Barn managers/trainers: what do you charge per day to do standing wraps for boarders? Client is providing the standing wraps.
Like everything with horses, it depends.
Personally, I would not charge a client for the occasional wrapping after a lesson/ show and unwrapping in the morning. I would not charge for wrapping an injured limb for a week or so.
What I would charge for is having to have all 4 wrapped every night, without exception. I think $50/ month would be fair⊠thats for an alcohol or âdryâ wrap.
Can you give us more information about the situation?
A client who wants their horse wrapped pretty much daily, I think all 4 legs but curious as to what variances in price there may be for wrapping 2 legs vs 4 legs. She may be able to get out once in a while and do them herself, so makes more sense to charge per day vs monthly, but any input is helpful. Iâm not looking to make money off of her per se, but do want to be compensated for the extra time and effort put into doing standing wraps on a regular basis.
âMay be able get out once in a whileâ is pretty ambiguous, doesnât guarantee she will, and can make tracking your time spent tricky. Not to mention, if she texts you some morning to say she can wrap them that afternoon, then at 3pm texts you and says crap she lost track of time and canât, now what? Did you make plans for your afternoon/evening and now donât have time to wrap the horse?
For something that is daily, and long term, a monthly fee is just easier and the most fair for all involved. If she can come out occasionally to see her horse, great, she can just spend time with him and know that his wrapping needs are taken care of.
Also, charging per day can actually make it more expensive for her. It may feel strange to have a fee of, say $2/day. Many people would round up to $5/day because we tend to like our dollar amounts ending in 0s or 5s. Thatâs $150/month just for wrapping. Seems steep.
I charge hourly for these services, if theyâre needed more than once or twice (happy to help out in an in-frequent pinch), and for long-term services would charge a pre-determined amount at the beginning of the month based on an educated estimate as to the time needed. So, if itâs a good horse who stands perfectly for wrapping, and you do all four once per day, letâs say you spend 10 minutes per day. Thatâs 6 hours per month (30 days) at your desired hourly rate. $10/hr = $60/month, $15/hour = $90/month, and so on. If horse proves to be difficult and Iâm spending a considerable more amount of time on the wrapping, the fee would increase.
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It depends a little bit - if itâs a horse that isnât in training then I charge $5/time whether it be for two or four legs.
If the horse is in training I include it.
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Agree⊠stick with the monthly charge because it will play out as described above. Regardless.
Iâm not sure if would impact billing, but Iâm curious: Does the horse absolutely need to be wrapped? Or is it a confabulation in the ownerâs mind to âhelpâ the horse? I would charge considerably more if thereâs no medical need to have the horse wrapped daily. Iâd be a bit more sympathetic if the horse had chronic cellulitis and needed to be wrapped in order to stay soundâŠ
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Another consideration (if she doesnât come out daily) is how often you can use the same wraps without washing them. And then, are you responsible for washing them or does she have multiple sets? I run into this problem all the time with our clients.
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Owner is pretty high maintenance. The horse is not in training. Owner is very hands-on (which is a good thing of course), and gets to the barn regularly, but wants wrapping done in the morning when horses come in (they are on night turn out) so she is wrapped while in stall. Horse has started stocking up for unknown reasons â she doesnât feel it merits a vet call, but is taking the blitzkrieg approach of doing everything she can think of to treat it.
Note that if i have a horse come in with a big leg or injury or something, Iâm happy to wrap it free of charge. Iâll even do it for a couple of days if boarder canât get out to do it. But for an ongoing basis, this is not included in board. A lot of stables offer a la carte services, so i was just trying to get a ball park of what is reasonable to charge.
The $5 per day is in line with what Iâve heard from other local barns. I suspect the owner is not going to want to pay to have the horse wrapped regularly, but wanted a quote i could give her and leave it up to her.
I appreciate the feedback!
Just thoughts. Are you also unwrapping the horse before turnout? Do you have to reroll the wraps so you can use them the next day? That all takes time. If you do it for one border what happens when the next border also wants their horses legs wrapped? Is it medical where there is a clear end date? Or forever? Be sure you charge enough for the extra time.
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Most .of the boarding places around here charge about $30/month to blanket. Some charge more. Wrapping is going to take longer then blanketing - figure 10 minutes daily? That is 5 hours monthly - $50 seems like a deal when you look at it that way!
If horse is in full training, some trainers may not charge, they would consider that simply part of horse care and grooming. But for a horse that is boarded, I think it is very fair to charge - it is above and beyond. As 2 cents points out - what if 10 owners asked for that service?
I would also go with a monthly charge, so you donât have to keep track of the days you do (and donât) wrap.
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Yes, i also have to unwrap before turnout and re-roll the wraps up. With the exception of the days when owner is here at just the right time to do it herself. LOL. I agree about the time it requires and the what if factor regarding everyone wanting them if itâs free â thatâs why i want to come up with a charge that is reasonable for the extra time involved. I donât mind doing it, especially if the horse needs it, but I think I should be compensated for the extra time involved.
Iâve paid someone to wrap for 100.00 a month on days I couldnât get to the barn due to work. Horse was on stall rest and vet wanted legs wrapped and business trips didnât allow me to get out there to do it myself.
