Frankly, none of the three seem like the best fit, but you’re in a tough position. One that many of us have found ourselves in at one time or another.
BL is that school horses are limited. period stop. (there’s even a convenient thread on this right now).
Finding a barn with lesson horses that can do more than 2’-2’6 is nearly impossible these days and being limited in your lessons by greenies (which then get leased/sold out from under you) or by soundness (so the senior schoolies can continue to teach the next generation of riders for another 5 years) is just what happens when you can’t afford to lease or own.
Driving an hour each way to any barn would be a deal breaker for me. I did that for a while and it was horrible. I ended up riding less, even though I had nice horses to ride, because the drive/time commitment was horrible. A full lease sounds amazing, but if you don’t want to drive out more than 3 times/week (or can’t afford the gas or time to do more) than that doesn’t necessarily put you ahead of where you are now.
#2 might be fun to try with the higher caliber horses and instruction, but sounds like you don’t know much about it. What are lesson students able to do? (as opposed to owners or leasers, IRT shows, jumping heights, etc. Some fancy-smancy places treat the 1-2x/week’ers like second class citizens).
I agree, you need to talk to the trainers at these facilities to see what options are, not just your friends that ride there.
You should also talk to the trainer where you currently ride. Explain how appreciative you are and how much your riding as improved there. But acknowledge that you want to do more and it’s hard to get that opportunity with the current structure. Maybe she can help think of creative solutions that would bring back more satisfaction or advancement, or she may also recognize her program isn’t the best fit for you now, and be able to recommend a different barn that you haven’t thought of.
BL, what is it you want to do? If you want to jump higher and show bigger/better shows, what you really need is money and access to better horses (which takes money) In this case, your best bet might be to pick up more hours or a second p/t job to finance a lease/half lease on a nicer horse at a barn that does the better shows (this might be the place an hour away, but if you’re working a ton to pay for it, only driving out 3 times a week might be fine). You might try it for a season and realize you miss the connection of riding more often or developing a horse, but you won’t know if you don’t try.
Or, perhaps you really like developing a green bean, but don’t like having to start over every 2-6 months when they get sold. In that case, what about buying or long-term (w/ contract) leasing a greenie to bring along? Likely you’re still not working on advanced skills or doing big shows (at least not for awhile) but you can build up to those as you and the horse develop the skills.
Or if you like your trainer and just want a better horse, can you afford a full lease on something for the summer and keep it there? It sounds like the barn is near to your home, and you have a long-term good relationship with the coach. Maybe you’d really enjoy lessons with her on a more advanced horse? If full board (on top of paid lease) is too expensive, would she let you work off part of it?
If keeping your ammy status isn’t important, and you mainly want more saddle time, perhaps look into working student opportunities. You might be able to find a barn that would give you the opportunity to lesson on, maybe even show, some pretty nice horses in exchange for a lot of very hard work for the summer.
In short, it’s worth talking through options with your current trainer and both barns you mentioned. Take a lesson or two at both and see how they fit. Do some serious self reflection, and try to decide what it is that you love about riding and what will make you happiest at this point in your life (with the budget and limitations you have), and then do NOT burn any bridges. Be courteous and kind and polite, and try to leave things so you can return later if things don’t work out. And above all, remember that you won’t be a young adult forever. Budget limitations will absolutely limit the kind of horses you’ll be able to ride now and how high you’ll be able to jump. That’s just a fact of life these days. But at some point, if you’re still a horse nut, you’ll be able to lease or buy one/some and advance to the levels you aspire to. It’s hard to patient though. I know.
