It’s worked for me sometimes tool.
Other times I’m just told that Olympic riders ride like wusses. Because, you know, they ride English. And all the YouTube hunting and cross-country videos don’t convince anyone, because no one will watch them.
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Not who you were responding to, but in the mid-90s, I rode at a couple of different barns that had the pay by semester concept. One even literally had a punch card to keep track of your lessons.
I still live in the same area and am currently lessoning at two different barns and I get a $10/lesson discount at one when I pay for eight lessons and a $5/lesson discount at the other when I pay for a month up front.
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When I say “Olympic athletes,” I’m not talking about horseback riders, and nobody ever thought I was. Swimmers, skaters, runners, biathletes, all those things are Olympians.
Until you mentioned it, it never even occurred to me that that statement could possibly refer to horse sports.
If the trainer is on a tight schedule and you are paying for a block of time, I don’t like it. Sorry, but I’m paying for you to teach me, not school your horse or another clients horse.
I used to ride with a trainer who was very loose with regard to time and she’d sometimes ride one of her greener horses while she taught. I learned a lot watching her school her youngsters and since she didn’t have a lesson mill type schedule I never felt like my time wasn’t being respected.
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That’s interesting in regards to what you say about time–the instructor I was thinking of was also the type of person whose lessons would start as much as an hour late, sometimes run twenty minutes over, and so it was impossible for me to plan anything on the days I had lessons. And I’ve always been pretty generous in terms of planning my time at the barn, allowing for an extra hour to the catch/tack up/lesson/cool down/untack and hose timeframe, in case the horse needs some extra TLC from me. It’s not that I don’t want to spend the entire day at the barn, but unfortunately, that’s not always feasible!
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About the instructor riding a horse while teaching you.
I do private lessons (30 minutes) and my riding teacher does most of the grooming, tacking up, and after care (I have MS). Sometimes in the last decade or so my riding teacher got into a real time crunch and did not have time to ride her horse. I told her I did not mind, and she was very good at making sure that my lower legs stayed in their proper places.
Besides, HER riding horse was this drop dead gorgeous “black” Arabian gelding, a true HUNK. I never minded watching him move, we would discuss our “problems” with each horse and see how solutions worked out when there was the distraction of another horse in the ring.
She does not do this often though, the last time was years ago.
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As always, things like this depend on the situation, the rider, the horse, the program, etc.
My trainer (who is an eventer) has a small string of lesson ponies and one or two boarder horses that she uses for lessons in exchange (I assume) for money off board. She sometimes throws an advanced rider on her older UL guy, too, but she’s obviously very selective about that. One of her ponies is an adorable little mustang she broke, etc., for the challenge, and she has a few more experienced small riders and kids who are bringing her along as an event horse.
The rest of my trainer’s ponies are all getting older so she is very careful with them, but she never overuses any of the lesson horses. When her older guys are finally ready to retire from jumping and dressage she probably won’t replace them, even though she has a booming business teaching people on the lesson horses. It’s just not worth it, and finding really solid ponies and horses for a range of riders that aren’t a bazillion dollars is increasingly difficult. All of hers can go out and event, or do dressage or jumper shows, and be safe.
Her lessons are generally set for 45 minutes, but they often go over. If it’s a flat (dressage) lesson, 45 minutes is usually just about perfect for me, but if she gets on first to see how either of mine are feeling and then I get on we often go over. For jumping I usually try to warm up a bit before my lesson starts, but often within the lesson a quick warm up is followed by completing our warm up over cavalettis. Some days it’s short, some days it’s longer- it all depends on what we are working on, how the horses are going, if I’m riding well (or not 
:dizzy:), and so on.
Sometimes she will ride one of hers along with me for jumping, when she’s pressed for time, because we jump about the same heights- she and I both have one older horse and one younger one. I have zero problems with that. One, because we are very close friends and we help each other all the time with schooling, and two because she is an incredible teacher and is always focused on me and my horse when I’m in a lesson, regardless of what else is happening, even if she is on one of her horses.
I think I have a unique situation, and I really appreciate it. I am lucky enough to have my own horses, but I spent a lot of my youth before I got my first horse riding lesson and lease horses, and it’s how I learned to ride anything and everything. Without lesson horses I wouldn’t be half the rider I am today. I’m not sure what the answer is with shrinking land and rising costs, but it’s (obviously) necessary to have that pool of horses for people to learn on if we want the sport to survive outside of those who can afford their own.
