Lessons getting cut short

[centaursam]

@findeight This is happening irrespective of whether or not I’m the last lesson for the day. I’ve had it happen when I was the last, and in the case of this weekend, I was one of the first lessons along with another student who also got their lesson cut short and had an argument with the trainer in front of us.

@CHT To be honest I don’t really much care to ask if everything is okay on her end. I’ve had nothing but lousy experiences with trainers for many years now. It shouldn’t be this hard to find a competent and professional trainer.

I will confront her the next time it happens and request that I get additional lessons to make up for the minutes that I’m being robbed of and I will see what she says. I’m running out of places near me to ride which is a problem.

[findeight]

Good barns are getting more scarce all the time but you sure are not getting much out of this one. Waste of money and your time.

You might need to drive further then you want or pay more…or both…to find a good barn with school horses. You are lucky you don’t own or lease right now, increases your flexibility to search all possibilities.

[2DogsFarm]

@centaursam

came highly regarded by many

And how old were those recommendations?
In my case, trainer was increasingly disenchanted by the BO who basically built the facility for trainer, then this BO, lacking skills re: horse care & training himself, began initiating Rules that alienated clients.
Trainer - while a very skilled rider & trainer - was very non-confrontational, so issues were not discussed with BO Asshat.
Instead he’d vent to clients, such venting often occurring during lessons.
This happened gradually, DH & I were among the 1st boarders to the small brand-new facility (16 stalls - 5 w/BO’s motley collection of horses, 3 reserved for Sale imports).
We left - priced out by above Rules - after 4yrs.
Place lasted 4 more years, then was donated to a theraputic program as Asshat lost the ability to deduct losses < Feds declared it a hobby, not a business.

[centaursam]

I agree, very frustrating.

I was half leasing but it turned out to be a disaster. Great horse but very young and untrained, we were getting nowhere. I might half lease another horse that came in recently. I’ve only ridden her a few times but so far so good, I’m just not sure if it’s worth it to stick around at all.

@2DogsFarm Varying ages if you mean how old the people are who recommended this trainer to me. A few came from this forum so it’s hard to determine how old those folks are. I also haven’t been with this trainer for too long so it’s fairly recent too.

[2DogsFarm]

Nope, I meant how old are the recommendations themselves.
For example:
If I’d been asked about my Trainer friend Year 1 of the new barn, I’d have given
Last year would have earned a big Caveat Emptor.
Not for his lack of ability, but for the situation with Asshat BO.

[centaursam]

Not old in that regard. It’s been 1.5 years at this place and the messages I received on here all indicated that those people had a good experience with said trainer for a while both with respect to lessons as well as keeping their horses boarded under her care.

[2DogsFarm]

Then my guess is a similar change in trainer’s circumstances as I described.
Not much you can (or should) do with that.

IIWM, what I would do is put an end to the PIA lesson plan.
Explain you don’t feel you’re getting full value & will pay per lesson, prorated for time.
You may get “fired” as a client, but really, is that a loss compared to your current frustration?
Are your goals Olympic or even Regional?
This gal ain’t gonna get you there. Not in her current frame of mind & “professional” approach to clients.
If not, find someone you can train with so you enjoy lessons.

[173north]

Yeah, I agree recent recs are the best… barns are so reliant on a couple of key people, usually BO/trainer/BM, and the situation can change really fast if one of those people or those relationships starts to deteriorate.

There’s a well-regarded program in my area that I’ve always kept an eye on. Good results at the shows, good vibes on social media. I was chatting with someone recently and she mentioned she’d just left that barn and I said “Oh, what did you think of the program, I’ve heard good things” and she said she’d loved it for years but the trainer got “very mean” in the last year and a bunch of clients left. It’s a stressful industry, people burn out.

[centaursam]

I agree with you, things were better when I first started out at this place and things have slowly gotten worse.

I’ll see if I can pay for individual lessons. I like that idea better than putting all that money upfront and keeping track of which lessons were cut short.

I don’t know what I want to accomplish with riding at this point. I had aspirations of making it to Grand Prix level over the course of many years but at this point, I just want to get away from arena riding, trainers, and people and just do long trails, maybe even endurance. But I don’t have my own horse so that would make things a bit difficult for that type of riding.

@173north I think this is what has happened. Things have also gotten too “chummy”, the lines between friendship and a professional relationship have fallen apart and in turn the riding just feels lackadaisical with no real emphasis on improvement.

[NC001]

I had this problem- private lessons became semi private but the same length and group lessons started late because the one before it ran over, then the trainer chatted with the parents, then one horse had some issues… and then the lesson ended early and we could go for a ‘trail’ ride. I had my own horse I can go for a trail whenever I want. It got to where it was like 5 minutes of helpful instruction at most.
Anyways, we left. There was no talking to her about it.

[173north]

For sure sounds like she’s burning out and just trying to coast through the day with as little effort as possible. It’s been a really intense couple of years for everyone, a lot of people are struggling and I have empathy for your trainer. Doesn’t mean you have to stick around.

[Impractical_Horsewoman]

I could have written the exact same thing as you did, about my own situation! And I see so many similar experiences to my own in this thread. I don’t own my own horse, and I agree, it’s so, so hard to find lesson barns that have horses that are decently cared for, lessons that begin and start reasonably on time, and have at least some structure to them.

The last one I left similar to you had horses with issues matched with riders as a “challenge,” but no instruction how to manage those challenges. Plus lessons with people of very varied skill sets (like people who only had ridden a few times put in a regular lesson spot with more advanced riders), or lessons that mainly focused on a single rider. Private lessons becoming semi-private, or someone the instructor liked coming into the arena to ride during the lesson, then the instructor commenting on that rider rather than the student.

I think it’s just less and less (read: not at all) profitable to run lesson/boarding barns. But I also agree I am baffled by the rabid fan base of some of them, or people who have been basically getting the same lesson for years and don’t mind.

[centaursam]

It’s good to hear I’m not alone in this!

I understand it’s tough operating a lesson/boarding barn, especially nowadays with costs across the board skyrocketing. But that’s no excuse to short-change the people giving you money to provide your service. That certainly won’t help profitability!

[TheBigEasy]

Another option I haven’t seen mentioned, is to call it out in the moment. Trainer calls it quits after 25 minutes? “Hey! We’ve got another 20 minutes! Why are we ending so soon?” Call to account on the spot. Maybe she’s not tracking time. Maybe she thinks you are not.

You mention you’re running out of places to move to…I can relate from a location standpoint - geographical limitations of barns/trainers.

Managing what you DO have available is probably better.

Reminds me of my corporate days managing a team. Everyone had an issue. But if you fired everyone and hired new people, you’d just have the same issues rearranged in a new group.

Everyone needs a program they can live with, perfect doesn’t exist, so we manage what IS available best as possible.

[centaursam]

I think that’s a great point with respect to having to make the best of the current situation. It wasn’t too long ago that I was looking for a new barn/trainer and I recall that this was really the only place I had available which wasn’t a problem since the trainer came highly regarded at that time.

I will confront her next time this happens and see what the reaction is. She doesn’t know I’m keeping time but when someone cuts 2/3s of your lesson, I don’t’ think that’s absent-minded time keeping on her part, it’s more intentional, as in her wanting to get to the next lesson on time or her just wanting to leave the barn if I’m the last lesson of the day.