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Post by familyfavours on Oct 14, 2014 15:40:06 GMT
My brother has asked if he can have his horse with me as due to work cannot look after at a yard near him, I am happy to do this as he is a fairly good doer 14.2hh Highland gelding and he is happy for him to winter out as I have field shelters. However how much do I charge as fair price for my time etc, I poo pick daily, hold for vet, farrier etc, supply feed and hay and feed - so basically he is going to be looked after as if he is my own and my brother will pop over maybe once or twice a month at weekends probably more in summer, to ride and occasionally poo pick. I buy feed from local saddlers so not cheap and my hay is £35 a round bale abnd I feed adlib. What is reasonable amount a week. I think I would spend about 40 mins a day poo picking after gelding as that what it takes me after my mare, then all the other stuff plus he is rugged so rug changing etc, its not that we can just turf away and forget! we only have a small paddock so I need to maintain daily
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Post by Depends!! on Oct 14, 2014 18:37:15 GMT
How much your brother is prepared to pay and how much you want to help! Also supposing you wanted to go on holiday and your brother volunteered to look after your horse how much would you pay him? Obviously the price of feed, hay etc and any damage to be repaired by your brother but how much would he have to pay if one a yard? Sounds as if you really can't be bothered to help and its gong to be more hazzle, also depends how many other horses you have - if its only one then probably they will be pleased to have some company!
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Post by sjw87 on Oct 14, 2014 19:15:06 GMT
40 mins a day poo picking after one pony? Takes me that to do a field with 6 in!
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smalley
Full Member
Horses lend us the wings we lack
Posts: 419
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Post by smalley on Oct 14, 2014 19:45:14 GMT
I would say definitely ask him to pay the cost of the hay and feed his horse has, so if his horse shares the hay with one other he should pay for half of it. Then discuss how much he is willing to pay you for the extra jobs and how much you want and you can decide what's reasonable.
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Post by brindlerainbow on Oct 14, 2014 19:47:53 GMT
You can't charge family for holding a pony for the vet, farrier and to change rugs!!! If the pony is a good doer it shouldnt need a massive amount of feed if its getting ad lib hay. By all means charge for hay and feed if it needs it but I wouldnt be looking to make money out of a family member. I have my daughters retired pony here, he is no bother I don't need to pay rent as its my own yard so theres absolutely no reason for me to charge her for him being here. She will pay for feed/bedding/haylage from time to time without me asking. Today she bought a £70 rug for one of my ponies. It's swings and roundabouts, we help each other out, it's what families do
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Post by Carrots&Mints on Oct 15, 2014 10:33:06 GMT
If i was in your situation I would only charge for the feed and haylage, I wouldnt charge for putting rugs on or holding for the vet, families help each other out.
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Post by topsy14 on Oct 15, 2014 10:54:49 GMT
If i was in your situation I would only charge him the cost of hay/feed for his horse. 40 minutes a day poo picking after one pony seems pretty excessive to me :/
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Post by Toaster on Oct 15, 2014 11:41:43 GMT
I agree with a couple of the comments above regarding charging down to the last thing
If you do feel that rug changing and holding for the vet should be payable maybe set a monthly figure factoring this in without detailing it
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Post by Louise Dixon on Oct 15, 2014 12:38:24 GMT
You can't charge family for holding a pony for the vet, farrier and to change rugs!!! ) Why on earth not? This is not a child or parent, it is an adult sibling with a job, who has made their own choice to have a pony. They will only have to pay someone else to do it if this arrangement doesn't go ahead, I certainly couldn't afford to be looking after someone's horse for no return, no matter who they were, I need to use my time to earn money. I am not suggesting that you rip them off, but your costs and time need to be covered. I think you need to work out how much feeding it is going to use and the cost of that, then an average of how much time you think you will spend looking after it (although I do agree that it is VERY dirty if the poo picking takes 40 minutes!), put a price on your time and add that on. As someone else suggested, explain it as a weekly or monthly amount to cover feeding, poo picking, rug changing and any other additional handling needed, and then let your brother make the decision. Also explain what is not included, probably vet, farrier, worm counts/wormer, so you are very clear. I would estimate something like 15-20 minutes a day for poo picking and changing a rug, so say 2 hrs a week, if you charged £10/hr that would be £20/week on top of feed costs, then maybe add another hour per month to cover what ever handling the pony needs.
