Every once in a while I’m asked if I do lessons on school horses. I do not own any schoolies.
Some quick math suggests it’s almost impossible for a school horse to make money. (I’m in FL, so hay is $$$)
Hay/feed for an easy keeper $300/month
Bagged Shavings $50/month
Extra labor from my part time employees $60/month
Front shoes $95/month
Dental/vet $500 + per year
Tack and saddle fittings +++
How is it possible?
run a summer camp, daughter had one going for about five summers… $2500 to $3000 per one week session for five weeks … was not bad income for a 14 year old kid who could not find a job working in the real world
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How many lessons per day, how many days per week, and what can you charge for a lesson on a schoolie?
My trainer has a few schoolies. They typically do 2 lessons twice or three times a week (one AM for adults and one PM with a kiddo) and 1 lesson once or twice a week. Mostly W/T/C and jumps to 2’. Lessons with a school horse are $50 for 45 min.
That’s why lessons on school horses cost a lot.
Using your numbers and charging $50/lesson for 1 lesson/day, the horse earns its keep in two weeks (not including purchase price, tack, or extended vet care). If you’re doing a lot of little kid up-down lessons, some horses can handle more. Lesson horses can draw in students who go on to lease or buy and board horses.
But I don’t think most people are making much money off their schoolies.
So, I think I could get a horse to break even on paying for itself but I really don’t think I could also pay myself enough with what’s left to make it worth the investment.
Also, someone needs to ride the horse regularly to keep it from becoming stiff/behind the leg/generally unschooled by the stream of different riders.
I can think of a couple barns who have school horses but it’s not done in a good way. The horses all have really cheap, old tack that doesn’t fit. The horses all have minimal education beyond walk- trot-canter. The riders seem fairly happy to not advance much. It’s more like supervised riding time. The horse’s toplines look awful, feed is not a priority. So, I guess the way to make money is to not invest so much in the project.
Well, speaking as a longtime lessoner, I can attest to the slow but steady decline in trainers who have a string of lesson horses. Many have one or two max, if that. In many case, lessons are meant to be just a stepping stone to leasing or buying as soon as possible. I don’t think your math is wrong.
Outside of expensive horse keeping areas like Florida, it’s a lot less expensive to have land/grass.
I grew up in a barn that had a lesson barn and a boarder barn. Probably 10 lesson horses, each one going 1-2 lessons a day. More advanced riders got on the ones that needed a tune-up or the barn rats that were tacking and feeding for some lesson time did some free rides on them. It seemed to work well, but here in Western NY maybe the cost is lower for keep?
By my math, your school horses would break even very quickly. What am I missing?
It costs you $505 to keep the horse not including vet/dentist. Your $500 estimate divided by 12 months is about $42 per month. So around $550 per month total for the school horse. So if you were to charge $50 per lesson you break even at 11 lessons per month. That’s fantastic, honestly.
I had many but as the horse business started to take a downturn and the taxes/insurance took and upturn I decided to get out of the lesson business. The did make money for many years though! I am down to two older mares who work here and there. The others I kept until they passed and didn’t replace them.
Well, obviously this math is missing a lot of important factors - mortgage, taxes, insurance, utilities - for starters.
But, when I took lessons at a smallish boarding barn some years ago, I was surprised that the trainers together taught about 100 lessons/week. Of course that included lessons to boarders and probably some haul-ins, but still…wow! That’s a lot. I’m sure some horses were the “money makers” and others were less so. I agree that 11 lessons/month is unlikely. OR, if so, that’s a lesson program that needs more students. At the barn where I rode, a friendly kids pony might get used 3-4 times a day on a Saturday, not 1-2. Plus at least twice after school every day, if not more. That’s why a lot of lesson horses aren’t that fun to ride. But, at $50/lesson, a good lesson horse would get ridden at least 12 times/week, not 11/month. So, at $50/ride, they more than covered their cost. That’s where the real money in a barn is, IF you have good horses - young, fit and sound enough for multiple rides/day, plus a temperament to make them safe. They are worth their weight in gold.
Depending on the program, it’s not uncommon for some or all of them to be half leased or even full leased, which covers most or all expenses. And then lessons/ show coaching etc. is profit.
It’s true that most profitable lesson programs do not treat their schoolies like “show horses”. That way lies bankruptcy. Good school horses go multiple times per day if necessary, they don’t get stylish tack, they don’t get doted on by pro grooms every day, they don’t get tuned up by a pro rider at the drop of a hat, and they live outside if possible. But that’s not at all the same as neglect or poor instruction. I don’t doubt that you’ve seen some programs doing a poor job, but there are many that do a great job - they know that their school horses are worth their weight in gold and they’re not going to send them out with badly fitting tack.
