Yep my jumper (my only personal horse) goes in one class a day, every other day depending on how big we are doing at that show.
Good luck! It’s very rainy up in the PNW so I’m enjoying watching everyone have fun down in the desert.
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Two pro divisions, used to be the ideal that a horse could do both the working and the conformation. I’m assuming you are concerned that they are also doing a third jr/am division?
Thanks. It’s nice and sunny and almost too hot by mid-day, but you probably don’t want to hear that. My horse had an aversion to the Antares building in the corner of J2 today, but we’re having a good time. We’ll probably be back for a week in January; if you’re down then, let me know.
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I believe the concern is two pro divisions + jr/am division + probably an Eq or low derby. At least that’s how I interpreted it - and have seen on the circuit (though typically only from a few notorious programs).
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That’s a lot of jumps, IMO.
I found one very specific example from this week at Thermal. Did the green conformation and green 3’6”.
Day 0
Clear round (presumably 8 jumps on course plus warm up)
Day 1
1 model
2 under saddles
4 over fences (32 jumps in the show ring, more in the warm up)
Day 2
4 over fences (another 32 jumps)
That’s too many for my taste, even without a jr/am showing on the weekend. Especially with how hunters are treated so differently than jumpers regarding lunging and prep.
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I think two divisions is fine for most hunters. Most rarely jump at home and warm up lightly. I realize the professional divisions have lost cache at this point in time, but it used to be standard that a horse that could do both divisions did so, even when they were both 4’. I’ll be old here and say that I don’t like the trend of expecting less, and I’m always happy to see one do both.
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@Tini_Sea_Soldier1, you would find it barely possible to go to 22 horse shows at my friend’s top barn. If I counted right, they went to 26 horse shows this year. 13 weeks at WEF, but you are not allowed to show more than two weeks in a row. Then 13 weeks over the rest of the year. Most of November and all of December off. So, If you went to every possible horse show, you’d hit 22. If you also qualified for the National, that would be 23. I don’t think any client with just one horse has ever done every show.
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When I was a junior and did the hunters mine would go in either the 1st or 2nd Year Greens or in the Regulars, depending on where they were in their training, and then I would come for the end of the week and do Childrens or Large Juniors, depending on where we were in the partnership), and usually equitation. That was pretty normal. They were all green for most of the time I owned them so we did jump at home pretty much every week (sometimes twice when they were very green and still needed weekly training rides), but they were fit and happy.
On the other hand, we didn’t show year-round, and everyone got a break between nationals and the start of the season in spring. Well, I got my stirrups taken away and had to ride whatever my trainers put me on, but my horses got a break! People were just starting to do the “Sunshine Circuit,” when I was a teenager. I think if people are showing all year and do that much every week it’s going to take a toll on a horse, but it is probably going to depend (as always) on the horse and its situation.
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Sigh. Don’t I know it, but there are plenty down here that are doing just that.
It comes out to less than 2 horse shows a month and there’s a lot of barns down here that have scrapped the idea of a month off unfortunately.
I’ve stuck to my guns a bit and quite frankly, things are so expensive and my work situation has pivoted a bit, so the new gameplan is going to look a lot different. 1 show this month, 1 show next month, maybe 2 weeks in Feb and 2 in March. Very light in April/May (maybe one or two shows?) and then the summer and fall will probably look like 6-7 shows max total. So trying to keep the schedule a lot less and closer to 14-16.
With the new addition of an Amateur Championship coming up for 2025, I’m thinking I might make this a lighter year and maybe make it a goal to try to qualify for CC and then go to Am Ch in 2025.
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I keep mine at home and it’s about a $1k a month(Feed, Shavings, Hay, Smartpaks, Farrier, and Vet) per horse and that doesn’t account for my labor or the loan on the barn. I just don’t see how these boarding barns are making it.
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Wait. What? It’s supposed to be considerably cheaper here?
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Than Florida? Yes.
I was just having this conversation with SOs mom on how TX isn’t inexpensive anymore!
