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If you spent $80 on Pony Camp...


Mrs. A
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....would you expect each child to have their own pony to ride? I realize that the cost might vary in different parts of the country, but I'm just trying to figure out if we had reasonable expectations. This is supposed to be a 4 week program. Dh just took dd to the first session and called to tell me that there are 10 kids and only 1 pony!   

 

Do we need to complain or is this a normal thing for the price?

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That is really, really inexpensive for anything in our area that could claim the name of Pony Camp. I may expect more than a 1:10 ratio, but I wouldn't expect 1:1 at that price. We live in a rural horse country too- but insurance for riding lessons of any kind are very high and the costs get passed on to the students. I'd probably still complain for the 1:10 ratio or just pull my kid if they'd refund the remaining lessons, but I think 1:1 is expecting too much.

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What is pony camp? 

 

DD did a summer camp a few times at a local riding club.  They spend half the day doing fun games and then spend time gearing up themselves/horses, took an hour long trail ride, helped to secure the horses and had some more fun.There was a pool for the kids one day a week and things like a roap course they could do.  Sometimes kids would ride two to a horse if they wanted to, or if they had an unforeseeable issue (full class, but a horse was ill/injured etc).  This was expected and was how the camp was set up.  If someone didn't read the description, they may have not realized that they entire day wasn't all about horses, but the itinerary was easily available on the website. 

 

This camp was $250/300 for 5  days of 9 to 5. 

 

 

How much times was each child given to ride? What did they get to do in the mean time? 

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Around here there is a class that covers pony care and basic horsemanship and meets 1x a week for 4 weeks (I am assuming 1x a week for your class, ie 4 classes total?). The cost is about $65 and I would not expect a pony per student. 1:10 sounds about right. It is not a riding class and very clearly states that.

 

ETA: Riding lessons (group) would be $25+ per hour. Private $45+ per hour. So $80 would be cheap for 4 group riding classes.

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Ok - I had to go double check rates, but locally for us for a 45 minute beginning riding class meeting 4 (FOUR) times, it is $168.  $80 would be extremely cheap for anything involving horses locally.  Whether or not it is a good value would depend on how long the class is and what else they're doing and learning during that time.  I would tell them to update their class description if the information on the class format cannot be found anywhere on their website or in their registration material.

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10 kids and only one pony?

 

I would ask for a refund!

 

Or is this a class about ponies in general, and the kids aren't expecting much time to be spent actually riding the pony?

 

 

It's supposed to cover basic care and horsemanship, but riding was also supposed to be included. I realize that there's only so much that can be done in an hour, but it just seems like a  1:10 ratio doesn't give anyone much of a chance to do anything at all for more than 5 minutes at a time. 

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That is really, really inexpensive for anything in our area that could claim the name of Pony Camp. I may expect more than a 1:10 ratio, but I wouldn't expect 1:1 at that price. We live in a rural horse country too- but insurance for riding lessons of any kind are very high and the costs get passed on to the students. I'd probably still complain for the 1:10 ratio or just pull my kid if they'd refund the remaining lessons, but I think 1:1 is expecting too much.

 

This. $80 for four weeks is crazy cheap, but I would still expect there'd be more than one pony for the kids to work with (even in terms of learning to care for a pony in general). Though I might just chalk the cost up to a great deal for a few hours of childcare if DD was happy.

 

ETA: Oh, it's only an hour? Heck, that's not even enough time to run to the grocery store. 

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I think part of the problem with a class like this is for each pony you probably need an adult.  Then you might need one just to manage kids.  I see your kids are 8 and under.  That's actually pretty young for riding at all.  The $168 price I quoted above is for ages 9-11, called junior beginner.  The beginner class for ages 12+ is actually cheaper, because they don't need as much staff on hand.  Many stables don't have programs at all for younger kids.  If this is for ages 8 and under, this is actually about what I would expect.  Maybe other people will weigh in.  We have just done a little riding.  Horse stuff is just generally $$$$. 

 

I'm really curious how many adults are teaching and what else the kids are doing.  That would determine the value for me.  If there is one adult teaching, and the kids are all just standing around waiting for a turn I'd consider that really poor class design.  If the kids were working with another adult on horse facts, grooming, etc etc  while the other kid was riding, I might think it was ok.

