Emerald Pine Stables

11/05/2024

Congratulations to these two pairings…it was Calista’s 1st show and Olive’s first show and they both came home with Championships. 🙂

10/07/2024

09/20/2024

"Remember me when you ride those 17hh warmbloods and sports horses, remember me when you are grown and competing in earnest. I may not be the fanciest horse you will ever ride, but I was the best horse I could be when you needed me. Remember me."

~ The first pony's plea

08/29/2024

We had quite the storm blow in yesterday afternoon, but look at this beauty afterward!

07/29/2024

Last chance to get to Horse Camp! Just one more left, we welcome repeat Campers as well.
The BEST way to end the summer!

07/28/2024

Colette Restaino
Congratulations to my clients who all had a fabulous show! ❤️

07/28/2024

Congratulations to our Emerald Pine Stables girls; they all had an incredible show!! ❤️
Lillian with Small Talk, Parker with Vodel and Zoé with Chandler Z all managed to win multiple Championships!! Parker was 3 of 24 in the 2’ Medal and Zoe 2 of 19 in the 3’ Derby with scores of 85 and 89!! These girls were nothing short of impressive.
Enjoy the pictures that tell the story. Thank you to the families that support your daughters in the equestrian sport, it takes a village.

07/26/2024

If anyone needs a horse shipped, Leonard Horse Transport is the BEST I have ever used! I highly recommend them!

07/25/2024

Congratulations to Jillian on the purchase of Johnny! I am so happy for you and I look forward to supporting and teaching you both and helping you reach your goals. ❤️

07/09/2024

07/08/2024

New paint too!
Beautification! ❤️

07/08/2024

09/03/2023

Sharing….
“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 bale - 1 bale / day = $360 / month
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)

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.

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
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!

Also, as a side note, we are full of clients with a waitlist, which is something to be thankful for in this economy. We have a cancelation policy, monthly tuition as payment (don't typically accept students if they don't ride weekly), and offer a weekly horsemanship class free to all students. Our clients find value in what we offer and we are very thankful for that! Some may think our policies are crazy, but we find them necessary to survive.

08/27/2023

Sharing this!!

Dearest Riders,

Please let me remind you of something very important. Horse showing, riding and training are insanely difficult. If you have a crappy ride, a less than stellar show ring result (or if you made your trainer want to pull their hair out today), it just means there's more to learn. The people who had good rides today are not exempt from disappointing rides tomorrow. They also have bad days and, if they're very experienced riders, they've had a whole bunch of bad days.

There will always be someone out there on a more talented horse, someone with a bigger bank account, someone who never struggled to learn to sit the trot...life isn't fair. You probably can't win the lottery or grow 5 more inches of leg. You can, however, wake up every morning and be thankful that you're able to ride horses. Work hard at becoming the best rider you can be with the body and the bank account that you have right now. Work at being the rider your horse wants up there on his back. Your horse's opinion of your riding is more valuable than any judge's opinion could ever be.

08/17/2023

Honda Accord 2006
LX V6 loaded options, including, leather, sunroof, heated seats. Great A/C, no mechanical issues. Well maintained, in the family since it was new. Newer tires too. 168k miles. posting here for friends to see first before listing officially for sale. $5,200.