The schoolies at my favorite lesson barn sure didn’t look like show horses most of the time, and those who taught a lot of beginner lessons weren’t sharp on their advanced flatwork or anything, but they also didn’t require the sort of tuning up that you are implying. They stayed safe and rideable for months on end and that’s why they had that job.
But that also means that the OP has to teach 11 lessons for free for each horse every month before she makes a profit. Conversely, if she were teaching a student riding their horse, she would be pocketing that full $550.
I have lesson horses and pay board on them. These are horses that used to be ‘show’ horses. I’m attached to them and yes I teach quite a few lessons on them each month for ‘free’. They don’t need tune-ups as I have both beginners and intermediate riders on them and they only get used under my supervision. I try to keep them at least 1/2 leased which helps with the day to day care that I find necessary. They look like all the other horses in the barn and have well fitted tack. I do use them as a step up to someone buying their own horse.
My barefoot pasture boarded easy keeper costs me under $500 a month on average. I got a used saddle that has been fitted but I would say most lesson horses dont get saddles fitted.
10 lessons (lesson horses at our barn do about 8 lessons a week) and he has paid for himself. If he was half leased and the half leaser does the required twice a week lessons, he is more than covered and can still be used for other lessons.
[INDENT]Depending on your area, there is a sweet spot in the #/quality of schoolies. Having one or 2 schoolies doesn’t seem enough, not enough variation in size or ability etc for riders to progress. Way back in the early 70’s the barn where I rode was interviewed about running a lesson program for Practical Horseman. I remember the trainer who ran the program saying that they needed 10-12 schoolies to provide the variety of size and talents and to accommodate riders with higher goals. They also assumed that at any time any one of them might be unavailable due to some injury or ailment or just a periodic rest. The string consisted mostly of some old show horses, some “auction house specials” and OTTB’s and QH’s. Back then it wasn’t uncommon to have a couple of schoolies able to do 3’+, though not necessarily in the style of a show hunter.
Most of the programs that I know in my area (and I know many of them) have to have at least one or 2 “fancier” types and maybe a showy type of pony in the array. Those horses typically get either part leased or used to get potential horse buyers acclimated to the show world. My current barn has an IHSA team and a moderate sized lesson program. She owns a fancy “hony” who will win everything locally in the 2’6 if ridden well and who has been used for IHSA finals. She has a reputation for outstanding care and has at least 2 horses on free lease for her use. Her schoolies get the same care as the boarders horses, they get supplements, vetting etc. Lessons are $50, BO is the only trainer.
If you are planning on running a lesson barn, you have to start with a business plan. Barns have niches. Some do a great job getting riders started but don’t provide horses for the riders who hope to compete. Some are geared toward only clients who will eventually buy a horse and get involved at a deeper level. Thinking of the local barns with H/J lessons, I know of one that gets lots of old show horse types from a big college equestrian program that gets very fancy donated horses, one barn that often finds diamonds in the rough while the BO is travelling for her job, one BO grew up in a horsey area and seems to have friends that find her useful but not super fancy types for her program. [/INDENT]
I haven’t been in Pro-land in ~20 years, so my data is older.
H/J School program in PNW. Probably about 15 schoolies in a high cost of living area. Horses were mostly retired show horses many of which were on ‘permanent free lease’ to the program. Horses were well fed. Tack was older but good quality and checked regularly for fit. We had a variety of horses, from w/t seniors to some legit nice horses who were happy to stay under 2’6.
Most horses went 1x/day, 6 days/week. Sometimes they’d go a second time if lessons were spread out, one was a lunge lessons, or a half leaser hacked.
The goal was to get riders/families a ‘foot in the door’. Some would stay at 1 lesson/week forever. But half leasing was encouraged (2x lessons, 1x hack per week) and was a stepping stone to showing and eventual horse ownership. The model worked well. The horses had decent lives and having a working student ride along with a lesson occasionally was more than enough to keep them tuned.
I understand that rising costs mean it’s harder to keep a good string of schoolies these days. But I don’t understand how the community will attract new riders if we don’t have lesson horses available for all the little girls who are clamoring for riding lessons.
Nvm! I’m struggling with reading and maths today. Lol.
I was under the assumption (which could be completely wrong) that OP was considering adding a few school horses to an existing business/property and would be paying all of those things regardless (other than taxes which would obviously be income dependent). If I misunderstood then we can all ignore my math because starting a full time lesson program into a standalone business is a very different ballgame. Although if the OP would have to use a stall for a lesson horse instead of a boarder that could be a huge hit.
Well, it goes without saying it would be MORE profitable to teach on boarder’s horses. OP could very well look at the numbers and decide it’s not worth it for her. But in the grand scheme of lesson barns breaking even at 11 lessons is pretty good. Unless, like I said above, the horse would be taking a stall from a boarder.
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