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I think part of the problem with a class like this is for each pony you probably need an adult.  Then you might need one just to manage kids.  I see your kids are 8 and under.  That's actually pretty young for riding at all.  The $168 price I quoted above is for ages 9-11, called junior beginner.  The beginner class for ages 12+ is actually cheaper, because they don't need as much staff on hand.  Many stables don't have programs at all for younger kids.  If this is for ages 8 and under, this is actually about what I would expect.  Maybe other people will weigh in.  We have just done a little riding.  Horse stuff is just generally $$$$. 

 

I'm really curious how many adults are teaching and what else the kids are doing.  That would determine the value for me.  If there is one adult teaching, and the kids are all just standing around waiting for a turn I'd consider that really poor class design.  If the kids were working with another adult on horse facts, grooming, etc etc  while the other kid was riding, I might think it was ok.

 

 

It's for ages 7-12. I thought that was a pretty wide range, and was surprised by it.  There was only 1 instructor. 

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It's supposed to cover basic care and horsemanship, but riding was also supposed to be included. I realize that there's only so much that can be done in an hour, but it just seems like a  1:10 ratio doesn't give anyone much of a chance to do anything at all for more than 5 minutes at a time. 

 

Is it once a week for 4 week or daily for 4 weeks?  The rate for a 4 week summer day camp is $4,125 in my area for horse riding.   One hour is very short per session.  My neighbor's child did a 1 week camp and it was 1 pony to 3 kids but 5 full days.

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Is it once a week for 4 week or daily for 4 weeks?  The rate for a 4 week summer day camp is $4,125 in my area for horse riding.   One hour is very short per session.  My neighbor's child did a 1 week camp and it was 1 pony to 3 kids but 5 full days.

 

 Once a week.

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It's for ages 7-12. I thought that was a pretty wide range, and was surprised by it.  There was only 1 instructor. 

 

With 1 instructor, it's a really poorly designed class!  With another instructor and another pony to groom and learn about, maybe they'd have something. 

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 Once a week.

 

What?!!! That's not Pony Camp, that's Very Basic Instruction on Pony Care and Minimal Exposure to Ponies. I think they're stretching the term "camp" reeeeeally far. 

 

In that case, yes, I'd be annoyed and complain. That's seriously once around the ring for each kid. No way would I pay $20 an hour for that. 

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In my area, group riding lessons are $25-$35 per hour with a max of 4 riders who each have their own horse or pony.  I don't think that $80 for 4 hours with one pony is a good deal at all.  There's only so much you can learn unless you are physically on the pony.  Even if you are learning to groom a horse, more than 2 kids per horse is too many.  I'm not sure where you live, but you may be able to find a better deal elsewhere.

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That's ridiculous.  

 

If each child got a 5 minute pony ride (and really, by the time you get one child and the other on, they might have gotten more like a 3-4 minute ride), that's 50 minutes of class time right there.  How on earth do they have time to cover the basic care and horsemanship?

 

Did you DD have fun?  If not, I would request a refund.

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Is it a camp for ponies? Or a camp by ponies? :lol:

 

Seriously, I'd probably imagine a higher ratio of ponies to campers, depending upon how it was billed. But if it was billed as *learn about ponies, do pony crafts and take a short pony ride* then I wouldn't expect them to each have their own pony.

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If I'd payed $80 for a four week "Pony Camp" I'd expect them to be colouring pictures of My Little Ponies and neighing at each other. Seriously, $20/week is a steal for any kind of kids activity, even just a social group with an organized leader.

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I wouldn't expect one pony per child at that price.  at least not here. that would be the price of two one hour lessons with exclusive pony.

 

however, I consider that seriously inadequate for pony camp. 2 riders per pony maybe (I'd still grumble).  if the materials didn't address how many ponies per child, and simply implied - I would still complain and try and get my money back.  one pony is way beyond inadequate.  ponies need rest too - and can't be accommodating all 10 kids every day.

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If I'd payed $80 for a four week "Pony Camp" I'd expect them to be colouring pictures of My Little Ponies and neighing at each other. Seriously, $20/week is a steal for any kind of kids activity, even just a social group with an organized leader.

Maybe so, but how would you feel if you had been led to believe that actual ponies would be involved and the kids would get to ride them?

 

Also, $20 per week isn't that cheap, when you consider the whole "camp" is only one hour per week.

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Did all 10 kids actually RIDE the pony during that hour?! Or was this just a first day of pony camp, where everyone got some basics in being safe around a pony and riding will happen later? If the latter, I'd think it fine, assuming there may be more ponies/riding next time? If the former, uh...no. That's a pony ride. And poor pony.

