Hello,
I am wondering why most barns (at least in my area) charge more for a haul in lesson rather than one held in the facility on a school horse? It seems like it should cost the same or less because the school horse is still available for a lesson. It isn’t costing the trainer any more to have the horse hauled in.
Just curious…
I think the barn owners/managers charge a haul-in fee for the use of their facility.
Some bill the resident trainer directly and the trainer marks up his/her fee accordingly and some pass it on to the student. Either way - the student pays…
Haul in fees cover the maintenance on the facilities. My barn charges $10 for haul-ins for that reason.
Most barns would much rather have a student fully engaged in their program as a paying customer rather than as a visitor using the facilities but not contributing to the overall economy of the barn. Their goal is to get most clients to lease or buy a horse the head trainer likes and then keep it there, preferably in full training and on the show team. That’s how they control quality of horse and rider and how they make their name and their money. So they will add on fees for hauling in to get back some of the money they lose by not having you as a boarder.
One would think that the cost of the facility is built into the cost of the lesson for trainers who pay to use the facility. And barns where the trainer is the owner charge for a haul in lesson as well. Neither of these explanations really explain why barns charge more for a haul in. Isn’t one using the facility with a school horse? And again, the school horse is available for someone else, so the haul in rider is making more lessons available to the trainer, at least for group lessons. None of these reasons seem to justify the additional expense.
Some trainers will factor it into their lesson price, but then you are still paying a higher fee than boarders. They aren’t eating that cost if it’s a barn fee, not a trainer fee.
Boarders are already paying for use of the facility whereas trailer ins are not.
In my experience most trainers are working out of someone else’s facility rather than their own. I didn’t pay more to trailer in when my trainer owned the place, but did when they were using someone else’s facility, even if it was their permanent home base.
Either the cost of lesson was more or we paid a separate arena use fee, sometimes just sticking cash in a box on the arena wall…ah, simpler times.
Whether you think it’s appropriate is moot unless you have a lessonable facility of your own.
You still use the facility, ring, jumps, lights, parking and insurance and they still need insurance on you. You really think it’s good business not to charge you?
[QUOTE=findeight;8970660]
You still use the facility, ring, jumps, lights, parking and insurance and they still need insurance on you. You really think it’s good business not to charge you?[/QUOTE]
This.
The lesson fee is to pay the trainer for their services. The haul-in fee is charged because you are using the facility but do not board there. Facility use/upkeep is factored into boarding costs. By not paying a haul in fee, you would essentially be using the arena for free…which is pretty much unheard of in my neck of the woods.
It’s pretty much standard practice. So whether or not the arena use fee is built into the lesson price or charged separately, you will likely pay it no matter what.
The lesson fee is to pay the trainer for their services. The haul-in fee is charged because you are using the facility but do not board there. Facility use/upkeep is factored into boarding costs. By not paying a haul in fee, you would essentially be using the arena for free…which is pretty much unheard of in my neck of the woods.
It’s pretty much standard practice. So whether or not the arena use fee is built into the lesson price or charged separately, you will likely pay it no matter what.
Some places do charge more for using a school horse. So in order of increasing expense, it goes boarder lesson on own horse > school horse lesson > haul-in.
Probably what you’re experiencing is that trainers don’t really care much for haul in lessons; it’s not part of their business model. So they set their prices a little higher to “cover” for the fact that a haul-in client doesn’t usually purchase the other services they offer. School horse clients may eventually show, half-lease, buy, etc. But haul-in clients don’t offer much auxiliary income beyond lesson cost.
This seems to be a phenomenon in the H/J world. I grew up in the breed show world and there was no such thing as a haul in fee. Everybody paid the same for lessons, but if the horse was in full training you got so many lessons per month free. The A show trainer I rode with in TX did not charge a haul in fee - I hauled in and lessoned on her horses, and all were the same price. I appreciated that. However, when looking for a trainer I did see quite a few that charged the haul in lesson clients more, which was strange to me as well. I thought it would be extra to use a lesson horse.
Don’t forget when you haul in for a lesson, you are effectively taken by up a spot that could be utilized by that school horse that is now sitting in the barn because there’s now no room in the lesson! Plus, haul in riders generally have not as much "investment " if you will, in a particular trainer or program and many times just disappear! You may not, but many do.
And, as others have said, you’re using the facilities (not just the arena but probably wash rack, bathrooms, etc why shouldn’t you help with the cost of the upkeep? Trust me, these fees are built in to school horse lessons you just can’t see them!
[QUOTE=LaraGardner;8970651]
One would think that the cost of the facility is built into the cost of the lesson for trainers who pay to use the facility. And barns where the trainer is the owner charge for a haul in lesson as well. Neither of these explanations really explain why barns charge more for a haul in. Isn’t one using the facility with a school horse? And again, the school horse is available for someone else, so the haul in rider is making more lessons available to the trainer, at least for group lessons. None of these reasons seem to justify the additional expense.[/QUOTE]
Just reread the answers posted above. It’s really not about school horses or lessons. More about the overall economy of the barn.
There are lots of different financial arrangements for school horses and lots of different financial arrangements for trainer/barn relationships.
