Just a couple of suggestions from an adult who didn’t take lessons until middle age.
You might think about a class for re riders with anxiety issues. They want to ride but they had some kind of incident or accident that left them traumatized.
Now, you may not want to deal with sort of thing and if you don’t, that’s okay. No judgement here, but there have been a few times when I wish I could have found a patient trainer with a bomb proof horse to help talk me off the ledge.
There have been many threads on COTH about how to overcome anxiety but there just aren’t many trainers or facilities that specialize in this area.
Just something to think about. You may get referrals from trainers who have students like this. You won’t be competing with them , because your client pool will be different.
You may also want to start a class just for adult riders but gear it more toward riders who just want to get on a horse but don’t necessarily want detailed instruction.
when I first moved to the area I’m in now I took riding lessons at a stable that had academy classes. You didn’t have to own your own horse.
They are getting more scarce these days. There are fewer stables now that let you just come and ride a horse for an hour or so without taking lessons or having to lease a horse. Too much liability.
But we had a class that I called " The Tuesday Morning Ladies Support Group." It wasn’t so much a lesson program as just a chance for an adult rider to get on a horse.
We did have an instructor who was great with beginners and nervous riders and she would keep an eye on everybody and give instruction to those who wanted it, and baby sit the ones who just wanted to ride.
There were some rules. Proper footwear, riding jeans or breeches and a proper riding helmet. But that was it.
If you wanted to groom and tack up the horse you could, but the instructor would groom and tack up if you needed/wanted it.
The best thing was that after the lesson was over, there was a huge tree with some benches under it and we sat there and had picnics and solved the world s problems and just talked and we could stay as long as we wanted.
We were also allowed to visit with the school horses as they were kept in a separate barn from the boarders. It worked out fine. The facility didn’t have an indoor so when it rained or it was too hot or cold to ride we could still come out and groom and play horse barbies.
I really miss that. It was a great time. The instructor was hilarious and there was no judgement and no pressure.
The owners of the barn didn’t even have to advertise about this particular class. Once the women in the class told their friends about it, there was a huge
wait list to get into it. There only so many school horses, and they were not over worked. There was a limit to the class size.
It did end eventually but it was because the owners reduced the school string to get more boarders and that instructor left for unknown reasons and the new instructor wasn’t interested in that kind of program.
It was a shame really. It was a lot of fun.
So that might be the sort of niche you might be interested in. I don’t how viable it would be for you, but I think you would get some interest.
You might even start a mixture of a horse book , riding lesson , and wine and cheese afterward club. If there was such a thing in my area, I would sign up in a hot minute and I’m not even much of a joiner.
Just a little perspective from a late to the party rider.
Since you already have a Facebook page and a web site you could maybe set up on online poll and see if people in your area would be interested in something like that.
Of course, such a thing may not be possible right now, with the Covid 19 situation but you could do some cost analysis, to see if it’s financially viable.
Good luck. I wish you success in your future endeavors.
