The Cost of Hiring a Pro

The Cost of Hiring A Pro On The West Coast
January '05
By Steve Crowder

The Cost of Hiring A Pro. It is what it is. It is during this time of the year when I hear all the whining about how much it costs to play polo. These are things I often hear some comments probably came from you.

“Your ruining polo it’s to expensive.” Or “No way. It can’t cost so much.” “He or She is not worth that.” “You’re driving me out of polo. It’s just too expensive.” “I cannot afford to pay that.”

These are all things we hear everyday. Maybe it is true, that you cannot afford polo or that you do not want to pay what it costs to play. When you look at the math, the equation of the cost to play polo, then the rates pros charge and the cost of polo will make more sense to you.

First you have to look at your own expenses. As a patron/player, you have to pay a groom to care for your own string of horses. You have the costs associated with feeding and shoeing your horses. Hauling expenses and vet expenses can also be factored into the equation. Maybe you do not treat your horses as well because it costs too much? I do not know, but I doubt you do that and if you do, I hope payback comes quick.

The second part is the cost of the pro. There has always been a broad spectrum of price ranges that patrons are paying pros. Some patrons pay their pros well and they understand why this is necessary. There are a handful of pros earning a fair wage in the desert this winter, but there are many who are not. This seems to be true for the West Coast in general.

I often get the idea that most Polo patrons hate paying pros in this part of the country (West Coast). Why is that? I do not know. I could venture to guess that there may be some envy. Maybe the patron would like to play polo for a living? Or maybe the patrons think they are better than the pros? Or maybe they just think polo should be free. Why is this? It could be as simple a reason as they are just not aware of the true costs associated with polo.

When these same patrons achieved a goal in life where they could afford to play polo were they charging the same amount when they first started their business? I doubt it. Do business owners sell an apartment building, homes, cars or land for what they paid for it? Absolutely not. They sell or provide products and services to earn a living. Is that not the same thing a professional polo player is doing, earning a living?

Here is a simple cost breakdown of what it costs to be a professional polo player on the West Coast. These numbers are intended to show what expenses the pros have to pay to maintain a string of 6 horses including their own living expenses. If patrons are paying less than $3500 per goal, how are pros surviving? Just take a look at these expenses and you will see why a new minumum rate per goal needs to be established.

Professional Polo Player Expense Chart West Coast - Indio, CA
Description of Cost - Based on the cost of living in Indio, CA and playing low-goal polo. Prices will be higher for San Diego and Santa Barbara, especially for housing and food. This cost sheet is based on 6 horses. For 4 chukker polo this is accurate. For 6 chukker polo there will be more horses than 6 in the pros string. In addition, if a pro is playing high-goal polo these numbers are not realistic.	Low End	Average
Stalls- (not including shavings) based on $400 - $600 per stall for 6 horses spread over 3 months + Tack room ($400).	$1200	$1600
Groom or Game Help. Low end is game help at $40 per game based on 3X per week.	$480	$2000
Feed - Based on $5.50 per horse per day. 6 horses/30 days.	$990.	$990
Shoeing every 5 weeks. This is based on $75 per horse per month.	$450.	$450.
Vet or Vet Supplies/Medicine based on $100 per horse	$600	$600
Housing - On the low end shared housing in Indio, CA.	$600	$1200
Food, gas, and misc. Based on cooking at home, not driving much. $15.00 - $25.00 per day.	$450	$750
Health Insurance (1 person)	$200	$200
Car Insurance (1 Person)	$100	$100
Car/Truck Payment - Some pros don't have payments.	0	$350
Car Maintenance (oil changes, tires, breakdowns, etc.)	$50	$50
Cell Phone & Utilities	$150	$200
Total Cost per month (not including budget for new horses, leasing horses, misc. tack and equipment or savings)	$ 5,270	$ 8490
Budget for New Horses or leasing horses when needed. A pro who plays low goal (8-goal or lower) may be able to purchase a new horse for $4,000 - $10,000. If a pro plays 7 months out of the year and buys 1 new horse per year at $7000 a budget of $1000 per month is needed. This is just an example to create a budget. More horses may be needed if they lose a horse during the season to injury or death. If a horse is injured during a season they may need to lease a horse.	$1000	$1000
Budget for New Tack, Horse Blankets, Stable Supplies, Shavings, and other misc. items.	$500	$500
Budget for savings or for months when not playing during the off season. If a pro plays 7 months out of the year, they need enough money to support themselves and their horses for 5 additional months. 6 horses at pasture ($125 ea.), housing and living expenses, insurance, etc. This would total $2300 - $3600 per month x 5 months and divided over 7 months.	$1642	$2571
Total Cost per month	$8841	$12,561

This is a fairly low budget which does not include any budget if the pro has to support a family, buy clothes, furniture or other misc. items that may be needed during any given month. The car payment is low if a pro has a truck and/or trailer payment. There is no savings for travel (which is often required to move to the next playing job), moving expenses, and a number of other living expenses. In addition, we did not account for the 4 weeks + prior to each season when the expenses go up during the legging up of the horses. We just counted the down months as pasture expense + living expenses.

If a pro has more than 6 horses, these figures would need to be increased to accommodate a second string or additonal horses. Keep in mind this budget is based on the costs of playing and living in Indio, CA at Eldorado Polo Club. The costs for stalls and living expenses are much higher at other Clubs such as San Diego and Santa Barbara. The stall fees alone are more than double and some are triple the costs of Eldorado Polo Club. Living expenses are $1200 to $2500 per month at other Clubs on the coast.

You do the math. Maybe you’re right. If we cannot pay for it, we should not play. Just let the patrons play each other, but would that ruin the sport?

We play this sport because we love polo. Not because we think we are going to get rich off of it. Many patrons often say “It used to be a $1,000 per goal for a pros salary.” This is a good example. Gas used to be .50 cents, houses used to be $500 per month, we used to sell new homes for $100,000. Today gas is $2.00 min. per gallon, rent is $1500 per unit and $500,000 for a cheap house. So what if a pro used to charge $1,000 per goal. The costs have gone up to hire a pro and so have all the other costs of living.

I do not get it. In Florida the pro fees are higher, the stalls are triple the cost when compared to the West Coast, the polo is growing and the prices are growing. It’s easy to say for a 2 month deal, up to 5 goals, it’s a minimum of $5,000 per goal per. month on the low end. Why is polo growing on the East Coast and going down here? It’s not because it’s too expensive. It is something else. We pay less in California to play polo. We do everything cheaper and we still have less good polo. Why? Are the Clubs giving that much less to the sport? Are the Patrons really not interested in good polo or better facilities? Or are the Clubs just not pushing the social aspect of the game that much?

On the West Coast it is a fair price to pay a pro $3,500 per goal minimum for a decent player in California who treats his horses like his friends and his livelihood. This price per goal will go up depending on the level of polo you are playing, the pro's skills and the quality of his string of horses. So please spread the word to the various Clubs and patrons on the West Coast. It is recommended that a new minimum be established at $3500 per goal in low goal polo on the West Coast.

Just do the numbers yourself. Let us know your opinion. Post it on the PoloZONE message board.

See ya