Trainers, about your prices?

Question

Trainers.... and even barn managers, what dictates your prices more? The horse, or the owner?

PS - Be honest!

Answer 1

Nothing specific dictates my prices...  I charge 30$/session at home (if the horse is boarded with me) and 40$/session to travel out of town over 15 km.  Its based on exactly what it is, a session.  I dont charge by the hour either.  Not always is an hour long enough to accomplish a set goal.  I must say though, although I dont advertise that I will back horses - I will for certain people, if I were to get into that my prices would slightly go up.  I like to call that "safety pay" hahahaha

EDIT**

Of course for family friends its different.  But no, I WOULD NEVER up a price just if I knew I had a client with alot of money.  I have a client now who is "well off" so to speak and thats all anyone has ever done is totally taken advantage of her.  I would never do that and I never have. Thats bad business and its manipulative.  Iam in this business of riding and training bc I love it and its a true passion.  Not to make a buck off of someone who is loaded.  I want all the horses I work with turn into something "special" and when I work with something once, Ive already attached my name to it. Every job I do with every client is absolutley to the best of my ability.  Of course we have our downer days and have clients that we arent as big of a fan of as some..but heck! Thats the world we live in! And I do it for the love of horses and to see the satisfaction in owners when they feel safe with their own horse, or they can finally ride through a problem etc.  Thats what I do it for.  To assist in creating a relationship - thats what I like to see at the end of the day more than the $$ I make.

Answer 2

I think what dictates the fees charged are the skill sets being taught to the horse.....in the word of working cow horses, three skill sets are taught; cutting (the herd work) reining and the fence work...taking that cow down the fence at full speed and turning it off the fence; then circling that cow up.....plus just breaking out that horse....so, a lot of trainer time involved....you'll pay board and training fee and a cattle fee for a total of $1,600 per month and that's on the cheap end...costs a bloody ton to get a horse to the Snaffle Bit Futurity.  

The price is also driven by the area where you live...the Californians will pay a ransom having a two year old prepped for this event.  If the trainer is the likes of Bob Avila, you're going to pay even more for his skills.  These trainers won't "cut a deal"...if you're going to play with the big boys, you'll PAY for the privilege.   I'm not aware of any exceptions here.   If there is a fee reduction it'll be a swap for another service or piece of new equipment.  

I think the key to this is the area in which you live....if you live in "bum, you know what Egypt", you cannot get by charging a ransom of money as the area will not support it.   Most of the cow horse trainers and pleasure horse trainers that I know live near an area that supports some very wealthy people.  

Vets may "milk" the rich but I think there's a limit as the next vet down the road may be equally skilled and charging a few dollars less...guess who'll get the business?  Forget industry notoriety...what will be spred around is the con they placed on  their customers; they ever lose a few horses and that word gets like wildfire....that's what will be discussed.   It's not the Prima Donna vet with his hand in your pocket.  Very wealthy people are not stupid; they're very aware of those who may try to rip them off....they're wealthy for a reason, they don't throw money away,  And they talk, don't think they won't tell their wealthy buddies as they will, of any rip off attempts.

Most of the extremly wealthy will have majors in marketing, econ, poly sci, and business admin.  They know more than most about how to make money and how to spend it...they aren't in business to lose money to rip off artists.  

Prima Donna owners usually have a reputation that preceeds them and won't be taken on board with really reputable trainers...or they may be tolerated for a very short period of time and then dismissed.   Their trouble making isn't worth any price adjustment just having them around....too much trouble.  Most trainers cannot risk having the rest of the clients upset by one or two bad apples....good paying customers will leave if the situation is not corrected.

Been there on this one and have seen it go down more than once.

Answer 3

I personally do not have set rates......every client is an individual and every situation is different and negotiable. I have a minimum. I generally dont have shady clientele anymore as most of our training is done on referral and word of mouth. That tends to lead potential clients to pay a little on the high side as they know our work We only do specialty training as in starting and finishing AQHA for show. Lots of times...especially lately....cuz im sick     all we do is finishing work and let someone else do the starting.

Answer 4

I'm curious on this one.  When I have worked with a trainer, the fees were based on time spent, or on a monthly boarding and training fee with a certain number of hours working with the horse and/or me.  Is there another way of doing it that I haven't heard of? These fees were not individually determined, but standard for everyone.

For midnight....how did you justify it with the owner?

Answer 5

When it comes to training, I've always charged one flat rate per hour.  If the horse needs a lot of time put in on them well of course you're going to put in more hours.  The only time the price increases is added fuel costs if I'm travelling out.

Answer 6

I charge by time spent - when I had horses to school I'd have a set charge (weekly) for care, then additional for riding / work time.  A difficult horse for an hour costs the same as an easy horse for an hour - unfortunately, people don't tend to send their easy horses for reschooling!  Unless it's for a specific goal such as show production, and often I didn't charge a penny for the show horses because I didn't consider it a job.

Answer 7

I charge per hour therefore it would be based on the horse.  If I don't get along with the owner I don't take on the horse for I train both horse and owner.

Answer 8

Honestly, I charge everyone based on the amount of work I do, not the client. I'm upfront about my prices, especially in today's economy. There are people who can't afford me, but fortunately there are people who can.

One thing I do, however, is sit down with prospective clients and run through the prices for every service I offer. We discuss how many lessons they want or how many times they need the horse ridden or lunged. I show them how much it would be a la carte, and then I offer a package rate. If I have someone who's willing to pay me for a month of services up front, I take off about 10%.

Whenever contracts are drawn up, I also make them initial the section that says I have the right to increase prices at my discretion. I travel to a few clients' private residences, and I've raised my prices with the cost of fuel, but I try to keep things fairly consistent. I'm definitely not dramatically higher than anyone else in the area. In the past, I had to increase prices when working with "dangerous" horses, but now most of the horses coming to me are just the ones I want to work with, those with real "A" show potential.

I have taken on working students before, usually juniors who get a few lessons in exchange for help at home and shows. I've also worked out deals with close friends for their horses, but usually on a barter system. For example, I had a very good friend who was going through a rough time. She was injured, couldn't ride, and needed her jumper in a program so he wouldn't drop down in the rankings. I agreed to ride him while she recovered, and she did some book-keeping for me in exchange.

I never lower my prices if there's a horse I really want to work with, but I have in the past struck deals with owners over competition fees. If I really want to compete in a certain class and the owner doesn't want to pay the entry fee, I'll pay it, but instead of getting a cut of the winnings, I get to keep the whole thing. Again, this is something I discuss with them in advance and have signed in writing.

Answer 9

When I used to school, break and produce it was the horse that dictated the price more than anything. A difficult horse would cost more than an easy one etc. However, owners I didn't like much sometimes found a larger-than-necessary bill on their doorstep lol!!