Thoughts on whether this is fair or makes sense / is common practice for every barn? I pay my trainer a monthly training fee and board and then pay them $100 a day at the shows on top of paying for hotel accommodations etc and grooming and stalls at the show.
If this is common practice, is there a way for us as clients to figure out a better more financially smart way?
I have boarded at various barns on the east coast and the Midwest. I haven’t ever had a reduction in the standard board/training costs when I’ve shown. Granted, I haven’t ever attended a show for longer than a week.
What does your boarding contract and price sheet say?
Is the $100/day at a show training fees or day fees for the extra staff and such that is at a show?
I never paid full training board, just board. I never got a discount when I was at a show. I paid extra for the shavings and hay at the show while not using either at home that I was paying for.
It is just how it worked.
I, like the poster above, have never gone to a show for more than a week.
Standard.
Agreed. The barn has to stay afloat while horses are gone.
From what I’ve seen, the trainers duties and the level of attention, care, and coordination justify the show fee.
OT, but maybe give that horse a break. That’s a lot of showing.
Normal. I suspect the $100/day is your day care fee, which is covering your grooming staff at the show, but you can ask. If you aren’t paying a second daily fee on top of that, your full training at home is likely covering your coaching/lessons at shows too.
Standard from my experience with 2-week shows.
Normal.
Some facilities will allow the trainer or boarder to take facility-supplied food such as hay for the horses going to the show. Likewise, some trainers will do this for food they supply at home. So that means you’re getting back some of the board you paid. But some trainers won’t take food from home for whatever reason, including finding space to get it to the show (especially if you’re going to be there several weeks).
I did not see where the OP said how much they are showing. Did I miss something?
It’s in the title.
Normal. Here are some things to consider:
The expenses at “home” do not go down when your horse travels, except for feed, hay, shavings which are not the most expensive things. The mortgage, property maintenance, utilities, staff, etc are the same. Our farm actually has to keep more staff on the payroll than we would need to maintain the home farm in order to have enough staff to travel. You can’t really staff the horse show with grooms that you only pay on those weeks you’re on the road. You have to employ them full time.
As for feed, hay, shavings: we take some grain, but we can’t transport enough hay for our needs on the road- space, weight, labor loading and unloading. And we buy bulk shavings.
So no, you can’t expect to pay your board and trainer to follow you on the road. The expenses and the labor are significantly higher when you travel.
Laugh, I have my screen shrunk down so much that I did not see that part. Thank you for telling me where it is.
I can’t see it unless I’m in the main page, so you’re not alone. 
Normal
Correct me if I’m wrong, it doesn’t sound like OP is concerned about paying board but double paying the “training” part of the program. It also sounds to me that this fee is on top of the grooming, accommodation, etc and there are no questions about paying those.
Is barn policy that you must be in full training to be a client?
If not policy, what’s stopping you from simply backing out of being in the full training program, and one week out of the four you do most of the riding yourself (not always feasible, I know) or pay for extra lessons/training rides that week?
However, I can 100% see why the trainer double bills for this. At home, for a training ride, we could probably assume trainer spends about an hour of her time with the horse. Quick groom, tack up, ride, and be done. At a show… is she assisting you for more than one hour a day? Is she spending her time coordinating grooms to have your horse prepped and ring side ready? I’d assume that is the case and she then deserves to be adequately compensated. I almost started this paragraph with “to be the devils advocate…” but then thought better of it - it is absolutely not wrong for a trainer to be paid for her time.
Depends on how it is all broken out. I pay full training board, which includes 3-4 rides per week. That price does not go down even if the trainer is away for two weeks showing and it’s a kid exercising my horse instead. Annoying, but the way it is. I could choose to pay per training ride instead, but honestly it’s a hassle to keep track of and then I’d have to arrange exercise rides on my own when the trainer is gone. Worth my time to just keep him in the program consistently.
At shows I pay for Care (grooms, supplies, feeding, get show ring ready etc), Coaching (trainers time at the show) and do not pay for Trainer Rides/Showing. Those not on training board at home pay a fee for the trainer to ride or show their horses at the show.
It works out to be a better deal for clients that show a lot, those of us who mostly stay home get a little bit of the short end of the stick.
Yes, MissMillyMolly, but you are in a “Show Barn” so if you choose to mostly stay at home you will get “the short end of the stick”. It sounds like you do have options though.
At my barn, I let the training rides carry over to the horse show. If the trainer tickets the horse or just schools the horse, you’ve already paid for that in your full training rate. You will pay extra if the trainer shows the horse in a warmup class.
I leave a rider at home to do the training rides on the home horses and I personally stay home until Friday to get those lessons in. I charge $50 less on the training packages for those showing as a little incentive. I figure those that are showing are paying for so many more services (shipping, show rides, daycare) that they pay a little less on the training package.
Standard. I could never hope to afford it. That’s why I’m a DIY ammy.
I was always stumped by this too-- specifically around the coaching fees (not care/grooming/accommodation) at shows. I had a barn friend take my horse to a show for almost a month while I was traveling for work and her horse was not show ready. I still paid full training for the month, and the friend paid coaching day fees on my horse. She also paid full training for her horse, despite the fact that there’s no assistant trainer, so the horse was not ridden at all for that month. It always seemed like double (or in this case, triple) dipping and I always wondered if it was normal.
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