Lesson barn I worked at had a discount for riders on their own horses (or just any horse that wasn’t a schoolie). Lesson horses had their own tack and the barn provided grooming supplies.
Yes, it’s very common around here and I do charge more. I charge $20 more on one of my lesson horses.
The reason is because if you are riding your horse, you are paying just for my time in that moment. If you ride my lesson horse, you are paying for my time, but also the cost to keep the horse and the time it took for me to train the horse to be a sensible lesson horse and not buck you off.
11 Likes
Thanks for all the replies, folks. We’re not in a lesson program-heavy area, not by the standard of a lot of other places in the US, anyway, and many of those who teach happen to do so out of their own barn so it’s not exactly apples to apples. I don’t have my own facilities yet so I’d be working out of someone else’s barn in addition to traveling as I usually do. But to me, it made a lot of sense that if you’re using a horse and tack I own, and thus getting the benefit of not having to pay for upkeep, etc, the cost of the session would be a bit more.
3 Likes
Absolutely makes sense.
2 Likes
I’ve seen it both ways, but the approach of charging more for the use of a lesson horse makes the most business sense to me. As a horse owner, I actually take issue with trainers that charge the same price for me to lesson on my own horse as they charge for riders to lesson on a schoolie. To me it feels like trainers are just taking a higher margin on their prices with students who own.
I’ve seen anywhere from $15-25 additional cost to use a school horse - depending on COL in the area, quality / level of training of the horses, and level of availability of of school horses in the area.
3 Likes
I’m sort of in an unique situation.
Since I no longer own a horse I ride lesson horses, but I use MY tack (saddle with all its added on safety features, double bridle, exercise sheets and boots) on my lesson horse. Not only that, I lend my stuff to my lesson horse if my riding teacher thinks it will make him a better lesson horse for other riders, except for my double bridle (the bits are just too expensive!) and my saddle. ALL of my tack is mostly clean (pads and girths vacuumed, bits washed off) and if FITS me and I make sure my saddle. bridle and bits fit the horses (Pegasus Butterfly saddle plus the Contender II BOT/ThinLine pad with shims, Micklem bridle with Fager titanium bits).
Since I am crippled with MS my riding teacher does most of the grooming, though if she is late I start grooming, and if she is really late I do all the grooming except for cleaning his feet (shod for navicular, my balance is too bad to dig everything out from under the bar of the shoe.) Of course then my riding teacher realizes that I am just too tired to be terribly active during my lesson, which is why she grooms the horse most of the time.
She also makes use of my 50+ years of riding and training horses to get the lesson horse I am assigned to become a better lesson horse for her riders, since when the horse has difficulties with something I know how to deal with it without freaking out.
When I started with her I told her I would ride whichever horse she chose, and she has used me to bring back horses that were “dumped” at her stable, fixing often gaping holes in their training and/or giving the horse sane physical therapy that usually helps the horse get better.
So with me it is a two way street. My riding teacher can depend on me to look out for her lesson horse, I often give her tack and gear from my hoard if the lesson horse I ride really needs it or if another one of her lesson horses also needs it desperately, and she knows that the horse will be properly groomed whether she is there or not. In return she only charges me for the half hour I am actually on the horse.
This has been going on for well over a decade. It works for both of us (and the lesson horse.)
Seen both, feel lesson rates based on length of session, group or private, level of the lesson and who is teaching with use of school horse billed separately is the fairest way for most programs. It allows barns to offer more options for varying client levels. If most at a barn are doing the same thing at the same level then a single fee set up might work. With weekly lesson takers, leasers, owners and levels from beginner to advanced, fee for fully equipped school horse make more sense.
Don’t forget trainer must provide not only the properly maintained school horse (vet, farrier etc.) but provide a saddle, girth, pad, bit and bridle, possibly crop/stick in good repair and reasonably clean. School horse is often groomed and tacked up and /or riders supervised as they get on.
Owner financially and often physically maintains their own, has their own tack and equipment, gets their own horse ready- or pays extra for groom services. Many owners also meet the trainer with horse already warmed up. Trainer can use entire time to teach.
Its like skiing. You pay extra for rental equipment on top of lift ticket and a lesson fee. Even if bundled, its cheaper to use your own once you get off the lowest beginner level.
More lesson barns then ever are going out of business because they arent operating like a business and cant meet operating expenses.
2 Likes
I don’t own my own horse, so this is going to sound super-weird…but I’ve had much better experiences at places that charge more if you’re not riding your own horse. (I’ve done both, brought in a lease horse from outside, as well as “rented” schoolmasters).
Usually it means there is a “charge” for the maintenance/knowledge of the schoolmaster (or even just a truly good-hearted lesson horse), as well as a reflection of the work that’s still being put in keeping him sharp. The places that charged for the use of the horse were more conscious of the fact that the horse was a valuable partner that had to be maintained. The places that didn’t charge extra often had lessons on horses that were never ridden outside of lessons, got most of their income from lessons, and all sorts of issues arose (i.e., lameness only discovered when the lesson started, sourness from being only ridden by beginners or multiple riders).
So I think it’s very fair to charge for a horse that is being maintained as safe and sane to ride, healthy, with appropriate, clean tack, versus the rider bringing in her own (and doing all of those things herself).
2 Likes
