How often do you take lessons with a trainer?

[oldernewbie]

I haven’t taken regular dressage lessons for 4 or 5 years - life has gotten in the way, my original dressage horse decided he was done with the whole process, I bought a 3 year old in 2017 and have been showing in breed shows, etc etc. After a very fun year showing breed shows last year with 3 forays into the dressage ring just to see what would happen, I am gung ho this year for all dressage.

Soooo, I just got finished with a 5-day boot camp with my new instructor. Man, that was fun riding every day and seeing what could happen with some concentrated instruction. Now we are moving on to chapter 2 and will try for 2 lessons a week for a while. I have also dedicated myself to doing all the riding myself. Aiming at a schooling show in May and maybe some dressage at Arab shows so I can still show with my Arab friends.

Another factor: I ain’t getting any younger, it’s now or never with trying to see what I can do with this horse, who is a gem.

[MsM]

I never did more than weekly lessons and those only for a short time. Reasons were both economic and my desire to work on stuff on my own. For me, much of the fascination with dressage is working though problems. Every two to four weeks seemed to work best for me.

Currently I only have lessons once a month and none during the winter (trainer is in Florida) We have done well with this. It is helpful that I have an experienced h/j trainer who understands dressage principles to give me feedback from time to time. I also have a little $10 camcorder that I set up to record my rides. It is grainy and sometimes things I wanted to see happened in the part of the arena the camera doesnt reach, but it is really helpful. My trainer offered to help if I sent her video as well (havent done this yet)

I would say that how many lessons you need depends upon your background, preferences, and patience; and the particular issues your horse presents.

[BigMama1]

My horse is in a 5 day/week training program. Typically I have 2-3 lessons a week, my part-boarder has one and my trainer rides on the other day(s). I need all the help I can get!

[NotGrandPrixYet]

@Samantha37

I was similar to you but not probably as experienced with young horses. I started out doing very low level H/J, then switched to eventing, getting up to Novice level and during that time, doing the 3’ H/J. I switched to dressage in 2016 and have taken 2-4 lessons per month. My trainer lives 2 hours away from me, so I go up and spend the night Saturday-Sunday to get 2 lessons in one swoop. I try to go up to her once a month and she comes to me for one day clinics once a month.

I’m making pretty good progress considering my horse and I are learning together. We earned my Bronze medal in 2018 and I couldn’t competently do a leg yield prior to meeting my trainer lol. My trainer is really good at providing homework exercises for me to work on that help achieve the desired results without constantly just trying to get a specific feel.

CONGRATULATIONS!

[RTF]

I work with my trainer anywhere from 5-20 times per year. Depends on what I can financially afford, and if I have to haul to him or if he is able to make it to my facility. After ten plus years, I went from a solid training level/first level rider ( with a very broad horse background outside of just dressage) to getting my USDF bronze medal on an average horse I trained from scratch. Now I am training towards my silver medal, and have a solid ability to take any horse through the medium levels. Looking back, more lessons would definitely have me further along, a bigger budget would have as well. I think having an instructor that can provide you with homework, and the ability to teach you how to train your horse is the key. I am fortunate to ride with someone who has trained numerous horses and riders through the Grand Prix level.

[netg]

I am an extreme case because I am very untalented, had an injury to overcome, and had stayed out of horses for years to save so I could afford to do them as I wanted. I also have one horse who is international eventer levels of athletic and discovered how hard he could buck after I figured out he was mildly tying up due to magnesium deficiency.

When I started with my trainer, I was taking 6-8 lessons a week plus riding on my own 4-5 rides a week for 9 months. My trainer put me on everyone available and I was riding my mom’s horse as well. Fortunately the huge bucker made it clear when rides were going to be rodeos, and my trainer rode him those days for the first 9 months. There were about 3 of those days per 2 months, but they were flat out dangerous when they happened. Anyway, we rebuilt my seat in that time and I re-learned most of how to use my left side post nerve damage as well. It was still a few years before I had all feeling back on my left, but I at least could ride through the all 4 3’ above the ground leap into handstand which is my guy’s signature move.

Now I ride in “sessions” 4-5 times/week if possible. My trainer realized that his clients all wanted to ride at the same time, so we have these sessions where we just show up and ride, and he helps everyone for far less than private lesson pricing. Some days someone needs extra help and we ride on our own more than others, but it all works out pretty reasonably giving us the opportunities to learn from others and ride on our own but get help if needed. We have had up to 6 horses in the ring at once which helps for show prep, but are usually around 2-3 at a time. Saturdays I have private lessons.

[Core6430]

Maybe the better question is “How fast do you want to progress?” 🙂

The main (imo) issue with monthly lessons when starting is you’ll get stuck on something (a new evasion or not quite understanding something), and then you have to wait 2-3 weeks to get help.

You need the eyes on the ground more frequently when you start in order to help you learn how to fine tune your feel. Or if you can feel it, you don’t have the tool box of exercises to fix it yet.

But… if once a month is what you can do, then do it!! You can supplement with videos, books, and articles. It’s doable, it’s just a little slower progress and can be frustrating at times (especially when the horse went like a top in the lesson and next day has 20 new evasions).

By the way, I only take lessons once a month, and only in summers. as long as the trainer gives me enough “homework” to cover the month, then it works really well for me. I prefer once a month lessons.

[pluvinel]

I took a 4 yr old stallion, green broke, ridden 10 times under saddle, to 4th level before EPM cut short our journey.

I did this with clinics/lessons ~4-5 times a year with ~2-3 days of lessons during the clinicians’ visits.

[SillyHorse]

I normally ride five days a week. I take a weekly lesson, and work on my homework the other days. I’m okay with missing lessons, like the time our barn was under quarantine for six weeks due to an infectious disease outbreak, but I progress faster when I have them.

[Drsgqn]

I do 2 lessons a week with my trainer where I have to trailer ~40mins each way. With this level of training, we’ve gone from 1st level to FEI (PSG, schooling I1) in 5 years. With previous horses, I did 1 lesson a week. I also ride on my own 4-5 days a week. I think the minimum for me would be 1 lesson a week since I love getting homework to give me stuff to work on.