Costs of clinics

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Now I will start off by saying that I have no problem paying for training/clinics/lessons etc and I believe that often it is worth paying more for the right instructor who really gells with you.

I was really rather gob-smacked tonight however to see a polework clinic advertised by British Dressage - £40 for a 30 minute session with an eventer who - with all due respect, and totally acknowledging that he is FAR better than I would ever dream of - is hardly top drawer?

For me this illustrates why I sometimes feel affiliated training is unrealistic - am I alone in this?
 
sometimes you have the hire of the facilities included in the price:confused4: The clinics I see with people I've trained with often have £5-10 added on to the normal price if they are not at their home base. Don't know if that applies in this case.

Dunno, I pay quite a bit more than £1 per minute for my regular training so while I'd want to get a lot out of it, it's not crazy money IMO.
The BD training I've been on has been with people with similar levels of experience so I expect to pay the same kind of fee.

That said, I wanted to go to the High Performance camp with Ferdi and Stephen Clarke but it was SOOOOOO spendy I just couldn't justify it, boo.

I think it depends on what you want to get out of it tbh. I was berated on this forum a while back for saying that I would pay top money for top training... but the way I look at it is if you want to get to the top levels then you need someone with proven ability to (a) do it and (b ) train other people to do it. That kind of experience comes at a price, and I don't begrudge it one bit - I just have to live on beans on toast in between times :p

Not everyone wants or needs someone who will try to get them to the FEI levels. So those who are aiming at lower levels who don't want to spend that regularly, might see top trainers as either a treat now and then, or completely irrelevant.

In this case... not many people advertise polework clinics so I guess the competition is not that fierce either?
 
Is that 1:1? Does it include venue hire?

30 mins is not very long but 1:1 is expensive. I prefer groups of 3-4. That gives your horse 'soak time' too when others are being worked with.

Most shared clinics at the big equestrian centres round here (North West) seem to be about £35 - £50 for an hour including venue hire.
 
But that is my point precisely Milliepops - this eventer is NOT top level, he has one horse at 3* ! I accept I am very very spoilt in terms of access to training, but quite honestly I had never heard of said eventer before I looked at his BE record so he isn't exactly renowned as a top level trainer. If I had a bit more disposable cash I would go to your trainers in a flash as they have proven success :)

Yes AE these are 1:1 sessions, I agree that I prefer small groups for pole work clinics (lessons are a different matter of course ;) )
 
I wonder why they are doing 1:1 I would have thought of all things polework lends itself to more people? I'd hope that 30 mins doesn't include any pole moving about time or you could easily end up having a very short ride.
 
Well i normally do group lessons with an eventer but last time I took my b.e novice horse and the other in the group where jumping 60cm max. I got nothing out of it, and the trainer kept apologising . I had gone to clinic regualry with that horse so dont know why I was put in that group. It was expensive and frustrating.
The £70 lesson was with a fei dressage judge and it was really useful, she was an amazing trainer and gave me loads to work on.
My regular trainer is also really good and comes to me as well.

Basically I happy to pay for good trainer, but there is nothing worse than paying loads of money and getting nothing out of it.
 
I don’t think £40 for 30 mins 1:1 is too bad although I do agree polework clinics lend themselves more to groups.

I also wouldn’t fall into the trap of ‘not top drawer/never heard’, because training ability doesn’t always go hand in hand with competition results
 
ihatework said:
I also wouldn’t fall into the trap of ‘not top drawer/never heard’, because training ability doesn’t always go hand in hand with competition results
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Yes I thought that would come up - I know perfectly well from my own experience that those that can do, however they can't always teach! And everyone finds different trainers effective as everyone teaches and learns in different ways

Generally however in my experience a trainer has SOME reputation that goes before them, usually by simple word of mouth from the experiences of those who have attended lessons/clinics

Makes me glad I pay that much for an hour 1:1 with an eventer at a MUCH higher level :D
 
I just paid £60 for an hours lesson today. Some of that was travel costs as she was only coming to me. However, I'm now trying to organise clinics with her and it wont be any cheaper than that with venue hire I dont think.
 