When I set foot on a place with my horse, I’m adding to the wear and tear with my trailer and with my horse’s hooves. I’m not contributing to the barn community. The barn owner has some risk for me to be there, some additional liability that is already folded into boarder prices.
Boarders pay a lot of money to use the rings - they don’t want to be pushed out of their spaces by visitors.
Honestly, I’m pretty grateful to get to haul in to a nice facility and use it. I don’t mind paying a little bit.
We have two community arenas in my area. Both require an annual membership.
If a trainer owns the facility, sometimes they don’t charge a fee. But then, they are getting the money from the lesson and they have a relationship with me and they have already made a judgement that I’m worth their time and trouble and I’m not going to be disrespectful of their facility. When I go to a barn that is separate, the barn owner probably doesn’t know me and doesn’t know that about me.
Now, certainly my budget is what it is and the more it costs, the less likely I am to use it, that’s just life. But barns, especially nice barns with nice facilities, are expensive to build and maintain and barn owners have to eat too.
I think it really depends on how costs are structured at a given barn. It’s quite typical for a barn to charge a fee to riders who trailer in, though it is variable as to how it is charged (to the trainer or to the student directly). Outside trainers also typically pay a fee to come teach or train at a given barn, often structured as a per lesson fee.
Now, sometimes lesson barns charge for the use of a lesson horse, but sometimes it is built into the cost of a lesson and there is no “extra” charge. After all, the cost of keeping a lesson horse is a fixed cost whether they are being used for 2 lessons a week or six (or more, for lower level lessons). Once you keep a lesson horse, it is to the benefit of the barn to have it used in a regular fashion as that keeps it in a regular work routine, so there’s no “advantage” to the barn to have a lesson student trailer in their own horse. So it doesn’t seem odd to me that a barn wouldn’t charge extra for the use of a school horse.
Back to the trailering in fee: trailering in a strange horse to a facility does, in some cases, entail some hassle for the BO. People dump their muck from their trailer on the lawn, back over landscaping, park in a manner that blocks people in, or hand graze their horse on a lawn area that isn’t intended for such. There could potentially be extra insurance fees, and there are also some health risks to having strange horses coming and going.
There are a few different fees to consider, whether you pay them all separately, or all rolled in to one fee. Who owns what, and pays whom, may contribute to which scenario comes out most expensive:
Lesson fee
Facility Use fee
Horse Use fee
Bulk/Package/Pre-pay Discount
Boarder Discount
Among these, it’s not uncommon to see different tiers - lower horse use fees for beginner lessons, and lower lesson fees for introductory level instructors.
Too bad the reply with quote is still MIA…but some are making the assumption that what is customary in their area and experience is the norm nationwide and it’s not.
I paid haul in fees in Texas to use an indoor at a QH place. With Western horses (my Paint, a couple of AQHAs and a Half Arab). In 1980-1986.
The many barns I’ve boarded in since around 1970 that offered training/lesson services charged haul in fees, that was Western barns, Hunt seat Barns, one ASB Saddle Seat barn and a couple of Arab barns. Both coasts in the middle. They were pretty nice, well kept barns with respected trainers and teaching programs.
Far as school horse pricing, most charged extra on top of the lesson fee. Especially the more serious show oriented programs. The ones that ran big public lesson programs with lots of school horses did roll the school horse price into the lesson but you paid one way or the other. Only been in a couple of barns with the big school horse programs and, far as I know, they didn’t do haul ins, too busy with the group programs. These are dying out these days anyway, too expensive to keep decent schoolies that rent by the hour.
Ive been a good, responsible haul in and I’ve been a full time boarder client so see it both ways. But waited for a late arriving haul in to finish up, taken their horses out of my stall, shoveled their crap out of the groom stall and had them park me in. Then there was the one who, for some reason, tied her horse to a faucet and left it, thing satback, snapped the pipe and knocked the entire barn H2O out for hours, these people were not beginners either.
Of course not lumping all haul ins in the same pile having been one. But as a full time boarder client paying 1k for board and $60 bucks a lesson on my own horse? Listening to a haul in whining about a 25 ring fee or that trainer cut her lesson short because she was late? Doesn’t sit well. If I was a BO or trainer, I don’t think I’d offer them except to long time show clients who keep at home.
OP, if you do not like the fee then look elsewhere.
If your response is “But I like this trainer” then you have to simply decide if this trainer is worth what your lesson costs you. Forget what the boarders are paying this trainer, is the price fair for what you are getting?
I do not see a haul in fee as unusual or ridiculous. If the trainer does not own the barn then the barn needs to get paid for the ring use, trailer blocking the parking lot, the complaints their boarders will have for not being able to have full use of the ring, etc.
Even if the trainer does own the barn, boarders typically pay 25-30 a day (board divided by 30) for board to support operating costs and the arena, jumps, footing etc. etc. etc. plus whatever lesson/training fee system goes on top of that. A boarder taking a lesson on their own horse brings in more income then a haul in.
Using self as an example, my 30 a day board plus a $60 lesson means $90 gross income from me that day. No reason at all a haul in shouldn’t expect to generate something close to that.
It is a BUSINESS. It’s not a hobby for the BO and trainer.
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