The trainer at my barn asked me if I’d be interested in grooming the horses she is showing. Grooming includes tacking/untacking, feeding, stall cleaning, general handling, no braiding.
I’m not sure what is reasonable – What do you pay a groom to do these chores?
It really depends on the situation.
Will you have to stay on the show ground, for how long and who will pay for that?
How many horses?
I will stay on the show ground for the length of the show 2 days. I will drive my car and have a hotel room. I will groom probably 4 horses, maybe 6. I will feed morning, afternoon and bed check.
I can figure the operations expenses, just not sure of the actual grooming part.
An hourly rate isn’t wrong and if you figure you’d be there all day, $10/hr x 10 hours comes out to $100 a day. You could easily be worth more than that or the day might be longer or shorter. Then there’s whatever expenses you might have to get there (mileage and/or meals and/or hotel).
If there are a lot of horses and you are skilled, very fair to ask for double that. Either way your pay is on top of your expenses. IMHO.
Part of the question too is are you doing the trainer a favor mostly for her benefit, or are you getting a day of learning and exposure that you will personally value from doing this? Are you thinking, Yes! This is a fun way to spend my day or are you taking time away from other things you need or want to do, like riding your own horse or your regular job or the like.
It might change how you feel if they are her horses than if they are horses that will have their expenses billed to clients.
Horsemen tend to underpay for these kinds of services. Up to you if you are good with that or not.
I would probably ask her what she was thinking of paying and then negotiate from there, but also have in my mind what I needed from the day. It doesn’t have to be cash, if cash is a problem; you might be able to swap for lessons for example.
Thanks for the insight!
Here in the PNW you are looking at about $85 per horse/day for day care (groom/feed/muck/tack) plus $25 tip per horse/week is recommended for A & AA hunter shows. Not including braiding.
Plus travel/hotel and food.
It sounds like @oppsfelldown is quoting figures that a client might pay for a full service situation. Which is a bit of apples and oranges.
There is probably a good chance someone has done this job for trainer in the past. If so, perhaps you can inquire from them what they were paid.
In our area (the Northeast), show grooms get about $13 to $15 an hour. All travel and hotel fees are borne by the employer. A food stipend is the norm if it is an overnight show.
I’m sure rates vary by geography. Ask around your local network to get ideas of what other grooms are charging. Propose a rate to your trainer. Commit to one show. Evaluate the results of that one show and adjust your rates if needed.
OneTwoMany - yes that is what is billed to the riders by the trainer.
Full grooming at dressage shows in SoCal is ~$60/horse/day. The home grooms travel to shows, so that’s on top of the ~$18/day for full grooming at home they’ve received already. Owners split hotel costs for grooms.
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