I currently arrange test riding clinics and am charging £40 for a 30 minute one-on-one session with a GP rider who is also a listed BD judge.

This covers her time, my time (I own the yard so am responsible for setting up) and use of my facilities/equipment (indoor arena with pro waxed surface, lights, dressage boards...).

**but**

I have made a point of telling riders they should be mounted at least 15 minutes before their start time to make sure they are warm and ready to go when their start time rolls around. It’s their own money they’re wasting if they choose not to warm up beforehand.

I pay £60/hour with my own trainer and have paid £90/45 private before - if you walk away feeling like you haven’t achieved anything then that’s when you have to question wether you’re paying too much money.
 
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blood_magik said:
I currently arrange test riding clinics and am charging £40 for a 30 minute one-on-one session with a GP rider who is also a listed BD judge.

This covers her time, my time (I own the yard so am responsible for setting up) and use of my facilities/equipment (pro waxed surface, lights, dressage boards...).

**but**

I have made a point of telling riders they should be mounted at least 15 minutes before their start time to make sure they are warm and ready to go when their start time rolls around. It’s their own money they’re wasting if they choose not to warm up beforehand.
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And there is the difference - this is not a GP rider who is a listed BD judge, this is a mid-range eventer? That was my original point
 
Leo Walker said:
I just paid £60 for an hours lesson today. Some of that was travel costs as she was only coming to me. However, I'm now trying to organise clinics with her and it wont be any cheaper than that with venue hire I dont think.
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And I repeat - I have no problem paying for those with proven results......
 
1:1 for 30 min I wouldn't be surprised at the cost of that- and actually that's probably quite a good idea as polework is hard work for horses. doesn't really matter what level they compete at it depends on their teachin abilities!
 
Lévrier;13712288 said:
Yes I thought that would come up - I know perfectly well from my own experience that those that can do, however they can't always teach! And everyone finds different trainers effective as everyone teaches and learns in different ways

Generally however in my experience a trainer has SOME reputation that goes before them, usually by simple word of mouth from the experiences of those who have attended lessons/clinics

Makes me glad I pay that much for an hour 1:1 with an eventer at a MUCH higher level :D
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Well if it’s a BD thing they will be UKCC3. I’ve no axe to grind, haven’t a clue who you are talking about but if you consider that maybe the venue is £10/Horse, BD probably creaming off a bit - the instructor is then only charging £25 a session.
 
Lévrier;13712295 said:
And there is the difference - this is not a GP rider who is a listed BD judge, this is a mid-range eventer? That was my original point
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A lot of it is probably to do with covering costs so travel plus arena hire and set up.

For example - setting up for a clinic at mine can take anything from an hour to half a day depending on what’s needing done. I built a course on Monday (have clinics booked for tomorrow evening and Sunday) and it took two of us four hours to dismantle what was there, pull all of the jumps and poles out of storage, build the course, measure distances and spreads and then harrow. And we don’t get paid for doing any of that. To hire a course builder to come in and do the same would cost around £100.
 
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You have access to amazing quality tuition that most of us would dream of, so whats being offered probably doesnt seem to compare to you. I suspect thats why you feel differently to most :)
 
I don't think that's too bad either - I mean, after arena hire, he's probably charging £1/minute which certainly isn't outwith the normal range.

I wouldn't choose to do a 1:1 polework clinic, personally, but I can see it might be easier if you have a horse with an unusual stride length - polework can be a nightmare for F if he's in with big horses!
 
Leo Walker said:
You have access to amazing quality tuition that most of us would dream of, so whats being offered probably doesnt seem to compare to you. I suspect thats why you feel differently to most :)
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That is a very fair comment, you are very right :) If anything this thread has made me re-think how lucky I am - again! - so I will think twice in the future :)
 
Could at least give him a go and see what he's like. Some trainers are amazing.