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I worked at a barn that charged $5 a day, $25 a week, or $85 a month to do wraps. Short-term (1-2 day) injuries were free of charge, but anything long-standing was charged to the client. We had one mare who lived in standing wraps, unless she was outside and went in SMB boots. Because of her special needs, she was charged more (think SUPER high maintenance owner, but to be fair this mare was so accident prone I understood it) so hers might have been more.
We had another owner who had a set schedule of what days she came to take care of her horseâs wraps, so there was no question as to what days I had to wrap/unwrap the horse. She had PSSM so her owner had her on a strict schedule and it worked out great. She paid a weekly rate 2x monthly, so $50 a month, because she was able to get out so often.
If your client is saying she will come out some days to wrap the horse, I would try to make a set schedule with her so thereâs no confusion as to who does what and when.
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She wouldnât like my answer!
To wrap, unwrap, and roll wraps for a horse not in training every day because she doesnât want to call the vet, I would be charging ~$150/month. I might be willing to do it for the best boarder ever for $100/month (or if she will leave me a stack of bandages so I donât have to re-roll), but thatâs only $3/day or $1.50 per handling. Thatâs not even worth the thought involved! As someone else said, time yourself, add 5 minutes, and do the calculations to an hourly rate of $15-$25/hour.
For a horse in training who is already for my time in that way, I would probably charge $85-100.
I wouldnât do a per day fee because youâll end up spending more time trying to schedule her than itâs worth. UNLESS she commits to âevery Tues, Wed, Thursâ and when sheâs not there the horse goes unwrapped (or stays in his stall wrapped or whatever the consequence may be). If she insists on a per day rate, I would probably say $5/handling or $10/day.
Whenever pricing something, donât forget to do the âwhat if everyone wants thisâ test. It may not be the end of the world to do this for one horse, but what if 5 clients decide they want their horses wrapped? 10? The whole barn?
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Agree with the above. If the owner doesnât want to $pend on the vet, but is using The Blitzkreig Approach instead Iâd charge a slightly painful fee. For two reasons: 1) horse may have a medical issue that will become worse with time if left untreated⊠i.e.: Lyme, heart/ pulmonary trouble, infection etc. and 2)sheâd rather inconvenience others than spend her own $$. So make her spend her own $$âŠ
Horses who mysteriously start stocking up have a reason. It needs to be addressed medically.
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I agree that the stocking up needs to be addressed by a veterinarian rather than the owner initiating a âblitzkriegâ of treatment that involves inconveniencing you. I donât think it makes sense for you to agree to do daily standing wraps on a horse paying regular board that was not in work unless recommended by a vet. In my own barn, a horse on layup would get standing wraps with no charge, but they would also be paying a much higher monthly price that reflected the individualized, more labor/responsibility intense level of care, usually about $10-20 per day over and above regular board prices.
Assuming that you are running a business and that your time has value, I also think that you need to be careful to make the price point fair to you. My estimate is 15 minutes/day for wrapping/unwrapping a horse and re-rolling bandages. There is also a responsibility factor. Not just anyone is capable of bandaging a horse properly, so you have to have specific staff (or yourself) there each and every day. There are also consequences if done improperly, for which a client could potentially hold you responsible. Depending on what your monthly board rate is, I donât think $100 per month is enough. I wouldnât do it for $100, because Iâm running a business and it would cost me money to provide it at that price. Sometimes this is hard for customers to understand, it seems so simple to them âsince you are thereâ to âjust put some wraps onâ or do whatever else seems like it would just take a second to do. But when you run a barn, tasks like that really slow you down. Using and keeping track of boots and bandages and masks and muzzles and flysheets and ointments is a lot of work. If you arenât sure, set a timer, go get the wraps, tie the horse up, brush off the legs or dry them with a towel if they are wet or hose them off if they are muddy, lay out your stuff, and wrap, then unwrap and re-roll the bandages.
Another option if you have a lot of clients that want extra care like wraps or hand walking or whatever, is to charge a higher base board rate that takes that into account, then you can afford to do wraps for $50/month.
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Great input, you all, thank you! I agree 100% with most of what is said here.
Amen.
That and does the owner realize what a less than perfect standing job can do? Not saying anything about your skill at all, but a bandage bow can happen at any time. That and the ugly white hairs that develop from chronic wrappingâŠ
Wrapping the leg does absolutely nothing IMHO. Time to involve the vet. In some cases wrapping can make it worse!
Most barns have a contract in their clause âwithin reasonable careâ, in their language. Wrapping after injury, surgery, injections, etc is considered âwithin reasonable careâ parameters. Anything else is above & beyond and client should expect a bill for it.
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As a boarder, I disagree that a fee should be need-based. Sometimes people just want their horsesâ legs wrapped because of a hard schooling session or whatever. Iâm not asking my barn managerâs opinion, Iâm asking to pay for a service. I do agree that anything that takes extra time & effort (which certainly, standing bandages do - especially since youâre re-rolling them daily) is worth an extra charge. My gut says that $50-75/month is about right but you know your clientele best. I also want to reiterate the âWhat would I need to charge if everyone wanted this doneâ test. Charge what you need to charge so you donât resent it if half your barn jumps on the bandwagon.
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How do we know that owner hasnât called the vet, who suggested wrapping to see if it helped before coming out?