 

With a bunch of kids with no experience around horses, I would expect and welcome the first session to be entirely on the ground. For that, one pony to 10 kids could be just fine.

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4 weeks of a day camp, if it is 5 days a week, each kid will get a couple times per week to ride (not every day).  I suspect much of the time will be pony-care, pony-related crafts, etc.  For $80 you are not signing up to ride a lot.

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4 weeks of a day camp, if it is 5 days a week, each kid will get a couple times per week to ride (not every day). I suspect much of the time will be pony-care, pony-related crafts, etc. For $80 you are not signing up to ride a lot.

I think the OP said it is only one hour a day, and only one day per week, so only an hour per week for four weeks.

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I'm not sure what's happening over there, but here's what we get over here.

 

Saturday mornings my kids spend about 2 hours at the horse barn.  This includes a 1 hour riding lesson (1 hour on the horse).  They spend the rest of the time stall mucking, tacking, grooming, and doing other barn chores.  Cost is $55/kid/day.

 

Summer horse camp is 4 hours (morning), again 1 hour on the horse, barn chores, plus other outdoorsy activities.  Cost is still $55/kid/day (quantity discounts available).

 

I am not really clear on the deal OP is getting.  How many hours of camp are included in the $80?  If it's a day-long camp, then I could see each kid getting a half hour or more on the pony, plus doing other activities.  So that might not be too crazy.

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Pony camp here (3 hrs day, 4 days/wk) is 1 kid per pony, and costs $425.  They do not spend all of the 3 hours riding.  There is craft time, snack time, grooming and tacking up time, etc.

 

When I say 1 kid per pony, what that means is that there are twice as many kids as ponies.  They split the kids into 2 groups.  One group does non-pony stuff, while the other group rides, and then they switch.  I don't remember if both kids groom the pony at the same time.

 

I just did the math:  that is $35+ per hour.  Horse stuff is expensive. 

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I think the OP said it is only one hour a day, and only one day per week, so only an hour per week for four weeks.

 

Which means $20/hour for your kid and 9 others to have some pony time that isn't even including much riding since there's only one pony.

 

It would not be worth it to me.

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Dd said she loved it and is excited to go back next week. Dh said that the instructor told him that there were not supposed to be that many kids all at once, so someone made a mistake in registration. It looks like an attempt is going to be made to reschedule some kids to come a different day of the week so that the kid to pony ratio will be smaller. If they are taking steps to fix it I'm fine with that and won't bother to complain. So we'll see how it turns out. 

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I am glad they are trying to fix the instructor to kid ratio if nothing else.

 

You are getting an absolute steal - In our area it costs at least $50 per hour for a beginner group session, and you spend part of your hour doing basic care, so not all of that time is riding. If your DD is happy, and they can keep the kids safe, then I'd just roll with it for now, but avoid that farm in the future.

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One of our favorite scenes from Community:

 

Britta: "I'm volunteering at the animal hosptial!"

 

Troy (so excited!) "Animal Hospitla!"

 

Abed: "The animals are the patients."

 

Troy: (dawning realization, a bit dejected): "That makes sense..."

 

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When my DD was little we went to a local pumpkin patch that had pony rides.  It cost $12 for her to have a ride that did two laps around a ring.  It took all of 5 minutes.  $80 for four hours is a steal!

 

there were 10 kids for ONE pony.  that works out to $20 for that five minute pony ride.

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....would you expect each child to have their own pony to ride? I realize that the cost might vary in different parts of the country, but I'm just trying to figure out if we had reasonable expectations. This is supposed to be a 4 week program. Dh just took dd to the first session and called to tell me that there are 10 kids and only 1 pony!   

 

Do we need to complain or is this a normal thing for the price?

 

Around here it costs more than that to bring ponies out to a birthday party. 1 pony for up to 13 kids for an hour is over $100 ($135? I think) 14-22 kids is 2 ponies and $225. etc.We

 

 went to a party recently and my daughter got MANY pony rides in that hour even with just 2 ponies and a bunch of kids.

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Dd said she loved it and is excited to go back next week. Dh said that the instructor told him that there were not supposed to be that many kids all at once, so someone made a mistake in registration. It looks like an attempt is going to be made to reschedule some kids to come a different day of the week so that the kid to pony ratio will be smaller. If they are taking steps to fix it I'm fine with that and won't bother to complain. So we'll see how it turns out.

Thanks for the update -- I'm glad to hear the instructor is going to try to break the one big class into smaller groups. Even if it doesn't work out, I give them credit for trying. :)

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