Honestly, presuming you’re friends who like each other, and you’re used to DIY-ing anyway, just help each other out, and go without a groom. A part time part week Freelance professional groom isn’t really a thing.
8 Likes
I am available for what you describe. PM me if you would like to discuss
Sorry OP I wasn’t clear, I meant the person thinking $60-100 was enough.
$100 a week? That’s it?
I am a little out of touch but I assume at the big shows, you should be paying at least $100 per day for a show groom per horse and maybe providing housing which bumps it up even more. Sharing with a big barn might be a good bet though I assume you will still be out $100 per day and that’s a 7 day week. Then there’s tips. Dsd
Listen, I didn’t set the charge, I just paid it.
And you actually thought the working students saw all of it? 
If they just clean a stall that would be the day cost of $60. $100 would be the cost per day. This does not include a tip. Or any cost of meals or housing you are contributing to.
This is what we paid last year. We also would get a golf cart for them at the multi day and/or week shows.
100 a day would be terrible for a freelance groom with 3 riders and 3/4 horses at a show. Realistically, that would end up being like 8/hr presuming ONLY 12hr days.
6 Likes
You are assuming they saw the whole $100. Many times that’s not the case. Barn charges boarders x for services. Person really get y. I would be remiss if I advised the OP as a client and not as a working student. I also would take the job for $100 a day.
1 Like
Take the cost of accommodation, food, transport, add in other realistic costs such as insurance and healthcare premiums and that everyone likes to have sufficient disposable money for a social life beyond work, agree a reasonable number of working hours per a day, think what you personally would like to be paid, then split that total equally between all the riders. You have probably already worked out how much it will cost you to show, based on accommodation, food, transport etc.
1 Like
Standard I’ve seen on the rated circuit is $100 per horse per day, with a minimum of 3 horses. For a regular Wed- Sun show that’s a minimum of $1800 for the week if you include the Tues warmup day. If we only had one or two horses showing we usually try to stable next to a friend and hire their groom for feeding/ stall cleaning and can get the one horse to the ring by ourselves, it’s not worth it to bring the home groom for just one horse. Braiding should be paid separately. Part time grooms isn’t really a thing unless you mean just cleaning stalls & feeding… I’ve seen $40-60 per day charged for that, or sometimes an hourly rate. Most bigger barns provide housing and food expenses.
3 Likes
Hot d@mn! I’m quitting my job to go groom. You do realize that this pay rate, if done full time, would equate to over $90K a year? If this rate is accurate, I’m thinking the barn/trainer are taking some off the top. FTR, this is definitely not what we pay at my barn.
In order to make $1000 a week, they’d have to be managing ten horses a week.
2 Likes
Wait. They get paid $60 bucks to clean a stall or even three stalls. So at most an hour. Then they get 40 bucks more if they stay the whole day???
1 Like
Good professional grooms at the rated & FEI level are hard to keep, and are compensated accordingly. This was paid directly to the groom in a check by each horse owner. Granted, if more than about 4 horses or if all the horses were scheduled to show at the same time our groom would hire another groom under him and split the money to make sure he wasn’t overworked. You can’t extrapolate that rate to full time as no barn shows 365 days a year (although of course some barns come close).
In my experience, barns that pay less don’t keep their grooms happy. It’s a hard job with thankless hours, and $100/ day per horse is barely enough when you’re talking 4am to long after dark on some show days (I’ve been there with the grooms sometimes until long after midnight, knowing we all had to be back at 4am ). But that’s my experience (California and Florida rated circuits incl FEI), maybe in your geographical region it’s different or you’re talking about nonrated shows.
13 Likes
That is what we paid. You can. Pay more if you want.
Your extrapolation is where the inaccuracy comes in.
But I invite you to quit your job based on this and based on what you know from your barn and try being a pro groom for a year.
8 Likes
When I worked a similar gig (3-5 horses with 3 riders, mostly showing in the same rig/ divisions), I received a base pay from the trainer ($60-75 per day can’t remember), + daily charge per horse of $15, + hotel, + tips (which supposedly weren’t required, but it seemed trainer insisted) that were often a couple hundred per horse for the week. I averaged $1200-1500 per week and found the amount of work to be manageable but certainly exhausting. I was shocked that other grooms could somehow manage 10-15 horses by themselves! There is no way I would have been able to do that unless someone else was doing the feeding/ cleaning/ water/ lunging (which wasn’t the case for those guys).
1 Like
I’ve done some grooming on the side for my trainer at shows (most B/C local circuit with a few USEF shows at WEC Ohio). Rate was approximately $35 per horse per day, with lodging/food expenses covered plus client tips ($20-100/horse depending on length of show and which circuit).
Responsibilities included helping prep the horses/load the trailer, set up the tack room and stalls upon arrival, cleaning stalls, grooming/bathing/tacking horses, etc. Clients were expected to take their own horses to/from the ring unless there was a ring conflict (rare). Long days, but good experience to have and it was great to have extra time to pick my trainer’s brain about the nuances of showing.
1 Like
