What is a reasonable amount to charge for a horseback riding lesson?
February 142010
There is a place literally walking distance from my house that’s really nice, but it seems a little pricy. The rates are $60 for a private half hour lesson, and $50 for a group hour lesson. Is it just me, or are these prices insane?
You can’t judge a riding lesson based on the price alone. For what the trainer/instructor is teaching, it may be just right or even too little. What kind of riding lessons are they? I suspect that it may be of a discpline,….dressage or hunter jumper or eventing or reining or cutting?….
If you want a cheap lesson, you might want to go with a backyard instructor. they charge about $20-25 an hour or less and they probably don’t have the credentials of that barn’s trainer/instructor.
For a dressage trainer/instructor, they can charge anywhere from $35 - 75 or more an hour.
What kind of training does the instructor have at that barn? If the barn is really "nice" then maybe the instructor has taken the time and effort to learn a lot about real horsemanship so the price will reflect that.
It takes YEARS of riding and taking instruction from top notch trainers to become an intructor who can and should rightfully charge a lot of money for having taken the time to aquire that kind of knowledge.
You get what you paid for. Maybe this instructor is also into competing, so the better the trainer, the higher the price.
Also, take into consideration your area. Is it high price? I suspect so. The cost of running a barn in your area may be substantially higher than other areas. Also, the type of lesson horses can reflect the cost, too. Are they warmbloods that are well proven?
I suspect there’s a good reason for the price. Find out what it is. If this person didn’t think they could get that price, they’d go out of business very quickly. Obviously, they haven’t.
As for your actual question: what’s a reasonable amount to charge for a lesson?
That depends on what kind of lesson and from who you’re taking it from and if you are using your own horse or you’re using the lesson horses available.
You can pay anywhere from $20 on up to a hundred an hour. Depends on your area, too.
Reasonable? That depends on the skill level of the trainer/instructor.
Anything having to do with horses is highly subjective. There is no "right or wrong" answer for this type of question. Depends on too many individual factors.
February 14th, 2010 at 5:59 am
these prices are insane
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February 14th, 2010 at 6:29 am
$20 for half an hour is a good price.
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February 14th, 2010 at 6:39 am
Unless she’s competed at the uppermost level of her sport and won, she’s out of line. I ride with a Dressage trainer who has been training and showing Grand Prix for literally over a decade, and I only pay $50/ Private lesson!
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February 14th, 2010 at 7:18 am
They do seems a little high, as I have horseback riding lessons for an hour that cost $25 and they are really nice with a nice barn, great horses, and good takc. (they say an hour but usually lasts two and a half-we are the last lessons of the day). I say, if the place is nice then go for it, but I would do the group hour lessons. Only do this if you can pay for it. If not, find another place.
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February 14th, 2010 at 8:02 am
It depends on the level of instruction - we charge $25 for an hour private lesson for kids/novices with a lower level instructor and then $55 per hour for a lesson with the eventing instructor.
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February 14th, 2010 at 8:15 am
yah.they are ……30 for 1hr is good
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February 14th, 2010 at 8:24 am
Those prices are high depending on what kind of lessons you are getting. If you’re getting high quality jumping or dressage lessons (english wise) or reining or advanced (western wise) then thoughs are steep but reasonable. If they are average sit up sit down for posting (yawn), then they aren’t worth it.
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February 14th, 2010 at 8:36 am
Where I used to ride and where I currently ride and hour long group lesson cost $50 dollars so I would say its a normal price but I’m sure you could find somewhere less expensive if you looked.
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February 14th, 2010 at 9:11 am
It depends whether or not you plan on taking lessons three times a week, or once a month! My dressage instructor is $50. when she comes but I take approximately 3 lessons every two months or so, with nothing in the winter. For me, it is well worth it to take these lessons from her. I ride with her, and then I train until the next lesson set. Then I ride with her again, and I have pleanty to work on.
I have seen other dressage instructors, however, who are $100. a lesson and I have taken pleanty of lessons from them. I also know another woman who gives lessons for $25, but she doesn’t have the scores that the other riders have. A gold medalist who is very experienced in giving lessons, AND is an S rated judge can easily pull off $100. lessons since the people only see her once in a blue moon! This is, however, a 50 minute lesson, sometimes pressing onto an hour!
