Barn Etiquette/Groom Tipping

[happytimes2207]

I started riding at a full service show barn almost a year ago, at 1x per week and more recently 2x per week. I own my own saddle but use a lesson horse who is well taken care of, tacked up and ready for me before every ride. I was expecting to give a holiday tip to the groom (salaried employee) at the end of the year but was recently informed a weekly tip is standard. I do not show and had never heard of an expectation for weekly tipping from lesson clients. If it is the norm, I feel terrible that’s it’s been almost a year and no one mentioned anything to me prior to now.

Is weekly tipping standard for a lesson client? If so, what’s the norm in terms of how much and how often?

[Pathrider11]

I don’t know where you are in the country, but I have never heard of a weekly lesson tip. I ride at a nice barn, generally doing AA shows. I give a Christmas/holiday tip to all the grooms and I tip out at every show.

[Go_Fish]

No, I’ve never tipped grooms employed by my trainer during the week. I may bring a case of their favorite beer on Friday, or bring snacks occasionally. I always tip generously at shows and at Christmas.

[Peggy]

I tip at Christmas, when I have left a barn at some point between Christmases, and at horse shows. I bring food, oranges and vegetables from my garden and, in hot weather, popsicles. I am not in full service grooming, but I think that some of the people who are do tip during the year.

[OnDeck]

This is a tough one. When boarding at a full care barn I did not tip during a normal week. Often times at those types of places owners are not even present so I would be surprised to hear that tipping every week is the norm. I tipped generously for horse show weeks and gave Christmas presents. There were a few times after I sold my horse that I took one-time lessons and I did tip for that. I don’t think I would do that if I had a regularly scheduled lesson slot, though.

If your BO/trainer is telling you that a weekly tip is standard then there’s really no arguing with that. I would start tipping now and give a large Christmas gift, maybe with a note explaining that it’s to make up for the tips you missed. I would say no more than $5 or $10 per ride, but you can ask around to see what everyone else gives.

[freshman]

It makes sense to me. You lease a horse at a fancy barn 1-2 times per week. Horse arrives fully tacked up and ready to go. How do you think that happens? By magic? Tip them now. By which I mean daily/per ride. You don’t have any further/longer/other relationship with said staff, so if not now then when to tip? Don’t tell yourself you will do it once at Xmas or anything else and make it ok. That’s a total joke. You might not even be around then and just skip it at staff cost. Or end up tipping entirely wrong staff by that timing by some one-time large gift.

If you don’t want to feel beholden to staff for tips, I get it, but you need to spell it out with owner to take care of this detail ASAP. But don’t just accept and say thanks for fully tacked presented pony each ride in the meantime.

[bingbingbing]

@freshman

It makes sense to me. You lease a horse at a fancy barn 1-2 times per week. Horse arrives fully tacked up and ready to go. How do you think that happens? By magic? Tip them now. By which I mean daily/per ride. You don’t have any further/longer/other relationship with said staff, so if not now then when to tip? Don’t tell yourself you will do it once at Xmas or anything else and make it ok. That’s a total joke. You might not even be around then and just skip it at staff cost. Or end up tipping entirely wrong staff by that timing by some one-time large gift.

If you don’t want to feel beholden to staff for tips, I get it, but you need to spell it out with owner to take care of this detail ASAP. But don’t just accept and say thanks for fully tacked presented pony each ride in the meantime.

OP, can you ask anyone else taking lessons there if they tip every week? I have never heard of that either. Who told you that was expected? And to the question: How do you think the horse gets tacked up, by magic? I mean, the groom is working and doing their job. They aren’t tacking up the horse as a favor. And I do understand grooms expect tips. And if tipping every week is the norm then so be it. The OP is just asking for other people’s experience. It doesn’t sound to me like she is trying to get out of doing the right thing.

I have two years experience tacking up horses at a very high end, mostly show barn. I was never once tipped weekly. I was given generous gifts/money at Christmas time.

[adultammylife]

I agree with others suggesting you ask others who just take lessons (if you can/feel comfortable doing so). I have been a lesson-only client, 1-2x per week at A-show barns that are full service and tack/un-tack horses for you. I’ve never been asked to tip that frequently. I would often bring coffee or something for the guys and tip at Christmas and any shows I went to but not every week.

[gertie06]

IME, weekly tipping is for grooming at shows only. Not grooming at home. That’s what they are salaried to do.

Of course, a good holiday tip is standard and appreciated. But weekly or every ride? I have never heard of this except at shows.

Agree that bringing coffee is a kind gesture!

[Redlei44]

Depends on the barn, but when I’ve seen weekly at-home tipping suggested by a barn, it was aimed at owners/boarders, not lessoners. Who informed you that the tipping was expected? If it wasn’t the trainer/manager, ask them, and I also agree that asking your fellow lessoners should help clear it up for you.

