Not arguing with you there. Makes total sense. The only way that it would bring value to you in that circumstance is that if “better client” is schooling your horse with trainer and then you’re getting the benefit of horse being set up properly with professional on the ground. If you can only make it “x” times a week, then this might prove to be the same or more value to you than a quick tune-up ride by pro, as you get the benefit of 2 seasoned individuals working together (ie eyes on the ground and in the tack) then otherwise.
But, I’m fully in agreement that if you’re being the provider of a glorified school horse for an ammy that is capable and needs more than a school horse, then you should be getting a half-lease or school horse fee knocked off your bill.
Super common and not something that bothers me as long as I know the rider/how they ride/etc. In my opinion, another AO is going to ride in a much more similar fashion that I due compared to the pro, and I like my horse to get used to that fact and learn how to “take a joke” as they say. But to each their own!
A program specifically set up to have an assistant or other riders riding the horses is completely different than a pro who takes on too many horses so they decide to let students ride them without talking to the horse owner first, and/or still charging for a PRO ride.
I’m dealing with the second scenario right now. My horse was getting 2-3 training rides a week by the trainer or assistant trainer. This then became 1-2 rides a month by the trainer or assistant trainer and 1-2 rides a week by some very very good riding juniors. When I went back through the written training logs, I realized my horse got two training rides in the last three months. Now I’m noticing he’s being used in beginner riding lessons. Obviously I need to address this. It’s just deeply awkward as this is a very long-standing relationship, I work part time for the trainer, and I’m a client. The lines are uncomfortably blurred. But I’m not ok with paying hundreds of dollars for my horse to be turned into a lesson horse. This sport drives me crazy sometimes.
This is so situationally dependent imo. We recently had a situation where:
- Trainer insisted on training rides for a lease that they had found. No clear problem other than it was “a nervous jumper” and no goal for remediation defined.
- Trainer stated that if we did not wish to pay $X for trainer to do training rides, we could have the AA who had ridden a previous lease for free (they had had nothing to ride at the time and I thought I was being nice!) for $Y.
- I’m a better technician/problem solver and have more experience as a pony crash test dummy than the AA in question. I could’ve forgiven that on the theory that I’m not a hunter and they are. Except AA does things that are flat out incorrect, like ride with their knuckles pressed into the mane and the horse they’d ridden for free made little measurable progress in it’s supposed weak area – jumping.
That was not OK with me. On the other hand, I had an OTTB with a previous trainer, where upon riding the horse several times and determining that it was sane and uncomplicated, he turned most of the rides over to a working student. He a) asked beforehand, and b) directly supervised. I had no issues with this because: a) he asked b) he directly supervised c) the working student was a much better rider than I am and had ice running through her veins d) the horse was realistically nothing more than a high 4-figure amateur’s field hunter and paying hundreds for a CCI**** rider to take it out 2nd flight made no sense from either cost perspective nor the fact the horse needed to learn to be tolerant of amateur nerves and mistakes.
The new horse has been doing 1-2 training rides per week. Conditioning work, namely trot sets. Trainer rode him out the first time because it was unclear how much experience he had hacking out. He was great and enjoyed himself. I assume one of her assistants or even an UL amateur now rides him for Trot Set Tuesdays. And I’m fine with that. However, if the goal was to refine and resharpen a problem area jumping, I want the trainer on him. It’s their expertise that I chose the program for in the first place.
You raise an interesting distinction. There is a big difference between a good rider and a good trainer, and which one you want on your horse is dependent on the situation.
With my horse currently in training, he only needs a trainer on him occassionally, mostly he needs good quality rides put on by decent riders with the trainer’s oversight. I would not currently give a rider carte blanche to do whatever they want with him unless I really trusted their judgment, but it’s not too critical to me who is in the tack.
I was once gifted by the universe with an extraordinary working student. (She literally showed up at my barn unannouced and asked for the job. I must have accrued some seriously good karma.) She was, without a doubt, a better rider than I was, and MUCH better at producing a good hunter round. She also decorated a hunter better than I did. I loved having her in the barn. But she was young and didn’t have the broad base of training experience I had. Together, we made a wonderful partnership. I often preferred to set fences and exercises for her while she rode.
No one ever complained about paying full training board if she was riding and I was directing the training.
I do know that’s not the situation that the OP is complaining about though. I have also been in a situation where I had a not very talented working student that was earnestly trying to get better and I had to put them on something other than a schoolie to give them the saddle time as agreed. That was an exercise in trying to figure out what horse and client in the barn would be most tolerant.
I appreciate all the responses I’ve received, but this one is my favorite! It makes perfect sense, and, based on what I’m paying, I now feel MUCH more comfortable with the situation at my barn. Thank you!
Every barn I’ve been at, if the horse was used in lessons the owner got a break on board. My last horse, before I bought him, had an absentee owner who paid the base board each month on autopay but stopped coming to the barn and didn’t pay for anything else. She let him be used in lessons, so the trainer tracked the income from his lesson fees to pay for his vet, shoeing and even bought him a new rain sheet. We joked that he had a job and bought his own clothes.
