Geez. Most of these prices are great. Also in a HCOL area and my trainer recently went to $60 IIRC. She was $40 for the longest, and unless I cry uncle the lesson is a full hour.
On the other hand, I reached out to another trainer with lesson horses and she charged (at the time, been a few years) $65 for a “30 min lesson” but you were not allowed to warm up or cool down outside of the lesson. That was a total rip off in my opinion.
When you guys are up and running at the Fairgrounds again, could I walk Feronia over and watch? We went once, I think last summer, but didn’t stick around for very long. She lives exactly 1 mile away.
In 2023 I took a few dressage and flat lessons on school horses. They were $80 to $85 for a 45 ish minute lesson. Two different barns.
Lessons with Lola’s trainer were $70 ish for 30 to 45 minutes. We tended to stop when Lola was doing something really well. G-d I miss that pony!
Yes! I knew you were nearby but had no idea you were that close. That’s so exciting! I’ll shoot you a message next time we’re there. It probably won’t be until March - I give mine the winter off.
Ok. There are horses behind the houses on Long Hill (Rt 225); that’s where she lives. It’s actually 1.5 miles but I think Feronia’s up for that.
I couldn’t help but feel similarly. The comparison to deep pockets = no desire to work is a tired generalization. I hope to have deeper pockets the more I work … That I can then spend on training.
Ok So costs for eventing trainers:
Wofford - Old days at his farm (90’s) was always $100.
Monthly Clinic at Melissa’s - $100
XC lesson at Boyd’s same plus the course fee (But fair warning that was '17 so not sure I wholly remember the end dollar amount)
Riding with William Fox Pitt for clinic last year was $650. Really fun and entertaining.
Regular Lessons:
(Remember I do show jumping now)
$75 a lesson with current trainer.
Em
Hunter/Jumper lessons in Wisconsin $60 for 30 minutes. Increased from $55 to $60 when we recently moved barns. The barn owner gets the incremental.
deleted, wrong person in my head lol
Agree that’s the going rate. I’m in your area (VA side) and pay a little less to a 5* trainer, but bring multiple horses at a time and have been riding with him forever.
I actually don’t think trainer resume dictates the price as much as you might expect. The low level huntseat trainer on my street (no USEF record) charges 120/lesson, as does the low level dressage trainer a few miles away. I think that just reflects the cost of running a barn in this area. For students, it’s about finding the right fit, which includes resume as well as other factors.
Area II, DC metro, HCOL.
$85 a la carte for flat/SJ lessons or training rides from my regular coach, an Advanced-level eventer; 30 min private flat, 30-60 min for SJ depending on how many people (ranging from 1-5 riders.) She does offer monthly lesson packages that reduce the per-lesson price if you’re riding with her at least 2x a week, and being in one of her (rare, coveted, always full with a waitlist) training board spots reduces it even more drastically if you take full advantage.
$90 for hour-long winter SJ clinics (3-5 riders) with an Olympian. Both the cost and the quality of these have mostly spoiled me for all other clinics, though I might feel differently if my regular coach wasn’t so great.
Thank you for the dose of perspective here! I am so guilty of taking for granted the abundance of great professionals within 50 miles of me!
I have been starting over with a young horse, so am not actively showing, but I’m not sure how I’m going to afford more than 1-2 shows a year. That’s actually part of my frustration: as much as I enjoy the process with a greenie it feels kind of asinine to spend $400 a month on lessons when I can’t really afford to compete anyway.
This is such a great suggestion, I will definitely check it out! Were you easily able to find a club with strong adult participation?
I think the horse business is an anomaly in this way because shouldn’t boarding be what covers the bulk of that cost? (Rhetorical, really, I think it’s well-documented that boarding is a break-even proposition at best.) Eliza Sydnor’s viral FB post from last year comes to mind, in which she basically concluded that it made more sense for her, as someone primarily in the business of training riders, not to maintain a “home” facility.
@Scaramouch - I’m also in the greater-DC area (Maryland side, AA county) - and the 5* rider who comes to us is $80/lesson ($75 if you ride with her closer to her home base…but she drives 1.5hrs to us) and my dressage person is $100/lesson ($90 if you drive to her farm). We’ve also got a lower-level dressage person who will teach for $60/lesson (or tack up and ride your horse for the same price…which is a great deal when I’m traveling).
I’m in Area VIII at an eventing barn and pay $50 for private lessons as a boarder (dressage, stadium or XC onsite). My trainer no longer competes but has been in the eventing community for a long time.
She also hosts tons of clinics with reoccurring Pros and those run ~$350 (as a boarder) for a two lesson weekend.
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