To me it seems there is a lack of commitment toward horses and riding specifically. A young girl ‘rides’ at my barn on her saintly packer of a horse, the last of her grandparents breeding program. She has a synthetic saddle which doesn’t fit the horse and does her no favors. They were considering a new saddle, I found one for them, fit the horse, fit the girl, it was $1k, all looking good. ‘We’re going to keep looking for something less expensive.’ Never mind that the girl has a personal trainer and is in karate dutifully belting up every quarter at $350 a pop. And karate is not the priority either, there are just more rules and expectations around it which I think are lacking in some areas of riding lessons.
It drives me crazy because I watch so many families dedicated to little Johnny’s Little League to the point that the entire family packs up for out of state tournaments. Mention horses, and they’re aghast because ‘the time’, ‘the money’, ‘the everything’. So you can commit $10k (conservative estimate, I know it’s more) a year to club baseball between the fees, the uniforms, equipment, and travel with 1 or 2 other kids in club volleyball and soccer, every night, weekend, and some holidays scheduled, but a horse (or lessons) would put you over the edge?
And don’t even get me started on karate or the like, my son did it for a few months. It was like watching a pattern class. You memorized your form so you could belt up that quarter, then memorized the next form, and so on. My husband said he had to break a board to obtain the belt that one kid was going for, and he was in second grade at the time (same grade as the kid doing the pattern).
Rant over. I see it too, and I have no great solution other than to let it play out. FWIW, the Academy programs in the area are ROCKING! Hard to get in, parking lot is packed, a couple of summer camps and hauling out for shows all summer long. A half lease on one of those horses is $12k a year and does not include lessons.
Replying here; as I’m reading everything - picking out what’s applicable, ignoring what isn’t. 
I do enjoy ALL of the feedback and perspectives, though.
I had dinner last night with a friend of mine who actually just retired and sold her lesson barn. She agreed that we needed an entry point that was more price conscious, but she said that her experience was that when you allowed people to come in at a lower price point - they treated it as disposable, and just would bail at the last minute, not show up if it was too hot, too cold, too windy, etc “and the horses still needed to eat”.
One of the interesting notes she had was - back several years ago, there was a really big hay shortage. Hay went from $2.50/bale to $10/bale. She said, it really never came back down after that - and it impacted the cost of keeping the school horses fed. I don’t remember that; but I also was boarding from 2007-2016, and wasn’t buying bulk hay.
Thanks everyone who has responded so far!
I have a trainer friend that has a growing academy program. They are required to lesson twice a week plus put in so many hours at the barn cleaning tack, helping tack up, bathing horses, etc. Plus lease and show fee if they want to ride the same horse all the time.
She doesn’t have enough horses for the demand. But most don’t want to buy, just lease and lesson.
I have a pony and a horse that are both amazing for lead line, lunge line, beginner kids to w/t but due to my ammy status and liability at my own farm, I won’t give beginner lessons. I love giving lessons for beginners, getting them w/t/ little bit of canter/horsemanship skills and sending them to a program to grow and possible show.
I vaguely remember this. People in my area thought paying $10/bale was outrageous, but at my last barn (and granted, a different area), the trainer was paying $19/bale for alfalfa and $22/bale for grass.
You still have to have enough money to purchase a horse of the quality to compete as a junior hunter, the money to get it to and enter it at shows with these classes and have had enough saddle experience and good quality instruction to get you the skills to be able to do this.
The average middle class family simply CANNOT afford this. MAYBE they can afford riding lessons or a part board, but the fact is the majority of the middle class is simply priced out of ownership or showing.
I think the times are changing and the demands on kids almost dictates a singular sport focus. It is simply not possible to play a school sport and participate in a horse sport(other than rec riding) nowadays. It grinds my gears to no end and in my opinion, leads to a lot of sport injuries when kids are hyper-focused on one sport. But that is the modern day reality-big high schools are so competitive that any thing less than 100% commitment will lose you a spot on the team.
And the cost to participate in a horse sport is mind-boggling. Hay prices absolutely blew up about a decade ago, as well as shavings, farrier and vet. I actually think all of these are fairly priced for the services they deliver, I have no complaints, but if I have a parent with a small child ask me about horse ownership…I am very frank with them. It is not only incredibly expensive, but incredibly time-consuming if one wants to participate in a meaningful way. It is not like ice-skating where you can rent skates and skid around the ice with your friends once a month for fun and recreation. Other than cowboy led trail rides, horse sport just isn’t a drop-in activity.
I actually am ok with how hard it is to get into horses. Not because of the exclusivity of it, but because the very nature of stewarding another creatures life is such a huge responsibility that requires so much devotion and dedication, it kind of ends up weaning those who lack that determination out.
Just my 2 cents
Absolutely. I guess I was thinking a little more at the mid level than the beginner level. I’m talking about kids I see that have access to, say, a 2’6” horse and decent instruction but who believe they can never move up. I’m sitting here with a few sales horses and I keep an eye on those kids, thinking maybe in a few years they’d be able to catch ride. But they never get there.
