My instinct is to say about £20 p/hour but I've no idea if that's way off for your area compared to what a pro would charge (my instructor charges same price for her to ride as for a lesson, so £40 for 45 mins - she's not cheap but obviously is fully qualified and competes to a high level on her own horses!).

It depends a bit on whether the families are literally just asking her to ride and will get pony ready, groomed and tacked up beforehand and she can then hand back to them to cool down/wash off, skip out and turn out/bed down afterwards, or whether they want her to do all that too. Even without having to do a full muck out, just bringing in, getting ready and turning out again afterwards could easily turn a half hour schooling session into closer to 1.5 hours of your DD's time!

It sounds like it could be a great opportunity for her to gain some experience and earn a little cash, but do make sure you keep an eye out and make sure she isn't being taken advantage of. Green and needs some experience/manners is fine but even little ponies can be nutters and you don't want your DD being the crash test dummy!

I think this depends a lot on your local area and also how much your DD wants to do it!

Personally, especially if doing yard work too, I would charge per hour and agree timings in advance- maybe something like £10-15 per hour + travelling expenses (this is based on my local area, in the SE I expect it would be higher). Basically if she turns up and the pony is a Pita to catch, has been out with no rug on and is filthy, this will stop her getting short changed!

If she is keen to do this and not too worried about time then I think charging £15-20 a time would be reasonable too. Again, this might be a bit higher in the SE.

Look at what pros are charging in your area, as this will help you work out what's reasonable. If she's keen to get the riding, then it might be worth charging less if they'll have more frequent sessions.

Before she starts she should get insurance that covers her public liability and against injury to the horse - you can get this via the BGA. This might seem like an unnecessary expense but normally the person "in control" of the horse is considered liable or partly liable if they cause an accident and this can cause real problems for people. If she does any teaching of the kids, she will need to be insured for this too.

I know that might sound like overkill and she will probably be fine but unfortunately I know some horror stories and just wouldn't risk it.

No her BHS insurance won't cover her unfortunately as it specifically excludes any situation where you are being paid to ride/operating as a business. She'll need additional cover for this both to cover any personal injury to her but also as Sansa says 3rd party cover. It shouldn't be horrendously expensive but another reason why she needs to charge a reasonable amount to make sure she covers her costs!

I think £20 per hour is quite a lot. I'm in an expensive area and professional grooms charge £15-25 per schooling session (depending on experience/ qualifications) locally.

I’m in the north west and charge £20/25. I don’t charge any more for travel on top etc.
I don’t have any qualifications per se but a long list of references, and lots of experience backing and breaking.

I think as she is young and doesn’t have the references/experience you maybe need to start a bit lower? £10/15.
And you will need insurance, the PC stuff won’t cover her unfortunately.

Anyone that we have ever gotten to casually school our horse we have payed around £15-20 per ride. This is always seen as a favour between friends or mutual friends though so would expect to pay a lot more for a professional or someone I didn’t know.

Your DD might get away with this, but, equally, things could go quite wrong.

5 year olds are quite green and they need someone experienced to bring them on. I would expect the first time a rider brings on a youngster for them to have very close supervision and very regular lessons from an experienced trainer as well as knowledge of what it is they are aiming for because they have ridden a lot of well trained horses. Your DD sounds like a lovely rider, well done to her for achieving so much, but, honestly, it is nowhere near enough experience for her to bringing on youngsters.

You also say the ponies spook and buck. That alone would make me very weary. It's one thing for your DD to have an accident riding her own pony but quite another to get injured riding someone else's idiotic pony. Call me a pessimist but most people lie about their horses, especially when they are desperate for help. What they describe as capable of giving the odd little buck, may be an insane bucking bronco that has successfully ejected all of its previous riders.

Finally, riding someone else's pony puts you in an odd position. A pony who bucks should start his re-training with a vet visit to eliminate a physical cause, possibly a physio next depending on what the vet says and certainly a saddle fitter. If there is a physical problem, which very often is the case, riding the pony will only make things worse. Few owners are willing to put the money into solving the problem properly and someone who seeks to hire a teenager rather than a professional (there are a lot of professionals who specialize in children's ponies) doesn't inspire confidence in me.

She’s already got 3rd party insurance through her BHS junior gold and PC memberships - would they cover her for this kind of thing as well?

BHS definitely won't if money is changing hands- it will cover you on other people's horses but not if you are being paid to ride as it's not intended for professional cover. I have no idea about PC cover, I'm afraid, but I wouldn't expect it to cover you if money was changing hands, again.

She really does need something that will cover injuries to the horse as well as public liability- otherwise she could end up in a sticky situation if a pony injured itself whilst she was riding it (unless you would be potentially willing to stump up for vet fees?). I know it's unlikely, but I have seen people get in really tricky situations when they were initially doing a favour to a friend of a friend, and it is honestly not worth it.

Grooms insurance usually isn't that expensive- I don't have it anymore, but when I was a member of the BGA, all in it was comparable to BHS membership and offered similar things, so she could potentially cancel the BHS membership to cover the cost?

I think £15 a time seems very reasonable and could be a nice little earner for her over the summer!