I saw one up here though that charged more than that, can't remember how much, and spent most of her lessons on her phone or texting. I was very glad I didn't bother getting a lesson.
 
Great riders don't always make great trainers! My daughters had a clinic with top rider as a christmas present and it was a disaster! There was a thread on it and I was far from alone in finding that the top riders aren't always much cop at teaching ordinary mortals.
 
sorry Lev, had to laugh-I was organising clinics about 10 years ago with klassikal trainers that cost way more and wanted you to pay for two lessons over a weekend. Only one of them was worth the money ;) NH trainers alos charge way more than £40 for 30mins.

some riders are great trainers but for whatever reason (usually money and luck) dont make it big competitively. I for one am not remotely interested in someone's competition record but expect I am in the minority in that.
 
Ambers Echo said:
Great riders don't always make great trainers! My daughters had a clinic with top rider as a christmas present and it was a disaster! There was a thread on it and I was far from alone in finding that the top riders aren't always much cop at teaching ordinary mortals.
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This is true of just about any skill.

Just being good at something doesn't mean that you can automatically explain to somebody else how to do the same thing.

In fact, you can get to a stage where you can no longer explain something, because it has become so natural to you that you don't analyse the how of doing it.

The first time I went skiing in my life was cross-country in the Vosges mountains with a bunch of friends who had all learnt to ski as children or young teenagers. One of them had done his military service in an Alpine regiment and is a very good skier.

But his idea of teaching was to say "follow me, watch what I do and do the same" and proceeded to ski off down a gentle slope and round a curve.

I watched, but his movements were indiscernible... So I didn't turn, and got the tips of my skis stuck firmly in a snow drift.

Where I ride, a 1:1 class is €55 for an hour, inclusive of all charges (horse and its tack, arena or manège, any equipment, lighting if required); this is not with a "famous competitor", but somebody whose main or only job is teaching.
 
I pay £25 for an hour polework clinic with 3 of us in the class. I know how much the venue usually charges for the indoor arena hire (a lot), so I seriously hope she is getting a discount because otherwise she isn't making much of a return on those sessions. It would be easy to squeeze one more in the class without taking away from the tuition we get.

I'd pay £40 for 1:1 with this particular instructor (she absolutely 'gets' my funny little mare), but given the current fitness levels of both horse and rider I rather like sharing the pain with other riders!

£2.45 an hour when I first had lessons :p
 
I dont think thats bad money at all. split roughly for venue hire, venue preparation, instructor and possibly first aid id say its average :) And like everyones said, ability doesnt necessarily transfer to teaching skills - sometimes even someone at the same/lower level as you can give a brilliant insight as a new point of view. I know a lovely fellow livery who hasnt ridden for years and was just a general low level hacker/dressage but she often watches me and pulls me up on things that really help in the long run as her observation and way of voicing it is amazing compared to some instructors i've had. That being said i have regular 45 min lessons with a GP rider and BD judge for £25 .... very very lucky

I recently went to book into a clinic though and went to pay the deposit - when the organiser said £90 for an hour i had a mini heart-attack and promptly backed out. It was a nice small local venue and a well respected (but not top rider) guest instructor but i just couldnt explain the money for a one off
 
SEL said:
£2.45 an hour when I first had lessons :p
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Already decimal? Or have you converted that for the whippersnappers? :p

On second thoughts, £2.9s in 1970 would be the equivalent of £21.10 in 2017, according to this calculator.

That's a shade less than what I pay per hour, when I sign up for a whole year of 35 one-hour lessons: €25.42, equivalent to £22.19. But that's for a group of up to 12, general low-level class.
 
I really don't think that's bad. £40 for 1:1 expertise, facilities & equipment hire is more than reasonable IMO.

I also wouldn't call 3* a mid-range eventer. And as for proven results, if you don't try it you'll never know.
 
Good grief there is no way I would be trying a pole work clinic at that price lol - I’ve got 2 clinics booked for this weekend, one with a FBHS and one with a 4* eventer and both at half that price :)
 
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