Lesson barns disappearing, or my imagination?

[AllSport]

I was just reading the thread on adulting vs horses and how the barns in their area have changed (no full care). Things seem to be changing in my area as well. Some lesson programs shut down because of covid and never re-opened, while others have recently shut due to the pure expense of maintaining them–even those with wealthy parents willing to pay some hefty prices. At this point there are very few options, if any, for people to take lessons that don’t own horses. There are a couple around but they’re not great situations and often parents pull their kids after a short stint once they figure it out.

As for lessons for experienced adults–it’s often hard to find a good trainer with a good lesson horse but it used to be that there were always some around. In general, despite having many barns in our area, if you don’t own or lease a horse, you can’t get lessons period. It’s really sad. I’ve also noticed a whole slew of horse owners that are very inexperienced which works out well for the trainers in the end I suppose. But it bothers me to see this. I want people LEARNING how to be good riders and good horsemen and women before they buy a horse. But if there are no lessons programs then where does the next generation of good riders/owners come from? …Maybe this is also good for the ER doctors!

Is this just my imagination, am I way off base? Maybe it’s just my area?

[Highflyer1]

It’s very difficult to run a lesson barn and make a living, unfortunately. Everything from property to horses to fences to hay has increased in price (if you can find it at all), finding employees is always a challenge, and luxuries like riding lessons are often the first thing people drop when times get tough.

[Texarkana]

It’s not a new trend.

About 6 or 7 years ago I was calling around looking for an instructor. Most never responded. But I laughed out loud when one said her first opening for a lesson would be in 6 months (she wasn’t out of town or anything, just booked up that far in advance). How is that even helpful? Not to knock her, but she wasn’t anything special in terms of caliber of instruction; an okay rider who made her living mostly with beginner lessons and the occasional sales horse. She was just that busy because there was no one else!

[Hightale]

It’s been a sad decline here too.
When I moved to this area there were four riding schools within 8 miles. Each one had its own niche and was busy. I was freelance instructing and regularly taught at two of them.
Now there are none.
Nearest are one 24 miles north and the other 15 miles south.
Even the majority of the big prestigious classical schools have folded now, including the one I trained and worked at

[endlessclimb]

In the south Chicagoland area, I can think of many barns that GIVE lessons, but ones with lesson horses I can come up with only 2 off the top of my head. Maybe 3, but I haven’t looked into one of them in quite some time.

[pony_grandma]

I live on a 3.5 mile stretch of a major county road. We used to have 10 properties on the road that kept horses. We are the last of those 10.

It is sad for today’s youth the loss of opportunity to know the connection. No way today could I afford to do what I did for the past 50 yrs. Land, labor, facility and insurance expenses are skyrocketing. ETA: veterinary, feed, farrier!

[Pokerface]

Where I am in Maryland, there are still many decent lesson programs. Most have lesson ponies and a couple lesson horses. The lesson horses are limited though, not so much that they cannot do more, but in an effort to preserve them. I am sure there are many less farms than there was, say, 50 years ago, but it’s still a huge horse country. We have a very large fox hunting tradition around here, and many of the farms/properties have been participating for generations. I think that has a major impact on the ability to sustain programs. If parents and other family members ride, then the kids are more likely to want to ride, hence the need for programs. I know that in my barn, they don’t really have any lesson horses, all of them are leased, but they find ways. Some of the horses are only 1/2 leased, others, like mine, are privately owned, but owners allow the trainers to use their horses when they cannot ride. My own horse does best with 5-6 days of riding, but I can’t ride that many days most weeks. So I let them know when he is available, they get to use a nice horse for a lesson, a client gets to ride a nice horse, and my horse gets the education of a lesson that I do not have to pay for. It’s what works for us, and I think other programs do similar. I know I am very fortunate to live in a horsey area, I have watched the horse/show scene near my mother wither away in recent years.

[Jealoushe]

Lesson barns in my area are thriving. Makes me happy to see.

[NoSuchPerson]

This is nothing new, it has been going on for decades, especially near large urban areas. It’s primarily a matter of economics.

Farmland becomes subdivisions, shopping centers, and office buildings. Property prices and property taxes go up and lesson barns disappear. Costs of everything, from feed to bedding to lessons horses to labor have spiraled upward.

Most middle class families (the ones living in those subdivisions), who were the largest client pool for those lesson barns, can no longer afford to give their kids riding lessons or don’t have any lesson barns left within reasonable driving distance even if they can afford it.

Edited to add that most people today never experienced what we old people knew as a “lesson barn.” The places I rode, back in the 60s/early 70s, had 10-12 barn-owned lesson horses. A group lesson was 5-6 kids, on those barn-owned horses and lasted an hour.

I was really surprised when, as an adult, I started taking lessons again and found that “lesson barns” typically had only a couple of barn-owned horses/ponies and most students were expected to have a horse or do a partial lease of a barn- or boarder-owned horse to ride in their lessons.

[Arelle]

I plan on opening one in a couple of years because they’re disappearing here in North Texas. A lot of the same - either you have to lease/own a horse to get lessons, or you’re relegated to subpar instruction. There are two barns that are good programs - I rode at one for four years, and I ride with the other now.

Now, I’m an anomaly because I’m actually a good rider. I stay riding at lesson barns because for a long time I didn’t have anything that jumped, and then for the last six months I’ve had two of mine out with injuries and one too young to ride.

What I’ve heard from my friends in the business is a combination of a few things.