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Well, not that long ago haha. I am referring to 18-20 years ago.
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I wonder if the boarder-owned program-lease horse will become the new model for lesson horses.
Because finding truly suitable lesson horses that can get students ready to show is becoming prohibitively expensive.
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We do this, it works great. The horses stay in a program where they get enough work without needing a lot of paid professional rides, and owners are able to afford to board their semi-retirees who can keep going at a lower level as well as their current animals.
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Not for nothing, as long as the supervision and instruction is good and the workload is reasonable, sometimes a moderate lesson program is good for older horses who are no longer getting a lot of ride time with their owners. It keeps them active mentally and physically, which leads to better health in most creatures. And the horse is getting a hands-on checkover every time they are groomed for a lesson.
I like the model if it is well-managed and horse welfare is a priority.
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I’m in the DelMarVa area and the biggest problem I have is people want more and more and more and aren’t willing to pay for it.
They only want to ride once a week but they want to show.
They want to show but they don’t want to come the night before to prep
They want to jump 2’6 but they don’t want to lease.
They want to be able to “take the winter off” or go on long vacations and not lose their lesson spots.
They claim they don’t have money for XYZ but then I see them going to travel ball tournaments and never missing a practice.
I try to focus on the beginners, or more causal riders because people want so much and aren’t willing to pay for it.
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I can only ride once a week right now. I help run the shows because I can’t afford to show like I used to, but do like to show and see everyone so this is the way I can do that. I used to jump 2’9 and was starting to add in some 3’ and now am back to 2’ because my only option at this time is lesson horses. It is hard, because I used to work at the barn to pay off my lease but that opportunity isn’t here anymore because he retired. I also used to ride others horses for them when they were on vacation (hacks, lessons, etc) but the barn I was at shut down and everyone dispersed across the region. It has been depressing switching from coursing 2’6-2’9 every lesson to now just going over 2’ because I can’t afford anything more unless I can work it off… but I get why it is this way. I’m just lucky to be at a really amazing place with a great instructor and I feel like even if I can’t do the “bigger” sticks, I am still learning a lot and working on my position. I’ve always wanted to be able to own again and offer my horse for a lesson a week to pay it forward for everyone who has helped me and maybe in 10-15 years that will be a thing I can do!
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Lol i thought you were talking about equestrian Olympic sports, because, ya know, this is a horsey thread in a horsey forum. IDK who you mean by “nobody.” 
I hope so! It is hard having to change because times are changing. Good luck with getting back to 2’6"-2’9".
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It’s in my post, people I met out west that thought lessons were stupid because “You already know to ride” were my subject. “Nobody” meant not a single one of them.
Talking to them about Olympic horse sports would be pointless, because of their low or non-existent opinion of dressage, jumping, and English saddle riding in general.
If I told those people that the Olympic English-saddle riders used coaches, they’d say, “They sure need 'em. How can you stay on those postage-stamp little things?!?”
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Many people out West who are serious competition riders on the Western side have trainers and are in a program plus Reining has been an Olympic and World Cup sport.
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Tell that to the people in Wyoming who were ridiculing to my face the very concept of riding lessons.
My first student, who “knew how to ride,” would ask her horse (she had a stoic Morgan) to stop by leaning forward, digging her heels in for grip, and then yanking the reins up to her ear. When complaining that he wouldn’t stop, she was universally told, “Show him who’s boss!”
Not a very sophisticated or knowledgeable bunch.
And there was no reining in the Olympics then.
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These were some of my favorite lessons as a teenager. It gave me a chance to watch her riding and then immediately apply some of those pieces to my own. It was also a chance to develop my eye - how is her position influencing the way the horse goes? Where is she softening or using stronger aids? What does it look like when a horse is tracking straight and engaging it’s back and haunches properly?
Sometimes we’d go hack out on the field. Those lessons were less about equitation and more about life - just walking and talking. I understand for a lot (probably most) pros, there just isn’t room to blur the line at all between personal and professional with clients nowadays. I was incredibly fortunate to be the barn rat kid she took under her wing, though, and I can credit her for my riding foundation and a lot of life lessons. I still count myself lucky to call her one of my dearest friends and mentors now, some 15 years later. That’s probably what saddens me the most about the culture and business shift - kids like me won’t have the chance to develop the same bonds.
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