[QUOTE=mkdavies;8576495]
Between 17 and 23 I worked training horses full-time and went to school part-time until I moved to Arizona to complete my degree. It is really confusing, but it is how I paid for school.
As I’ve said in previous replies, I have extensive experience riding as well. In Canada you can stay an amateur rider until 18 even if you’re getting paid, so I was never competing as a “pro”. Either way, I think I have the information I need. I know what my abilities are, and per the prices given it seems like I am being more than fair with my prices, and I will just continue on that path.[/QUOTE]
Well, there you go, then.
My two cents: I would view the experience you’ve described as that of a talented junior who is just starting out as a professional, hanging out a shingle in earnest for the first time. I would make sure my pricing reflects that I am new to training as a full time profession. No matter how many miles you’ve had in the tack and show ring, and how well you “know your abilities,” you are an unknown as an equine professional-- especially given that you’re doing work in an area where your junior name is unfamiliar to locals AND you’re attempting to build business on a breed circuit where your open HJ experience may not be seen as transferring over from one world to the next. Talent and skills is valuable, but it’s only when that talent and skill convert to wins and reputation within a community that one can truly justify more competitive rates.
It’s difficult to make a living in horses full time, and, as your current two-job life demonstrates, it doesn’t happen overnight. The fact that you have to keep another job until you establish yourself in horses is not, as LH mentions, your potential clients’ issue, it’s the reality of a person who is just at the outset of building a clientele. You should charge what what the market will bear; I would not use the notion that you’re forfeiting hours at your other job as partial justification for your pricing structure when discussing billing with clients.
