How old and experienced could the child be? She’s showing in short stirrup.
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OP (original poster since you said you’re new to the forum)-
Hopefully some of the above posts didn’t scare you away. As a mom (and rider) who had really few options for my younger kid and pony to show- I paid similar prices (I trailer, groom, braid myself because ours live at home).
My trainer breaks it down even further (he itemizes food, housing, and gives a breakdown on splits).
My kid is 14 now, she is afraid I’ll embarrass her every.single.day. 
I feel your pain 
. If you have any questions just ask the trainer when kiddo is cooling out the pony or give them a call.
I can 1. Relate 2. Give the child a break on the “embarrass” part. I’m not telling you how to parent your kid- I ask for break downs ALL the time: mechanics, HVAC, plumber. This is a good thing for your kid to learn. But with a teen/pre teen- I blame you 0% for picking your battles.
Hopefully you’ll come back and give updates on your daughter’s riding. It’s so fun to see them do something they love.
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Just because it’s the new normal doesn’t make it right. This sport/industry/hobby won’t stay sustainable at these prices. I was not faulting the mom, btw. The industry needs to step back and look at itself. This is nuts. And I say this as (1) a high income person, who (2) will enjoy a couple of $15/class local shows this year where I can trailer in, because (3) it makes no sense to take my green horse to multi day rated shows at high-end facilities shows to trot around crossrails, and (4) there is a basic limit on how much time I can spend away from my other obligations. And I may throw in a dressage class, and will do some trail rides and hunter paces, and will enjoy it without FOMO. And I will keep speaking out about kids in lower level divisions (which I fully support) being made to feel that they need $1000 boots and $6000 saddles and $2600 per week show fees and shadbellies for 2’ “derbies” to prove they are in the “in” crowd–and trainers profiting on those insecurities.
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I have been around in various capacities in this industry since the 1970s. the figures quoted have been the normal since at least then
(we also did tip our grooms at the shows and had when having a horse in training we had a monthly stipend sent to our horse’s groom)
If people were paying $2600 per show for unrated divisions since the 70’s, horse shows would have been finished by the 80’s.
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Like it or not, some trainers tell their 2’ riders that they couldn’t possibly compete at the local show series because it doesn’t have fancy fibre footing.
I’ve witnessed a few nice shows cease to exist because of this. The show can’t spend money on fancy new everything unless a lot of competitors attend, but competitors won’t attend until it has fancy new everything. The venues that seem to be thriving are the large ones owned or operated by very wealthy people who can afford to spend millions in one shot to build or improve facilities and then slowly make their money back over the years. Once those facilities pop up in an area, many riders and/or trainers won’t put up with anything less.
How are the local, affordable venues supposed to compete with that?
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Shows cost what they cost regardless of the division, but when did the age limit for the short stirrup division change to include teenagers? You aged out at 10 back when I was a kid, and then you had to go right to the regular pony divisions because children’s hunter wasn’t a thing yet.
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In some instances, it’s not an issue of the fanciness of the venue, but that it’s easier for show barns to take an entire barn to a particular A-rated show versus splitting between a cheaper non-rated schooling show for some less experienced riders and a rated show for more competitive riders.
Everyone has made good points, but I’ll also note that spending so much on a single show can place tremendous pressure on a child (hell, an adult). The loss of schooling shows, as a place to relax, get used to showing, and perhaps try a slightly different discipline with less financial pressures is something to also reflect upon. I think it’s also worth noting that the more shows cost, the more people feel pressured to invest in coaching to ensure that the experience is as perfect as possible.
Not all kids (and adults) flourish under such pressure. On the other hand, a low-key show is a nice check-in of one’s progress, but that option no longer exists. At the show barn where I rode, I definitely saw kids quite who loved horses but didn’t love the pressure showing for megabucks placed upon them by parents and trainers, and they just didn’t know another way to “do horses.” Sometimes kids (who aren’t footing the bill) can be the worst about judging people based upon designer labels and spending more money.
OP, even if a parent can afford to write a blank check for an expensive sport, there is nothing wrong with asking questions about where you money is going! And, if anything, not asking questions can also result in dubious decisions re: horse care (like vague “medication fees”).
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Purina Mills came to the conclusion in the late 1980s that the private ownership of horses was coming to end due to increased cost so sold it animal feed division (went through several owners currently owned by Land of Lakes who markets the feeds under the checkerboard by licence agreement)
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Wow, a lot to digest here. And thank you all for your replies.
And to clarify a little, our daughter is 12 and the barn is part of a private school she attends. We have talked to the barn staff about costs and they have been more than accommodating but it’s still very intimidating what we need to learn about the sport as far as costs, divisions, shows, etc. And thus far, these comments on this board have given us the most useful information yet.
I was being a little sarcastic about our daughter getting embarrassed; but it is an issue as she often mentions to us why she can’t own her own horse or travel to Florida to attend shows like her friends do. We are not concerned about about these feelings for a 12 year old, and we are confident that she will learn as she gets older and more mature how fortunate she actually is and that life is not always fair.
I don’t want to beat this up too much more or become overly annoying but I’m going throw a few more questions out there if you don’t mind.
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She missed an event on the last day as they needed to send the horse back early. Is there is a fee for missing an event? And I’ve added a second bill we received from HITTS, were we charged twice for missing this event as the first bill from HITTS also has a $50 fee stated “Post Entry Fee”?
