Page 72 - Libro_MariaA_26agosto

María Alejandra Romelli

groom should have experience and knowledge in handling horses, and know
the basics of horse health and nutrition. You really don’t want to have a groom
you can’t trust because you know he can feed your horse with the wrong grain,
hit him, or even forget to clean his stall.

Price

Before making a final decision, you should consider the monthly maintenance
fee of the barns you liked best. Every barn has a different management. This
means that there are some barns where you have to pay for everything separa-
tely, while there are others where your horse’s maintenance fee includes hay,
farrier, or even some basic veterinary services. When choosing your barn, keep
in mind that your horse’s maintenance must be paid monthly. Always try to find
a balance between the price and the quality of the services that are offered in the
barn to find the place that best fits your monthly budget. Remember that expen-
sive doesn’t always mean better. You will find some very expensive barns with
gorgeous stables, while there are other cheaper barns where stables are not so
nice, but they have large pastures where you can turn out your horse every day.

Now that you’ve visited several barns, you should know which one you liked the
most. However, in order to be one hundred percent sure that you are making the
right choice, writing a ranking table such as the example below may be very helpful.
On this table, you should include all the considerations that are most important and
necessary for you. Then, you will grade each one of them in a ranking from 1 to 10
(being one the worst and 10 the best). At the end, you add all the grades that each
barn got, and the one with the highest score will be the most favorable choice.

Groom
Location Pastures Stalls Training Price Total
quality
Barn #1 8 4 9 10 8 3 42
Barn #2 5 5 6 7 9 6 38
Barn #3 3 10 5 8 7 7 40

On this case, the Barn #1 would be the most favorable choice because it got the highest score.

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