Maybe you can explain this to me.

There is a family that rides at my barn who has this same complex. It's a high end barn, but tack up etc is usually not included, but they have 4 horses there including one that is for sale for $225,000, so they get treated differently than the rest of us. Lol.

There is a panic when the barn gets a call that they are on their way and the grooms rush to get their horses ready. If they show up without notice and have to tack up their own horses, the rest of us just sit back and chuckle at their efforts. (yes, we stop chuckling and help them, eventually) The younger girl can't put a bridle on and doesn't know how to work a girth. Seriously? There aren't too many parts to a girth!!

I just feel bad for them. They don't really seem to have a close relationship with their horses. They hardly pet them or talk to them when they are working with them at all. I carry on full conversations with my horse.

Franknbeans is right, it's the "horsey experience" and it's what makes it all as wonderful as it is. (IMHO)

Shoot-if I don't come home smelling worse than my horse AND having more hair/dirt on me than him, it has not been a good day at the barn.

I suppose it would be acceptable for folks that board and have a very limited window to actually ride. You know, folks that are only able to spend 1-2 hours a week at the barn, maybe 30 minutes per trip. I would prefer to be able to ride those full 30 minutes instead of spending 10 tacking up, 10 riding, and 10 untacking.

If that was the situation and a person had the money to pay for someone else to do it, then power to them. Not for me, though.

Wow, for me having someone else tack up and warm up my horse would take a great part of the experience away. I also like to tack up and warm up my horse to make sure that my horse doesn't have any health issues or injuries, etc and it gives us a time to bond.

I once boarded at a Saddlebred show barn. As I had Arabians & didn't show there was a woman there who would not even look at me. One day for some reason she had to untack her own horse. As I walked past her stall she said, "Excuse me, could you help me untack?"
This woman had been showing for years.

I relied, "Are you serious?", chuckled & walk away. Maybe it was the wrong thing to do but at the time it felt right.

About a year later I saved her from dying of ovarian cancer & she thought I hung the moon.
Sometimes fate has a way of making us all equal.

How did you do that, natisha? Are you a gyno surgeon or something?

No, just a nurse.
The woman was having a vaginal hysterectomy for bleeding & had some other symptoms which sounded suspicious to me. ( I have good ears). I butted into the conversation & strongly suggested she have her surgeon check her ovaries too.
After her surgery she told me that he hadn't planned on checking her ovaries but did when she insisted. Turns out one of them had the beginning stages of cancer & he removed it.
She's still alive & healthy today, though I doubt she ever learned to tack a horse.

Screw that, anyone touches my horses or my gear they are risking a punch in the face.

Considering I work full time at two jobs... Having someone tack Fi up and warm her up so I can ride for 20 minutes would be AWESOME. I love spending the time to tack her up and groom her, but I just don't have the time between going from one job to another... So I don't ride at all :(

Fortunately it'll probably only be a few more weeks of it, but I go from 9:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. To my second job from 3:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Granted I have time after my second job to ride, but energy is the issue. Plus I still have to get home and make dinner for the hubby and I.

Aside from the current situation I am in... It certainly is a situation where it is to each their own :/

I've never had anyone provide a service like that for me, and it's almost certain that I will never be able to afford it - but heck sometimes it would be nice.

My life is very limited, because of my job. Often there are times when I could ride if I could get groomed, tacked, ride, untacked in time - but I only have an hour, and that includes travel time.

Personally to me, this does not mean that the person is not a horseman. Of course, some are not, but many are. How many Olympic level riders do you think are grooming and tacking their own horses? Not many.