CornerStone Stable Pa

01/06/2024

Spreading the fields just in time to really let it soak in 😂😂😂

12/28/2023

🤣🤣

Anyone else relate 🤣🤣🤣

12/27/2023

Mouse in her XXL “stall” for the rainy night

12/27/2023

Ya gotta do what ya gotta do when it’s yucky weather and you’re only a six stall barn 😆

12/24/2023

Naughty or Nice Drifter version…🎅🏼👍🏻

very understanding of bad hair days

12/24/2023

Naughty or Nice Jessie Version - zero confusion

I don’t care what Autumn Kathleen says (clarification: she says Jessie is a saint and not for sale), I’m trying to figure out how to keep her! Less than a month and I love, Love, LOVE her so much 😂

12/24/2023

Naughty or Nice version Stella….verdict still out…😆

12/24/2023

Naughty or Nice Bourbon version…😇😇😇

12/24/2023

Naughty or Nice Dibs version….

Not a lot of guessing with this one 😈 but he does fool you often enough to make him lovable

12/24/2023

Naughty or Nice? Santa may have as much trouble deciding as I do!

Mouse version….

12/22/2023

Mouse is 14.2(.5) hands! So she is officially a horse!

So we “officially” measured Miss Mouse today, like with a real horse measuring stick with the air bubble level and everything.

SO who would like to weigh in on this mystery,
is Mouse a HORSE or a PONY??

Special gift if anyone can guess her exact height!

No, Clarissa Winter you may not participate 🤣

12/07/2023

Kevin Smurffy will be making a guest appearance at Christmas Camp 💞

12/05/2023

Wonder if he’s for hire to do stalls??

12/02/2023

Just a friendly reminder to be safe! 😆

11/13/2023

CornerStone Stable
🎄Christmas Camp🎄
Friday December 29

11/13/2023

This is a wonderful app!! I’ve used it to check what’s in season before I ride as well as keep myself on track when riding the game lands. The map is so good! STAY SAFE!

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pennsylvania-game-commission/id1438034223

FYI - Union Co is Zone 4D

Just a reminder to everyone enjoying Pennsylvania state parks and forests this fall that there are several statewide Sunday hunting dates in November.

Be seen and be safe while enjoying Penn’s Woods! Learn more about Pennsylvania hunting seasons ➡️ https://bit.ly/46Pgrp0.

11/09/2023

Visitor in the pasture this am. He was palling around w these two. Little spike buck. Couldn’t get camera open quick enough.

11/04/2023

Welcome new boarders Data & Bourbon!
Kristen

10/27/2023

A real photographer would have loved this ride so much! I did my best. 🤷🏻‍♀️😂

10/24/2023

Waiting for your brother to get done cantering….Brianna Berger

10/20/2023

Yea I stole it 😂

10/15/2023

Lesson barn organization/clean out! If it doesn’t fit a current horse, it’s out for sale! Come buy this stuff! 🤣🤣🤣

Rail and Trail Tack Swap! TODAY- SUNDAY!

‼️‼️‼️

10/09/2023

First time hitched up in two years, I’d say he remembers!

Thank you Harry, Diane & Pat!

10/08/2023

Looking for advice!

What’s your favorite clip job for over the winter?? And WHEN do you usually clip? Trace/Irish/strip? I probably don’t want full or hunter style. 😂

Will be for horses used a few times a week for lessons, night time in barn, daytime out with blankets and neck covers.

Photo of my last victim before she met the clippers, whose clip job turned out pretty well actually….

10/04/2023

I’ve joined 2023 & Venmo 😂

10/03/2023

These “brothers” 😂😂😂 two odds in a pod

10/01/2023

Local community. I am so so sorry. The weather going back into the 80’s is my fault. If ya get it ya get it 🫠🤦🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️

10/01/2023

Dibby’s debut in the dressage arena went really well. Those giant white cones and people in a horse trailer (yikes!) caused a minor snaffoo at C 😂 but he settled nicely and got to work scoring in the 70’s for both Intro c and training 1. He was even a good sport and had a last minute rider hop on after her horse presented lame last minute in intro b.

Thank you Sarah for trailering today! Great event Sarina!!

Longshot Stables LLC & Katlin Doolittle he’s doing great!

Intro Test C (first time in the dressage arena)

09/29/2023

Love having this family at our barn!

"Piper was born with a rare genetic metabolic disorder called Citrullinemia. After not remaining stable, even in the hospital, her doctors decided the best prognosis would be to list her for a liver transplant. At 6 months of age, Piper received her first liver. Unfortunately she had many complications and ultimately started rejecting her new liver and she was relisted. Thirteen days later, a second call came. This surgery went perfect. To see this child thrive and live life so happily is a feeling I simply cannot explain. She would not be here if it wasn't for both of our donor families and I am forever indebted and thankful for them making such a hard decision.

Piper is now turning 12 in October and is 11.5 years post transplant. She absolutely loves therapeutic horseback riding and has really taken to Dressage, which she has won PA State Champion the past two years in! I can never express my gratitude enough to our donor families being so selfless. Because of them, Piper is thriving and carrying on their legacy." -- Sarah H. 💙💚

09/25/2023

Morning after being stalled overnight while it rained…..Mouse actually rears up at one point and Bella does in fact canter and get the buckaroonies! No surprise who the ringleader is!

