Halter Breaking....what's the fee these days?

[Gallamist]

What are people charging and paying for halter breaking weanlings?

Weanling untouched since birth....

What do you expect in 30days?

Halter breaking an 'older' horse what would you pay for 30 days of 'training'? What do you expect in those 30 days?

Assuming neither horse has ever had a halter on and minimal handling, interaction with people.

Thanks!!

[JezzaBella]

one millllion dollars!

[mollyr]

I think its between $400-$500 dollars a month

[TradeMark]

For halter breaking, not including board, I doubt it's that high.. halter breaking a baby isn't much work. I would think closer to $150-$300 max for 30 days.. working time periods wouldn't be very long etc. I would expect the foal to be able to lead respectfully, stand patiently (for 10 minute intervals maybe), stand for grooming and pick up feet, or to have feet worked with and touched all over. Maybe even a bit of desensitizing to things on/around their body. I would think it would depend on the baby though, and age etc. I guess it's really whatever someone is willingto pay... If I didn't have time to halter break a baby, I don't think I would pay any more than $150 for someone else to do it for me.

[mollyr]

She said older horse though.
Foals are super easy to work with but a big strong horse would probably take longer

[FehrGroundRanch]

You couldn't pay me enough to halter break an unhandled older horse...lol I halter break all my babies from a young age! Thanks goodness!

[ParkAvenueEquines]

I know of a trainer than charges $250 for horses under 2 years old to be worked with on the ground.


I haven't sent a young horse to be worked with though, I just do it myself.

[Gallamist]

I have halter broke a few older undhandled horses. I really enjoy it and would rather do that then saddle break a horse.

I love the end result when you take an unhandled horse and in 30days or so that horse can totally trust you.

Far more patient with halter breaking then I do actually riding or saddle training.....lol

Babies are generally easier to work with and less time per 'session' is needed but, look at those 2 arab weanlings I halter broke a few yrs ago. They were a bit on the spazzy side and scared of there own shadows and literally tried to climb the walls in the stall when you walked by them.....They did over time get MUCH better and turned out to be pocket ponies. But alot of time was spent with them.

I don't consider halter broke just being able to catch, lead, tie, pick up feet/trim feet. I think there is much more to actual halter breaking then just those basics. I expect all my babies to get into a trailer and get out of a trailer quietly as well, give to pressure, move there hindquarers/forequarters, backup on lead. I'm not saying this all can be done in 30days it depends on the horse and his/her willingness to learn etc etc.

This is one of the mares I 'rescued' a few years ago. Unhandleable, scared of people and pretty much anything that wasn't a horse, had a filly at her side, and would of rather kicked me then let me pet her.

When I first got her. Sept 6 2006




Sept 27 2006


Nov 6 2006






Dec 19 2006






About Dec 22 2006


June/July 2007

[FehrGroundRanch]

Congrats to you for turning this horse around. Look how god awful skinny she was, and those poor feet, poor soul. I'm glad that you came in to her life to help her out! Kudos!

[Gallamist]

Thanks! that's the stuff I really enjoy and take pride in.

She had a huge wall up around her and it took time, patience and consistancy to get that wall to come down. In the end it was well worth it!

[JezzaBella]

She turned out quite cute huh?! I gotta wonder if there's appy in her too. You showed so much patience with her, heck I had to hire a trainer to help me with Bella (she frickin skeered me lol). You should be proud of how healthy she is now for sure Dee. Halter breaking babies is so much easier, I dunno how you even start with a fully grown horse who is afraid.

But yeah, halter breaking babies shouldn't be that much, prolly 150 a month (like Miranda said, babies all have different learning curves, might take longer than a month to get some good with feet and tying etc). But halter breaking an adult horse, that's a different ballpark and I'd charge much more for that. Maybe you should take up roping LOL!

[TradeMark]

I consider backing up, moving away from pressure, yeilding, etc as respectfully working on a lead, and for babies I really don't think that's something to charge more than $150 for because you also have to take into account without your own facility, the owner has to cover baord as well. average $200 for board + $150 for general working ends up being $350 without tax... if you have your own facility and just lacking time to do the work, it better be worth it lmao. Depending on the horse, I wouldn't even take on an older unhandled horse (I'm talking like, a Ghost type of horse) without having skills and experience like Ken, but I assume a horse that is that unsocialized would demand a trainer of that calibre. As for socialized, but just unhalter broke... depends. if the horse is 10 or older... an extra hundred or so would obviously be expected... but a horse under 6 and unhalter broke, but still socialized.. wouldn't be much different than a baby other than size. They're generally still just as willing and eager as a baby.

But again, every horse is different, and everyone is willing to pay a different amount. I wouldn't ever consider paying someone to halter break for me, (again, unless it was a Ghost lmao), but there are other people in other situations

[Gallamist]

I don't think there are many horses like ghost.....LOL...Ghost would come around with some serious consistancy

Liberty was not far from being like Ghost....She just wasn't as 'scared' and she was a bit more willing to try. I have the patience, maybe not the experience that Ken does but, my knowledge and experiences have proven to be sucessful without being cruel to the horse.

So what about stallions? More for a stallion?

[EquineAlberta]

I would rather halter break an unsocialized adult than a poorly socialized one.

I think the $150 for training is on the low side though! I had two horses (yearling and two year old) that had only been handled using chutes and such, and I had to spend a lot of hours following them around and just hanging around them to get them used to being approached and haltered in the paddock. I suppose a round pen would have made this easier...and then lots of time getting them used to having their feet picked up, standing tied and so on. I spent WAY more time with them the first two weeks than I would a "training under saddle" horse.

I guess what I would likely do is set a maximum per month, and then bill per hour (but cap it at the max rate). So for example $150 for board, $350 maximum for training, with a $15 per hour training rate. So if you only spend 20 hours with the horse, then you would only bill $300.00 for the training plus $150 for board. If you spend 40 hours, then you would charge $350 plus 150 for board. Make sense?

Karen

[Gallamist]

Yep! Thanks Karen!

I halter broke some arab weanlings a few winters ago and wasn't sure I charged enough. They were both unhandled and scared of anything and everything....lol

Cried when they loaded so well into the trailer and left tho....lol

[JezzaBella]

I think we both cried knowing they were going back to an uncaring NON horseman of an owner.

[Gallamist]

Yeah no kiddin eh!!

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