Thanks for your time, everyone. Some constructive responses and some trolls out there. Go figure.
You booked her time, so she is entitled to the agreed upon amount. Plus, she offered to give you another lesson at a future date when your horse is better. That is pretty generous, IMO, particularly for a trailer in situation. I think you have come across a business like professional which is a precious commodity!!
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Sorry your horse is lame. :no:
It’s not her fault your horse was lame though, and it’s lost income for her so yes, you should pay. Most trainers have a 24 hour cancellation policy for this reason, and while she should have made that clear it is common practice so she probably assumed you knew. Nice if her to credit for a future lesson!
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Just like any other professional service, if I didn’t follow their cancellation policy (typically 24 hours out) yes, I’d pay. Giving you a credit is generous.
I find it crazy when people expect a trainer to be professional ( timely, educated, competent, etc) but then are surprised when the same trainer treats their business like a real business.
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Pay the woman. You cancelled last minute.
I’m surprises she offered to credit it to a future lesson, that was generous. Have you never encountered a cancelation policy? Usually it’s at least 24 hours, which barely gives a trainer time to contact other students to fill it.
What she did with that time is her decision. Should she have stood in the corner for that hour?
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Did she communicate the cancellation policy up front? Is it common in YOUR area to charge for a lesson if your horse arrives lame? I am a little surprised that neither of you offered to use ghe time in some other way, to talk about goals or conditioning or have a getting-to-know-you sort of conversation. If she is looking for business, this could have been an opportunity to sell herself to you.
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Heck, I even offer to pay my in-house trainer when I show up to discover my horse is lame, missing a shoe, or whatever. She declines, but I booked her time, so I offer.
I had a trainer that would come to me, and one time I began to warm up as she arrived and my horse was excessively coughing. So I had to cancel, I gave her the money, and she gave me a portion of it back. More than reasonable.
I would not be taken aback by this at all. It’s great that she even offered to use it as a credit toward a future lesson.
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To be clear, I’ve already paid her. I also own a client-based business and have a 24 hr cancellation policy but if it doesn’t take my time, I don’t charge them. I watched her ride another horse and get paid for it between 1-2pm when my lesson was. I hear what you guys are saying, but I most likely won’t take the credit and just move on. Thanks for the input.
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I think moving on is best. Good luck in your search.
Just because she rode a horse at that time doesn’t mean she didn’t finish in less than a full day.
I think it was a completely reasonable policy (and my trainer has a 24 hrs cancellation policy as well), but if you don’t want to have to abide by it, your choice.
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The fact that she was able to fill that particular time slot with another training ride is beside the point. She organized her day with the expectation of teaching you at that time, and you may not know all of the impacts that had on her productivity and time management.
I had a student this past semester who kept scheduling by-appointment meetings, and then no-showing. When I told him that I wouldn’t be able to set aside time for him unless he could confirm that he’d be there, he pointed out that I’m always working on other things when he arrives, and he assumed I’d just fill the time with other work. Which isn’t incorrect, but it overlooks the fact that I’d rearranged my day to make time available that fit his schedule (in this case, I was sacrificing my ability to get to the barn before closing time in order to make time available that worked in his schedule). Salvaging a little work time in those meeting slots didn’t mean the no-shows weren’t costly to me.
My trainer arranges for someone to pick her kids up from school when she has a long day planned. A prior trainer had a really long and traffic-dependent commute to the barn. Most adults have various logistical challenges like these to balance as they manage their time, and last-minute changes can put a spanner in the works or create sunk-cost situations.
It would have been an incredibly nice gesture for her to waive the lesson fee, but charging the fee and using it as credit toward a future lesson is also generous. If you’re going to pay for the lesson (which you should), you might as well take it and see if the instruction is a good fit.
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^^^ This. And I agree especially with the generous part.
(RE: Bolded) Well, I guess that’s your LOSS, and YOUR business. The new trainer isn’t required to follow your policy.
And just because a horse was ridden and paid for, when your lesson would have been held, doesn’t mean that she didn’t lose money that day. You lost your time slot because your horse was lame. It happens. She rode a horse that was probably scheduled to have been ridden that day anyway, then got off work earlier than she would have. She gave you a credit. Your credit lesson will be in a slot that could have been filled by another paying customer. Life’s like that. Stuff rolls into other stuff. A thing happens and results ripple outward. A butterfly lands …
To take your toys and go home when she did what she could to make it right, seems petty.
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My trainer sometimes won’t charge me full price if my horse is lame, but that’s a generous gesture of sympathy on her part. If he’s lame, I expect to pay if I haven’t canceled in advance to allow her to open up that slot to another paying client.
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I hear everyone and thank you. Not petty, thanks. There was no discussion of a cancellation policy. Nothing signed, nothing discussed other than a trial lesson to see if it was a good fit. She asked me to pay her and I did. The woman I trailered was also very surprised by her asking for money as I was pulling out so I just wanted to see if people felt like it was common practice. Thanks, everyone
I’m glad you paid her. For the fact she filled her time elsewhere what did you expect her to do - stand in the arena wringing her hands for an hour? Horse people ALWAYS have something to do.
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I wonder if trainer also thinks you are a one time looky loo. She has offered a free makeup lesson so I would take her up on that before making up my mind.
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Definitely a good idea for you to pass. You do not sound like a good client.
She had no opportunity to fill a paying lesson spot because of your last minute cancellation. Riding training horses that she already had lined up is not making up for that loss of revenue.
Every single person with exception of one has replied with essentially the same thing. You seem determined to be offended.
Find a backyard trainer.
She asked you to pay her when you were pulling out because up until that very moment, she probably expected you to give her payment! It was very generous that she offered to do the lesson at another time.
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Thanks for the comments everyone. I’m going to delete this thread because while for the most part people have made good points and made me feel better about the situation, calling me a bad client and attacking me is wild. Jokes on me for asking the internets. There were other circumstances that made me really dislike her that I didnt lay out here because I didn’t want to get into it. Good luck out there.
Paraphrase: poster could not take scheduled lesson as horse was lame upon arrival at lesson. Instructor asked for payment for scheduled lesson. OP surprised but paid for lesson. OP wanted to know if this was the norm.
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The problem, OP, is not you getting upset at the trainers cancellation policy, I’ll give you that if you genuinely didn’t know, but the fact that you expected the trainer to twiddle their thumbs.
That maybe a run on sentence but whatever.
Im wondering if the cancellation policy was spelled out online and she assumed you saw it.
Regardless, my day never stopped because a client canceled. Client cancels, okay next! I did this in the horse world and I do it now. Don’t waste my time because you think you know what I have to accomplish that day. Drives me up the wall.
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