have been hearing people speak about the different type of lessons barns.
Can somebody please explain the different type of barns there are? I am talking about it in terms of ‘Hey, this is a show barn’ or ‘we welcome all people for lessons. (aka, we will take your money if you want to ride)’
What are some things to look out for while searching?
Thanks!
It all depends on where you want to go with horses. Do you want to show? Or do you want to ride leisurely? I manage a boarding facility that mostly trail rides, but does a couple open shows a year. We are not competitive, so there is a slight difference in my lessons than a high end show barn. We teach a lot of the same things IE equitation, cadence, skill and safety, but I don’t push for breed show quality horses. I do however push for show quality rides, in regards to equitation, cadence, skill and safety. Our priorities are safety, positivity and horsemanship.
Here is what I usually tell people (especially novice riders) to avoid:
There are good and bad apples throughout the horse industry, the most helpful thing I can tell you is to ride with multiple trainers and see who has your safety and interests as a priority, as well as their horses. I’ve ridden with many trainers in my equine career, and only 2 of them have had my best interests at heart, while helping me grow into a horsewoman. One of them even pushed me to start my own business in horses. Find that trainer that will stick their neck out for you, while pushing you to be your best!
Well, there are discipline-specific barns that only cater to a specific discipline, and no others. “Dressage Barn”, “Hunter Barn”, “Western Pleasure Barn”, etc. Here the rider is typically limited to the specific discipline offered by the training staff.
Then there are purpose-specific barns, like:
There are also farms that are leased by multiple trainers (like trainer #1 has 1/2 of barn and trainer #2 has 1/2 of barn - and they may do completely different things. Maybe one teaches dressage lessons on a string of horses s/he owns and the other does nothing but training and showing hunters that her clients own, but doesn’t do lessons as s/he has no school horses.
There are so many possible combinations. Regardless of discipline, type, purpose, etc of barn, always look for the following before selecting:
Good tips already about looking at the overall condition of horses and property.
If you are a beginner student looking for lessons, the important thing is that the barn have a good lesson program in your discipline with multiple horses.
“Show barn” is a very loose term. It can mean a barn catering to advanced upper level riders, who all own or lease a horse.
Or it can be a lower level barn that does a solid beginner program and then focuses on getting intermediate students out to local low level shows.
Really you can’t always tell from what you see online or what your friends brag about.
In our area, the barns that tend to have strong beginner-intermediate lesson programs also hold camps during the summer - I think because they have the lesson horses/saints and are able to fill a week with horsemanship. These barns also host trainers that run their own show/ training programs out of the facility, so they could technically be show barns, too. AS with everything in the horse industry, nothing is the same across the board - I’ve also seen some janky facilities running camps. When looking at barns, make sure horses look healthy and safe, see how other riders/ workers are handling the horses, and see if you can stay and watch a few lessons!
Adding on to the above with the types of barns I have been to:
Boarding barn: private or public, a barn that is strictly for boarding horses. Sometimes the owner may be knowledgeable and willing enough to give lessons. Can be self care, pasture, full stall, stall and turnout, etc. Can even just be someone’s private property that they decide to take on a couple of boarders.
Lesson barn: Not a training or show barn, may take students to local shows occasionally but some don’t. Can be good quality or not so good. Might do riding camps, lots of group lessons, weekend “working student” type programs.
Just an example of a mixed barn - but as a kid my first barn was my grandfather’s friend. He was a private backyard owner with a lot of rural property and nice trails. He had a few boarders, horses were in 24/7 turn out. After that, I lessoned at a small barn. It was mostly boarders and the owner. She showed and did a few lessons on the side to subsidize her showing. (Oh what a treat it was on the rare occassion a lucky student got to ride her.big black TW show horse! Finest horse I’ve ever had the privilege to ride, but I digress).
IME, there is a lot of variation, but some generalities about Lesson vs Show barns:
Lesson barns tend to be focused on (not surprisingly) lessons and especially to beginning riders. Typically they have a number of school horses and offer group lessons. The emphasis is on learning to ride, and showing is secondary if at all. There may be barn shows or the ability to go to local shows. Part leasing may be available. The instructors tend to be available most days as they are not travelling to rated shows. Larger, more elaborate lesson barns start edging towards being show barns.
Show barns are more focused on getting students to competitions in their breed or discipline. School horses are more limited and private lessons are more common. Riders are often encouraged to show and lease fairly early on. Main instructor may be unavailable for blocks of time due to showing. It can get uncomfortable for lesson riders who are not actively showing after a while since that is an expectation.
The show barns tend to be more expensive due to the showing/leasing component and are often more “high pressure”. Lesson barns may or may not have great instruction and trained horses (varies greatly!) and some do not help their riders progress well. (Or have them “jumping” when they cant even steer in an effort to keep them happy!)
As with everything YMMV and evaluating the particular barn and program is what is important, not the label. Do not be afraid to change programs if one is no longer meeting your needs. However, check your ego and effort and be wary of thinking everything is the program’s fault. Good luck!
Even if you are new, if it doesn’t look right? It probably isn’t and if a barn is priced way under the others, there’s a reason, And, of course, if it sounds too goid to be true? Look out.
Remember they are running a business and you represent income. Try not to get emotionally involved with the idea of riding their horses, you will pay for it and they might be counting on you to fall in love so they can upsell you any chance they get. Nothing wrong with that, it’s how business works. Remember that so you don’t make emotional decisions and think they are your BFFS, they aren’t, they are running a Business.
Best way to pick a barn is to take a lesson or two from more then one barn before picking one. Watching them teach lessons before deciding is also very helpful. And you are always welcome to ask on here about what you have experienced at various barns.
Oh, decent barns have things in writing, like rates, rules, schedules and such. If they don’t, it’s not a good sign of a consistent and organized program you can count on.
Agree with other posters. IME “lesson barns” tend to be larger facilities that cater more to the general public with group, semi-private or private lessons. So much depends on what you like to do, what you want to do. I’ve known people who’ve ridden at large lesson barns for years and love it. It also depends on what the barn is to you. As an adult, some lesson barns have great adult lessons, others seem to focus on kids, and don’t have lesson programs that would cater to the working adult crowd. When I first started up riding again, I went from lesson barn to lesson barn. 2nd place I half-leased a boarded horse there and had a blast. I started showing - and though I was really the only adult I enjoyed being around the Jr. riders as they were a great group of kids - some I’m still friends with to this day!
Then there are the barns where most horses are privately owned though there might be a few horses that are “lesson” horses. The barn where I currently ride is a smaller barn with on-site own/trainer. She has a few horses for lease and you can only ride there if you lease something and take lessons. This affords you more opportunity to ride than maybe a lesson barn where you might be able to only ride when you take a lesson.
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