The deal is in the details.
The deal is in the details.
Making a profit in the horse business is difficult. Sooner or later most every stable owner considers alternative ways to obtain their personnel and save money. There are three basic ways to obtain help, (1) hire an employee, (2) take on a partner, and (3) lease your facility and contract with the lessee. At the worker level (Groom, Stable Help, Barn Manager, etc.), horse people are usually hired as employees. The other two options are usually considered for upper level management people, typically a Trainer or Manager/Trainer. Here are some of the pros and cons of each approach to obtaining a Trainer.
(1) Hiring a Trainer as an employee gives the facility owner the greatest amount of control over how and when things will be done. The facility owner takes the majority of the business risk and should be in line for most of the financial gain (or loss.) The owner’s horses and needs come first. However, hiring an employee can require a financial commitment the owner is not ready to make.
(2) Sometimes when an employer is not prepared to hire a Trainer on salary, they will consider a partnership. Typically, the employer offers to provide the facility in exchange for allowing a Trainer to run his training business out of the facility and in exchange for training the facility owner’s horses. This approach is usually a “recipe for disaster.” It is very rare for this kind of solution to work. As a partner, the facility owner is no longer taking all of the business risk and must give up some of the control over what happens in their facility. But, as a partner, the business decisions still materially affect the owner. Arguments over who will maintain the facility and how are common. Training of the facility owner’s horses and providing for the owner’s other needs usually end up last on the list. Any savings in cash outlay is usually more than offset by the trouble this kind of arrangement causes.
(3) Leasing a facility to a Trainer at “arms length” for a fee can be a viable solution. Under this arrangement, if the owner has horses to be trained, he or she simply becomes a regular client of the Trainer and pays the normal training fees. Business risk for the facility owner is largely eliminated, so that the loss of control over business activities and decisions has minimal impact. The owner’s horses get equal treatment with other clients. The financial impact of the arrangement is minimal and predictable for the owner.