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Post by no name on Oct 15, 2014 12:50:21 GMT
I would charge around £20-£25 a week, he may well be family but unfortuatley money doesnt grow off of trees and even family are having to pay there way otherwise you will end up out of pocket.
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Post by brindlerainbow on Oct 15, 2014 14:48:40 GMT
Louise Dixon, we are all different. If a friend asked me to hold a horse for vet/farrier then I certainly wouldn't bill them for it and neither would I for a family member. Lets face it, unless the horse has serious medical issues and is needing the vet on a very regular basis, then like most horses it will just be annual teeth/flu/tet jabs, and a farrier every 6 to 8 weeks. The OP didn't state whether the pony was shod but if not in regular work probably not so a trim which would take 20 minutes at the very most. If you can't do a favour for folk whether they be family or friends, well then I don't know. Im not saying she shouldn't charge for feed/hay etc, and 40 minutes poo picking is excessive for 1 horse but yes if she wants to add a bit on for her time then fair enough. The pony is living out with a field shelter, it's not on full livery.
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Post by I've done it on Oct 15, 2014 15:49:29 GMT
I've had my nieces horse for a couple of summers, living in last summer and out this. I've never charged her for doing him, mucking out, changing rugs etc. she bought her own feed or paid me back. I have my own hay and didn't charge her for that, wouldn't have thought of it. I held for farrier etc (he's a swine). I did consider danger money for mucking out as he's a very stinky boy and I needed a peg on my nose, lol.
If it were me, I'd be charging for hay since your buying it in and feed.
Having said that if he were to keep his pony elsewhere it would cost him, depends on whether you're doing a family favour or as a business transaction.
If as a favour expect a big Xmas present!!
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Post by Louise Dixon on Oct 15, 2014 17:57:02 GMT
Louise Dixon, we are all different. If a friend asked me to hold a horse for vet/farrier then I certainly wouldn't bill them for it and neither would I for a family member. Lets face it, unless the horse has serious medical issues and is needing the vet on a very regular basis, then like most horses it will just be annual teeth/flu/tet jabs, and a farrier every 6 to 8 weeks. The OP didn't state whether the pony was shod but if not in regular work probably not so a trim which would take 20 minutes at the very most. If you can't do a favour for folk whether they be family or friends, well then I don't know. Im not saying she shouldn't charge for feed/hay etc, and 40 minutes poo picking is excessive for 1 horse but yes if she wants to add a bit on for her time then fair enough. The pony is living out with a field shelter, it's not on full livery. Maybe I sounded a little harsh, I just thought that when this isn't the ocassional helping out a family member, which I would be more than happy to do as a favour, but taking on full time care and responsibility, and giving time every day over a sustained period, the poster certainly shouldn't feel guilty about asking for money to cover their time. I literally couldn't afford to do that on a daily basis, and it could be the original poster is in the same position. If you've a pony of your own and want to go away and so on, you can choose if it is a short enough time to leave it unsupervised or arrange for someone to check and so on, if you've responsibilty for someone else's, you just can't do that, and that all need to be factored in.
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Post by familyfavours on Oct 20, 2014 14:54:31 GMT
Thank you Louise Dixon!
