$745 for splits. That includes the grooming stalls, hay, shavings, and I think 1 VIP pass to feed the trainers (fine by me - I prefer the flat rate to paying at the food vendors).
I wish the show itemized the splits, but they don’t.
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Right, that’s what I’m saying—it’s still ridiculously high:
- 5 miscellaneous stalls at $400/each: $2,000/10 = $200
- Hay/shavings = ~$100 per horse
- VIP = let’s say $500 on the higher end with one for each trainer, so $1,000/10 = $100
That’s $400 per week for splits… If you’re fine with wasting $750 with no explanation, so be it, but I’ve never seen a show split that high.
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I agree, the math doesn’t seem right?!
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Hay really adds up if you are buying it at the show and not trucking it with you.
I had a client once, when I was barn managing, threaten to put some ranch dressing on it and share it with her horse for the price we were charging in the splits.
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Also, depending on how they bed, shavings can really add up when you’re trying to fill a stall with the tiny, hamster-sized bales the shows provide. And then the horses were there for two weeks.
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Why would costs drop so much in the second week if hay and shavings were just $$$? That’s part of what doesn’t make sense to me.
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$400 in hay/shavings in one week for one horse? No way. I pulled down my statements from a random assortment of shows from the past few years, and my hay/shavings were anywhere from $90-$150. Also, going back to look at her bill—shavings (8 bags) was included in the stall line item, not the trainer split, so yeah, something really weird is happening here, IMO.
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Sounds like they ordered most of the hay/shavings during the first week, and didn’t order any the second week.
8 bags were included for the first bedding, the rest of the time they are split evenly on the trainer splits.
I’ve emailed the show asking for an itemized bill of the splits. Will update you all if that’s provided.
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$400 in shavings for TWO WEEKS sounds like a lot.
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I think I figured it out - RV spot for the guys is part of the weekly splits.
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It’s still kind of weird that they added it only to one of the weeks!? I guess it’s ok if the same people showed both weeks so all the splits are the same… but that’s sort of weird. Did they not warn everyone there’d be an RV rental that would add $$$$ to the bill?
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No warning at all from my trainers. Same situation. Just a “shut up and pay me” lol
YMMV but I wouldn’t appreciate that 
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Paying for lodging has always been passed onto the clients IME. As both an employee and a client. The RV spot is on the horse show splits, and we were charged separately for the RV rental when billed for training/other splits.
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To be fair, these are splits done by the horse show. We’re charged separately for training and additional splits that the trainer fronted the cost for (supplies, RV rental, hotel, etc).
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I be clear, I would expect to pay lodging for a trainer. I would not expect it to be just sort of tacked onto a split with no itemization/explanation. It’s not paying it that surprises me, it’s the lack of explanation to the point where you (the client) didn’t know what it was for.
And that seems a little pricey for an RV spot (but obviously that’s not within the trainer’s control). We usually do an AirBnB or hotel and so does the trainer so it’s very transparent what the trainer’s room will cost, divided up, because we’re all paying the same for our rooms.
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I don’t think this is right, or the way that all trainers do it, but chiming in as another person who just got a lump of “trainer splits” with no more explanation in the show bill, and “pro expenses” with no more explanation in the trainer bill. The culture was very much to not inquire further (probably still is, I’m not there now). The other potential contributor to the trainer splits in the show bill that I haven’t seen mentioned here is how many personal horses the trainer has brought and is dividing cost of across the clients.
For what it’s worth, my rough rule of thumb was to budget $5k a week to show, including shipping the horse and myself, lodging, etc.
Typical show bill for a week $1300-1400 (includes class fees, trainer splits, etc). Trainer expenses $1800, includes daily care ($125 per day). Groom tips $250 per week.
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I have my own barn and do my own training (I am a seasoned amateur) in CT and it costs more to have them home even though I do all of my own care (3 horses at present) - Local board at show barns averages nearly 2K$/mo plus training. I ship my own to shows and pay for braiding, hotels and entry fees, If I am trying to qualify a hunter for indoors the showing averages me about 4K$ per month, give or take, depending on how I do.
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My comment was more directed toward the trainer expenses on my barn bill. Not the show splits. Someone else mentioned itemized would be appreciated, just to have an idea of what makes the cost so high. $800 per week in trainer expenses alone, when 18 horses are showing is substantial. I know it didn’t cost myself, $14,400 in hotel/food/ect 
no assistant to account for and the grooms get their day rate plus I buy them lunch and drinks.
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Are they all customer horses or are they sale horses/trainer show horses? As much as I’d love to believe that every horse is accounted for equally… there are times where the splits made much more sense when I factored in that maybe just the am/jr customers were paying.
Some thoughts:
Did trainer fly to show or go with rig?
Did they have kids with them?
Depending on where they are, it’s possible that grooms are in a house rental which could potentially cost up to 5k for 2 weeks. If they rented a house for themselves as well… or did a mid-grade hotel, that’s another 2k for the week after taxes and stupid pet fees or whatever (that really needs to go away, but that’s a different thread for a different time).
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