I’m toying with the idea of spending January - March 2022 in Florida. My trainer goes to Wellington for the winter, so I’d like to be within a reasonable distance. What are the logistics for arranging this? And how much (ballpark) can I expect it to cost? 50k? More? Less?
The cost of boarding and training is going to be up to your trainer. Dry board stalls run about $1,000 plus a month at least in Wellington and White Fences. If you take care of your own horse, doing your own stalls, paying for feed and hay yourself (hay is insanely priced during season, a bale of timothy can cost $15-$40 dollars per bale). Shavings run from $5.65 to $6.75 a bag.
Housing is pretty expensive in Wellington to rent. You might look at West Palm which has more economical rentals or Royal Palm (which is closer to Wellington than West Palm). You might be able to find a room for rent in Wellington for $1,000-$1,500 month but those get snapped up quickly. I don’t know if room rentals are going to be available because of COVID.
Another option to is rent an RV and get a camper space over in Loxahatchee at Lion Country Safari. You will be pretty close to White Fences.
I am going to guess that training and board at your trainer’s is going to cost you about $4,000-$5,000 a month. Maybe $1,500- per month for an apartment or small condo in Royal Palm or West Palm.
Here are some real estate rental listings:
https://www.zillow.com/royal-palm-beach-fl/furnished-apartments/
1 Like
Thank you, this is just the kind of information I’m looking for.
This is my dream! Although now that I live on the west coast I may adjust it to San Diego vs. Florida. I hope you can make it work, I bet it would be a blast!
1 Like
I go every year, but my situation is a little different because I now own a home near Wellington so don’t need to rent for my own housing.
That being said, the last time I rented (two years ago) I paid $2400/mo for a 2/2 condo in Lake Worth near the water, seasonal rental. Longer term rentals are cheaper per month. It was about 25 minutes to WEF from there.
I would say the most common dry stall price is $1350/mo with fancy private facilities running more towards $2000/mo versus the large places like IDA or Sunshine Meadows.
I would expect at least $5000/mo for full training.
Everything else is also expensive - a set of shoes that would cost me $260 at home are about $600 at the “Wellington rate.”
Travel from New England to Wellington on a truck fill rate is about $1600 each direction. More if you have to truck or fly from further away.
Each season costs me about $12,000, not including the housing cost, factoring in that I drive myself there and back, and my training cost is the same as at home because I don’t pay a dry stall fee.
1 Like
I’m not particularly interested in full training; ideally, I’d like to board somewhere and have my trainer come to me once or twice a week. Do people do that, or are you expected to be in full training at most places?
I’m not particularly interested in full training; ideally, I’d like to board somewhere and have my trainer come to me once or twice a week. Do people do that, or are you expected to be in full training at most places?
That would be an incredibly rare situation for a couple of reasons:
one, it’s very difficult to find a place that will do just one dry or full board stall. I can think of a few that do, including the place that I go to in the winter, but it’s on a space available basis. Preference always goes to trainers/those with multiples/whole barn rentals. I can give you the contact info of the place I go to, but it is about 45 minutes from Loxahatchee to where I am - they look close on the map but it can actually be quite time consuming to get from one end to the other.
two, trainers typically don’t have the time to travel around to multiple places - a few do, but a lot base themselves at a particular place and you either need to get yourself there or already be living there. I have no difficulty getting a lesson slot, but I have to spend the time to get there. It makes sense given that trainers are often there also to compete themselves so by the time they get their 2-3-4 horses ridden and teach 8 clients, there isn’t any time left in the day to spend an hour driving somewhere else and back.
1 Like
Good information. I will see her and ask her about it when she comes back for a few days mid-January.
You may be able to find a trainer that will take a “seasonal” client or help you out with finding a boarding situation/ take you with as a boarder in a co-op kind of arrangement. Worth asking yours or if she can’t do it, asking if she knows someone who might be able to.
1 Like
