Carousel Ranch Bourbonnais Illinois

10/12/2026

🐴🔥 HAS SOCIAL MEDIA REPLACED COMMON SENSE? LET’S TALK ABOUT IT.

Here’s something I’ve been thinking about when it comes to the horse boarding industry.

If you were looking for a restaurant and found 50 fantastic reviews and 2 terrible ones, would you still eat there?

Or would those two opinions make the decision for you?

Now replace that restaurant with a horse boarding facility.

Why do we sometimes give complete strangers on Facebook more influence over our decisions than our own eyes, ears, and instincts?

Here’s where I’m going to stir the pot a little. 👀

Not every boarding barn is the right fit for every horse owner. Not every personality gets along. Not every disagreement means someone did something wrong.

And yes, there ARE bad facilities out there. Genuine concerns about horse welfare, safety, and care absolutely deserve attention.

But here’s my question:

When did one person’s opinion become everyone else’s truth?

Social media is an incredible tool for sharing information, but it can also turn one experience into a reputation before anyone bothers to investigate.

Read the reviews. Ask questions. Take the concerns seriously.

But also visit the facility. Look at the horses. Meet the owners. Talk to current boarders.

Use social media as a resource, not a replacement for your own judgment.

🔥 NOW LET’S GET A LITTLE CONTROVERSIAL…

If you see a negative post about a boarding barn, do you automatically believe it?

Or do you consider that there might be another perspective?

And barn owners, do you think social media has made it harder for people to recognize the difference between a genuinely bad facility and one that simply wasn’t the right fit?

Let’s hear BOTH sides. Respectful disagreements welcome! 🐴

You can share the post but please don’t copy and paste as your own.

© 2026 Carousel Ranch. All rights reserved. Original content.

10/08/2026

🐴 RARE BOARDING OPPORTUNITY AT CAROUSEL RANCH! 🐴

We will have 2 stalls available at the end of October! One of our longtime boarders is moving out of state, opening up a rare opportunity for someone looking for a great barn, especially if you need more than one stall!

🌿 We are not your typical boarding facility!

Our program focuses primarily on 24/7 group turnout, allowing horses to live outside as naturally as possible. Horses are brought in daily for grain, supplements, medications, and individual wellness checks before returning to their pastures.

If you’re looking for a facility where your horse spends most of its time in a stall, we probably won’t be the right fit, and that’s okay! We believe in finding the right match for both horse and owner.

📩 Interested? Message us to schedule a private tour, meet us, and see if Carousel Ranch is the right fit for you and your horse! 🐎❤️

09/19/2026

One boarding opportunity available at Carousel Ranch!

We’ve decided to open one final stall for boarding. We’re not at full capacity—this is simply where we’ve chosen to cap our numbers to keep the barn comfortable, personal and enjoyable.

We’re looking for the right fit for our barn, not just someone to fill an empty stall. ❤️🎠

Interested? Send us a message and come check us out!

09/19/2026

❤️ Let’s show some love to the people who help us and our horses along the way.

Behind every happy, healthy horse are people who give their time, knowledge, patience and heart. Whether we’re competing, trail riding, taking lessons, or just loving our pasture puffs, we couldn’t do it without them. 🐴❤️

I’ll go first.

To our wonderful farriers and friends — Joe Proby, Jeff Chaffee, and Ricardo Martinez — thank you for everything you do for our horses, you have come out in the cold, heat and rain, stayed late and sometimes long hours to make sure our horses are comfortable, thank you! 🙏

To my amazing veterinarians — Dr. Pat Rodawold, Dr. Hernandez, and Dr. Joshua Jones — to late night calls, and emergencies or just sharing a sometimes funny experience, to the sad goodbyes, and just always being ready to save a life, we thank you! 🙏 ❤️

To our amazing lesson coach, Vicki Brooks — thank you for everything you give to our riders and horses, no one would breath while riding or have core strength without you 🤣 you are my best friend and an amazing trainer I’m blessed to have met you and lucky enough to have you in my life 🩷🙏

And to my amazing husband, Dan Fritz — I could never do all of this without you. You’re my best friend, my ride or die, this place stays together because of you!

