Hi, 

This summer I have a couple people lined up to put miles on their horses. I will not be breaking horses, most will have 30-45 rides before I get them. How much would you charge/pay for this? Also, I am planning to start a few on the pattern. What would you charge for 30 days? How do you factor in the feed and board for them? I did this a few years back but of course can't remember how I charged for it. Any advice if appreciates. Thanks in advance!

Around here people do $200 base board cost plus $25 a ride. So a month could be pretty cheap or pretty expensive depending on how much the horse got rode. It works well in places with a ton of snow in the winter or this past summer when we had so much rain and flooding and it was hard to ride horses everyday. 

"Everytime you get on a horse you are either training or untraining."  I'm not sure who said that. 

With that being said.  My colt starter/rope horse trainer is excellent.  He charges me $750 for 30 rides, he rides 5 days a week.  He is a hand.  To me, he is dirt cheap.  I'd gladly pay more for that kind of quality.   So if you are good, I'd charge more.  If you are litterally just sitting on them, $10/ ride is probably too much.  

I pay $450 for 30 days for a guy to take my horses and cowboy on them. He doesn't start them and they need to be ready to go out. He puts a good handle on them and they get life experience. 

Honestly he's probably not charging enough. 

I charge 600/month for feedlot and ranch miles. That includes feed. 

Personal opinion, but I do not think I could send a horse to someone "just to get some miles."  Any time someone is on a horse they are "training" it, good bad or otherwise.  That being said, I pay my trainer $850 a month.  And that's for starting colts, tune ups or just getting miles.  Good luck.

Heck around here guys charge at least $500-600 a month to feedlot one and do some day work with wheat cattle.. that includes hay and feed which neither one will be anything I'd ever want to feed lol! My trainer charges $800 a month but he will ride them everyday, and when you go pick them up they look just as good if not better than when you dropped them off.. theyll know leads, will have tracked cattle and at least roped the hot heels a time or 2, even does that with the big jumper warmbloods he gets in.. I always get a kick out of seeing him in his cowboy hat and boots riding a gigantic warmblood in his roping saddle swinging a rope. He gets them good and broke. They also know how to drive in the round pen. Which I'm a so grateful that my horse knows how to do to this.. with all this rain and mud that's really all I've been able to do with him to get him fit instead of just making him run in a small circle.  

Just a thought...but a lot of horses that "need miles" are horses with issues. Outside riding is one thing but miles to me is a horse that needs some serious wet saddle pads. If that is the case, make sure you get paid enough to make it worth your time. 

We pay $850/no to our guy who cowboys on them, checks cattle, doctors, etc etc. if the weather allows and we want him too he'll rope a little as time allows.  They come back with a work ethic and if he says the stupid is out of them, I trust the stupid is out of them.  That's his price whether he's starting them or just riding them.

IMO I want a horse to get using experience. I want them pushed into uncomfortable situations vs just loped around an arena or trail ride.  I think it creates a confidence in them down the road.

Very true. I actually won't do the feedlot thing. Seen too many that think they are hands and they just ruin a good horse. If my horses need more than just started and before we take them on (the older I get the less I want them before they are near finished lol), I want them pasture rode. Not necessarily wet pads, but just used. Have a job. Get them traveling across the pasture, up and down hills. Get them tired and go again the next day so they know if they screw around, it will just be that much harder on them tomorrow.