Some riding students are thrilled with how inexpensive riding lessons are and some are horrified at the expense. Most fall somewhere in between.

Here are a few things to consider.

If you have your own horse and wonder at the cost:

You’re paying for another person to arrange their schedule and be fully available during that session. You’re paying for the years of experience they have and what they’ve learned so far in their horse journey. You’re paying for the space that the lesson is being held on – whether or not your instructor/riding coach is the owner or not. You’re paying for the liability insurance that should be necessary for every instructor. And you are paying for the thought and preparation, as well as follow-up, for your session.

If you do not have your own horse:

You’re paying for all of the above, plus…

Horses are EXPENSIVE. The initial outlay of a horse is thousands. Several or many, MANY, depending on the horse. Horses need their feet, feed, worming, and shot schedules maintained whether they’re just sitting in a stall or working every day. A vet visit ranges from $130 to many MANY thousands depending on the issue.

Bridles, bits, saddles, saddle pads, brushes, halters, leads, blankets, fly masks, supplements, grain, and other tack is NOT CHEAP. Most new dressage saddles START around $5000/each. Bits range from $20 to HUNDREDS. Take an evening sometime: pick out a horse, gather all the things needed to care for that horse, and then take a total of the cost…

Instructors who board their horses also have board to pay. Instructors who own or lease their facility have mortgage or rent to cover. Before any money is made, many, many lessons per month go right back into caring for the horse.

An example In any given month, as the barn owner, a solid third of the lessons given in a month go straight back into the horses. The tack, their upkeep, etc. Another third (or more) goes to paying for insurance, mortgage, and other facility bills. The last little bit goes to the instructor and their time and the years they’ve spent building their experience and ability to teach, as well as carving out time from their day to be fully present and engaged in teaching.

All this being said – the hope is that people taking lessons or buying lessons for others, understand that we do this because we LOVE IT. We love watching riders gain new understanding in the saddle. We love watching connections between horses and riders grow as they learn together. We love being in the dirt and the sun and the cold and spending our days with the animals we love and the people who want to better themselves in the saddle. So, we WANT to be here!

~ Jolene