Equestrian Lesson Questions

[songsparrow]

My girls have asked me a number of times about horseback riding lessons, and in our area they are very expensive - the least expensive classes I've found within a half-hour drive are $40 per lesson (private 1/2 hour or group 1 hour), and closer to $50 per lesson is typical (sometimes more).  Right now, there is no way that I could afford weekly lessons for both of them.  I would be interested in having them learn the basics of riding for enjoyment, though.  I am not looking to make equestrian competitors.

 

So, I have a few questions:

 

1.  Are weekly lessons necessary?  Or could they do lessons once or twice per month and still benefit?

 

2.  In between lessons, is it expected that you will do practice rides?  How much time should you spend riding between lessons?  How much does it cost (ballpark) to purchase riding time?  Is this what websites advertise as "trail rides"?

 

TIA!

[Whereneverever]

A trail ride is more like the groups of people riding on vacation or for causal fun on very well broke horses.

[regentrude]

1.  Are weekly lessons necessary?  Or could they do lessons once or twice per month and still benefit?

You will still benefit, but the progress will be slow. There is much muscle memory involved in riding. There will be stretches when the student practices one skill, for example a posting trot, for weeks, months, and it gets frustrating even with weekly lessons.

 

 

2.  In between lessons, is it expected that you will do practice rides?  How much time should you spend riding between lessons?  How much does it cost (ballpark) to purchase riding time?  Is this what websites advertise as "trail rides"?

 

In our barn, a beginner can only ride during lessons. It is not expected that they practice outside of lessons, and not feasible unless they own a horse at home. (Advanced students who board or lease a horse can ride in the arena at any time it is not used for lessons.)

Our facility does not have the option to purchase unsupervised riding time for beginners, and I have never heard anybody offering this around here. I have a hard time imagining how that would work with liability and safety, because you would still need a trainer supervising the student - so it would not be any cheaper than an actual lesson.

 

Organized trail rides are not very useful if the student wants to learn how to ride. There they have horses who have walked the trail dozens of time just walking one behind the other behind the guide, and the "riding" involves minimal steering. I did one with my DD before she started riding for real.

 

[mamaraby]

1. Are weekly lessons necessary? Or could they do lessons once or twice per month and still benefit?

Yes and no. As another poster mentioned there is a great deal of muscle memory/stamina involved. That being said, my daughter does twice monthly lessons. Hers run $30 for 30-40 minutes. They say they are "group" lessons, but since she's 5yo, they have the horse on a long lead and she has her own teacher while the other riders work with the other instructor. Dd's made huge progress since she started and while I'd love for her to go more often, twice monthly is the top of what we can afford. Our stable is pretty flexible and understanding, though. It's not like they'd kick us out if we had to go down to once a month.

 

I can't afford the chunk of money up front since I take the $30 out of my grocery money for that week, but our stable offers a buy x lessons get one free sort of deal so I'd ask about that.

 

2. In between lessons, is it expected that you will do practice rides? How much time should you spend riding between lessons? How much does it cost (ballpark) to purchase riding time? Is this what websites advertise as "trail rides"?

Trail rides are for tourists. No practice rides - that's what lessons are for. I suppose if we had our own horse it would be different, but my understanding is that horses are like boats and since we can't afford to "put another $1000" into anything the two riding lessons dd has each month is it.

[regentrude]

 but my understanding is that horses are like boats and since we can't afford to "put another $1000" into anything the two riding lessons dd has each month is it.

 

No, horses are not like boats. Boats don't eat and do not get sick.

[Guest submarines]

I think they'll still benefit, if they really love everything about horses and want to learn everything about horses--the dirt, the poop, the grooming--rather then just wanting to "ride". There's just so much to learn, and a lot of it is not directly related to the actual riding at all. 

 

Becoming a somewhat competent recreational rider still requires, in my estimate (and I'm really new to horses, just a mom of a horse obsessed kid), at least 2-3 years of weekly lessons, if not longer. So much depends on a horse too. One might start feeling competent on a baby-sitter lesson horse after a few lessons, and then one gets on a horse with a different personality and more "go" (or less "go" lol), and it might seem that one knows nothing at all. The real competence starts when one can ride most "easy going" horses and guide them to do what you want them to do. 

 

Beginner students are not expected to ride / practice on their own. In some barns it takes a year or so for a beginner to be allowed to get their horse from the paddock (though in some places they are expected to do this almost from the beginning, which is not necessarily the safest.)

 

Trail rides can be fun, but as you become more discerning, you'll see that not all trail rides are created equal and some trail horses are not treated as nicely as you'd want. The very first place where DD started with camps and trail rides seemed so lovely to us, but in retrospect DD now finds even the memories of it quite traumatic. 

 

On a trail ride you are just expected to sit on your horse and do very little steering or cues, most likely, none at all. This is really not much practice, other than maybe getting used to being on a horse. 

 

But even riding a couple of times a month, if it brings joy to the kids, is still a wonderful activity, even if it doesn't easily and quickly make one a competent rider. However, if you define "competence" as not being afraid of being on a horse and enjoying guided trail rides, then this, of course, can be achieved faster. 

[mamaraby]

No, horses are not like boats. Boats don't eat and do not get sick.

It was tongue-in-cheek. Boats are expensive, run i to problems, and you find yourself having to "put anther $1000." Horses, as you said need to eat and get sick. See the tongue-in-cheek comparison? I can't afford the eat and get sick part. Hence the no horse part.

 

Not meant to be taken that seriously. I got the saying from another horse owner when I asked about a ballpark figure when dd started asking for lessons and the for her own horse.

[mamaraby]

Oy the dp.