It definitely is expensive, and it probably is a good thing since it is such a big responsibility. It’s more responsibility than a dog or other pet.
However, one thing I found was that the general public actually tends to overestimate how much having a horse costs. I think they see these billionaire children riding in the media and that’s all they are exposed to, so they think it’s some unobtainable goal.
At least in my area, you could keep a horse for less than $600 a month. That’s field board with access to an arena, hay and grain included. That includes the cost of vet and farrier, and one lesson a month. It’s expensive, but it’s not unobtainable. It’s less than the car payment on the Escalade or Tesla they drive around, and it’s less than many of the other sports that parents pay for their kids to do. So while horse keeping costs have gone up, it’s not so much that the middle class can’t have a horse, at least in my area. I know it’s different in places like Southern California, Boston, etc.
A couple disconnected thoughts on this as someone who was born knowing that horses were my “thing”.
I was NOT a busy kid in high school (1999-2002), however, even then the commitment for things was more that I liked outside of horses. I was first chair flute and second year in the larger youth orchestra thing (would have been first but I flubbed my audition), and in general was naturally included towards music. I ended up quitting band at the start of high school because they required everyone in the concert band to also march in the marching band. I had NO interest in doing anything band related outside of school hours because that was my horse time. Over the summer, marching band practice was 3 days a week, plus some weekends, and band camp; then when school started, more after school practices and football games home and away. I said NOPE. The band director offered to only have me come to 2 practices a week, but all I wanted was to be able to play in concert band during school. So I quit and I didn’t look back. Thankfully my parents let me make that choice and didn’t pressure. I get that band can be really great for a lot of kids socially and otherwise, but I didn’t fit that mold.
Kids TODAY are in EVERYTHING. When I hosted my exchange student, the insight into that world was absolutely insane. Between sports/extracurriculars/in school stuff and social lives it was madness (kudos to you parents that drive your kids around to all this stuff). A lot of them do many things very averagely too, be it simply to have on a college resume. I wanted to ride, and I wanted to do it well. Riding was my community, school was not.
As for creating desire, I think you have it or you don’t. My parents put me in every lesson under the sun when I was young to see what I like, despite telling them I wanted to ride horses. I was miserable and wanted to quit everything haha. Well, minus flute. I was good at it so I think I liked it because of that. Once they finally put me in riding lessons, I loved it. It is the only thing that I have carried with me my entire life and I couldn’t be more thankful for it. I do it more for pleasure and relaxation now, and that is beyond invaluable.
Fun. Riding used to be fun. I was lucky growing up riding tough little ponies who knew how to look after themselves and their young riders. Now riding, even at a lowly beginner level is all about leasing/owning expensive horses, wearing the right brand of long boots, having multiple bridles for different disciplines, jumping in cookie-cutter patterns and winning prizes. There are many, many people (probably adult) who would like to ride but have no interest in jumping or in showing, just looking to pootle around once or twice a week, meeting people with a common interest and having a bit of exercise. Sounds a little bit “Western”. There is currently a massive gap between “English” horse-world insiders and the normal-world outsiders who know of horses only from TV, movies and once going on a nose to tail trail ride. Insiders regularly disparage “once a week riders”: just read comments in this forum. If equestrian sport is to grow and thrive then a new business model is needed. Cheaper, more accessible, massively more professional with trained trainers, proper business management, better facilities for clients, more welcoming, more like other club sports. Compare a golf club with a horse barn and wince. The cost of riding as a sport is actually very comparable to other childrens sports but the image is of huge expense and exclusivity.
How could a businessperson offer this affordably and still make money?
Only if you’re talking entry-level. Once you get up to competitive levels, riding is significantly more expensive than even hockey.
I have never heard of any barn owner who included vet and farrier costs in with the monthly dollar amount for board - are you sure you meant to type this? It makes no sense whatsoever.
I also have a hard time believing all the people here claiming that horse sports are equally expensive or less expensive that other children’s sports, unless the kid is taking one lesson a week and never wants to expand beyond that.
I don’t think they meant that vet/farrier costs were actually included in the board, but if you added up the cost of board, farriery, vet and one lesson/mo it would cost $600.
Of course, where I’m at, pasture board alone starts at $600/mo, and doesn’t include grain feedings.
And as a former 3 season athlete, the cost of my sports never came near my “barn bill” (even in a LCOL area). Of course, if you’re participating in club sports, the price goes up considerably - still probably not to equine levels depending on the area, but usually only the really talented kids actually participated in club sports.
IF your horse can live out, IF it can go barefoot, and IF it doesn’t need any supplements, maybe you could swing it on $600 a month. MAYBE. No farms I know of in the US also include vet care, unless you mean the barn manager will tidy up a wound if it’s not too severe. And that’s just the basic stuff, not emergency vet care and other stuff. My horse is fortunately barefoot, but he is requesting his 3rd saddle this year, as he has managed to outgrow the one I bought 6 months ago that I was quite sure we would get at least 18 months out of. Horses are more expensive and time consuming than most other sports.
