£75 per hour. Where can I have a lesson cheaper?

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pardalis

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The closest riding school to where I work is £75 per hour for a private lesson. I work in SW19 and live in KT4 - can anyone point me in the direction of anywhere cheaper?
I do want private lessons, not group at the moment.

Hope you can help :-)
 
I pay £45 for a 45 minute lesson with a BD List 1 judge and dressage trainer - and that is on my own horse so not far off your £75 as I have to pay to keep my horse on top.

It depends on what level you are riding at and the quality of the instruction you are getting as to whether you are getting value for money obviously London has expensive rates and rents that need to be covered. Great instruction from the beginning will set you up for life and is worth the money imo. Certainly you will get it cheaper out of London - going into Surrey and Sussex but you will need to shop around and cheaper may not be better but likewise paying more doesn't guarantee quality. I'm afraid I don't know anywhere to recommend.
 
It depends who you're training with!!

I'm a novice so I pay £25 an hour for a good instructor but neither Puz nor I are gonna set the world alight!

But my boyfriend pays £70 an hour for a lesson when he goes to a specific trainer-and it's certainly worth that! X
 
Would you consider a semi private lesson? I used to pay about 40 I think at a riding school in surrey. SAying that, I now pay 40 for a private lesson in yorkshire on my own horse, but the instructor comes to the yard and she's worth every penny!
 
O.M.G. That is ridiculous !!! Talk about it all depending on where you live, shocking. I have private lessons (that are ace) for £15, for half an hour or £22 for an hour. I can only manage a half hour tho, she works me so hard :)
 
That's more expensive that having a private lesson with one of our Olympic riders! I suppose I do supply my own horse for those though. :)

There always used to be a big riding school in Lea Valley. Is it still there?
 
Yikes that is pricey, about double what you pay at the BHS approved RS near me, even for a lesson with a BHSI.

If you can't find cheaper, do consider a semi private with someone of a similar standard, I found I got just as much out of lessons where two shared the instructor.

A lot of the prices above will be prices for freelance instructors to teach on people's own horse, that is more expensive, you would do we to find a riding school where you can get a private lesson for less than about £40.
 
Oh, how I miss London - not! :D

TBH, for London rates - and especially southwest London rates - that didn't raise my eyebrows. It would be lovely if it were different and more accessible etc. etc. etc. but for a myriad of reasons, that's the way it is.

I left London early last year and at that time, a private lesson with a decent instructor at an RS in north London was £60-65. The southwest area always looked like even more of a wallet basher IIRC so I think you'll have a job finding much different. By the time you've added travelling costs and time (I take it you drive) to going to other areas, you won't see much difference in overall cost.

I'd suggest looking around at the quality of your local options and pick from there. In some respects, it depends on the time and money you actually want to invest and also on the level you're riding at to a degree.

Second suggestion may be entirely unsuitable or not what you're looking for but if you have experience, have you thought of looking for a share and getting lessons from a freelance RI on that? It can actually work out cheaper.
 
Chessington's not far. I will have a look round there.
It is eyewateringly expensive though isn't it? But clearly enough people must be able to afford it. I have no idea of the quality of the instruction.
 
Wow! Hope you manage to find an cheaper option. Midlands and I pay 32 for regular local lessons and £45 with classical dressage instructor. £75! That makes what I pay in rip off Abu Dhabi seem reasonable.
 
If I was you I would try Chessington equestrian centre or old barn riding school, they are both in Chessington and very close to each other I'm fairly sure the lessons will be less than £75.
 
Thanks, I'll have a look. I've had 2 babies in two years and both c sections were within 1 year (2nd baby was prem). I have no muscles left and so private lessons with lots of hard work are needed!!
I'm not looking to start straight away - still need to lose some weight and I'm a couple of months away from my target. Pregnancy was a good excuse to eat cake. I should imagine that a horse would look at me in horror at the moment if I tried to get on!!!
 
Have you tried Wildwoods near Epsom ? They're BHS approved and their website is showing an hour's private lesson during the week at £55 (£65 at weekends) . I haven't been there for a while but I used to have lessons there regularly and they were very good.
 
pardalis said:
Thanks, I'll have a look. I've had 2 babies in two years and both c sections were within 1 year (2nd baby was prem). I have no muscles left and so private lessons with lots of hard work are needed!!
I'm not looking to start straight away - still need to lose some weight and I'm a couple of months away from my target. Pregnancy was a good excuse to eat cake. I should imagine that a horse would look at me in horror at the moment if I tried to get on!!!
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Do some Pilates classes while you are waiting to start riding again - will do wonders for your core muscles which in turn will make your riding so much better/easier when you go back to it as your core stability will be so much improved:)
 
Cedars said:
It depends who you're training with!!

I'm a novice so I pay £25 an hour for a good instructor but neither Puz nor I are gonna set the world alight!

But my boyfriend pays £70 an hour for a lesson when he goes to a specific trainer-and it's certainly worth that! X
Click to expand...

What's the trainers credentials? We can get lessons with a BS and BE level 3 accredited trainer for £30. She's coached members of the Italian and Spanish Event teams at 3 and 4* world, European and Olympic level, she was placed twice at Badminton and trains dressage up to PSG level.
 
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Old barn is much cheaper! And I can get there. Annoyingly there are stables behind my house but I think it's livery only
 
All the yards in Kingston / Richmond are expensive, I have to keep my mare out near woking. She does only cost me the price of two of your lessons a month to keep though, including the petrol to get there!

Once you're more confident perhaps look for a share you can have lessons on, its probably cheaper. My instructor is 35 for 45 mins and my mare is about a 30 min drive from you. I charge my sharer 60 a month for 2 or 3 days riding a week so if you were having a lesson a week it would work out much cheaper.
 
pardalis said:
Thanks, I'll have a look. I've had 2 babies in two years and both c sections were within 1 year (2nd baby was prem). I have no muscles left and so private lessons with lots of hard work are needed!!
I'm not looking to start straight away - still need to lose some weight and I'm a couple of months away from my target. Pregnancy was a good excuse to eat cake. I should imagine that a horse would look at me in horror at the moment if I tried to get on!!!
Click to expand...

I would second the suggestion of Pilates to strengthen your core muscles before you start riding again. You will be very surprised at how weak your "riding" muscles have become and you may struggle with an hour's lesson at first! Would a RS consider giving you a 30 min session to begin with?

Good luck!
 
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