And because of all of the above ^^, quality instruction is also disappearing. It’s a vicious cycle 
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The last lesson barn I rode at charged by the month, in advance.
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Where i haul-in for my lessons there are no lesson horses. The only lessons given are to people on their own horse. Everyone i know of there owns their horse, i’m not sure there are any horses who are leased out.
In the past three or four years since i’ve started my lessons, i’ve heard of at least three BNT barns closing. One very recently.
Seems the lesson barns i know of are W/T for children on horses that should have a lesser work-load, or should be retired. BUT i guess that’s pretty much of a death sentence for a horse? Though, my first horse was a lesson horse who got really really angry and started bucking. She lived the next ten years being pampered and enjoyed by me alone. Maybe there are students like me, who will buy retiring lesson horses (i paid an exorbitant price to take her out) and offer a forever home? dunno.
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Bingo. The only instructors who can stay solvent in the lesson barn game in many areas are the ones who cut corners horsemanship-wise, who put too many people in lessons to give real instruction, and who use horses that really aren’t suitable for beginner lessons (or who are barely sound). So riders (and people) who are ethical and don’t like that environment bail on riding if they can’t find an affordable lease and private lessons, and the riders who don’t know any better or who find the shady barns acceptable treat riding like it’s a yoga class.
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I’m interested in your comment about riders who treat lessons like a yoga class. Since I have never taken a yoga class, can you please say more about this? I have dabbled in yoga occasionally over the years, but never studied it. Riding, on the other hand …! I have always taken it very seriously and enjoyed learning all I could.
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I did studio yoga for many years and I now do online yoga. I don’t want this thread to get diverted, but I meant that with many fitness classes, you sign up for the class–if it’s not a busy class, maybe even on the day, or even just drop in to the gym or studio–take the class, and then you’re done and pay your fee. If you go on vacation or just don’t feel like coming, no biggie. (Note: I know not all personal training or yoga studios work like this, and some require subscriptions or prepaid classes but some do.)
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Thank you.
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To these thoughts I would add that most kids/new riders of most ages would really benefit from more time at W/T in a group than progressing prematurely like I see far too many doing.
The hole I see in young kids riding is loss of foundation from hours of breeches in the saddle. Now I see Kids who bounce around at the trot, heels up, toes pointing down… but being sent over fences or courses.
It’s not good for anyone.
IMHO.
a place I recently visited does only privates
The instructor has a lesson every 45 minutes
There’s no break between them.
The people still being reminded where their hands should be, to put heels down, to look up, etc really do not need a 45 minute solo lesson, and the instructor really could better utilize their time teaching even two kids at a time.
I’m not sure really why or how it was beneficial that it was all privates all the time.
.
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For most people time in the saddle, muscle strength and memory is the key before they learn more detail. Barns no longer have any appreciable outdoor space to allow new riders to enjoy the real riding experience. A good trail ride gives confidence and loosens the rider up in the saddle - they learn to follow the walk with their hips, they learn to not freeze and to move around in the saddle, how to balance with their horse - we all know. Flat ring riding with nagging position and circles … It boils down to land prices. And it’s driven out the old horsemanship.
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Here we go- I just sent out bills for June Tuition for our Lesson Program. I had 11 students (roughly 1/3) say, "Oh, we’re not going to take lessons in June and July. Only 1 gave the clearly communicated 30 days notice. Do you see why Lesson programs are disappearing? I guess they think the horses will just get turned out on the back 40 for the summer. We’ll round them up in the fall to start back up.
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Ugh. I hope they cough up whatever penalty/cancellation without notice fee you have in place - and without complaint!
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I think quality is definitely the operative word here. I know many poor trainers that shouldn’t be teaching that have students. It really does feel like the great teachers (at any price point) are few and far between and if it’s those that we are losing, this sport is headed towards a bad trajectory.
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Since I no longer own horses I HAVE to go to lesson stables to ride (3 so far in the last 15 years.)
I have advantages, I’ve been riding seriously for over 50 years, I have “broken” my own horses to saddle, I lived with my horses, and I tend to know what to do on horseback.
Since I my MS severely handicaps me I have to ride differently that most lesson riders. I also need private 30 minute lessons (I do not have the endurance to survive a normal riding lesson.)
So I teach my riding teachers how to help me ride, Forward Seat of course even though nowadays I do not get beyond a trot. I have found that many riding instructors do not have a deep background in the various riding theories, and that they tend to have ONE WAY to do things. I gently educate them, all the while vocally recognizing that these instructors have their own knowledge that has worked for them and most of their students.
A lot of my lessons end up resembling a graduate level seminar as we get deep into the theory, as I show by my riding my interpretation of the theory, and my instructor and I discuss things. The horses listen, and the more lessons I have on a horse often the horse starts to actively engage in our discussions (this can be really subtle but the horses have their own opinions about all of this.) I discuss the equitation books I am currently reading (mostly Forward Seat and Dressage) as all three of us, my self, my instructor and the lesson horse discuss what I have read.
My riding teachers have told me that they use what I have taught them with their other students, my methods and my explanations of my methods. It also helps keep my riding lessons from becoming super, super boring.
Consider doing private lessons and teaching your instructor what you know. NOBODY ever knows everything about riding horses, and everybody can learn new stuff if the new stuff works with the lesson horse. I rarely think that I have wasted my time and money taking a lesson when I do it this way.
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You’re incredibly lucky to have access to lessons with lesson horses and experienced enough trainers that you can actually have that level of dialogue. Usually trainers that would even have a clue what you’re talking about don’t have lesson horses around here so you have to scrounge up a horse if you’re not an owner.
