CindyLand Farms

03/17/2024

Two months of training gets you a balanced voice command pony 🥰❤️🐴

11/19/2023

Started the day working hard, ended it having fun ♥️ how good do the girls look!

10/18/2023

Thank you Wayne and Gina!

Congratulations to Deborah of CindyLand Farms
In the purchase of "coyote". We wish you both many years of wonderful memories.

10/07/2023

Safe to say, spoiled. Celebrity absolutely loves her girl Lana ♥️

09/23/2023

Celebrity had a special visit today 🥰
Our gentle giant, she is sweetest girl ♥️

09/03/2023

"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!

08/31/2023

🥱 **yawns** ahh being a kids horse is just such a hard job 🤣 but really, DeeDee is living the life !

08/31/2023

♥️

08/30/2023

Another one! Mama duck is doing her job well!! 💕🦆🐣

08/29/2023

It was time- another hair cut for Miss. Fergalicious ! Under that hair you can tell she is getting a little chunky 🤫🤭🐴💕

08/29/2023

08/28/2023

Big accomplishments, congratulations to our rider Madison! 🏆💛🐴

08/23/2023

Having the best time 💕

08/22/2023

We made some extra yummy horse treats today!! 🐴♥️🍪

08/21/2023

There was new life born early this morning on the farm today!
He OR she could be black/white or black/gray/white! Mamma’s name is “Odessa” like the Odessa Calla Lily flower 🌺 We are taking all -flower- related name suggestions for the little one lol 🪺🐣🖤

08/19/2023

08/17/2023

♥️🐴

08/15/2023

🦄💕Vision Boards 💕🦄

08/15/2023

Can summer last forever?☀️💕🐴

08/10/2023

The girls 💕 Is having too much fun possible? It is here!! 🐴

08/10/2023

We must be dreaming! 🌈☁️🦄💕

Our availability is limited for our last 3 weeks of summer horse camp! Get those spots saved ⭐️

08/09/2023

We are looking for one or more volunteers to help us with our camp activities as our CITs will be heading back to college. To start as soon as possible!

Experience for responsibilities range from know nothing, to know something, to know everything!

This is NOT a paid position, however saddle time, lessons, or private training can be arranged for the right person.

Must be at least 13 years old

Thanks in advance! 🐴

08/09/2023

On the count of three yell out your favorite horse!! 🐴 ♥️