Our house is 2 Bed, 1 Bath, and we’ve played with the idea of selling if we want to add kids to the mix. We have just under 15 acres, a large roping arena, and a two stall barn plus fenced pastures. He bought it in 2019 for ~$430k. Its now worth about $650k upon last appraisal (over a year ago), however if we wanted to move and replicate this place for a house with just one more bathroom and the same type of horse facilities… we’d have to up our budget to at least $1.5 million to stay in SOs working area.
A horse trainer friend of ours was looking to move here and wound up staying in California due to unaffordability of the housing. Another friend sold his place here and bought a nicer place in Wickenburg AZ and is paying less for it. My parents moved away from Texas for a year to Temecula CA for my step-dads work. Moved back and are paying more for their house in a small town in S. TX then they were in Temecula.
Add on the droughts, trucking in quality alfalfa (and regular hay lately thanks to the droughts), the amount of $$ you pay in gas because you’re constantly driving, etc etc. Plus all the growth & development, tax increases, etc. The COL has gotten way higher than when I moved here 10+ years ago. If it wasn’t for SO, I’d probably be somewhere else by now.
Oh yeah… I’ve seen multiple barns for full board under $1000. That’s CONSIDERABLY cheaper than most places.
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Seriously? Maybe you addressed it farther up but how? My most expensive horse now that Rory has passed over the bridge is my 30 yo senior on two not-cheap meds (equioxx and prascend), lots of senior, and alfalfa he mostly wastes because he has no teeth but can shake out and eat most of the leafy bits. Even factoring in a share of the mortgage for him and labor, it isn’t even close to that. I keep between four and six at home and it’s maybe that much total. Maybe. No one is in shoes at the moment but still.
Yikes.
Isn’t it crazy? I’m in the same situation, when I built my total was around $420k in 2016/2017. I built a smaller house, for the area anyway, 2/2+office at 1200 sq ft but custom by a quality builder. The nine acre property came with the four-stall barn but I’ve added three large paddocks, sacrifice paddock, arena, hay and equipment building, chicken coop and runs, and garden, but the price difference if I sold this place and bought a larger house on similar land and similar horse facilities would be significant - I could sell for $700k(ish) but I’d be buying closer to $1mil unless I wanted a “aged” house. Lots of value in bedrooms. Heck, I had a time finding a mortgage company at the beginning because their portfolios didn’t support “small houses on acreage.”
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Here is the breakdown:
You can see without labor it’s about $945 dollars per month. Add in labor it’s about $1545. I’m not including payment on the barn or insurance. For the sake of simplicity, I averaged out vet and farrier across a yr to come up with a monthly rate.
These are all top jumpers in heavy work so they eat quite a bit and might get a little more vet work than your average backyard horse.
Can you do it for cheaper yes, but I think this depicts a good picture of a cost for a show horse that is being fed high quality feed and hay.
People need to see these numbers and understand what it actually costs to keep a horse. Thank your barn owner - Trust me they aren’t getting rich off board!
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@TheJenners I am with you, our home boarded horses are no where near $1k/month in expenses.
North Texas area for reference. 2 full size horses and 2 mini donkeys. $475/month covers their Purina grain/ coastal hay. Everyone is fat and happy. No shavings (turned out 24/7 with open access to a barn and fed in stalls, which is mainly sand/dirt footing. No labor costs due to self-labor.
Trims are $45 each, supplements for one horse about $50/month (including Fibrocox). Spring and fall shots $150ish/time.
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Wait, what? $2K in board alone for one horse? In Texas? Is this board at a big fancy show barn?
You can find PLENTY of places in Texas that don’t cost $2K in board alone. I’m guessing it would be harder to find places that cost that much!
I do think most places with decent care are $850-$1,000 for stall board (this would include all hay, grain, shavings, stall cleaning, turnout, etc.)
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I would agree with this. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a place in Texas that costs over $2k for board alone. Maybe it was a typo?
