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Greetings all,

Firstly, we would like to thank you for being part of the Full Moon community– whether you’ve been here for 15 days or 15 years, we appreciate you as both clients and friends. We are extremely grateful to be home to so many amazing Fullmoonians!

Since our inception, and even more so since the pandemic hit in 2020, we have done our best to keep our business thriving without increasing our prices drastically– The June 2020 lesson price increase and the December 2021 board increases were necessary for the sake of catching up with inflation.

From 2014 to 2023, minimum wage has increased 82.76% (from $7.25 to $13.25). As you can imagine, most people don’t want to make minimum wage, especially if they’re working in the extreme heat or cold and mucking stalls for a living. This makes hiring (and keeping) staff difficult; we’re lucky to have some incredible staff members that love their work and our horses, and are able to look past the lower wages. That being said, we cannot rely solely on these select few, and we want to be able to pay our staff (old and new) fair, livable wages.

On top of that, we need to “pay” our other “staff”– our lesson horses. They work hard and are paid with treats and love, but they also require grain, hay, vaccinations, hoof trims/shoes, dental work, medications, and more. The prices of feed have increased anywhere from 24%-63% since July 2020; the price of hay has gone up around 30%. We are fortunate to have vets and farriers that work just as hard as we do to keep prices from increasing, but at the end of the day, we all can only control so much. Materials cost more. Labor costs more. Electricity costs more. Diesel costs more.

Therefore, we need to increase our prices so that we can catch up with inflation and continue to provide our horses with the best care and our clients with the best services. We will do what we can to make the transition in prices easier. Please read the following for more information on changes for lessons & boarding, as well as Working Student rate increases.

Lesson Program Rates

Effective January 1, 2023:

• $60 – Practice ride (30-40 minutes; maximum of 1 per week)

Effective February 1, 2023:

• $450 – Set of 9 Group Lessons (50 minutes)
• $55 – Single Group Lesson (50 minutes)
• $200 – Set of 3 Private Lessons (30 minutes)
• $75 – Single Private Lesson (30 minutes)
• $95 – Single XC Private Lesson (30 minutes)
• $75 – Single XC Semi-Private Lesson (30 minutes)

*Please note that the $5 XC horse-use fee (for those that do not full-lease or own their mount) will not change.

For riders that are in more than one lesson per week:

The 10% discount will be taken off of any “secondary” lesson set of equal or lesser value to the “primary” lesson set. Secondary lesson set costs will be:

• $405 – Set of 9 Group Lessons (50 minutes)
• $180 – Set of 3 Private Lessons (30 minutes)

Pre-Purchasing Lessons

In order to make the transition easier, we will allow each rider to pre-purchase up to 2 Lesson Sets at the current rates. Pre-purchases must be made no later than Jan. 31, 2023. (These Lesson Sets do NOT need to be started/ridden by Feb. 1, 2023, but must be started no later than Aug. 1, 2023.)

Each rider is eligible to purchase ONE of the following options:

1. Maximum of two Group Lesson Sets (at $405 each)
2. OR Maximum of two Private Lesson Sets (at $170 each)
3. OR One Group Lesson Set (at $405) and one Private Lesson Set (at $170)

Working Student Rates

We appreciate our Working Students for all of their hard work– it’s not easy to be a 12-year-old with an after-school “job”! In order to offset the increased cost in lessons, we will give our WSt a 16% increase. The following new WSt Rates will apply for all hours earned 1/21/23 and after:

*Adults with a weekly shift (who seek and find coverage for any shifts they cannot work) will be at the new rate (20% increase). Adults who “sub in” or do not find coverage for more than one shift per month will stay at the current adult rate.

Board Rates & Boarder/Lessee Requirements

In order to keep up with the rising costs, we will also be adjusting our board rates and boarder/full lessee requirements as well. Because we increased the board rates for some last year, we aim to keep those that were affected the same.

Effective January 1, 2023

• $10/mo Dewormer charge (as previously announced)

Effective February 1, 2023

• Lesson Requirement: All boarders/full lessees must be enrolled in a minimum of two weekly lessons through the farm, at least one of which must be a group lesson.
• $1,000/mo – Non-Program Board Rate (horses that are unable to be used for any FMF activities)
• $800/mo – Non-Lesson Board Rate (horses that are not regularly in lessons, but are available for use at FMF’s discretion)
• $600/mo – Lesson Board Rate (horses that are available for full program use at FMF’s discretion)

Again, we wish to iterate that these changes are out of necessity, not out of greed. We want to be able to continue to provide you all with the best services around for many years to come. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to us.

Thank you,

Karen and Stephen Fulton

Full Moon Farm