How much do freelance instructors tend to charge?

[theferry]

I realise this is somewhat location specific, but I’d like to hear how much people pay freelance instructors for 1:1 lessons. (For context, I’m in NE Scotland.) I’m an OK rider (been riding since a child, but wouldn’t need anyone who is particularly advanced.).

DD has a share horse that I ride for a weekly lesson, but the horse has recently been moved from a riding school location to a private yard. This means the only way to have lessons would be a freelance instructor, but I’m expecting that to be considerably more expensive than the £35 I currently pay for a 1/2 hour lesson.

I don’t know if there’s even any point in looking for someone if it’s going to be a ton more money. I really can’t afford to pay much more—hence I’d appreciate an insight into the situation.

NE England and a good qualified (BHSII) and insured instructor starts at £25 per half hour/£40 per hour and starts climbing from there upwards. Specialist dressage instructor around £60 per hour+

That’s not as expensive as I thought. I definitely don’t need any specialist instructor, but I would need one who can deal with/understand nervous riders.

I guess the challenge might be finding someone you ‘click’ with.

Yes that's usually the challenge. You may need to try a few to get the right fit

Is there anyone else at the new yard who might also be interested in lessons?

It might keep the prices down if there was someone the same level as you for joint lessons or who'd take a lesson directly after yours so the instructor may be able to keep her rates down.

@DeliciousApples good idea, but no, unfortunately. There’s only 3 other horses and only 1 is ridden.

Can you join your local riding club? Can be a really good way to get good reasonably priced lessons.
in terms of cost I am a bit south of you but not massively so, big boss dressage instructor is £50/45 mins, his sub ( BHSI and very experienced) is £40/hr.
I prefer to share jumping lessons and this depends on venue ( xc course hire adds quite a bit)

We pay £30 for half an hour.

@JaffavsCookie good idea! I’ll see if there is one local to us.

and thanks @Newuser75

i definitely don’t need a big-shot instructor, just someone who can give me confidence.

My “normal” instructor charges £30-40 for an hour depending on travel. She lived very close to my yard so it was £30.

My dressage instructor was £45 for 45 mins.

It will largely depend on the distance, but I would think you wouldn’t pay considerably more. But some won’t travel for half an hour.

If you have transport it’s easier as you can travel to clinics for less.

@Cobblersorchard no transport, unfortunately. I’m not set on only 30 mins, it’s just that’s what has been on offer so far.

Our brilliant show jumping instructor charges £50 for an hour if she just comes for us. If there is more than one lesson she reduces the fee. We're in North London/Herts.

My instructor charged £35 an hour. This was Cumbria.

I'm in Cornwall, and things down here seem to be cheaper than elsewhere in the country but currently I pay £20 for 45 minutes private/1 hour shared, my instructor has no qualifications (but does have insurance) but has a good local competition record and is so supportive and encouraging! She is also great at starting and bringing on young horses, and will ride if you want her too. There are a few people on the yard who have lessons, if she was coming out just for me then I think it would cost slightly more!

We also occasionally have other people to the yard for clinics who range from about £30 to £55 for an hour's private, less if you share with one other.

I would ask around and on local Facebook groups for recommendations, but I would be surprised if it would be much more than you are currently paying! It might end up being cheaper!

My daughter has lessons with quite a well known sj trainer and she charges £35 per lesson with about 3 in the lesson.

I'm in Derbyshire and charge £40 local £35 if they come to me (60x20 arena) and then I do school master lessons which are more depending on what they'd like to work on. I need to put my prices up but as I only train people I like and some of them are struggling financially I've put it off.

My instructor is reasonably well known (won at a couple of big shows) and charges £45 for group lessons with 3 riders to a group or £55 one to one. She is good with nervous people like me who take 10 minutes to work up the nerve to get on as the horse I ride has ants in his non existent pants. He just will not bloody stand still and I have this fear that I will try to get on, he will mice and I will fall. 😆 I've never fallen off him but that doesn't seem to matter to my brain.

Morning I'm interested to see your reply here. Just doing some research on this sort of situation with horses ie the not standing to be mounted etc. We take horses for backing and boot camps etc and I've often thought is it worth offering services for stuff like this and teaching ground manners and loading etc. This isn't an advert but I often see people struggling with this stuff and wonder why they put up with it as it's something well tbh I'd never put up with and is easily fixable in a kind and confidence building way for horse and rider.

@crinkletits I think that would be a great service to offer - we fell on our feet with dd’s first horse as he’s an angel on the ground and perfect to load but it could easily have been otherwise and I saw so many people at the first couple of yards we were on really struggling.

I pay £50 an hour but I'm in Oxfordshire!

(She's amazing though and worth every penny as she specialises in new partnerships and has made all the difference)

He used to have beautiful ground manners until he got stomach ulcers. He's so stoic that no one realised for weeks until he started kicking when tacked up. Now they're gone but I think he still remembers that it used to hurt.

Oh bless him, quite a common situation. Did you find out what was causing the ulcers?

I'm in the central belt of Scotland, BHSII, UKCC3 coach and charge £30 for 30 mins at my yard with indoor and outdoor arenas. If the coach is having to travel far you may have to pay for travelling expenses. Just make sure the coach is properly qualified and insured for your own peace of mind.