their needs.
What is included with Full Care Board?
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Full Care is designed for owners who want the reassurance of having the day-to-day details handled. It includes ranch-provided feeding, water maintenance, daily stall or turnout cleaning, scheduled turnout management, and handling for routine veterinary and farrier appointments.
Semi-Self Care is a great fit for owners who enjoy remaining actively involved in their horse’s daily care. Close Ranch provides the horse’s ranch-supplied forage and feed, twice-daily feeding, and water checks, while the owner manages cleaning, bedding upkeep, turnout, blanketing and fly care, and routine vet or farrier handling.
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What is Semi-Self Care Board?
Nutrition is an important part of the care we provide. Close Ranch feeds quality Teff and/or alfalfa hay along with select Elk Grove Milling products, including Stable Mix, Stable Mix Lite, and Stable MAX Ultra Mate. Feeding options allow us to better accommodate horses with different caloric and nutritional needs.
What do horses at Close Ranch eat?
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There’s knowledge behind what goes into the feed bucket. Owner/operator Lindsey Close is an Equine Nutrition Advisor, Professional Animal Scientist, and Director of Operations at Elk Grove Milling bringing additional education and intention to feeding and management decisions. Our goal is not simply to feed horses—it’s to recognize that good nutrition is an essential part of supporting their health, comfort, and quality of life.
What makes nutrition different at Close Ranch?
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Depending on the horse’s needs, additional hay rations and special supplement or medication feeding may be available for an additional fee. Horses requiring customized individual feeding management may need private housing rather than community pasture. We encourage owners to discuss their horse’s needs with us before selecting a boarding option.
Can you accommodate horses with special feeding needs?
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Community pasture is not appropriate for horses with metabolic concerns such as EMS, insulin dysregulation, or PPID/Cushing’s because of seasonal pasture access. Private housing options allow greater control over the horse’s environment and feeding program.
Can metabolic horses live in the community pasture?
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Safety of the entire herd comes first. Horses must demonstrate appropriate, non-aggressive herd behavior and successfully complete a trial introduction before joining community turnout. Horses living in group turnout also cannot wear hind shoes.
How do you determine whether a horse can live in community turnout?
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Yes. Close Ranch is Chad and Lindsey’s home, too. Having knowledgeable owner/operators onsite means the horses are never far from familiar eyes and people who are personally invested in the animals, the property, and the environment they’ve created.
Do Chad and Lindsey live at Close Ranch?
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Close Ranch offers the amenities to keep enjoying life with your horse, including a lighted sand arena, 65-foot round pen, concrete wash area, obstacle course, tack storage, trailer parking, and a variety of turnout and housing options. It’s an environment where you can ride, train, prepare for your next competition—or simply spend a quiet afternoon with your horse. Any and all disciplines are welcome at Close Ranch. We have equipment for ranch trail, working equitation, jumping, and more. For detailed information, check out the 2026 Rate Sheet.
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What amenities are available to boarders?
Routine veterinarian and farrier handling is included with Full Care Board. Holding services are also available to Semi-Self Care boarders for an additional fee. Inquire about local professional service providers to get established with a vet or farrier of your choice.
Will you hold my horse for the veterinarian or farrier?
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Yes. Additional services are available for needs such as blanketing and fly sheet/mask management, daily medications, and feeding special supplements. We can discuss which services your horse requires and how they fit into their boarding arrangement.
Do you offer blanketing and fly care and feed medications and supplements?
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Is trailer parking available?
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Yes. One designated horse-trailer parking space per boarder is included at no additional charge.
If you value individualized attention, thoughtful nutrition, a quieter barn environment, and a philosophy that considers the horse more important than the job they perform, there’s a good chance we’ll have a lot in common.