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And like I said in the original post, we are leasing a horse. It’s just a six month lease as we slowly venture into this world. We understood that we would be responsible for all the vet care during the six months as we went through the contract thoroughly. However, we received a vet bill that showed that the day our lease began, the horse also got vaccinations, physicals, etc, that costs nearly a thousand dollars.
Should we expect similar bills at the beginning of our next lease?
Thank you again.
Ah, ha, yes - the scratch fee is normal in this case. A bummer that could’ve been avoided by better barn planning for sure, so that could be something you could raise going forward.
Regarding the vet bill, are you sure it wasn’t a cost for a pre-purchase (or in your case, lease) exam for the horse? It stinks that vaccines were thrown in there too, but if the horse was due, the horse was due.
Missing event fee–yes… This has become typical. Show management does charge for this. Typically it’s day-of. You can scratch before then without a fee. I get management’s perspective on this–nothing more aggravating than a no-show at the in gate with no communication, and you want to discourage that. But FWIW I roll my eyes at it because there are those of us who are responsible, and life happens (horse loses a shoe, rider is sick, weather, etc).
Post Entry Fee–this is a late fee for entries, essentially. Again, they want to encourage folks to do all their entries ahead of time and create less hassle for office and ring staff.
Vet bills with leasing–Part of leasing is paying vet bills.
I don’t know what was entailed with your vet bill, but typically there are fall vaccinations and spring vaccinations. To drive a vet bill into 4 figures makes me think there may have been injections done in hocks or elsewhere which help a (typically aged) horse keep going strong.
I do think it’s a little weird that this pony’s annual happened the day the lease began… Personally, as an owner, I usually foot the vet bill before the lease begins. After that it’s all on the leasee. But everyone is going to operate differently, and as I first stated, vet costs come as part of leases.
As for expecting more vet bills in six months? I think likely yes, you’ll see routine vaccinations etc. It would probably be a good idea to go over the vet bill with the trainer and ask if the horse has any other veterinary maintenance costs it needs to feel and go its best. It may be it just needs BLANK done once a year and is fine (that is the typical story for a lot of horses and ponies).
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I would talk to the trainer about the way they do entries, because you’ve been charged extra as a result of sloppy entry-making (assuming it was not you making the last-minute changes).
You paid a post-entry fee because your entry was submitted after the closing date of the horse show.
You were charged for the short stirrup equitation division, which is presumably the division your daughter missed competing in because the horse had to go home early.
You were also charged a scratch fee, presumably for that short stirrup equitation division, because the rider was removed from the class after a certain deadline (usually the day of).
These are all avoidable fees with proper planning.
Take a look at the horse show’s prize list, if you haven’t already. It will lay out the closing date, as well as the deadlines for scratching classes and what must be paid in each case (for example, some shows might just charge the scratch fee but refund the cost of the division, while others will charge both).
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I second this. It sounds like a PPE aka a pre purchase exam. In this case you didn’t actually purchase, but it is still common when starting a lease. It’s impossible to know for sure without seeing the invoice from the vet, but you could ask the trainer about it.
It’s normal when buying (or leasing) to have a vet do a thorough examination of the horse before committing to the purchase. PPE’s tend to run in the $2000-3500 price range in my experience. You said it included vaccinations ($150-300ish), physical (a full physical like the kind done for a PPE can run several hundred). If any x-rays were taken (which again is typical for a PPE) can run $70-100 a pop, and it’s typical to do several. That could easily put your bill at $1000. If they did any “maintenance” (a term used for routine treatment done to keep the horse comfortable) like joint injections, that would easilyyyyy put your bill in the $1000+ range.
Hope that helps!
I second this as being sloppy on your barn’s part, especially if you have to pay both the scratch fee and the division fee. HITS is terrible about wringing every dime out of you they can, so it wouldn’t surprise me if they do it, but it seems over the top. You are paying these things to HITS as a result of decisions your barn made. (Assuming they did the entries or told you what to enter.) That is a lot of money that I would definitely want to discuss with your barn. They probably won’t eat the cost, but be firm about the fact that you were told what to enter (assuming) didn’t get to show because of barn decisions, and were stuck with a $250 bill and you don’t expect to have to pay for their decision again.
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You can’t necessarily blame the post-entry fee on the barn without more information. I can’t tell you how many times customers have decided after the closing date of the show that they want to attend, at which point you have to pay the post entry fee. To me, as long as you know you can into the show as you almost always can at HITS, it’s more cost effective to decide the week or so before that you want to show and pay the late fee, as opposed to sending in your entry before the closing date and being stuck paying the stall and office fee if you have to scratch the whole show. Sometimes a vet note can get you out of the stall, but not always (and especially not what I’ve seen with HITS most of the time).
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You have to check them out first for sure. The other issue with these shows if you have rank beginners and greenies then people who show Gold (A) showing up on weekends they are bored and taking all the ribbons. Hate that.
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Right, and people actually argue that riding is a very accessible sport LOL
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Well, it used to be. I remember when everyone kept their horses and ponies at home, your trainer was the monthly 4-H meetings, and the local shows cost $2 a class, with no extra fees. Sigh.
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OP said she was " in her teens" ?
I see now she says she is 12 but that is not what she originally said. Even with all my shortcomings I have absolute faith in my ability to know that 12 is not being in her teens.
I have no experience with kids showing so what classes are called is beyond me.
