Typical prices of riding lessons?

[Solo2]

Can anyone tell me the going rate for a riding lesson, in the south east of the UK? My 10 yr old twin sons used to ride every w/e up until last spring when their riding school closed down. They had a half hr lesson together - so not a group lesson but private 2 to 1. I think a month's lessons booked in advance used to cost about £189.99. That'd mean together they got 4 to 5 lessons each for about £23/£24 per lesson.

Financial problems have prevented me finding them a new riding school but it's become clear that DT1 is desperate to ride again and has been secretly crying about no longer riding. This has been really upsetting for me over Xmas, as we've also had a stressful year as a family.

I would like to see if it's at all possible to get them riding again but notice that other local schools charge something like £27.00 each for a half hr lesson - ie £54.00 for twins - which I couldn't afford on a weekly basis. Is that the normal price these days?

If I found anywhere cheaper, would that imply the school is less good? The most important aspect though is that the instructor is kind and a good teacher. They had mixed experiences at their last school, with public humiliation after falls etc, leading me to stop group lessons and do 2 to 1 lessons instead. DT2 has Asperger's and DT1 - who used to be a bit of a daredevil riding, lost his nerve after falls and humiliation and is now definitely a nervous rider.

Finally, if they didn't ride more than about once every 3 to 4 weeks, would they still progress? They're not interested in riding for competition or anything like that - just for fun.

I had a half hour private lesson a few months back and it was £29.The dds used to go to another riding school and I think that was £24 for an hours joint lesson.They did go every week,because it was their only hobby,but when they couldn't have lessons the same day and dd2 needed to be moved up to an hour a week too,I bought a pony.I think it was costing just shy of £200 a month when they left the school,and dd1 had been riding for 4 years.

If they are just riding for fun,once they are proficient,would it be more affordable to go on hacks at the RS,rather than lessons every week? The dds ride 6 days a week at home,but only do schooling 1 or 2 times as it gets too dull.We go out on hacks mostly which is more fun for everyone.There is always the option of finding a school which is an affiliated Pony Club centre.They do pony days for children who don't have their own ponies and teach everything from stable management to horseback games.They can work towards their awards and do badges,which dd1 absolutely loved doing.It was £24 a year to join and well worth it.

I hope that you can sort something out.

In Oxford there is a riding school where they do a block booking for 10 where it works out at £25 per lesson (still expensive).

I have also seen on Groupon a few times riding lessons at a discounted price, but I can't remember how much they were for. May be worth keeping an eye out on there.

Agree with Mirage that taking them somewhere for hacks rather than lessons seems a good way forward for now. They really won't make much progress having a lesson once a month so might get frustrated.

Our nearest riding school charges £18 each for 30 min semi-private lesson for children so your prices seem a little steep, but we're not in the south-east; DD had a 30min private lesson on her pony with a British Dressage rider yesterday and that was only £30! Daren't add up what we spend a month though.....

I'm in the south east too, I've just googled and the nearest riding school to me (considered the 'cheap option' as they don't have an indoor school like the one slightly further up the road) charges £30 for a half hour private lesson, or £27 for a 1 hour group lesson for a child. So I think that is about the normal price but it's a lot when you have two children!
I have my lessons with a freelance instructor (fully qualified and insured). She is based at a livery yard which has a floodlit school, jumping arena, cross country course etc so all the facilities are there and she charges £10 for half an hour private lesson on the client's own horse or £12.50 on one of her's to cover time getting it in and grooming/tacking up. It might be worth you trying to find someone like that as she is very kind and patient, she takes autistic twins from ds's SN school (very severe, both non-verbal) and they love it. I think being freelance she can be more flexible than a normal riding school.

Couold they be helpers at a stable? I don't know how old you need to be but here in Gloucestershire most of the stables ( and the ones I am thinking of are quite good) have points systems where you help with the horses/ponies and earn points for rides. It would also make it more of a social thing than just going along together for a lesson.

You could try group lessons again? My DD goes to a small riding school and her group size has varied between 2 and 6 so it is never too busy. Also, we only pay £13 for half an hour (south west though).

I'm in South Yorkshire. A half hour riding lesson is about £18 round here.

I'm in the south-east, our school changes £20 for a group lesson (about 4 pupils) or you can buy 11 for the price of 10. I haven't looked at the price of private ones recently.

See if you can find a stables that offers a pony club. We pay £22 for a two and a half hour session, which is made up of an hour riding lesson in small groups (between six and eight in a group) and the rest of the time doing stable management. dd loves it. She goes once a fortnight, as do most of the girls, so it doesn't work out too expensive.

we're in London so hideously expensive here ... dd has a 45 minute group lesson at one riding school which was £22 but will be going up to £25 in January, a couple of times a month she goes to another stables which has a pony club session which is an hour's riding followed by an hour's stable management/grooming etc, that's £38 or £34 if you make a block booking

There's a waiting list to volunteer and a minimum age of 12

both of the riding schools dd goes to are much cheaper than some of the alternatives

Basildonbond, that is much cheaper than I expected you to say for London. I once googled riding stables after a weekend in London. We visited Hyde park and I was very impressed by the riding track and thought maybe next time we went I would treat myself to a bit of a hack. Googling was as far as I got after I found this!

We're near Cambridge. We pay £27 for either a half hour one-to-one, or a shared hour. The half hour is £19 if shared. No idea what a private hour is.

The school is Pony Club affiliated, so we also have a monthly £20 2 hours of unmounted training of Silver & Road Rider prep. Half day sessions of mixed mounted & unmounted fun is £45 during school hols.

just gone up to £15 for 1/2 hour here (rural Midlands) - theoretically shared but often, in practice, private.

We pay 25 pounds for 1/2 hour jumping lessons for DD. That is private and we have to drive about an hour to get there so in theory they are weekly but sometimes fortnightly.

What about half hour lessons?

As a child, money was short so my sister and I had 30 mins fortnightly. I was still better than the majority. ;)

Sorry reading this i am SOOO SHOCKED how expensive they are. When i was a kid (not that long ago (age23)) it only cost my mum 12pounds for an hour lesson. It originally started at 11 and i think a private hour was 15 or 16pounds. Didnt realise how much more expensive they had got down in the south, I found a stables in northampton which was 15 group hour lesson maximum of 6 in a group. x

Thanks everyone. It sounds as if this really is the going rate in the south east - ie £27 for half an hr and so that'd be £54 for both sons for half an hour at the same time. Won't be able to do that often. Neither is interested in the rest of pony/horse stuff like Pony Club (still largely female dominated anyway). They just want to ride and also I think they'd love to hack, as their previous school never did that.

Group lessons were difficult before as some of the little girls were much braver and into risk-taking than my sons and the humilation of falling off and being told not to 'be a girl' when DT1 cried in terror at having to get straight back on, haunts him to this day. So I'd never do group lessons again. DT2 - who has Asperger's traits - needs especially to develop a good relationship with the instructor and neither got on well when they had a male instructor....

But anyway, regardless of all their specific needs, it's the cost more than anything that I can't do every week (solo mum reliant only on my self-employed income, with both twins at fee paying school too).

We've got friends with ponies who v v kindly let the twins ride (and me for the first ever time!!!) once in the summer but I always find informal arrangements like this really difficult as I feel I 'owe' them, if this became more regular. I may explore this again too however.

Thanks again for the useful feedback.

If you are in a touristy area might you be able to find somewhere geared up more to pony trekking rather than lessons etc, if they want to hack.
It's just that the place I always go to on holiday in Somerset charges £19 for an hour's ride out or for £9.50 you can take them out for half an hour on the lead rein with you walking, slightly more affordable?