One - it’s harder to keep a lesson horse, knowing what we know today. Veterinary medicine has come a long way, and we’re doing things now that we certainly didn’t do in the 90s when I was coming up through the ranks. Our lesson horses of yonder generally did lessons daily, sometimes a couple times a day if they were beginner/low impact enough. They didn’t really get supplements, they weren’t shod with fancy shoes, and if they needed things like injections to stay sound - they didn’t stay a lesson horse. Most barns I know with lesson programs now understand the need to give the horse a couple of days off, or the need to do preventative care - and because of that, the cost of keeping the horse in ratio to the revenue it generates is a lower ratio.

Two - the general public sucks. One of my favorite people told me that her lesson group (the ones that wouldn’t commit to leasing, would only do one lesson a week, etc - the “less serious” folks, generally) were the flakiest bunch of flakes that ever flaked. Too hot? They’d cancel. Too cold? Cancel. Too windy? Cancel. Little Susie has a soccer game? Cancel. They wouldn’t stick to a schedule and often riding was the first thing cancelled if there was any sort of conflict. But then they would expect a reschedule and/or a refund. She got tired of having to redo her week every single week because these riders didn’t take their appointments seriously. It burned her out FAR faster than any of the owners or leasers who were more serious about their commitments. She didn’t need to do it to make money, so she stopped doing it.

Can’t say I blame her, but when that happens to almost everyone - we lose the top of our funnel to create new riders and participants in the industry. I’m not sure how to fix commitment issues of the general public.

[NoSuchPerson]

The BO where I board used to give lessons. She quit for exactly the reason you mentioned: the flakiest of flakes. Canceling at the last minute, or just not showing up. And then parents would complain because their little flake just didn’t seem to be getting any better.

She will give lessons now, but only to boarders and a couple of haul-in clients and only if you specifically request a lesson.

[clanter]

@Arelle

I plan on opening one in a couple of years because they’re disappearing here in North Texas

might want to know and consider the DFW “area” is 9,286 square miles iwhich is greater than the states of Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode Island combined

[Arelle]

…

Well, duh.

I’ve lived here my entire life. Was born in Dallas.

What is the point of responding to this thread with that statistic?

[clanter]

@Arelle

Was born in Dallas.

we have family super 8 movies of the great open farm land around White Rock Lake from the 1960s

[MapleBreeze]

It is way too expensive to keep a lesson horse now. I tell all my clients when mine are retired its time for your own horse.

A lot of lesson places going to a mandatory lease after x months - i might start that with kids and ponies.

[furlong47]

@NoSuchPerson

Canceling at the last minute, or just not showing up.

There needs to be a solid cancellation policy. Most places that have them, if you cancel within 24 hours of the lesson you still have to pay part or all of the lesson cost. (Obviously it’s nice to allow for some discretion if someone is genuinely sick that day or has a real emergency.)

[Happyhooves]

Considering how many parents today seem to be entering the horse world without much prior knowledge, I wonder if it would help if lesson barns would have parents (and maybe the lesson kids, depending on age or learning differences) read and sign a gentle write-up before their child start lessons. It would give an overview on what goes into keeping a lesson horse in ready position for their child and to set the child up for success in the art and sport of riding. It would be something that is written tactfully (not condescendingly) in the spirit of imparting information explaining that unlike other sports, there are basic ongoing costs to maintaining a lesson horse (stabling, feed, shoeing, veterinary care, equipment), costs that don’t stop simply because a student cancels last minute or doesn’t show up for a lesson. It could also acknowledge that the provider understands today’s kids have busy schedules, but parents might carefully consider beforehand the commitment it takes to ride safely and improve–and whether that fits in with their child’s busy volleyball or basketball, etc., schedule, whether they’re willing to prioritize or at least balance riding with other activities. Maybe it could end with a gentle reminder that a horse is a living breathing creature and that to set both lesson horse and rider up for success, it takes a different kind of teamwork to make it all go well. Just seems we live in a different world and can’t assume people are aware of what goes into providing a lesson barn and riding program that is sustainable.

[clanter]

From a marketing perspective the kid that I see entering into horse world today is a young to middle age adult who has the resources to afford the hobby.

A friend of my daughter recently bought her first horse, she is in her mid thirties, a medical professional. I asked her why? She said she always admired my daughter’s dedication to her horse goals. And “my horse is so much fun”

[NoSuchPerson]

@furlong47

There needs to be a solid cancellation policy. Most places that have them, if you cancel within 24 hours of the lesson you still have to pay part or all of the lesson cost.

A “solid cancellation policy” requires that the person canceling has sufficient motivation to remain a part of the program to be willing to pay for the lesson they missed. Most of these people don’t. Hence the end of the lesson programs.

[Arelle]

It’s not even the cancellation policy, because most barns have that in place. It’s more…

Let’s say you ride in the 2’ group and I ride in the cross rails group. Our moms paid for once a week group lessons. The 2’ kids all say they’re open on Wednesday and the cross rails are Friday. Schedule is sent out Monday morning, horses are all scheduled to work in accordance with that plan.

But on Monday afternoon, your mom calls and says you have plans on Wednesday afternoon and could you please ride Saturday instead.

Technically, she’s not in the cancellation window - but suddenly the instructor is scrambling because the rest of the 2’ riders are going to be on Wednesday. She could put you with the cross rails kids but you’ll be more advanced. She could try to fit you in Saturday but she needs the horse you would normally ride for one of her other students.

It got to be exhausting because the trainer would carefully think of all of these planning bits - when groups would ride, when leasers wanted to be out, which horses were working, which horses needed days off, etc… and then people would just say “oh sorry that isn’t my preference and I’m the customer so change it”.