Your knowledge and your hard work do not ever go unnoticed, I know we do a lot of it together, but your my motivation on days some projects just seem to heavy, and to the many many laughs and fun times we’ve had building our dream! 🩷🎠

Now it’s your turn. Tag someone who deserves a little love and appreciation today. Let them know they matter. ❤️🐴

09/16/2026

Tell me you’ve never had your tail braided without telling me 🤣

09/15/2026

Why turnout is so important! I couldn’t stop laughing at how funny this is, I catch the horses in the pastures always busy but never thought they are so judgmental of what we do and where they go in a day 🤣 🤣🤣🤣 ENJOY!

09/10/2026

I’m tired of seeing posts other barn owners write complaining they don’t make money boarding horses, doing what they love in the horse industry, no we do not make millions, but owning a farm you don’t, just like farming corn/soy beans has a ton of costs, running a horse boarding facility has costs as well.

It shouldn’t be a business built on guilt, and I’m going to say it, you can make a profit!

We are not making $10k a month no, but we are covering our bills and making enough to go out once in awhile, lavish vacations, no, but living here on this property is our vacation, we love what we do, we love waking up here, and we love the horses and our boarders.

Do we have unexpected costs, yes. Do we have months we are in the red due to those costs, yes, does it also in the same turn have months we do great, yes.

Do we get burned out at times, yes, working 365 days a year is a lot, but do we always have to work all day? No! The work is like the costs, it goes up and down.

No one opens a barn to get rich, but we also don’t stay open year after year to stay broke, my husband and I both work other jobs, both of us part time, and run our facility, we work jobs we enjoy going to, and we love sharing our facility with our boarders, our perspective is positive about what what we do.

Our frame of mind isn’t a get rich plan, it’s simply to be happy doing what we love, not cram our facility so full we get burnt out, we offer great care to the people and their horses here while making some extra money on the side, that’s the truth.

Do we have bad days? Yep, but it doesn’t take away from why we opened, we opened to offer our barn to like minded people, we didn’t want our boarders to go broke to stay here, and we also in the same turn didn’t want to go broke running it.

You can find a middle ground and it is a great opportunity, if you have the right perspective, it will last for generations, the key for us is pouring our happiness into our property but also making sure we have the time to enjoy life outside the gates too.

I hope this post can help another barn owner know 365 days a year doesn’t mean you give your soul away, you take your long days and bad days, but watch the sunrise, the sunset, listen to the birds, watch the horses graze in the pasture 😊

Take your time daily to breath and do something for yourself, you can’t run your business burnt out, need a day off??

Take it! Believe it or not your boarders will understand, if they don’t, they don’t belong in your facility. ❤️

© 2026 Carousel Ranch — Bourbonnais, Illinois. Written by Melody Fritz. All rights reserved. This original written content may not be copied, reproduced, republished, or distributed without permission. Sharing the original Facebook post using the Share button is welcome.

09/08/2026

Officially unavailable. Great opportunities don’t tend to stay open for long. 😉

Pasture Board available for 2 horses 400/month includes hay, located in Bourbonnais, Illinois.

09/01/2026

Want to see a side of your horse you’ve never seen before?
Calm. Happy. Willing. Connected.

Learn how to build trust, communication, and a true partnership with your horse—on the ground and in the saddle.

Horsemanship isn’t about forcing a horse to do something. It’s about learning to understand each other. ❤️

Contact me for more information.

06/04/2026

https://www.theplaidhorse.com/2024/04/17/dear-barn-owners-of-my-past/

BY Jamie Sindell Now that I finally own my own barn after years of boarding, there’s SO much I didn’t realize as a boarder that I TOTALLY get now…. Dear Barn Owners of My Past: I would sincerely like to apologize for believing it was appropriate to grab hay whenever I wanted. I had to […]