I ride at a barn that is pretty fancy, in terms of the horses who live there and what shows they get ribbons at. If I ride four or five horses I sat on a cool quarter million that day. I also tack up and put away (including a quick rinse and the legs dried) all four or five, unless there is a time crunch with customers coming to see them or my trainer offered me to do five but I have three hours or my trainer wants to school me over fences on two before it rains. Then the groom will help me out.
As for the boarders, not a single one of us has the horse tacked up or put away for them (even though it's technically included in sales or training board). Everyone grooms their own. Everyone puts their own away. Everyone cleans their own tack (if Enrique doesn't get to it first while you are putting away the horse- he is fast!).
No one leaves a mess in the grooming stall or picks the horse's feet out all over the aisle without sweeping it up before they get on.
Everyone shows up at 4:30am to bathe their horse before he gets on the truck to go to the horse show (instead of just meeting the trainer at the show).
At shows, everyone helps each other out holding horses, tacking up, bringing water, going to the show office. Usually one person goes and gets all the numbers and leaves an open check while everyone else unloads and gets everything set up around the trailer. That sort of thing.
I did all the braids at Middlesex, except for one teenager whose parents wouldn't let her show unless she braided herself.
Another boarder has her own little barn at her place where her retired/trail horses live, but her show horse lives at the show barn.
There was one customer who came who was used to a barn where the groom handed her the reins and then she rode and then she handed the reins back to the groom. She lasted about two and a half weeks before my trainers found her someone else to ride with.
So yeah. The horses are super expensive. It is a fancy schmancy barn that goes to top shows and does well.
But it's not a princess place. Sure, sometimes the groom tacks up for us if we have a lot to ride or don't have a lot of time. Yes the teenagers can be a little annoying but they still tack up their own, put them away, and put in bona fide saddle time.
Every last one of us could walk into a completely unfamiliar barn of 15 horses at 7am, and with just a glance at the feed chart and the name plates on the stalls and halters, get the chores done by 11 without any further instructions. And even work the tractor and drag the ring.
There are definitely princess barns where board is $3,500 a month, but I find that is much rarer than the general preconception would assume. There are certainly people who are much more princessy about their one $12,000 horse than someone else who has three $100,000+ ones and tacks them up herself.
Yes, money helps, but it is often because money buys the show quality horse and the BNT lessons and the show entry fees, not because the riders are paying someone else to take care of the horse because they don't know how to do it themselves.
Georgina Bloomberg, btw, does not have a maid. She has like seven horses worth a million+ a piece, but she does her own laundry and dishes. Dad buys the horses but apparently she pays for all her own riding expenses with prize money, sponsorships and horse sales. Oh and she went to and graduated NYU while she was at it.
Money always helps when horses are involved. The costs just never stop. I think having an expensive horse doesn't make you a princess. It's another mentality that could easily be achieved by someone with a $5000 horse. A million dollars worth of flesh in one day? I'd be shitting myself.
As for the boarders, not a single one of us has the horse tacked up or put away for them (even though it's technically included in sales or training board). Everyone grooms their own. Everyone puts their own away. Everyone cleans their own tack (if Enrique doesn't get to it first while you are putting away the horse- he is fast!).
No one leaves a mess in the grooming stall or picks the horse's feet out all over the aisle without sweeping it up before they get on.
Everyone shows up at 4:30am to bathe their horse before he gets on the truck to go to the horse show (instead of just meeting the trainer at the show).
At shows, everyone helps each other out holding horses, tacking up, bringing water, going to the show office. Usually one person goes and gets all the numbers and leaves an open check while everyone else unloads and gets everything set up around the trailer. That sort of thing.
I did all the braids at Middlesex, except for one teenager whose parents wouldn't let her show unless she braided herself.
Another boarder has her own little barn at her place where her retired/trail horses live, but her show horse lives at the show barn.
There was one customer who came who was used to a barn where the groom handed her the reins and then she rode and then she handed the reins back to the groom. She lasted about two and a half weeks before my trainers found her someone else to ride with.
So yeah.
The horses are super expensive.
It is a fancy schmancy barn that goes to top shows and does well.
But it's not a princess place.
Sure, sometimes the groom tacks up for us if we have a lot to ride or don't have a lot of time.
Yes the teenagers can be a little annoying but they still tack up their own, put them away, and put in bona fide saddle time.
Every last one of us could walk into a completely unfamiliar barn of 15 horses at 7am, and with just a glance at the feed chart and the name plates on the stalls and halters, get the chores done by 11 without any further instructions. And even work the tractor and drag the ring.
There are definitely princess barns where board is $3,500 a month, but I find that is much rarer than the general preconception would assume. There are certainly people who are much more princessy about their one $12,000 horse than someone else who has three $100,000+ ones and tacks them up herself.
Yes, money helps, but it is often because money buys the show quality horse and the BNT lessons and the show entry fees, not because the riders are paying someone else to take care of the horse because they don't know how to do it themselves.
Georgina Bloomberg, btw, does not have a maid. She has like seven horses worth a million+ a piece, but she does her own laundry and dishes. Dad buys the horses but apparently she pays for all her own riding expenses with prize money, sponsorships and horse sales. Oh and she went to and graduated NYU while she was at it.
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A million dollars worth of flesh in one day? I'd be shitting myself.
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