Zone 5 in SE Michigan here
$1250 for board and unlimited lessons. Geeze, I thought we were expensive
Haven’t gotten into the A shows yet but this scares me
A local B show is about $1500-$2000
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So are the splits in addition to a per day fee for the horse when at the show…and do you get charged the regular training board/board for the days when at the show on top of that or is that pro-rated? TIA
Yes, splits are on top of the per-day fee. My trainer charges $75 per day for care/non-showing days, plus $100 for show day coaching. Then splits for shared tack/set-up stalls or staff housing and meals are additional. We do get charged for training/board when we’re away at shows, but my trainer’s all-inclusive monthly price is lower than most to account for us showing quite a bit.
That’s nice! Wish more did that.
Yes, day fee is just for grooms and general care (picking stalls, watering, grooming, etc).
Splits are hard costs… hay, grooming/tack stalls, grain, shavings, supply costs, etc.
What kills me about splits is when only so many people decide to go to a show–training/coaching fees and groom fees are one price, split between however many folks go. So if we have enough people going, it makes costs way more palatable. But the difference between 18 horses going vs. fewer than 10 hits my wallet hard. Like it’s several hundred dollars difference which for me isn’t nothing.
For that reason, as much as I love the smaller numbers at shows, I try to follow the herd (no pun intended) so I can save some for unexpected expenses.
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I’m in Zone 9, but on the coast. I’m 1) B and 2) B/C
I moved here from Zone 10 (also coast) and I’m pretty surprised that #1 is about the same price as it was there, and #2 is MORE - significantly more. It seems like here your options are “complete DIY” or “100% trainer support” and nothing in the middle. I don’t want to show for 4 days, I just want to go do the weekend, or maybe add a Friday. That seems to be a thing of the past?
I’ve now officially reached a point where, even if I could swing this (like if I didn’t have a kid in an expensive non-horse sport + a job that doesn’t allow me to show weeks on end), I kind of don’t want to. I’d sure like to find somewhere to ride “in the middle” and just jump around at some local shows though…but I can’t find it! Maybe it is the coast being the coast, don’t know.
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I see this happening on the East Coast, too. Anything rated, barns all go the entire week. Unless you own a truck and trailer yourself, the weekend-only approach to rated shows is getting harder and harder. I myself am in that bucket (BTDT horse, doesn’t need pro rides or prep rounds during the week) but - if you want to show, horse has to go with everyone else! It is getting harder and harder to find the happy medium everywhere I think — you’re not alone in your quest!
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You can sometimes find this in SoCal if the show is close enough, especially if close enough that the trainer/hauler is driving back and forth to the show each day and lives close to the barn. And more especially if they have their own open horses that they want to take home once the open classes are over.
But not always an option.
We go all week but do our own grooming and (mostly) all our own riding/showing. But I’m retired and the other people are WFH. Wouldn’t have worked during the schhool year when I was teaching.
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Zone 3.
- A
- Also A. Mostly DYI-ing. Met the trainer ringside at the warm-up.
Can I be the poor country cousin and ask what a tack use fee covers? It’s my tack I’m using.
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Well my husband is a professional but generally I would say for our clients it’s pretty much always
- A
- A (barring any major classes or super expensive premium shows)
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LOL!
I have seen this in a nearby (fellow Z3) program that covers client using equipment of trainers that client doesn’t own and is only using for show - special crank bridle, set of show boots for the equitation, specific custom bit the horse only shows in ever so often and trainer has one but client doesn’t want to fork over the $250 for one they only use 2x a year…etc. what I have typically seen is a per-day fee of say $15 to “borrow” the equipment. Client probably doesn’t need that specific tack or item regularly so they didn’t buy one themselves and just borrow at show? (I personally also use 100% my own stuff, and if my horse needs it I buy it but could see this working for a “rent” type situation for specialty tack?)
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ETA somehow replied to the wrong person. Whoops. Supposed to be to @TheDBYC
It can be for anything from farm logo saddle pads to actual tack. In a full service program with the grooms doing 100% of the tacking it can be easier to have a huge bin of show pads, schooling pads (with farm logo), Eq boots, lungelines, lead ropes, even girths and scrims or coolers - versus digging through client tack boxes and trying to keep everything clean and organized. Because heaven forbid Pookie’s identical black nylon lead rope end up on Sugar’s halter. Some high end full time travel barn clients may only actually own their clothing, the horse, a saddle, and a halter.
Also, if the trainer is showing or schooling the horse when the client isn’t there, they may be using farm bridles and other gear instead of the client-owned “nicer” stuff.
Not my cup of tea, but it works for some!
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At a barn I was at it was as mentioned in the posts above: above all the tack you don’t think about - like logo pads & such. We also looped in pom poms, fly spray and shampoos, studs, other grooming products and supplies. We called it an “equipment fee” and it was $75 per month.
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This is how my barn largely functions, although we are not charged per show for it outside of a quarterly per-horse supply fee. Horses have their own show bridles, scrims/coolers, and halters, and I think that’s it. Turnout/fly gear, boots, grooming supplies, girths, schooling pads, work bridles, etc., are all provided.
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I really enjoy this. Seems like a good way to be organized, and also not personally end up with 10 saddle pads and only use one regularly.
Exactly, even things I win, which are fun for a day, get donated back to the communal pile. Yes, a horse show pad is lovely, but do you need 5 for one horse? Do you want to wash 5 for one horse? I don’t.
Exactly. We got a text a few months ago about needing more polo wraps, but only black ones. I would much rather pay $50 a quarter and have it ordered in bulk. No need to play the mine v. yours game.
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Or a friend of mine at another barn got a huge “supplies list” for summer horse shows—saying each client should have things like hoof packing, tubes of ointment, their own poultice paper. No thanks, just charge me something and take care of it because I will be annoyed when Fluffy’s using my hoof packing.
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Just read this full thread as a Zone 4 resident who was hoping to begin showing in jumpers next year with new horse…
WOOF. I’m scared.
That said, I’m now extremely happy with my training board costs after seeing a few $$s here.
$1150 board - 2-3 training rides a week by trainer, full care pasture board spring-fall and 1/2 stall board in winter
$55/lesson for me (on trainers horse or mine)
Again, haven’t shown in this area yet and previously showed over 10 years ago in Ohio (forget what zone that is). So idk we’ll see ¯_(ツ)_/¯
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