[trubandloki]

I have never heard of weekly tipping by someone who is a lesson student.

[happytimes2207]

Thank you all for the input. Normally I would ask other lesson riders but there is literally one other young adult lesson rider who I have never met as she rides on another day. The owner brought it up and when he did, he acknowledged that just about all of the clients are borders who tip monthly and he wasn’t very clear on an exact protocol for someone in my situation. I definitely want to do the right thing and, as this was new to me, I was curious to hear what others experiences were. Thanks again.

[joiedevie99]

I’ve never heard of an expectation for lesson students to tip grooms. Monthly tipping, plus extra at shows/christmas, for boarders/full lessors is standard in most full service barns that I’m aware of.

[enjoytheride]

@freshman

It makes sense to me. You lease a horse at a fancy barn 1-2 times per week. Horse arrives fully tacked up and ready to go. How do you think that happens? By magic? Tip them now. By which I mean daily/per ride. You don’t have any further/longer/other relationship with said staff, so if not now then when to tip? Don’t tell yourself you will do it once at Xmas or anything else and make it ok. That’s a total joke. You might not even be around then and just skip it at staff cost. Or end up tipping entirely wrong staff by that timing by some one-time large gift.

If you don’t want to feel beholden to staff for tips, I get it, but you need to spell it out with owner to take care of this detail ASAP. But don’t just accept and say thanks for fully tacked presented pony each ride in the meantime.

Why not? I assume the price of the lesson includes the full service nature of this barn. Weekly tipping is not normal. A monthly tip and a Xmas tip by an owner is more the norm.

[BAC]

@freshman

. . . Horse arrives fully tacked up and ready to go. How do you think that happens? By magic? Tip them now. By which I mean daily/per ride.

That’s the groom’s job and he is getting paid to do it. I don’t think he deserves a tip for 1-2x a week lesson person, but if that is the norm at this barn, then fine, OP just seems to be trying to find out if this is a common practice, which based on most of the replies it is not. You seem to be making assumptions that OP is trying to get away without tipping, that is not my impression, she/he just wants to find out if this is standard procedure and if so, how much to tip. It seems OP is willing to tip if that turns out to be expected at this particular barn.

[Go_Fish]

@freshman

It makes sense to me. You lease a horse at a fancy barn 1-2 times per week. Horse arrives fully tacked up and ready to go. How do you think that happens? By magic? Tip them now. By which I mean daily/per ride. You don’t have any further/longer/other relationship with said staff, so if not now then when to tip? Don’t tell yourself you will do it once at Xmas or anything else and make it ok. That’s a total joke. You might not even be around then and just skip it at staff cost. Or end up tipping entirely wrong staff by that timing by some one-time large gift.

If you don’t want to feel beholden to staff for tips, I get it, but you need to spell it out with owner to take care of this detail ASAP. But don’t just accept and say thanks for fully tacked presented pony each ride in the meantime.

She is a lesson student, not in full training with her own horse. She does not “lease” the horse. The groom service should be included in the cost of the lesson. I’ve been in many training barns for well over 60 years in multiple disciplines on the West Coast and I’ve never heard of this practice anywhere. Normal practice is to tip generously at shows and at Christmas or at the end of show season.

[tabula_rashah]

How about the owner buck up and pay his employees properly rather than trying to push it off onto his clients?

[BostonHJ]

I have ridden at several full service facilities and worked at some with optional full service. Tipping was at holidays and horse shows, or maybe if you knew about a birthday. I might throw someone a mid-year non-show tip if I knew they had been spending extra time on my horse for whatever reason - abscess, absurdly gross in the paddock, hand walking, whatever - but a weekly or monthly tip sound a lot like the owner expects you to pay their employees. If it’s so standard, they should build it into the rate and pass it along.

[PalmPony]

Is it an option to groom and tack your own horse? If not, and horses are only tacked by grooms, I would disagree with weekly tipping (unless you want to).

In my experience, If you’re getting full groom service, but the norm for lesson students at your barn who dont own a horse is for lesson students to tack their own horse, you should be billed by the barn for groom service or it should be worked into your lesson bill (and the barn owner or trainer should be paying the groom)

[horse_crazyi]

I’ve always wondered - how much do you tip for X-mas? I am at a large boarding facility - there is 1 main groom plus 1 assistant who do the turn out’s and grooming, plus a “barn manager” who runs the facility and with 6 guys working under him. They are all fantastic but it starts adding up tipping. How much do tip when there are so many people at the facility. I’ve been given the “main” groom $100 per horse but what do you do for the other 7 guys? I swear every X-mas I have a slight meltdown with how much to tip without completely breaking the bank.