So the trainer has her/his staff use trainer owned equipment on all the horses for their own convenience and then charges the client a fee? That wouldn’t sit well with me!
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Why not? It certainly saves me money compared to keeping track of what’s worn out or what I need to buy.
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I guess since I already have the tack and supplies I need I don’t want to pay someone to use their tack instead of mine. But I am mostly a do-it-yourself type when it comes to horse care. I have very seldom and never long term had a horse in full training, and had my own barn for many years, so I probably would have a different perspective if I usually or always had a horse in full training mostly groomed, tacked up, etc. by someone else.
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So the point here is you don’t have to invest in tack (outside of say, a show bridle and your own saddle) and supplies. You’re not “being charged” to use theirs—you’re being charged to use the equipment and supplies that they believe your horse needs and goes best in. It’s my favorite on COTH when someone criticizes something and then subsequently admits they have exactly zero knowledge of what they were criticizing.
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when you have a horse or horses that can do multiple disciplines really well the amount of tack becomes and issue, especially as the trends in the styles of tack change
I realize this topic is specific to Hunter/Jumpers but we have horses that preform first rate in several differing disciplines. We want them to be presented with the current correct tack for the specific class it has been entered, even though there is not supposed to any penalties regarding a tack item in that class such as having a western saddle with sliver in a class that is a working ranch that is expected to have plain tack we were reminded that in a very close performance small things will make a difference in placing.
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I personally like owning and using my own tack and supplies, but I am also tacking up and untacking my own and taking care of my own stuff. I can completely understand why a full service barn wouldn’t want the added responsibility of keeping track of whose martingale was whose and sorting polo wraps by person after they come out of the laundry. So I get that model. I think people have to remember that this whole “shared tack and supplies” is part of a really full service model where no owner is doing much of anything independently and therefore it’s grooms handling ALL the tack/equipment/supplies. When you consider that model the shared tack and supplies system makes sense.
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I also want to add that full service barns have different flavors. We don’t share tack at my barn. Pookie has his own specific bridle, martingale, collection of bits, etc. And if a horse has a specific something else (mine has his own saddle and shimmed pad—we don’t use anything else on him), the staff are aware and adapt. It’s not “you’ll do this no exceptions.”
For stuff like polos, bandages, saddle pads, poms, lunge gear, grooming supplies, hoof oil, ice boots, bell boots, etc. it is sooooooo much more efficient to have a communal set that all share. I groomed for my barn during COVID and from a staff perspective it truly is genius.
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Zone 5 for USHJA but we don’t show jumpers.
There’s no options for us, so I figured I’d do a cost breakdown for local/open shows in Zone 5.
*$350 for full care board (we are low for the area, usually $500-$600), I’ve paid $1000 for board with training combined.
*Hauling to shows is usually $100 between fuel and use of the truck/trailer if it’s not mine.
*Local/Open/Unrated shows are $115 or so for stalls and camping, $8 per class per judge. $250 or less for a normal weekend for me.
*Braiding/banding $80-100, I band myself to keep costs down.
*Grooming ~ $100 per day, but I don’t use a groom to keep costs down.
*Hotel if camping isn’t available is usually around $500 for the weekend. I will split it with someone to keep costs down when possible.
The last show I went to was $75 for stall and shared tack stall, $250 for the hotel, $100 for hauling, $45 in shavings and $64 in class fees. About $550 total for the weekend.
Other random expenses:
*Shoes - nothing special, just plain steel shoes - $120 for both new set and reset
*Trimming (off season) - $45 per trim
*Chiro - $90 per session
*Massage - $80 per session
*2x weekly exercise - $50 a week
I choose usually to break things down annually instead of monthly. My total bill without showing is around $10,000 a year. Each show adds $300 - $500 to that bill. I hopped ship from Hunter/Jumpers as a teen and I am so glad that I did. I loved it, but I would have been priced out of it by the time I turned 20. I’m 30 now and happily showing my stock type Mustang at local/open shows for fun.
