I brood about issues like this a lot because there was a time when I was a “high end” client going to the shows, doing it all. It became less and less fun and more and more expensive so I became a “low end” client. I was able to work with my then trainer’s loss in revenue by becoming that client who did extra stuff. I don’t know if that will work for folks going forward, I don’t know if the days of barn rats and true working students will rise up again, but maybe. A buddy of mine who burned out in the professional ranks, took a break and has come up with a new business model where she provides individual holistic horse training/instruction without doing the show rat race. Just started up so we’ll see how she goes. Horses are becoming like many sports (skiing, tennis, even school sports), just affordable to a few. Since those few can afford the moon, the industry survives. Vail, Aspen, Whistler/Blackcomb are still hanging in there and I suspect that horse shows will become akin to ski areas, a hub of activity that is very expensive and “regular” folks do not go.
The answer cannot be that trainers or barn owners subsidize the cost of someone else being able to ride or own a horse. That’s a path not just to making horse sports less accessible, but driving more boarding barns out of business, and likely turning land over to developers instead of farms.
There is a problem of accessibility, but it still doesn’t mean the industry can afford to subsidize every rider. Some of the reasons for these price increases are hard and complex. Hay, grain, shavings costs have all gone up for a variety of reasons. Land continues to go up in price and down in availability. Many barns have operated under the assumption that they should lose money on board because they could make it up in lessons, training, and shows. But as owners then decide not to take lessons or compete, those barns are hemorrhaging money.
I don’t know what the solution is to make things more accessible. Co-op facilities? 501c3 organizations dedicated to bringing horses to very specific populations? I honestly don’t know, and that’s a conversation worth having, but the answer cannot and should not be farm owners bearing the costs and taking on untenable amounts of work so someone else can ride.
If they can’t pay the cost, then yes, they should not ride.
Most likely it will be a charity situation or non-profit that introduces horses to those that can’t afford them. Pony camp is a big thing in my area.
I don’t know the right answer but as a property owner, I’m hesitant to offer co-op or a random stall due to liability and expectations. Folks don’t realize how much it costs to keep property looking nice and usable.
That was a fantastic story because the school horse is becoming a relic.
A very successful VA friend stopped providing school horses about 10 years ago because of the cost. She has a large program of lessons & shows and can board additional horses instead of keeping half a dozen school horses. All riders have to own a horse or have one on lease.
Another friend, a young woman in her late 30’s, never provided school horses in her small boutique program. She boards 10 horses owned by students and will take in 2 horses at a time for training or tune ups.
My great niece started riding about 6-7 years ago. They show on a circuit that takes them to Aiken & Tryon. I don’t know what they paid to lease a pony from the trainer in the early years but the first horse they leased was 20K for the year. The first horse they bought was 40K. The girl is just now 14. She has fun and has the elegant body type that looks good on a horse but damn, that big cash before the farrier & boarding fees are paid. Kudos to her trainer because they do only show about twice a month.
Sounds like she has a very good business plan. With the demise of many big lesson barns, places like that have a good niche. Where I board, most of the people taking lessons are happy with 1-2 lessons a week, maybe a practice ride and no showing. The BO/trainer spent her career showing and coaching so she’s perfectly happy.
It’s nice that there’s still several barns that I would lovingly refer to as “lesson factories” in my area, which does give more people access to horses who otherwise might not have.
It’s interesting that you make the comparison to skiing. When I was a student, i used to get a season’s pass to a world class ski hill for around $200 (ok many years ago lol). Now I don’t think that even gets me a day lift pass. So needless to say I sold my gear and no longer go. It’s unfortunate but many things have gotten more expensive and out of reach. It’s the erosion of the middle class lifestyle and it’s happening all around not just in the horse world.
Your post was spot on but you actually missed a lot of the “hidden” expenses, like labor, property insurance, liability insurance, and utilities.
I’ve given up. It’s cheaper for my place to be 100% empty than have boarders. I’ve actually just rented the entire facility and for the first time in years, I am getting 100% pure profit with a monthly rental check. But I’m prepared that the boulevard of broken dreams means it won’t last that long.
Yes, I’m jaded.
Agree with everyone that says barn owners/trainers shouldn’t be subsidizing other’s riding hobbies.
I got into an argument on facebook a few days ago on a post for a horse for lease for $1950/month for a half lease. It was a nice enough looking TB, probably good enough to be in the ribbons at a local show. People were saying that a half lease should be $600/month! I had a horse for lease for a while - I added up her costs and including just two training rides a month and two lessons a week she was at $1200/month for a half lease, and that’s with NO lease fee, just costs.
People that don’t own don’t realize what it costs to maintain lesson horses, or to properly maintain a facility and pay good staff. Pasture board around here is just under $1000/month and that only includes hay, no grain/supplements - and that’s breaking even.
Without an annoying and exhaustive breakdown of my monthly costs, I concur about $1000 a month per horse in expenses
I did an LROP on our business in mid 2020 and we made some pretty harsh changes over about two years. Raised prices, stopped taking on casual boarders. Once a client horse sold we did not replace.
Wound down to zero and then leased the facility out. I’m skeptical it’s going to work but my expenses are now pretty close to zero.the Financial relief from that is…. Liberating.
To come all the way back to OP, I fully support
I own my own farm—I’m well aware of the hidden costs lol. My point was that even the obvious hard costs have risen. Insurance, utilities, mortgage, etc. can be so individual.
Of course, for whatever reason I see people objecting so much more to arguments that the price of board should cover a farm owner’s operating expenses (especially mortgage). There is an expectation—wrongly—that farm owners should eat those costs out of pocket.
