Trainer's Personal Horse in Show Splits

[atl_hunter]

@findeight

IME, trainers don’t bring anything to a show somebody else isn’t paying for. Ever. Its a business.

My last trainer had a rotation of “flip horses” that we hers and not owned by another client. And to your point, yes we paid for them to be at the shows!!

We also paid full training fees even if our horse was down for an injury, etc… Even if it was longer-term (a few months). And in addition to not getting the services for which we all paid, we were billed on top of that for bandage changes, etc…

Not anymore. That was a fun mass exodus to watch the first time. It was even more fun watching it happen again a year and a half later. The trainer still doesn’t get it…

[Paint_Party]

@Mander

I’m not even going to touch the “dog stall” bit. How utterly asinine to charge clients for bringing Fido to the horse show.

I have to save this one. It’ll be good for a laugh around the crossties after our lesson this afternoon. Most of us originally came from BNT barns in the h/j world, and now ride as ammy adults on the Paint and AQHA circuit. We just wouldn’t tolerate this kind of Dog Stall BS anymore. But we understand.

[EmilyM]

I asked for that once when I paid housing splits etc. I was flatly denied receipts And I was laughed at.

[findeight]

Emily, I hope you took your business elsewhere.

[EmilyM]

I did. At the time I was a bit in a trap because I worked in and lived in NYC and this was nice and fairly reasonable distance. I learned a lot. I don’t think that trainer in business anymore.

[Ottb5627]

My trainer always included her horse in the splits for feed stall etc, but not with her other expenses - fuel, hotel etc. her justification was that she wouldn’t be going to the show if her clients were not all going.

[EmilyM]

That seems fair

[Delta1166]

I had a trainer that I rode with briefly who not only made the clients split her horses, but her daughter’s horses. The two of them brought four horses, and four clients each had one horse. So…four clients paid for 8 horses, plus the tack stalls in entirety, etc. She was super shady about it and the show office wouldn’t give us a breakdown, but it was pretty obvious when the bills were double what we were expecting-- and then pretty easy to find out what the show was charging for hay and shavings and do the math ourselves. Between that, and being charged for full training when one of her students took my horse to show for three weeks (while she also charged that student full training), none of us were with that trainer for very long…

[Baybear]

If the general consensus among the OPs barn/clients is that this was billed without disclosure by the trainer then maybe a meeting between trainer and clients is needed. The trainer should understand that it’s as much about disclosure and transparency as it is the dollar amount. There are so many variables and personalities that feed into these situations too. There are some trainers that are so good, nice and accommodating you want to help cover their expenses, and then there are those who seem to thrive on “creative” billing hoping their clients won’t question the bill.

[poltroon]

In my opinion this goes beyond transparency. If I am directly paying for the trainer’s horse’s expenses, I am a sponsor, rather than someone paying for a service that benefits me. If the trainer doesn’t want to treat that relationship like a sponsor, then they should clean up their financials.

I appreciate that this may feel petty to some, but it’s actually really important in every other walk of life. This is basic business ethics. The idea that I should pay extra because the trainer decided to bring their horse to the show is absurd. It’s ridiculous even if you tell me about it (though of course not disclosing it is far far worse).

Charge the clients a day fee that is fair and covers your time, and pay for your horses out of that. True expenses (like your hotel) are fine to split among the clients. I wouldn’t expect my employer to cover my ticket to Disney during a Florida business trip and I wouldn’t expect my clients to pay for me to show my own horses unless they had specifically offered to do so as a sponsor relationship and/or a personal gift.

[touchstone]

If I may gripe about one additional related practice: Additional trainer horses can also substantially raises the price of housing splits. If your trainer is bringing four or five of her own horses to the show, then you, the customer, may be paying not just for their grooming stall and hay and shavings, but also to house the additional groom the barn brings to care for them.

[Impractical_Horsewoman]

Yet another reason why so many trainers make the core of their business model going to as many shows as possible!

While I understand the rationale of why trainer hotel bills and meals are usually picked up by clients, the idea of the client being used as an involuntary sponsor for the trainer showing a personal (or sale) horse is pretty unsavory.

It’s also the kind of thing that people don’t likely know about when they become part of a barn, and would be afraid of questioning for fear of creating bad blood. Like, no one would leave a barn over this, so even a not-totally-shady trainer has an incentive to see if he/she can get away with it.

[Baybear]

You bring up a great point of likening this to unvoluntary sponsorship, and as others said, it adds a whole other dimension if the trainer has multiple horses. I have to wonder with IRS changes if clients will be issuing trainer’s 1099’s? Maybe it’s already being done?

[pony_grandma]

Hahaha I wanna be the fly on the wall when that arrives in the mail

[Midge]

“ I have to wonder with IRS changes if clients will be issuing trainer’s 1099’s? “

Why would clients be sending 1099s???

[trubandloki]

@Midge

“ I have to wonder with IRS changes if clients will be issuing trainer’s 1099’s? “

Why would clients be sending 1099s???

Sponsorship.

[meupatdoes]

Lawd almighty, as a bookkeeper who specializes in escrow accounting, boy howdy would I never trust a horse trainer of all people to keep my $10k separated from everybody else’s $10k.

And no, quietly putting your horse on the split so your clients can pay to develop your young horse for you is completely unacceptable. Period, end stop.

[meupatdoes]

How is this standard?
How on earth would a trainer justify having her clients pay for her personal horse?

Will she also be giving the clients a cut when the horse they invested in sells?

[ghst13]

Granted I don’t ride with a BNT, but definitely not standard at my barn. When the trainer brings their personal horse they pay their portion of horse splits (mainly stall/tack stall because we bring our own feed/hay/shavings). When the BO’s horses go to a show (BO doesn’t ride), they pay their share of the splits as well including housing for trainer.

[Midge]

But that is not a business expense if the client does not have a business.