Riding lesson cost

[TapeGlassFireplace]

Hello

Can I ask how much you are paying for children's riding lessons?

DD (just turned 8) has been riding for a year. A 1-1 flat lesson using a school horse was £35. It has just gone up to £44. We got a basic email saying due to rising costs.

I know all costs have risen but it's more than I was expecting. Is it ballpark ok though? Is that a typical cost?

DD loves it but we don't know other families to ask around.

DD is only 8! No jumping or cooling down needed. She warms up by playing rugby earlier in the day (Scotland!).

...the horse needs to warm up and cool down too!

It's a school horse so they're ready to go for the lesson and then taken off by a stable lass after it. So it's 30 mins of a proper lesson. I think that's common.

But I take the point that it'll get more expensive as she gets older.

My initial query was really to check I wasn't being totally ripped off after the big jump in ££.

There is another stable near us (N Scotland) that charges £45 per 30 min private lesson and they don’t even have an indoor school!

With the stables I go to, the horse is cooled down separately from the lesson (so the instructor starts teaching the next lesson while I go for a wander to cool down.) 30’mins is enough, although it is usually nearer to 35 mins + cooling down.. For £30, I think it’s pretty good value.

Where in Hampshire are you? I'm also in Hants but pay £35 for a half hour tiny tots session. Most of the stables near us have stopped doing lessons and just do livery nowadays.. it's a good half hour drive to anywhere that will take a 4 year old.

@theferry fair enough, I guess it's size dependent. My instructor was on her own so all lessons included a warm up and a cool down.

She did a minimum of 45 minutes though, no half hours.

1. horses and ponies cost a small fortune to run.
2. a qualified instructor is a skilled professional and should be paid as such.
3. kids genuinely learn better if they have some exposure to a peer group.

I don’t think £44 for a 30min 1-1 lesson is bad value actually. I’m paying £55 for a 45min lesson these days, and I have to take my own horse along (who costs me £1000s a year to feed/shoe/stable.) It’s just not a cheap hobby - you want to basically ride around on an animal that needs to eat 10-20kg of food a day just to survive, needs metal nailing to it’s feet by someone who knows what they are doing or the horse will be lame and useless, and lives in a building the size of your house or possibly outside but each one of them needs an acre minimum. And then you want a person who’s done years at college or studied in their own time at their own expense to teach them, and if it’s kids they have to have completed a DBS check, First Aid training, etc.

Back to the peer group thing. She’s riding for fun, yes? She will get much more out of being in a group setting, but for longer. Kids egg each other on to go a little higher, faster, better. In a group you can see how others are doing something, you’ve got longer to try their way out for yourself. You learn to ride in company - not crashing into the other riders and horses. More fun things can be achieved - I fondly remember the group lesson days of my childhood. Quadrilles, musical rides, chase me charlies, speedy jump offs. Group hacks where we all galloped along.

There is a definite place for the odd one to one lesson, if you are looking to learn or fine tune a specific skill (I am having individual lessons atm because I want to get my young horse going well enough on the flat that we can begin lateral work and then flying changes.) But I love a group lesson, especially jumping lessons. Sometimes in a group lesson another rider has a problem or wants to try something that you hadn’t considered, and you develop new skills or aims as a result. With children this is amplified. My own kids have always had their own ponies, but rarely had 1-1 lessons, I send them out to groups. If the group your child is being recommended isn’t working for you and her, why not ask about a different group or try a different riding school? It will definitely help keep the costs lower too (although a group lesson really only saves on the cost of the instructor. Feeding and maintaining a horse is expensive whether they are in a group or on their own.)

If 1 2 1 works for you right now do that. I prefer them myself and when my dc had ponies they always had weekly private lessons. We would cart them off to pony club for group lessons once a month as a nice fun addition but nothing beats individual attention. If the jump in prices worries you look around locally to see what is available but her happiness is your priority. If there is a good alternative near enough it might open up a new friendship group. If not then I think you will have to stump up for now. Do encourage her to swot up on her horse care so she can help out when older. As well as reducing costs it will be great for her confidence.