The instructor had better be, to be honest, simply amazing.
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12 year owner/rider (since age 7); dressage, jumping, reining
February 14th, 2010 at 9:28 am
It would also depend on where you live. If you live in an area with little to no competition in terms of other riding stables, they can inflate prices. If you live in an area with a lot of other riding stables, they may be justified in charging that amount, but check out other local stables and compare.
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February 14th, 2010 at 10:01 am
I would check a few places out and see who would give the best lessons.
I pay $50 for an hour lesson, my trainer ALWAYS will give extra time if needed. I have seen some places that really will give good lessons, and some trainers who watch their watches the entire lesson.
I have seen rates from $30-$45 for a private lesson
that seems like too much for a group lesson though
oh I thought those were full hour lessons!
it is going to deppend on the quality, but that seems pricey!
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February 14th, 2010 at 10:31 am
If you live in the US then these prices are wayy to hihg in my opinion. My trainer generally only charges like $35 a lesson.
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11 years riding/showing AQHA and APHA horses in local, 4-H, AQHA, and APHA shows. Competed in hippology and horse bowl for 6 years. 2008 national team problem winners in hippology, 2009 national horse bowl winners. Top state individual 2009 horse bowl, 3rd in the nation.
February 14th, 2010 at 10:39 am
You can’t judge a riding lesson based on the price alone. For what the trainer/instructor is teaching, it may be just right or even too little. What kind of riding lessons are they? I suspect that it may be of a discpline,….dressage or hunter jumper or eventing or reining or cutting?….
If you want a cheap lesson, you might want to go with a backyard instructor. they charge about $20-25 an hour or less and they probably don’t have the credentials of that barn’s trainer/instructor.
For a dressage trainer/instructor, they can charge anywhere from $35 - 75 or more an hour.
What kind of training does the instructor have at that barn? If the barn is really "nice" then maybe the instructor has taken the time and effort to learn a lot about real horsemanship so the price will reflect that.
It takes YEARS of riding and taking instruction from top notch trainers to become an intructor who can and should rightfully charge a lot of money for having taken the time to aquire that kind of knowledge.
You get what you paid for. Maybe this instructor is also into competing, so the better the trainer, the higher the price.
Also, take into consideration your area. Is it high price? I suspect so. The cost of running a barn in your area may be substantially higher than other areas. Also, the type of lesson horses can reflect the cost, too. Are they warmbloods that are well proven?
I suspect there’s a good reason for the price. Find out what it is. If this person didn’t think they could get that price, they’d go out of business very quickly. Obviously, they haven’t.
As for your actual question: what’s a reasonable amount to charge for a lesson?
That depends on what kind of lesson and from who you’re taking it from and if you are using your own horse or you’re using the lesson horses available.
You can pay anywhere from $20 on up to a hundred an hour. Depends on your area, too.
Reasonable? That depends on the skill level of the trainer/instructor.
Anything having to do with horses is highly subjective. There is no "right or wrong" answer for this type of question. Depends on too many individual factors.
References :
February 14th, 2010 at 11:08 am
It really depends on your area and the trainers experience i think. becaue thats sounds like just about every barn around here. for a while i payed 50 per hour for basic western lessons (seriously, the lady even told me i was a higher level rider than she taught up to) jsut because the place was close to me and i cant stand being away from horses.
while where i ride now the charge is 45 an hour for group lessons plus 10 if you use one of their horses, 60 dollars for a private lesson plus ten more for using their horse (so 70 for private and 55 for group). but my instructor is a wonderful instructor, she has competed in grand prix national levels and the facilities are the best i have ever seen in my entire life. they have two large outdoor arenas, a professional dressage arena, a HUGE indoor arena, two large barns, each with stalls with attached paddocks plus a tack room for each stall to keep each horses own tack near, plus the most amazing jumps and jump courses i have ever used. a seriously amazing place. and the horses are wonderful, talented, experienced (but not old or slow) with plenty of get up and go, careful, and jsut great horses to be around. they are quite far away (a half hour drive one way on the freeway) but me and two friends started going there together, so our parents switch off on the rides XD
so i do think that the private rate i quite high, but not the group lesson pricing, so i would definitly ride there if there are nice horses and a good instructor, but only in group lessons, i would never pay 120 for an hour private lesson.
good luck and i hope this helped.
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