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You are incredibly lucky you’ve found a situation that works for you! Perfect arrangements that work for us are so precious and not to be taken for granted.
But for MOST people - this right here is a great way to be asked to never return. Not because the instructor is an idiot or personally offended, but because that’s not how a normal client/instructor relationship works. Or, the instructor just nods along and takes the client’s money as they dink around happily believing they’re “training” the horse and “helping” the coach. Neither are truly productive for the rider.
Either way, true good lesson programs ARE rare, and the ones that exist are uniquely situated and/or rapidly disappearing. It’s barely affordable to own one horse and ride it yourself, let alone support horses for other people to ride occasionally and ghost the moment they decide to take up yoga or go on vacation.
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I realize my situation is unique, very few clients of a lesson stable are as handicapped as I am.
It usually starts with the question of how much experience I have. Then usually the question is how much I can do NOW. Then comes the discussion of what I do to ameliorate the bad effects of my handicaps on the lesson horse.
Then the instructor selects the horse in their lesson string that the instructor thinks would be the most suitable for me &/or the horse that would most benefit from learning to handle my particular handicaps.
Then I get on and start riding the lesson horse. Often the lesson horse reacts to my riding at a much higher level that with the “normal” lesson rider. Sometimes I get the question of “How did you do this?”, then I explain my aids and my method of riding, often with my philosophy of riding and training, why I used that aid at that particular time and how I had hoped the horse would react to my aid.
I have found that many instructors who own lesson horses are really interested in how I accomplish things in spite of my handicaps which are all too obvious for my pride.
Then I often ask the instructor if there is anything in particular she would like me to work on with this particular lesson horse.
And I back up everything I say by how the horse reacts to my riding. If the horse starts fussing I apologize and ask the instructor what I could do better with this individual horse, apply it to the best of my ability, and ask for feedback from the instructor.
I always work to getting the horse to give me a good relaxed “flat footed” walk reaching for the bit and accepting contact. A lot of riding teachers like seeing that.
In a group lesson I keep my mouth shut and follow orders to the best of my ability.
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That’s a good idea, but they wouldn’t read it. It might be better to create a video about basic horse safety and an overview on gaits, riding, and horse care. Mandatory for parents and kids to watch the first 10 mins of their first lesson. Then the parents can leave and the child can start learning about grooming and tacking up.
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When I think about the lesson barns that I frequented as a kid, and later as an adult trying different disciplines, the horses were often either:
A. Questionably sound
Or
B. Moderately rank
One major academy in the UK that I used to ride at would get loads of horses shipped in (from where I am not sure) and us in the advanced student group would ride them in our lessons (group) before they moved “down the chain”. It was totally acceptable for us to take on that risk. And take it on we did - I rode horses that bucked, reared and I got run away with more than once. Gave me great horsemanship but I cannot picture today’s parents being ok with any of that.
Regarding the questionable soundness, many of even the new lesson barns have horses that maybe don’t feel quite even in one direction or the other, and that used to be considered ok. Now I see threads on Reddit all the time with people saying “omg what should I do, my lesson horse seems lame” and people freaking out and telling the OPs to switch barns because the lesson horses should all have the soundness (and the care) of the performance horses.
And it’s just really really expensive to keep a horse now. We went from $10 a trim in the early 90s to $50-80 (much less shoes which have started to run $250/horse). My most recent injury vet bill that was some X-rays and some meds was $990. For 4 horses for vaccines was $1200. In the 00s that might have been a $350 vet bill. Hay, grain, land taxes, diesel, truck costs - it has just all gone up.
So now owners expect perfectly cared for, perfectly shod, perfectly sound, perfectly behaved horses and they want to pay sub $100 a lesson (and it had better be private if it costs more than $50). The economics just don’t work.
I cut my teeth teaching kiddo lessons in my early 20s. Was I perfectly qualified at that point? No. But that used to be the model. The budding trainers taught group lessons to beginners on questionable horses with the hope that they would eventually move up and on to the middling trainer, then get their own horse and move to the head trainer who was more qualified.
I do fear that we’ll lose our sport if we don’t do something about this but I’m not sure what we can do.
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I just did the math, based on my personal numbers keeping horses around here.
$1000/month covers: full serving of “performance horse” feed, 25lbs alfalfa hay, basic supps like Cu/Zn, front shoes every 4 weeks, and basic vet costs spread out over the year. No stall shavings, labor, board or mortgage, farm equipment, or maintenance. This is “average non-easy keeper” prices.
$500/month covers: ration balancer, 25lbs grass hay from a round bale, monthly trims, basic supps and vet costs.
Sure some horses will cost less, especially if you do 6 weeks for the farrier or the horse doesn’t eat 25lbs of hay, or if you have enough horses to get large bulk discounts (but then your labor goes way up). It is my experience though that most horses fall somewhere between those two numbers unless you skimp on care.
(ETA: the lowest cost I could semi-realistically get it down to was $300/month. That was done by getting rid of any “extra” cushion, and assuming 6 week trims and the local farm vet for shots/teeth and nothing else.)
Assuming $50/lesson, a horse would need to work 3-5 times a week (depending), every week, without fail, just to break even on their basic costs. If you factor in property wear and tear, maintenance like Equioxx or Adequan, or an injury, you likely need to increase lesson fees and/or work the horse 6 times a week or multiple times a day.
For the small time lesson barn that might have a few horses plus a few boarders and doesn’t attend rated shows, that’s a VERY thin margin - if you can somehow afford to buy or lease the horses in the first place.
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But can’t most of that be written off since it’s a business?
(Visions of Schitts Creek and the write off episode dance before my eyes)
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