Thought experiment - boarders....would you pay by the service?

[findeight]

When my long time full service, pro staffed barn had to substantially increase the board, we all got 90 days notice and a pretty detailed explanation why it had to increase. No question it was fair and overdue.

Several years later they had to initiate a required services requirement, IIRC around 300. This could be lessons, show charges, training rides, lunging, treadmill, hand walk, stuff like that. Again, 90 days notice and they were very transparent about why. In both cases they offered help in finding other alternatives.

It can be done in a fair and civil way.

[Angela_Freda]

@findeight

Several years later they had to initiate a required services requirement, IIRC around 300. This could be lessons, show charges, training rides, lunging, treadmill, hand walk, stuff like that. Again, 90 days notice and they were very transparent about why. In both cases they offered help in finding other alternatives.

Wouldn’t this require an increase in staffing, and therefore increase costs (pay)?

[Bogey2]

It is way too much work. One year when I had a barn full of horses and a bunch of lessons daily I could not keep up with the service I had downloaded to track all of it. I did it for a month and it was so time consuming I ditched it!
I wish that would save the horse industry but the problem is the middle class is being priced out of horse ownership in my area and we just can’t go any lower on board pricing. Add the cost for vet, shoes, insurance etc and I had to stop owning so many lesson horses.

[strangewings]

I feel like we are pretty close to the limit on the time requirements for horse ownership too. Weekend warriors have to make a cost/value analysis, both for $ and time. When too few people in your life understand the value of horses, the time cost becomes even more expensive. This is how we are losing volunteers for shows, in part - I see some families out there supporting each other and the sport, and some individuals, and the culture of families supporting the interests of their loved ones makes a difference to our longevity.

I wonder if “the future” for the industry is more “horse experience” situations, like riding vacations, but for people who don’t ride. The business model would need to figure out how to attract sufficient volume of non-repeat customers. It would have to be paired with something else attractive like resort/spa/yoga/therapy or similar. Maybe some people would be able to do regular lessons, but if we don’t expose more people to the joy of horses more broadly at low levels of commitment, we will be in trouble.

Maybe the best thing the horse community can do is start actively promoting and advertising what it is that we love and value about “horse life” without anything having to do with showing. See e.g. the recent thread about what people who no longer own horses miss about it.

[Bogey2]

In my area it is becoming a rich persons sport. We just can’t support a lot of lesson horses when the lesson business is off. I get calls from people who want to rough board and I just don’t want to open that door. More people and more liability without many controls.

[Angela_Freda]

@strangewings

I wonder if “the future” for the industry is more “horse experience” situations, like riding vacations, but for people who don’t ride.

Finding and Keeping the horses at a non rider safe level of training might be a challenge.

[findeight]

@Angela_Freda

Wouldn’t this require an increase in staffing, and therefore increase costs (pay)?

Not at all. This was a full service barn including turning in and out, blanketing, grooming with professional grooms and a a couple of mucking only workers. The extra services mentioned were already available priced a la carte as needed. The only change was going to a required minimum of extra services most of which was lessons, pro rides and show services.

All barns are different.

[Angela_Freda]

@findeight

Not at all. This was a full service barn including turning in and out, blanketing, grooming with professional grooms and a a couple of mucking only workers. The extra services mentioned were already available priced a la carte as needed. The only change was going to a required minimum of extra services most of which was lessons, pro rides and show services.

So who would perform these increased use of services? If they increased these, the workers performing the extra services means more hours.

@findeight

Several years later they had to initiate a required services requirement, IIRC around 300. This could be lessons, show charges, training rides, lunging, treadmill, hand walk, stuff like that.

[strangewings]

Could be, but if many of the “experiences” offered are unmounted, there is a lot more flexibility on this front and therefore potential to do double duty as providing safe harbor and good work conditions to senior and questionably sound (but good-minded) horses.

We have to think beyond riding lessons as far as experiences people may pay for involving horses.

Cynically, I will say that as the level of training goes down, the degree of shiny/pretty/photogenic will have to compensate…

[findeight]

@Angela_Freda

So who would perform these increased use of services? If they increased these, the workers performing the extra services means more hours.

Unmounted services (like that terminology) were always performed so there was no dramatic increase. They just made them apply to meeting that minimum additional service so nobody had to pay for not taking lessons, pro rides or going to shows if they took a vacation or they or the horse was temporarily laid up.

The staff at this barn were experienced, adult W2 employees and turnover was very low…remember grooms did not muck.

[clanter]

we get nearly constant requests to provide livestock (goats/dogs/cats/miniature and real horses) for demonstrations at local events

We do some these under the umbrella of local organization of small animal vets who set up a program of monthly classes for the local schools to introduce pets to kids. Other schools have tired to get us to go to their school to do the same. We can not as we do have the insurance in place for paid events, but we have been offered a thousand dollars by one school’s PTA to bring two miniatures to their school.

We have taken Goats to corporate events that provided the insurance coverage. It was really funny to me that a bigtime corporation (Lockheed Martin) wanted goats at their international managers conference. But the goats being there made the event organizer the envy of his colleagues. There were people who were not there for the conference but saw or heard of the goats being there coming by to pet the goats All the people were smiling.

One of my daughters is a professional photographer. more than once our Golden Retriever has been requested to be in a family’s photo by the family…