09/18/2023

Heard this at church today & LOVE IT

09/09/2023

Just decided to go! It’s actually not too late!

Help us plan for this weekend, get your entries in for our Adults Only show!

09/05/2023

Mid day rinse off & cool down! Cuz it be HOT! 🥵🫠 Some seemed more appreciative than others, photos of two that weren’t super impressed but still accepted the gesture. 😆

09/04/2023

Great article! Come ride with us! Finding ways to make horses available to anyone is why I keep horse numbers in direct proportion to pasture space! Seems like you’d want to stuff those pastures full of animals to increase monthly income HOWEVER: low horse numbers means the ability to rotate pastures, which means enough grass to feed off of all summer (hardly touch hay over the summer) while preserving good quality grass for years to come. Also means the ability to make hay off of those pastures during their rest phase.

"I didn't think riding lessons would cost that much..."
Well. We wish it didn't. But, if you don't own your own horse and you ride a school horse (horse owned by a riding barn), there is a harsh reality behind the expenses.

As the cost of living for everyone increases, our horses are no exception to that. The days of $5 60lb good quality hay bales is over. Grain is no longer $15 per 50lb bag. So how much does it actually cost today (in 2023, in North East America)?

Let's break it down...
Hay $12 per 40lb bale - 1 bale / day = $360 / month (no access to pasture + free choice hay)
Grain - $30 / bag - 1 bag / week = $120 / month
Bedding - $7 / bag - 3 bags / week = $84 / month

(For reference, these numbers used to be $5 / bale, $15 / bag, $5 / bag )

So far, for just basic supplies for your horse we are at $564 (in comparison to 5 years ago it being $270), excluding any labor costs or facility costs....let's keep going.

Your stall fee (mortgage/rental) will run $350 / month on the low end (with an indoor arena). I have seen dry stall fees cost as much as $500 as well.

The following fees would be divided amongst horses on the property...

Insurance $50 / month
Manure removal / arena/facility maintenance $50 / month on the low end
Utilities $75 / month

Without labor, we are at $1,089.00

Let's say your horse gets a total of thirty minutes of care each day (turn in, turn out, stall cleaning, water bucket refills/cleaning). That 30 minutes probably doesn't include blanket changes or any additional services aside from general care.

Good barn help will not get out of bed for anything less than $20 / hour, so totaling per month your horse would cost $300 per month, assuming your horse didn't recieve more than 30 minutes of care each day. If you run your facility plus teach, you can't be in 2 places at once, so some help is necessary, especially if you don't cut corners in your care.

We are now at $1389.00

We have not accounted for vetting, farrier, or supplements. Let's do that now.

Farrier - $250 every 5 weeks (low end) so let's call it $200 every month (my personal farrier charges $275-325 for 4 shoes, but to keep Facebook from resulting in uproar over expensive shoeing costs - I've estimated it low)
Vet - assuming your horse is healthy annually you would spend maybe $700 so let's say $60 per month if divided
Supplements - that tried and true schoolmaster you ride probably needs some joint support, so let's buy a lower end joint supplement at $50 / month

We added an additional $310.

Your school horse now costs $1,699.00 per month, and there are many more costs associated (like your tack, equipment, tractor, trucks, trailers, etc)

Okay. So how does this school horse pay for himself? Let's say the horse does two 1 hour lessons per day, 5 days a week. That means the horse can produce income 40 hours out of the month. To break EVEN (theoretically, because any horse owner knows the pricing listed above isn't even as comprehensive as it should be) you would need to make sure the horse worked twice a day, 5 days a week, and charge $42.50 per lesson.
Realistically, If you do not overwork your school horse, the horse is probably working 30 hours per month, which would bring us to having to charge $60 per one hour lesson to break even.
But wait....Our instructor hasn't even gotten paid yet! So let's give them $20 per hour, which of course is low. And for reference, that would mean your instructor makes $600 per month.
Now we're at $80 per lesson.

So when you call any facility, and their lesson price is $80 or less, think of this cost break down!
We don't do this for money. We do it because we love to share our passion with the next generation of riders. We wish this weren't the case financially, like the rest of America and how the economy is. We want so badly to have horses be affordable for everyone, but these are the real, true, uncensored costs of owning a horse today. If riding schools don't charge what they need to in order to stay afloat, I fear one day the horse industry will not have school horses, and the only people who will be able to ride are the ones that can afford horse ownership outright, and then pay for lessons on top of that.

*disclaimer* these prices are based on our experience of pricing in the industry. Pricing may vary based on care and diet provided to horse, area of the country, and specific horse requirements. This pricing is assuming the horse is receiving top level but basic care (free choice hay, quality grain, etc). There may be cheaper options available and there may be more expensive options available. I'm sure there will be many comments that say "those are low" or "those prices are high". We are happy to share receipts as these are the legitimate prices we pay!

09/04/2023

08/26/2023

September lesson schedule is almost (but not quite 😉) full. Message for your spot!

08/26/2023

MOMMY & ME classes forming! Geared towards 2-6yo with an accompanying adult. Classes will include grooming, tacking and games games games. Matching pants not required 😆

08/20/2023

For everyone who has been asking how 💞Claire💞 is doing at her new home just got this picture today from Tamara which pretty much says it all!

07/21/2023

Must be a mare…..