[mamaraby]

Silly dp

[LMV]

I think a lot of this depends on what your goal is.  If your [or ideally your daughter's goal that you are trying to facilitate] goal is for your daughter to become a proficient equestrian then she does need to be riding with some regularity to develop and maintain muscle memory. On the other hand if your daughters are intrigued with the idea of horses---most girls do at some point go through a horse phase to some extent, and just want to start off with a horse experience and see where it takes them I think the timing and frequency is less important.  

 

Most good riding programs will not let kids ride outside of lessons until they have reached a certain level of proficiency.  When I let our kids ride in between lessons [we have our own horses and a family stable] when they were younger DH or I were always around so it was either just another less formal lesson with mom or dad or they were riding because we were riding recreationally as a family and horses were selected with their competence and experience level in mind.  In those cases I didn't nitpick on form but I certainly addressed any potential safety issues in short order.

 

Another thought if finances are tight and your goal is a horse experience and then determining from there where to go is to investigate if you have any local equine 4-H clubs.  DH and I would certainly consider allowing a responsible child in the equine 4-H club our girls are involved with to work through a horse project using one of our horses.  There are a lot of liability issues to consider here and I think it is the kind of thing that would be done on a case by case basis and not immediately overnight but that is a thought as well.  If our nine year old foster daughter had stayed with her original foster parents we had already planned to offer her the option of joining the 4-H club here and using one of our horses in January. We had actually planned to mention it and offer it to her foster parents (before we had mentioned it to her of course) when they collected her from the respite placement they never collected her from. She ended up staying with us so the idea became irrelevant. 

-

[Ottakee]

You might want to ask for local 4H groups to see if any of the local 4H leaders give lessons.  Those in our area run $25/hour using the riding instructor's horse.  You might also check your local Craig's list----BE CAREFUL though to find someone reputable that has well trained lesson horses.  There is one place in our area that picks up auction horses and uses them for lessons after just a few days and not all of the horses are suitable for beginners.

 

Riding IS expensive.  It is hard to see it but the instructor isn't getting paid only for their time but also the horse the child is riding, their facility, insurance, etc.  I realize that but I know too as a mom that the lesson price is a lot, esp. if you have 2 children wanting to ride.

 

It might be that the instructor would split a lesson between the 2---having them both work on the basic skills and safety stuff like brushing, leading, tacking up, etc. and then split the riding time.  Many beginners can't really handle riding more than 1/2 hour at a time--depends on their skill level and age.

 

Trail rides are fun (we do 90% trail riding) but most advertised trail rides are for those who don't know how to ride and are on horses that are "nose to tail" horses that just follow the tail ahead of them---pretty much no matter what the rider does or doesn't do.  It can be fun but isn't a way to learn to ride.

 

Make sure the girls have riding helmets for lessons or any time their are on a horse.  Many lesson barns have student helmets or you can purchase your own.  The rest of the riding stuff---boots, breeches, etc. can be purchased used.

[Cera]

I would also suggest looking for a 4h club. We have one nearby that has an equine focus and the instructors have horses to be used by kids who don't have their own. The kids have a monthly group meeting, a monthly barn day and then arrange additional time to work on their projects. They also have the option of discounted lessons and many seem to arrange trades for lesson time once they have more experience (cleaning the barn, helping out with little chores).

[hillfarm]

Um...I'd like to put in a plug for REAL trail riding.

 

I realize that many riding stables or liveries do use "dead head" horses, with concrete mouths, that are trained to walk the correct number of prescribed steps down the trail away from the barn and then "happy walk" their way directly back to the barn. They put their noses near the tail of the horse in front of them and plod mindlessly along until once again released to laze in the shade, waiting for the next fare. This usually occurs in 30, 60, or 90 minute chunks.

 

Real trail riding bears little resemblance to this. It involves traveling a trail with your equine companion. When we trail ride, we often also camp with a small group of other riders. The horses seem to enjoy seeing the new sights along the trails as much as the riders do. They are active participants in the experience. Good trail horses are curious, intelligent, patient and brave. They will go over unfamiliar surfaces calmly, they will allow riders to mount from many different positions, they will partner to carry or drag whatever need carried or dragged.

 

However, I do not recommend real trail riding for rank beginners unless they are with experienced riders. Trails can be tricky and environmental conditions can change quickly. The rider needs to bring lots of wisdom, good balance and excellent stamina to the mix. I think such demands and a long trip would be too much for most beginners.

[tabinfl]

One thing to ask about at the facilities you contact is whether your girls could work at the barn in exchange for lessons. Some barns will allow students to clean stalls and do other odd jobs around the place, and will credit them in lesson time. For younger girls this would require your direct supervision & help, but it's also a great way for all of you to begin learning what goes along with horse ownership should you decide to pursue that down the road (having owned both, I can tell you that horses are exactly like boats in the area of unexpected, ever-increasing, and often urgent costs with the worst possible timing).

 

As they (& you) develop relationships with more people at the barn, and their riding skills increase, you may find horse owners for whom exercising their horses is something they wish to "outsource", and your girls could find themselves with free practice riding time. Of course, this all depends on the facility and the people involved, and comes after they have developed good basic riding skills and have proven themselves to be responsible & willing to do the (literal ;) ) s*%t work, but it never hurts to ask what's available!

[Ottakee]

Um...I'd like to put in a plug for REAL trail riding.

 

 

However, I do not recommend real trail riding for rank beginners unless they are with experienced riders. Trails can be tricky and environmental conditions can change quickly. The rider needs to bring lots of wisdom, good balance and excellent stamina to the mix. I think such demands and a long trip would be too much for most beginners.

I totally agree.  We trail ride 90+% of the time.  Once you have learned the basics you can have riding lessons on the trails---how to safely cross roads, ditches, handle spooks and scary situations, etc.  It is a different type of riding than ring riding and they both have their place but personally I get sick of making circles in an arena :-)