It’s the lessee’s responsibility to ensure the horse can perform as needed, no different than selling. That’s why I point out that the double agency here is at issue. If OP had an actual agent, that agent would be helping OP figure out if horse actually can do X,Y,Z, regardless of what seller said.
(oops. noting that I, again, mixed up lessor/lessee in my original comment. gah.)
Hahaha well then you CAN do fecals! Most of us need to pay for them. Our fecals are $30 so add $10 wormer and $40 would be fair.
I use one of the stronger ones twice a year (rotating Equimax and Quest Plus) and then just treat as needed from fecals. Those two brands are now $19-20. I do keep an eye out for sales and try to save a few bucks, but this is what my local university vets recommend due to drug resistant worms. I live in one of the most horsey areas of the country, just not sport horse-y, because I am in Amish country.
I live in the Midwest and thought our prices were pretty low, but yours are crazy low! I pay what OP does for hocks and Adequan.
Our vets aren’t corporate yet, fingers crossed.
All of this but mostly point 1. To those who say well you should be responsible for all maintenance costs that “happen” to come up during the lease, that’s BS. A 4 month (so month to month really) lease should not = paying 100% of annual maintenance costs. Hell I / my trainer wouldn’t even split it 50/50, it would be cost/12 (months) * 4 (duration of lease) = amount passed to lessee. Additionally, it sounds like this is OPs first time leasing so those maintenance costs should 100% be discussed up front and not assumed that they will educate themselves on things they don’t know about.
Not directing this at you, Findeight, but I find this practice (which is not uncommon) to be intentionally predatory and scummy. It comes across as “lets charge client as much as possible since they don’t know any better and if they ever second guess it I’ll blame it on their own negligence” never mind the fact that the client is paying the trainer to educate them. Why TF does the education stop when the rider comes off the horse in these types of places? (I know it’s because of the money but geez can’t people just idk not be scummy).
On the topic of the prices themselves, the dental, dewormer, and fly mask (why did the lessee have to buy? That should be provided by the owner) stuck out to me as out of line. Dewormer is like $20? The cost of a few decals spread across an established herd would maybe bump that to $25? Dental here (Midwest) from a dental specialist, with sedation, who travels in to the area is $150/horse. I agree with others that the Bemer and Vibe plate sound like “recommended” add ons that end up on every boarder’s contract.
Not sure what OPs current level is or what their goals are but IIWM, I’d be finding a different set up and not doing any more business with the current trainer.
This is the OP’s trainer, not some random lessor. The trainer should want the right horse for the job and yes, as a novice, the OP should expect his own trainer to recommend the correct horse for the job.
Aside from the board & lesson fees, which the OP obviously knew going in, nothing there is different fee wise than what I pay for ponies at a barn in the middle of nowhere VA.
If the horse is 25 yro or 15 yro, it doesn’t matter if it can do the job. Honestly if you are getting upset about a $25 fly mask, you need to reconsider horses. Go do some internet shopping - it’s what they cost. Getting a new one in the spring isn’t unreasonable, they get beat up.
Some of this could be done cheaper, but that is not where the OP is at. If you want Wal-Mart prices, shop at Wal-Mart, not Whole Foods. When you’re at Whole Foods, don’t complain that Wally World is cheaper.
Yes, the ideal situation would be that OP had a trainer/agent that was not also the owner of the horse.
I’m surprised at the level of the justification for what is, at best, poor communication and at worst a trainer taking advantage of someone new. No, a $25 fly mask is not unreasonable but why does the 4-month lease get stuck with that, along with all sorts of other charges he didn’t know about? Why is he paying the total bill for annual or semi-annual treatments? Most importantly, why weren’t these things disclosed at the beginning?
It doesn’t matter whether or not the charges are reasonable in and of themselves (although I would not be at a barn that still uses periodic deworming instead of fecal checks and appropriate deworming). What matters is that he didn’t agree to the monthly extra charges, he should have been told about and agreed to the routine maintenance charges, and he shouldn’t be asked to foot the entire bill for those maintenance charges, since this is a short-term lease.
What this sounds like to me is a trainer getting their bills for this older horse paid for all at once by the newby. The saddle is just a big pile of salt in the wound.
You can justify all of those costs (minus the saddle, which is someone advising their client to buy a very expensive custom saddle that “will fit everything” that in reality may or may not work, for their own profit), but you cannot justify not getting all of it in writing and explaining each one to the client beforehand. This gives them a chance to say yes or no, which I (cynically) suspect is why the trainer didn’t bring any of it up at the outset.
Yes, horses are expensive, and yes, older horses need and deserve maintenance, but no, people shouldn’t be taken advantage of so the trainer can get some of those expenses off their own bill or pad their pocket with saddle kickbacks. It’s gross and I am taken aback by how many people think it’s simply about costs and not about the lack of transparency and honesty.
Agreed.
Yes, this 4 four month lease got hit with the annual bills. However, it’s not unreasonable to expect this lease to extend the lease for another term or two. When does the 'paying for the maintenance of the horse" kick in? 1st term? 2nd term? 3rd term?