The only other “sport” I can think of that is more expensive than horses is car racing. I used to date a guy who owned a race car team. The monthly invoices were unbelievable. TENS of THOUSANDS of dollars spent in a single weekend. I remember being told, rather casually, “X owes me $160,000 this month. I’m not dragging his car to (insert one of the handful of places they raced at), unless he pays me at least PART of that.” I nearly fainted. This was for 1-2 cars, you would need to have quite a few horses at a very high end program to get to that price point haha.
Ah, I see what you mean. I would still be interested to see what the monthly breakdown of each of those items is that it comes to less than $600/month.
So I’ve been mulling this over for a few days. Initially I thought it really is more about money (which it always is with horses), and desire is either there or it’s not.
But then I considered the people who don’t have horses/farms in their world at all. As in, don’t see them, are completely unaware of any of it. There has to be some contact in order to have the desire. That is increasingly hard due to space and transportation.
In my past life, I was a special education teacher. At one of the schools I worked at, we had the idea of creating a farm/equine program for our students. The kiddos had a large variety of disabilities, but as a general idea, autism, emotional disturbances, Downs Syndrome, etc. Our students were very needy. What started doing was field trips to a local farm, the kids learned about care, grooming, feeding, and some kiddos did get to do some pony ride type things. The program never really took off because we needed more people in our building who were willing and knowledgeable. What our idea was was to have almost a work-study program that gave students the opportunity to be on a farm and experience the freedoms and independence that comes with that. Horses are incredible as therapy animals as they reflect our own emotions so strongly. I’d love to see community programs like this more widely available to people, but it would absolutely need to be subsidized.
This would be great to have all of this professionalism except…it costs a ridiculous amount of money! It is not even close to a golf facility that can run through dozens and dozens of clients in a morning, making money on golf cart rentals and equipment and cheaper insurance and lower staffing requirements. I mean, it is unbelievable how much 1 load of gravel costs to get delivered and spread so that little suzy can get to the barn door with out a lawsuit, never mind the massive electric bill to light the arena 12 hours a day and heat the tackroom, the endless fencing repairs because horses, the mowing that literally never stops, the hay that gets touched at a minimum of 3 times by an employee(unloaded, fed and picked) and I haven’t even touched on the equine yet!! It is expensive! It is a privilege. It is not scalable to the masses by its very nature. It is not a sport for the feint of heart and in my opinion, never should be.
As an aside-Willesdon-There are barns in my area where one can doodle around (great expression!) once or twice a week, and I think the ladies even bring wine to share in the tack room afterward! Maybe that’s more rare than I thought?
Midwest location here, with 4-H available most places. I do think desire is built in, which makes the kid “driven” to be around horses. There are some lesson barns, not sure the price of leasing, lessons. Though hay costs might be less expensive than in the more horse show, fancy stable areas, to allow lower expense for keeping schoolies.
Most kids can get a horse or pony, learn from friends, 4H leaders, though certainly not at the riding level of $100 lessons! Cowboy boots, helmets, even tall boots can be found used or at local tack sales. Same with show clothes, saddles and bridles. They learn by doing and from others sharing experiences, reading material. Parents may wish they could do more but budget is limited. Money is certainly not available in the numbers in other posts! But horses can be part of a kids life with parental help. Other horse folk will often let kid work for them to use a horse, earn money to get tack or compete. But kid has to put themselves forward, be dependable or they lose those chances.
I am huge on not overloading a kid with too many activities. Mine were on local sports teams, no travel stuff. Did HS sport or club each semester. We talked about their choices, but only one allowed. They were also in 4H or Pony Club, but meetings and activities were spread out during school so it was not exhausting. They picked up in spring, over summer, did shows and Rallies when sports and school wound down. A kid NEEDS a lot of sleep, it is up to the parent to control things. There was not much staying up late here, though I would wake them up early to finish needed homework. TV and fun computer time was limited, none in their rooms. I was really mean! They survived, got accepted into college with good grades.
But it does come down to desire. The kid who wants horses WILL find ways, maybe after graduation on their own money.
Oh my, agreed!
As a returning rider, searching for a barn casually and then more seriously several years ago, one of my biggest frustrations was how little there was to know about the trainer and their background. Granted, anyone can hang out a shingle, if you know what I mean. Everybody’s got a Facebook page at least but I found myself relying a lot on pictures (clean, safe, students looking like they’re getting a good foundation – no yahoo stuff – my sixth sense from the bad old days not screaming “RUN AWAY!”)…
I lucked out on my first try and thank god every day I landed with the trainer I did. She’s amazing and has a small program with absolute rockstar equine faculty. I could weep every time I think about it.
I’m in the mid Atlantic near a major metro area, so not a place known for cheap horse-keeping, and I’m in the ballpark:
$390 – field board
$20 – ration balancer
$45 – farrier
$50 – vet
$35 – misc (treats, fly spray, etc)
My horse is now retired, so add $90/mo for shoes to get her back to her “in-work” standard of care.