I take 40 minutes to poo pick the paddock each day due to back problems, plus its a decent sized paddock on a slope, not easy for me! also 24 hour out on it on good grazing produces alot of poo! I spent alot on re seeding field this year, weedkiller each year, bought new fencing, extended field shelter and bought more rubber matting to accomodate extra beastie. I know this is family however I run a small yard, I do not go on holiday, I do not make much money, this horse has taken a space for one that I would make a small profit from, I also pop on him when he is being naughty and in the past have schooled him for an extra £5 a week (he has been with me before, normally it happens over winter when there is more care involved...) i just feel slightly taken for granted, I never go away as have commitments, fair enough my choice, however yesterday he was over at my parents which is next to my place, he never offered to come help out - he was tired...plus it was wet and wild out, he let me go out poo pick, feed etc including his horse and just asked once I had gone back into my parents house for dinner how his horse was......when he has offered to help I ask only for poo picking to be done and this is grudged whilst he is doing it. His horse has actually been here 3 months, I have had 3 poo picking sessions covered since his horse has arrived. In meantime I have done everything else. I know that he is a fair weather rider/owner. I asked about how much to charge as was starting to feel taken advantage of. I charge £20 a week. I spend alot more on 2 childrens childcare a week so I do not take advantage of my own parents. His horse is not just turfed away in a nice big field and forgotten about, he is well looked after like he is one of mine so it does take time and money to look after properly. £20 doesn't go far especially when he turns up to ride and leaves and I do all the chores for what I do not think it alot of money when you fork out alot to keep things going.
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Post by brindlerainbow on Oct 20, 2014 18:00:43 GMT
Ah well it wasn't clear from your original post that you were running a yard and that his pony was taking a livery space!! Or that you were riding it. Or that his horse was already there and by all accounts he is a bit of a lazy free loader...... If he is at your parents house and there are jobs to do around the yard then kick his ar*e into gear, tell him his horse needs mucking out, feeding etc. Being a fair weather rider is fair enough but there is no such thing as a fair weather owner when you own a horse. It still needs looking after whether its a lovely summers day or when its tipping down with rain and gale force winds. By letting him get away with doing bugger all you are making a rod for your own back. Tell him of he wants the pony with you on full livery then it will be £75 - £100 a week, DIY can be £20 but you expect him there every day to do his horse.Doesn't sound like he is particularly interested in the pony so maybe ask him whether he does in fact want to own a pony at all.
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Post by I've done it on Oct 20, 2014 20:48:57 GMT
Ah, your further explanation sheds a different light on it! He's taking advantage of your good nature, I'd be charging him. Agree with Brindlerainbow!!
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Post by familyfavours on Oct 21, 2014 14:25:10 GMT
He doesn't live near us, 50 miles away, was meant to come over at weekends to do stuff, that happens once a month and then any help can be grudged! My parents say because they have in the past helped me (I used to need help in the winter as not safe on yard myself when I used to have a rented place in the middle of no where) I should be doing the same for my brother, however that means when he does roll up and too tired and would rather take my mum out to lunch than sort his horse that thats ok, as he works long hours and too tired to do it or as my parents have said, well you are getting paid to look after his horse. He earns 4 times what I do and is saving money on not needing to commute to a local yard or pay someone to do full livery or fully looking after a grass kept horse. He can be kind with his money for gifts but to me its the time I spend or loose spending on his horse for not alot. I wouldn't mind so much if I was reimbursed and not taken for granted, I think £20 to have sole charge and sole care over someone elses horse is cheap at £20 a week.
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Post by viking on Oct 21, 2014 15:29:25 GMT
I'm left wondering why your brother wants a pony ?
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Post by familyfavours on Oct 22, 2014 15:24:51 GMT
so he can ride him in the summer or ride when he feels like it! cheaper than going to a riding school with no stress or commitment as some other mug is doing the hard work. I feel torn as he is my brother and family is family however I also feel taken advantage of. I have been told that I am being selfish when I have tried to refuse taking his horse back whilst he is having a crisis and can't care for him (usually winter) its tricky as I feel bad even asking what I should charge him but I can't keep doing this, its happened for ten years now. Apart from 2 winters I have more or less had him back here for every one!
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Post by viking on Oct 22, 2014 15:44:29 GMT
In which case he is taking unfair advantage of you.
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