If she didn’t get the bill for this go around, when the next lease term comes and vet maintenance is required, I suspect that she’d be hollering then because it was ‘included’ in the last term’s lease. It won’t be viewed as she ‘got a break’ on the last bill, but that she’s now getting hit this time.
Personally, it doesn’t matter to me whether the horse is owned by the trainer or someone else. Either way, someone is looking for a third party to pay the bills on the horse. I leased a horse from a third party, who was happy to screw over the trainer.
In my experience, it wasn’t atypical at many hunter barns to be very vague about the costs of things beforehand, then for clients to get hit with huge bills and fees, and then for pros to act very aggrieved and offended if clients had any questions about charges they were unaware they’d be hit with.
I don’t think “ripped off” is the right term, although for a 4-month lease on an older horse, I think it’s possible that the value to you is questionable relative to the amount you’re being charged. The horse honestly doesn’t sound like a high-value show horse relative to what’s being charged, but an older horse the trainer is trying to offload the costs on.
In a normal non-horse world relationship, you’d get an estimate of what the costs would be beforehand so you could make that judgement. Instead, it sounds like there was a lot of hand-wavy stuff about “maintenance” and then you got hit with way more than you budgeted for, and, oh yes, you need an expensive saddle your trainer reps.
I personally would be pretty soured on this trainer–and next time, I would have a conversation about what are the expected monthly costs. Ask what vet services the horse is going to be getting during the lease, etcetera.
Uh, all I said is that the guy who is leasing the horse for four months shouldn’t be expected to pay the entire cost of semi-annual or annual costs. It doesn’t matter if he might extend the lease, it matters that a four-month lease is now paying for six months or a year’s worth of maintenance. So, a reasonable situation would be that he pays for four months worth of the cost because he is leasing for four months, according to the contract.
It’s an odd term for a lease, but that is what the trainer chose so they should be able to work these things out so that their client pays his fair share and not more. BUT AGAIN: all of this should have been disclosed and discussed at the beginning, not just thrown onto a bill after the fact. It’s shady. How can you justify it?
Especially the saddle. I’d be curious to know if the OP actually has said saddle. If so, I’m wondering if that saddle was returned to the sales rep/trainer and was unloaded on the OP.
I do have the saddle. It was ordered in January and shipped in early March.
It seems very odd to me to not include the annual expected maintenance on the horse into the lease price and pro-rate it as the horse is staying in the care, custody and control of the owner. It would seem reasonable to me for the OP to question paying the full price for these items, and it would also be reasonable to me for the OP to want to see the actual bill for these items. The horse owner should not be profiting from the vet work (a fee to hold the horse for the vet would be reasonable).
I am curious what the contract says, or if there even is one.
I don’t think I would blow up the relationship over this, but I would book to have a sit down conversation with the trainer to outline the costs and get them in writing, and to make sure they know that you were caught off guard by the fees. The trainer just might be used to clients that don’t ask questions and are happy to write the cheque, and may have forgotten that people new to the sport may want a little more information.
However, it’s not unreasonable to expect this lease to extend the lease for another term or two
To add further detail here, that was never the plan. My trainer and I discussed the fact that I was progressing well in my riding (I took lessons from the trainer for a couple months before I leased the horse) and the plan was to do a lease with another horse the trainer owns after a few months with the horse I am currently leasing. That’s the reason for the atypical four-month lease term.
Thanks for the info. Totally surprised at that price point that they have foam panels. I’m not sure who would want foam panels, but apparently the reps have good sales pitches. 
Hopefully you can use this experience to make sure you have a clearer expectation and contract for future leases. Don’t be afraid to ask your trainer questions, and don’t be afraid to look at other options once this lease is coming to an end.
@RR_John_885 - I’ll give you a benefit of doubt scenario that you can consider before you have the discussion with your trainer. You definitely need to sit down and get on the same page since it seems like there are quite a few vague lease terms.
I’m not sure what your location is. I’m in New England and you cannot touch full board in a high end show barn here for $1K/month. Almost every decent barn (good quality care, not a high end show barn) with an indoor is over $1K for board based on the cost of ag real estate, feed and labor in my area. No one is getting rich boarding at these prices. The closest high end H/J barn to me is ~ $3K/month for training board - board + lessons and/or training rides. Depending on where you are, your $1.9K board + lessons may be at or under market.
So, here’s the benefit of doubt scenario. Your trainer has a senior citizen that is still up to doing high quality lessons. He/she can get the horse off their books for four months. You may have got the board at cost with the thought that they’d also pass through the veterinary maintenance during those four months and it would more or less balance out.
Since you’ve already said you’re planning to another lease with this trainer, and I assume the next lease will be a younger and more expensive one, there’s a possibility they’re trying to make something work short term for both of you. Or not - that’s where your conversation comes in and a tighter contract next time 
The vet fees seem in line for current prices. And as you’ve seen from the other comments the saddle scenario happens a lot. You well may be able to use it on your next horse if they’re similar in build. No saddle will fit every horse, and you won’t know until you try it on your next horse.
I’m glad you have it and it was made for you.
I hope the trainer doesn’t expect you to pay for the annual health care on this next horse. What a deal. She/he could get annual meds done on four horses for free by leasing to you.
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