Grooming fees

One horse, one ride a day for a 3 day show. I do all loading and unloading of horse and equipment, set up the stall and keep it clean. I also groom and braid, hot walk, bathe, hand walk and graze.
On the last day of the show I will load horse and equipment, meet the hauler at the home barn and unload horse and all equipment.
My question is what should I charge?
Owner will not be at the show so the trainer will be showing. Owner gave me cash for food and hotel, so that’s all set.
I was thinking $100 per day, maybe less for ship in day since that’s 1/2 day.

That seems awfully low if (I assume) you are going to be at the show for 10-12 hours the first two days and 5-6 the third. In my state that wouldn’t even be minimum wage.

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I have no idea as for current but in1973 I worked with American Saddlehorses being shown in Kentucky. I was paid my regular salary PLUS $50 a day at shows then usually was tipped. I had two or three head at the shows

( $50 in 1973 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $342 today)

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At $100 per day, you can work for me anytime. You are a bargain.

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You are providing skilled labour. How much do braiders charge these days? $70+? That should be in addition to your daily fee. Even 8 hours at $20/hr is $160. I don’t think $200-250/day would be unreasonable.

Are you providing your own transportation? If yes then you need gas covered as well.

And don’t do partial fee for ship in day - that’s pretty labour intensive to get everything packed, loaded, unloaded and set up.

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What is your time for transportation to the show?

Going to a show is not an average cross-town commute, in most cases. If you are driving over 25 miles from your home, you should take your travel time into account. As well as fuel cost.

What you are really selling is a) your skill and b) your time. Your time includes all time when you could have been doing something else. Travel time over & above an average commute definitely counts.

Don’t under-charge. You will end up feeling that your hard work is not worth the reward, and that can be very discouraging to the idea of continuing to do this.

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one little thing is After the show and most have shipped out go back through the stalls, over the decades we have found thousands of dollars of abandoned/forgotten equipment and horse treats/salt blocks.

The last show was the Morgan Nationals after the show we collect over thirty hanging Himalayan Pink Salt licks and a few manure forks

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Thank you for all the answers.
I am going to and from the show with the trainer, so she will bill for transportation. I agree that ship in day is a lot of work, so no discount for that. :+1:
@clanter when I was showing I would always prowl the grounds on Sunday and found some pretty nice things, so thanks for the reminder.

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Reminds me of the time we left our buckets and stall toys/salt licks while packing at a show that was local to us, but not many others, and planning to come back in a few hours after we ate lunch. Salt licks / buckets / pitchforks were all gone by then! :woman_facepalming:t2:

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15-20 yrs ago I would ask for $175 a day plus meals and lodging. No one bat an eye at my pricing.

I think you need to raise your rate a bit.

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I pay $65 per day plus 20% tip to our groom who does everything you say except braiding. So that would be another $40-50/day? And this would be per horse and if it was just me the groom wouldn’t show up so it’s only worth it for the groom for multiple horses. I think $100/day is the minimum and don’t discount the haul in/out days.

And of course expenses are on top of this - hotel room, food, gas.

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