Any short stirrup parents who lease a pony or horse wiling to share how much you are spending each year, all in, for lease fee, board, training, tack, show clothes, show fees, trailering, farrier, etc? Would be interested in the folks who have to board and don’t have their own farm as an option. Not looking for pony hunters or world beaters–just solid citizen short stirrup or other unrated division types who are showing regularly in their local area
DD moved up to low hunter this season, but we’re basically the demographic you’re looking for - mostly show locals with the occasional rated show in which we stick to local pony divisions because we can’t afford something that would be competative in the regular divisions. The nice thing is that you can usually get a normal half lease on the kind of ponies we use. Whereas a show lease can run $50k+ a year for just the lease fees. It’s hard to give hou exact figures because there are so many permutations. Last year, I leased the pony for the cost of the farrier. But the farrier was high because of the pony’s individual needs. We’re in the process of changing to another pony because of some issues with the original pony’s owner (I had huge reservations about the farrier and wanted a different one, they have been borderline neglectful addressing medical issues and I’m uncomfortable working the pony in her current condition.)
Monthly breakdown if we go with new pony:
Half lease: $575 month (covers half of expenses except farrier
farrier: about $100 every 5 weeks
Board: included
lessons: $200 per month
show fees: $60-$90 per show depending on # of divisions
coaching: $75 per show
trailering: $75-$200 per show
Clothes: extremely variable $0-$1000 per year depending on your preferences
Tack: again, variable $500-sky is the limit per year
If you did have to board, it’s $600-$1000 in my area.
I’m in your exact boat, but I’m not super comfortable sharing all the numbers in public. I’ll pm you.
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I’m on the other side of your question - I lease out one of my horse’s to a short stirrup rider and can give you a ballpark of what the family leasing him pays…
Board, 2x/weekly lessons, farrier, supplements/meds - $1000/month (I don’t charge an additional lease fee)
Twice annual maintenance - $1500/year
They show about once a month, some rated, some schooling shows…$100/day for care and coaching for schooling shows, $125 for rated. Braiding extra.
Trailering - $100 for local, depends if out of town
Most show clothes are hand-me-downs from other riders in the barn
Horse isn’t super fancy but has been champion each time she’s shown him, super safe and sane.
Hope this helps!
I have a long stirrup horse who I own (but will be leasing out next year if he holds it together). I previously leased him prior to purchasing him. His costs are very similar to what SugarCubes mentioned above, no extra lease fee (due to maintenance and shoeing needs). Also not top of the heap fancy but safe as the day is long and will almost always pull a tri color at the C shows and usually in the primaries at A/AA Shows.
We finished up with my daughter’s lease of a short/long stirrup type pony a year or so ago. He was cute and quite competitive at local B-rated shows in a variety of classes (not one of those fancy top pony hunters though).
Lease fee: $800 per month
Board: $600 per month
Training & lessons: $500 per month
For shows the trainer charged $75/day for coaching. It seems like typically for a 4-5 day show my show bill would be north of $1000, plus groom fees, but my memory is a little foggy on that.
I do think geography may make a difference. I’m in Northern California.
Location matters. Hay is cheap in Indiana; a fortune in Florida. But you want a budget. If you were doing 6 local shows a year in South Florida and paying lease fee, board, farrier, routine vet, training, show fees, all the extras that go with showing, I’d say $22,000 to $25,000 is your realistic annual budget.
