Maybe you can explain this to me.

I would never get someone to saddle my horse! When I break Breeze, I will be the one saddling her, I will be the one riding her. I don't get how people allow other people to saddle and ride THEIR horse! What if someone did something wrong, that affected your ride, it is not their horse, if you don't do it yourself, why even have a horse!

4 of the 6 barns I've ridden/worked at have that service, and in 2 of them its included in full service board.
I don't like to have my horse tacked up for me, that's something I do myself. However, when I was riding 10-12 horses a day, they would be tacked up for me, and I did like that. It would take too much time if I had to tack up all of them, so I understand the need for it there. But a owner who rides one horse? I don't see the need for that, but it is almost always offered in my affluent, sho
W barn area.

I also see a lot of riding horses before the owner, especially in junior riders. A lot of the horses I rode were just warmups for the owner, get them ready so they can trot off as soon as they get on, and don't have any crazies in them. Again, I wouldn't personally want this, if I think my horse is going to be psycho then I'll lunge him, not have someone else ride him. But so it goes with my part of the country xD
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My cousin pays $1400 a month to board her horse at a fancy barn. She shares a groom with one person and she texts him when she is going to ride and he gets her horse ready. She came and stayed with me for two weeks. I leased her a good old down to earth ranching horse. Went from her top hunter horse to a dusty old western ranching horse. She had a lot of first those weeks - first time loading a horse in a trailer, first western ride, first beach ride....

I know someone who used to be a groom at a fancy barn. The grooms would prepare the horses and the owners would come in and look at the 6 horses and not know which was theirs. If the grooms didn't hand them their horse, they would just go up to a random horse thinking t was theirs.

That is sad to not even know which horse is yours.

I used to work at a barn like that when I was a kid. It was pretty insane. The people who import $100k horses for their kids, get a new horse every year, that kinda thing. Their tack got cleaned for them every day, the horses groomed, tacked up, untacked, everything. The goal was that these people would pay up the butt to NOT have to touch their horse....incredible.

Horsemanship starts in the barn... period! Knowing everything about your horse and caring for it is essential. I have a 12 yr old daughter and when she got her first horse it was a foal from one of my mares. She HAD to do the daily care for a long time before she could ride, giving her the skills and understanding she needed to be a good horse owner, well at least the basics. Saddling is still a height challenge but she insists on saddling her own horse and managing her own tack.

We offer full care boarding at the barn I manage but I will not do that for a boarder though some of the trainers who work out there do it for their clients. SMH at not knowing which horse is yours... that is sad.

I use to take lessons from a wonderful horseman... not a fancy barn. He would get the horse and tack up for me. DROVE ME NUTS! I have always had to tack up my own horse right from day one. I went along with it for a little while (maybe a year) because this particular horse was pretty sensitive and had previous issues with being saddled and cinched up that this instructor didn't take lightly. He always did had this very specific routine...and taught me why he did everything the way he did. After having a good concept of his ways and a good relationship with the horse I asked about catching and tacking up myself and we did so under supervision for a bit to make sure there would be no problems. So this was an issue with a particular horse and I certainly would respect that had they said no to me tacking up myself.

I've had to ask for a little help here and there when I've had certain injuries but I always made it clear I really appreciated their help and always returned the favor. Everyone is pretty good about those things where I board, always helping one another with things.

It's nice ... but it just takes away from that time with your horse. There is so much bonding time to be had that gets missed when someone else tacks and warms up your horse.