I’m curious to hear about other people’s experiences when it comes to financial practices related to 30 day notice periods and leaving a program.
I’ve had horses in multiple different situations at times over several years - self care, field board, full board with a stall and blanketing management, and also full board plus partial and full training. I’ve had horses in programs where I was billed in advance for monthly board and services. And I have had horses in programs where I was billed in arrears. I’ve taken lessons as part of my horses’ training programs before… sometimes as a swap out for a training ride, sometimes in addition to training rides. I’ve also boarded places and taken one or two lessons a week, but not had the horse in an actual training board situation.
When I have given 30 days notice, I have always paid for all services rendered up until I actually move my horse. But… in situations where I moved my horse before the end of the notice period, I have almost always simply paid out the remainder of the base board fees owed for the full notice period related to the horse. My experience is that this is what most contracts specify. I’ve not had issues with this, and have moved on from programs and left on positive and friendly terms with the trainers involved.
I recently heard from an acquaintance about a trainer who wanted to bill for lessons AND training that would have been delivered over the course of 30 days if the most recent usual arrangement had continued. There wasn’t a contract in place for this, just a simple board agreement. The horse is moving somewhere else, and not staying through the end of the 30 day period. The owner and rider will not actually be taking any more lessons from the trainer. And obviously no training rides will be happening as the horse is leaving.
The acquaintance asked what I thought, and I said this did not fit with most of my experiences. I could see MAYBE paying for 30 days of full training if the horse was in a program that only offered boarding to horses that were in full training, and if there was a contract that specified this requirement. I could see paying for 30 days of lessons if the nature of the program involved a commitment to purchase a monthly lesson package, and again, if there was a contract specifying this. But in a situation where the agreement only covers basic board, and everything else is a matter of a la carte charges for different services, depending on the number of actual training rides and lessons that were delivered each month… I thought that paying out for 30 days of basic board was pretty much industry standard.
Are my experiences with notice out of the ordinary, and is it now a regular industry wide thing to bill for training and lessons in advance as part of a 30 day notice period, even when there isn’t a contract specifying this? Or is that only a thing in certain disciplines, or very high end programs with long waitlists?
