I’m looking for recommendations for a lesson barn for an adult in Kansas City. I’m not exactly a re-rider but it’s been a while since I’ve been in a consistent lesson program. My 23 year old gelding has been retired from showing/jumping for 5-6 years now and so I do ride 4-5 days a week but just short hacks. I’d like to get back into jumping, even just small jumps once a week.
Last year I was taking weekly lessons at a barn and jumping small courses, but needed to take a break due to some personal stuff. It’s been a few months since the break and I’m ready to take lessons again but want to explore other options vs going back to the prior barn. The prior barn was a great program and the head trainer was a super talented rider and awesome trainer. But there were two concerns I had. 1. Her lesson program really caters to kids, not adults. Most of her lesson string is ponies, so I cannot ride them. She had one horse, but he was used a lot for beginner lessons, so not really available for me to ride. Fortunately, she has a wonderful retired 3’6" jumper (not really a lesson horse) that I able to ride and loved, but he is older and I’m not sure what would happen if he was not available, I probably just wouldn’t be able to ride there. And 2. the head trainer travels often for rated shows and there is a revolving door of assistant trainers. In the year I rode there, I rode with 5 other trainers of varying skill.
So anyway, I just wanted to see if anyone has recommendations for other barns that may be a better for for an adult kind-of re-rider. Location doesn’t really matter as long as it’s like an hour or less from downtown. The most important thing is that they have safe, happy lesson horses for adults and a trainer that is used to teaching adults.
