Paying full training at home & daily fees at show when horse is at competition 2-3 weeks out of month?

[candyappy]

@Delta1166

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.

Probably normal. Certainly not ethical!

[clanter]

@c0608524

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.

our trainer never stopped “training”, horse was worked daily at the shows

But I guess our goals were different since we were developing a horse for our kids (and wife). Trainer was very good, did an excellent job, horse went on to win many, many competitions/classes/national championships

[Spudsmyguy]

Not a hunter/jumper but when I’d go to a multi-day show (eventing) I’d take hay from the barn. I wasn’t going to be there (at the barn) so brought the hay he’d be eating with me. I had to buy extra shavings but that was a minimal cost and most show grounds supplied initial bedding.

[fivestrideline]

I’m a hunter/jumper rider and this is what we do for single week shows/3-4 day local shows. We’d bring our own hay, but venues often require you to buy shavings on the grounds (we regularly had 20+ horses, no room for that in the trailers anyways).

When you go to shows for weeks or months on end, 8-16 hours away from home, is when you have to buy essentials like hay at the venue just from a logistics standpoint.

Another reason why I can’t afford long stretches at destination shows

[findeight]

As normal and ethical as paying your own rent and utilities on days you travel out out town overnight, take a 10 day cruise, extended vacation or get stuck in a hospital fir a week or more.

[trubandloki]

That is a good comparison @findeight.

I still have to pay my mortgage, gas bill, electric bill and all that stuff even if I am away for an extended time. Heck, I have to pay even more, someone to watch over my place at home.

[c0608524]

I assumed that OPs trainer was also training at the show (either through saddle time or lesson-like help on the ground).

I can see where the question comes from for “double charging”. But I still think that at a show that the pro is doing more hours than she would for just a training ride at the home barn, hence the charge for the day.

@clanter, in your case were you in full training, and did you pay a fee on top of that at shows?

[Railbird]

In that event you still have your apartment with the lights on available to you, though. Most big show training barns don’t have a trainer at home to cover, so you’re paying for services that aren’t even offered if you chose to use them. That is what chaps my ass, ever so slightly.

OP, I have seen it both ways. Where I currently ride they charge a smaller stall holding fee for months they are on the road (most of the months) but their base rate is significantly higher. It all comes out in the wash. I prefer it set up that way just for my mental justification, but running a show program costs what it costs and you’ll find no matter how they itemize the rate sheet, your bill at the end of the month when competing at that level is going to be pretty similar.

If you like you trainer and the quality of the program, I would try to just focus on your all-in cost and determine if it’s affordable for you, and if not, talk to the trainer about how to reduce those costs on your end to what you can afford. Getting upset about someone’s billing practices is a useless endeavor- you can either work within their parameters for how they choose to charge for their services or you can go somewhere else, but clients complaining about how trainers bill has approximately 0% success rate in getting their total cost to be less and almost always creates friction in the relationship. I think most trainers are not great business people and they could head off a lot of this at the gap by hiring someone to handle their business like… a business with customers who the owner wants to retain, but the intersection of great business people and great horse people is so vanishingly small that I would rather tolerate weird billing than someone who does cost analysis quarterly and uses those numbers to decide to feed less hay.

[LovesHorses]

Don’t forget if clients are still at home the trainer often needs to pay an outside person to come and ride/teach. If you have 30 horses and 20 go to the show, the main trainer and assistant will travel.

[Janet]

@fivestrideline

venues often require you to buy shavings on the grounds

Not allowed to do that anymore.

[Peggy]

@Janet

ot allowed to do that anymore

But they apparently can charge you a “cleaning fee” if you don’t buy a minimum number of shavings. I paid that at one of the fall Temecula shows. Still cheaper to bring your own if you can.

[fivestrideline]

Yep that’s essentially “not allowed to bring your own”. In my opinion anyways, but I could’ve worded it differently.

[Peggy]

It’s a charge of $35 if you don’t buy at least five bales. There’s probably an intriguing algebra problem to solve the question of how many horses in your barn need to sign up for five bales of shavings to break even if you amortize it over all the horses in the barn.

It amuses me that this is listed under “Services.”

One of our other show facilities charges more for extra stalls (grooming, tack, etc.) than for stalls occupied by horses on the grounds that horse-occupied stalls produce more revenue (entry and junk fees).

[Tini_Sea_Soldier1]

Yep. Standard.
We’re away showing for 2 weeks on average a month.
We pay the full training board. Then we pay for show pro rides and training at the shows. On top of all the other away fees.