In my area, I see a lot of people looking for board in the $600-800 range. I certainly couldn’t afford to offer that. A handful of places around here do. Some have been there a while and may have the land paid off, though taxes keep going up like crazy. Maybe they’re scraping by. I suspect they’re losing money and eventually they (or their heirs, since many are older) will have to shut down. My fear is what’s going to happen to the horses they board, whose owners can’t afford the true cost of keeping them.
I have sort of traded horses for skiing. I live in a very high COL urban area which means 1) horses are extra expensive and 2) the traffic to get to and from even a “close” barn is absolutely brutal. I make a good living and have a relatively flexible work schedule, but it would be about $36k a year to keep a horse in any sort of program (including vet/farrier/insurance/etc) without going to a single show. I generally consider horses a fully depreciating asset so it’s a very fast way to be out a few hundred thousand dollars.
Instead… I have a second home by a ski area that is less money annually than keeping a horse and an asset I can sell (and rent some in the mean time). My season ski pass is around $900 for unlimited skiing. My demo skis cost less than $400. I can ski for an entire season for less than a single horse show. Would I prefer to be riding? Probably - but at some point the math doesn’t math.
Your post really resonated with me. I have traded horses for distance running, which is one of the cheapest sports. It’s so weird how some people (even horse people) get very judgmental about how much running shoes cost, or “I can’t believe you have to pay to run a marathon.” The marathon I’m signed up for in October cost me $80. That won’t get you far at a horse show! And my running shoes cost me $164. That’s pursuing running at a pretty high level, too (running doesn’t require you to run marathons or run the distances I do, which does wear out my shoes faster). Of course, you can enter 100 mile trail races in remote areas with high entry fees or enter the more expensive marathon majors. But I was paying FOUR TIMES or more a year than I pay pursuing running (literally adding up every single running expense, from shoes to clothes to physical therapy and so forth) just to ride at a lesson barn once a week.
Years ago, it was easier to find inexpensive half-leases and work arounds, cost-wise, to ride more frequently. And frankly, since COVID, my income has taken a major hit. It’s not barn owner’s faults, though. Keeping a horse and a barn (especially ethically, with decent care and fair wages) is costly, full stop.
Your physical therapist clearly charges less than mine. 
It is true that I rationalize my running shoe budget by saying that whatever I’m buying is less expensive than the month’s farrier bill and the shoes should last me longer. The equation worked out a little more in my favor when the horse was shod all around instead of just in front.
In all honesty (hopefully, not too serious a response to a funny comment), I only saw the PT 4X, got a home program, which I follow diligently. So I am even trying to do that as cheaply as possible. Just like with strength training–I obviously would love to occasionally see a personal trainer and lift in a gym, but I make do with YouTube and home plans. Just like with all sports, there is always a massive continuum of expenses. But with horse sports, it’s much harder to do things ethically, safely, and cheaply!
This low value client is disgusted at the label, but finally glad someone said the quiet part out loud. That people with lower budgets, who haul in for lessons but don’t go to the A shows, who do their own grooming and entries at local shows, are worthless.
I was recently at a HJ show, by myself none the less, talking to a HJ trainer. I explained that I was an eventer and running feral all weekend. My trainer was at home and here I was, bedding my own stall, filling out my own entries, getting myself to the ring on time, bathing my own horse, and paying my own bill. She said she wished she had more clients like that so she’d have to do less but her clients weren’t used to that world and weren’t capable of filling out their own entries.
Dare I say that in a world that trainers have created, where clients expect to be handheld because that is what trainers expect to do (not just the HJ world) that you might need MORE low value clients?
Instead of saying that those people are low value and getting rid of them in disgust?
Time will tell, but I’m hoping my business model allows for you (g) as well. I have one client that hauls in for lessons and does everything herself. I love her as a person and she’s quite experienced, which makes my job easier. I can trust she’ll do her homework, and when she’s shown with me, I don’t have to hold her hand all weekend. It just takes the hour for her lesson at home and a short warm up at the show to coach her, and I’ve got a great addition to my barn family and show team.
Maybe I’ll feel differently when I’m full and super busy, but so far it’s working out wonderfully for both of us.
I don’t think many people genuinely expect barn owners to eat the costs, but it’s not as simple as “charge enough to cover your expenses” if your expenses are higher than what the market will support. Mortgage costs vary so much depending on the individual barn owner’s situation but market rate board for the area doesn’t change based on someone’s loan terms. A new owner with an 10% mortgage rate on an expensive property may be competing with someone running a comparable program on a paid-off piece of land with much lower costs. As long as there are a few of those keeping prices artificially down in an area it’s hard for new programs to charge what they need to stay afloat. It’s a huge problem and unsustainable in the long run, no question. Those paid off farms are getting sold and new barns can’t get off the ground to fill the void. A lot of boarders also wouldn’t be able to afford what those new programs would need to charge so it’s kind of a lose-lose situation either way.
This is true, but when I ran the numbers to see what I was “supposed” to be charging, it blew my mind. I thought, no way in hell anyone is going to pay this. So I ran it by the local feed store owner (who not only knows the market better than anyone else but also runs two boarding facilities), and she said I was only at break even and to raise my rates another $100. So I did. And now I’ve got 6 horses there. It is BARE bones, save a lovely arena, but we have top notch care, so people are willing to pay.
My point is, a lot of people assume what they want to charge is too high for the market, when in reality it’s not.
While I don’t agree that worthless is an accurate description - and I’ve never ever been a high end client - I feel that we can’t on one hand complain that trainers need to act more like real businesses, with ethics and accountability, and also complain when they act like real businesses when it comes to financial decisions. The biggest spenders get the perks pretty much in every transactional relationship.