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Yep - this is the way my barn runs. I have my own saddle, show pad, and bridle, but everything else is communal. I also lease my horse, so I use his leather girth for showing. It makes it so much easier as a lease to not have to buy a ton of stuff or piece together what his owner had from 3-4 years ago. My comment from above would be to pitch in ~$100 for a big order of new polos/scrims/etc rather than getting a text asking if someone can order polos.
The communal thing isn’t necessary in smaller barns. We have 12-15 horses, and everyone has their own brushes, sprays, etc. the only thing I do communally is emergency meds…I charge for them because I don’t want them expiring before they are used, so I would rather charge for the amount used and keep a single bottle for the barn. daily use meds are owner-supplied. I charge at cost.
I also keep a large emergency kit and charge for supplies used, on the rare occasion they are. No need for redundancy there.
I personally prefer for the horses to have their own brushes, but I am paranoid about skurfy stuff being transmitted from horse to horse. We very rarely HAVE anything with skin issues, and I like to keep it that way!
It is clear to me that I made a good decision to switch to dressage. I can’t afford to be in a HJ program, that is for sure! But I like to be competitive. In dressage I can do 4-5 weekends (even less if I didn’t want to practice showing) a year and still qualify for Regional Finals, and hopefully be competitive and maybe someday go to Nationals. That is simply not a path available to a middle class person in HJ land any longer.
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Hear hear on how much easier it is to set a goal and strive for it at the local level in dressage without spending a fortune. On any weekend I could show Saturday or Sunday at a less than 45 minute drive and be in and out of the show for under $75 and have qualifying scores towards a local year end award. They make thing so much easier and more affordable!
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OMG I wish I could show for $75! I was talking USDF. It’s about $1k all in per week, which is 2 shows usually.
Regional Finals are expensive, my show entries were around $800 but it is a big show at Lamplight and I am in 3 championship classes.
But in what HJ universe could you get to a significant event for $5k a show season? I was qualified for 2 events at $1k because USDF shows often have 2 shows in 4 days. But I wanted to do 2 levels and get some experience so I did a show per month. If I don’t screw it up I can be competitive. That’s impossible at A shows for HJ.
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I’m lucky to have a nice local hunter circuit here too, but you can’t get in and out of a one day schooling show for under $200ish. And some are far away and more annoying in terms of logistics. Two of the dressage venues are, no joke, 10 minutes from my horse. You just CANNOT beat that!
Sorry, I’m on Westchester/Fairfield side
My household income is now over $300,000 (married, no kids) and after saving for retirement and investing, doing house upkeep/mild remodeling work and some traveling here and there is absolutely no money to be spent on horses that comes anywhere close to what many people are paying for A circuit training and boarding. I don’t know how anyone does it anymore.
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my daughter just got back from the Morgan Nationals, many horses changed hands there for some pretty amazing amounts for the breed, a horse who won a reserve world championship was bought by the person who won the class as they liked the second place winner better than their first place horse, they wrote the check out right there $125,000. Another was sold to be an equitation horse for $150,000. There are people with unlimited funding however we surely are not those
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this is the way
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this makes me miss Michigan a ton lol!
How do I “unfollow” a thread (beyond just ignoring it.) This is depressing me profoundly. (And yes, I recognize, I just bumped it up.)
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I’m very familiar with those people who have limitless funds, but I guess what I was getting at is that, presumably, many people on this forum do not have unlimited funding and make what is considered extremely good money compared to most Americans and would not be able to show on most circuits, or really afford full-care boarding and training these days, without pretty severe financial sacrifices. It makes me very concerned for the future of horse sports in this country, if it becomes only a billionaire’s game to even own a quality animal. I’m curious to know how people at “high” income levels who own horses would describe their current financial situation overall. It seems as though those who are just barely able to wing it, may not be able to do it in the near future.
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