How are you getting your riders to take the next step?

[Tenmover21]

Just a general topic starter for parents/adult riders and trainers, not necessarily looking for a set solution.

I am hearing of more and more lesson barns having difficult staying afloat with increased prices in almost every area. For most, board has never been an income generator so most barns rely on lessons, camp, showing, leasing/sales etc. With a decent lesson horse running at least $10K and I think that is conservative, how are you able to get those lesson kids who are ready to take the next step to do so?

Ten years ago I remember doing a half lease in the barn could range $250-450 all in and was an easy way to let parents and kids get their feet wet. That hardly covers monthly maintenance now let alone generate any money. Trying to explain to a parent that it costs 10-15k for a trainer to even buy something suitable for a beginner/intermediate to have something to ride right now and then trying to get an in barn lease of $3-5k for the year plus basic expenses to cover cost and make any money seems to be too much of an ask for most families in your average lesson barn. And as a parent, I think I’d have a hard time swallowing the pill of spending several thousands dollars to get to the next step. I know it’s an elitist sport, but it has always been somewhat accessible for those who aren’t in the 1%.

Very curious from both a trainer and parent/adult rider perspective. I fear for the next generation of riders who want to enter the sport but simply can’t afford to get to even the next smallest step of showing.

[Bonnie2]

45 years ago it was a really big deal when I was able to half lease a horse for one month during the summer. The rest of the time I did the barn rat thing and was allowed to ride a schoolie that hadn’t been used that day. Horses have been my vocation and avocation ever since. Horses have always been expensive and people have always been priced out. And diehard horse lovers find a way. But that may not help the trainer’s bottom line much in the meantime.

[blondewithchrome]

At a lesson barn I rode at in the past, the trainer was creative with creating options between just lessoning 1x a week and then a commitment to a half lease. She offered “practice ride leases” where you paid a small amount of money to ride a lesson horse one or two days a week outside of your lessons. This was for the rider who was competent enough to w/t/c on his/her own, for a 20-30 min hack, to get extra saddle time. IIRC each ride was around $50, but you could buy a package of 8 for a discounted rate. She was still able to use the lesson horse in a lesson that same day (these lessons were only jumping x rails to 2’, so the extra flat ride once or twice a week didn’t strain the horse too terribly).

This trainer also offered a “show lease” rate for the season for riders who were riding consistently and going to schooling shows but not ready to lease yet. It was a fixed rate to take one of her show horses to an offsite show x times a year (basically an up front horse use package) so you had the consistent show partner for a season. You leased that horse for the “season” to have first show rights but, you didn’t always get that horse in your lessons each week. So, this was a nice way for riders to commit to doing a bit more without spending four figures on a part lease.

[CBoylen]

Mostly not. Even the ones that can afford to lease or buy can’t get the kids to the barn more than once a week.

[findeight]

Theres some things you can’t fix as a coach/teacher. Participation cost and time commitment by parents have always been blocking some kids from advancing. Its getting worse…but remember all sports are affected. Horse sports are more drastic but have always been more expensive.

Theres nothing you can do that you are not already trying. Try not to take it personally.

[anon68314200]

Focus the program on horsemanship. The Practical Riding Instructor podcast offers a good model for a lesson program that offers a holistic skill set. With 50% of the work unmounted. (If I remember correctly…).

[OverandOnward]

Way back when … (of course) … we were able to increase our weekly ride days by doing work in exchange for a ride. I can’t remember if it was 1 or 2 hours of work per 1 hour ride, but something like that. Most of the more advanced students were doing this. Lesson program for 2-3 rides weekly, then work off another ride or two.

That was when and where there was much, much less non-riding things to do after school and on weekends. Transportation was arrange-able by cooperation between families. Distances weren’t so enormous, traffic was not so much of a roadblock.

Although we advanced slowly based on the gradual acquisition of very solid foundational basics, it was a given that everyone still in the program in their 3rd year was jumping 3’6". Including oxers, of course. Stadium and cross-country. We could also trail ride in interesting terrain. With the same horses. Horses had some TB and were built to jump, but they were not extraordinary individuals (and neither were us riders).

@Tenmover21

I fear for the next generation of riders who want to enter the sport but simply can’t afford to get to even the next smallest step of showing.

You may be right.

Without willing parents with means, horse-crazy kids may have to settle for movies and collecting models.

That said, there does seem to be a much broader demographic of parents with means. At least in some locations. I was just at an in-barn schooling show with families representing four ethnicities and five languages. I just love that!

But expectations – within my visibility for an after-school lesson program – are very, very low. “Jumping” means very small crossrails. Most or all riding is in an arena. Very few of the kids are riding more than once a week. And some parents are regularly late for that one.

It’s a different world … but really, for those kids & parents, it’s fine. If they are satisfied, if horses haven’t vanished from the landscape, what makes people happy on a horse is up to them.

[2bayboys]

@Tenmover21

With a decent lesson horse running at least $10K and I think that is conservative, how are you able to get those lesson kids who are ready to take the next step to do so?

My niche is taking kids from brand new to competently riding outside of the ring and jumping up to 2’. Beyond that, I make it clear to parents that they’ll have to purchase or lease if they want their child progressing further with me, or I’ll refer them on to a barn where the options may be more broad. When faced with the cost of even a 2’6” horse, most parents in my experience settle down pretty quick in their ambitions for their child.

[pony_grandma]

Not a direct answer, just an aside: Ask a vet or a farrier if they would mind a small # audience for routine work. I had huge learning opportunity bc I was at a boarding barn and lived in a Vet School University town so the vet calls were teaching ops. I just stood in with the vet students when they were there. I even got called on to do a spider bandage demonstration bc no one picked up that I wasn’t one of the students…

It’s not just riding ability that makes a horseman.

[Calvincrowe]

Parents of kids who get involved in sports like soccer, volleyball, etc. often find themselves at the “premier” level, where travel and costs add up very, very quickly as does the time commitment. Horses are no different. If a kid wants to go to the next level in a sport, the parents need to be fully aware of the time and cost involved. Some things at the barns I’ve been involved in are: IEA, monthly ‘clinics’ in vet care, longing, wrapping, etc.— your basic horsemanship skills, carpools so kids who live near each other/go to the same schools get to more than one lesson a week, evening lessons. Another is cultivating a group of adults who own horses and need to offset costs by half leasing, opening up nice horses to the more skilled kids coming up. Trainers who work together to place still useful but ‘stepping down’ from a show career to a lesson/lease situation at a much lower level also can benefit the lesson barns who develop the upper level riders at the big show barns.

[findeight]

@pony_grandma

It’s not just riding ability that makes a horseman

Of course thats true but…the reality of today is Suzie rides for x hours a week, thats what parents are paying and providing transportation for as well as willing to sit through. My barn tried setting up things like that several times and had a less then 10% take rate and even those were not at all enthusiastic about a repeat.