Edward's Trainer, Nicola Werner £280 per 45 Min Lesson Would You/Could You pay that??

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coreteam1

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I noticed that Nicola Werner (Edward Gal's Trainer) is doing a UK Clinic in Essex in January 2011 for a price of £280.00 per 45 minute lesson

Phew that's steep especially when she is offering tuition to horses of 'all levels' and the 'novice rider'

I would pay to go and watch as a spectator for £30 per day but I couldn't justify that money at my 'novice level' for a one off lesson. A course of lessons for £280, yes :)

I wonder how much Edward charges :)

I could buy loads of matchy things for £280
 
Could I afford it - Yes, if I went without something else.
Would I pay it - No
Undoubtedly she has a huge part to play in Edward's success however in 45 minutes she is still not going to make you an Olympic medalist and unlikely IMHO to be able to impart sufficient knowledge in that time to warrant £280. :eek:
 
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if i had the money, id do it definately, but i dont, so i cant!

the most id pay for one lesson is £80/90 because otherwise they are so infrequent its pointless.if it was a 3 day clinic for £280 id be there in the blink of an eye as 3 intensive days would be relaly worth it i think.
 
nickirhia99 said:
unlikely IMHO to be able to impart sufficient knowledge in that time to warrant £280. :eek:
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however in 45 minutes she is still not going to make you an Olympic medalist
Damn it, this is what I thought! :)

Seriously though, I think you are right about what you could learn in 45 minutes for that money, especially the average 'Grass Roots' rider

Perhaps it was aimed at the higher end professional riders although it states all levels and novice riders
 
Prince33Sp4rkle said:
if i had the money, id do it definately, but i dont, so i cant!

the most id pay for one lesson is £80/90 because otherwise they are so infrequent its pointless.if it was a 3 day clinic for £280 id be there in the blink of an eye as 3 intensive days would be relaly worth it i think.
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Same here, definitely be there at the drop of a hat if it was a three day clinic.

Trouble is with a one off, you need time to go away and do the homework they set you. Then go back and show them what you can do after practise and see if you got it right!
 
I could probably manage to pay that but I quite simply would not. For an average novice rider this is just stupid money and I doubt an individual would take away that much from a 45 min lesson to justify that kind of charge.

Example - I had a £45 lesson with Mark McGowan for one hour - I took less out of that lesson that I do with my normal instructor at the time who charged £18 for one hour. The difference being that she knows my horse and me - Mark McGowan has very little time in which to suss us both out and apply any improvements in an hour - dont get me wrong, it was fun and he was lovely - I just didnt learn anything new.
 
I know someone who went had a lesson from her last time she came and said it was absolutely amazing. But hers was part funded so she didn't have to pay full whack herself.

Would I pay it now? No, because I can't afford it. If I could afford it? Yes, I'd be there like a shot. :)
Best lesson I've ever had was a one off with Jennie Loriston Clarke. She had never taught me or the horse before, but got our measure straight away and I learned so much in that hour, and the horse never went better. A good teacher can indeed solve a lot of problems in a one off lesson.
 
would I pay it for MY horse now....? noooo lol

shes a 4 year old and does a lovely walk/trot undersaddle - and have a lot more basics to learn before i feel a lesson like that would be worthwhile!!!


By next year i would consider paying it if she was affiliated....... if not then still no lol!

thats like a months livery!!....
 
I could afford it if i tightened the belt for a month or 2 but wouldn't.

I may consider it if i was at PSG level or above and needed a push/some fine tuning but at my level really not worth the money imo.
 
Halfstep said:
Jennie Loriston Clarke. She had never taught me or the horse before, but got our measure straight away and I learned so much in that hour, and the horse never went better. A good teacher can indeed solve a lot of problems in a one off lesson.
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Yes I suppose (and you would expect her to be able to) if you have someone who can read both you and your horse from the onset you will achieve what you would expect to achieve from someone at that level.
 
Yes I would, not for her in particular though. All the big names are around that price anyway. As Halfstep says, you can learn a lot in one session with a good trainer and I would expect an intense, very thorough lesson. Even at novice level, at least the trainer has the bigger picture in mind, unlike some of your average, cheaper instructors who often keep people riding at prelim/novice for years. Even if you're riding at higher levels I'm sure the basics will still get picked apart by such a high calibre trainer.*GP horses aren't practising GP moves every day...

Personally if I had to choose I'd rather spend money on training than matchy matchy or even shows.
 
Not a hope in hell. I am going to stick the cat among the pigeons and say what a dam rip off. I dont actually care if she trained Edward Gal and Totillas, what works for him and Totallias may not work for you. She is cashing in on fame and as a business woman I can see why she may be able to get away with it, but for the ordinary horse and rider, no way. However, I suspect that she will get this from some of the dressage dollies I have met in my time, whose husbands are rich enough to fund their dressage habit, plus there will be some people out there gullible enough to pay it. Would I pay for it for Mini TX, no - I would much rather pay for 10 lessons with her normal instructor, who gets results.
 
I agree with TheoryX1 - No way would I pay that amount for a single lesson. Tbh we rarely even attend clinics K needs to build a connection with a trainer to get the best out of her lessons. I would love to get her some lessons with a decent flat trainer but even that is not possible at the moment.
 
I don't often have lessons, but when I do it is with a competitior (not a trainer, so to speak) who is top of the game in the certain niche that I compete in. £60 for half an hour, at a top venue. Its steep but more than worth it.
 
I would consider going to watch but not a lesson, it is a lot and would be very infrequent but equally my horses are nowhere near a level where I feel I would get the most out of the experience.
 
I could have 14 lessons with my current trainer for £280, I think having an intensive few days with my current trainer would probably be more productive for me at my current level of training = Elem/Medium than having a 1 off lesson at £280
 
If I could afford it and I rode at a decent enough dressage level then yes. But no inn the real world! And with my current instructor I could have 28 lessons! And she has taken me from coming last in walk/trot tests to winning Novices with a horse who started to learn dressage at 12!
 
if i really wanted the lesson i'd scrape together every penny i have but no i wouldn't want it. Edward Gal may be good, but the thing is you don't always get on with an instructor and i wouldn't want to spend £280 on a whim, with an trainer who i don't know, and may not understand what i'm being told. Not a risk i'd be willing to take
 
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not a chance in hell! i think that at the level i am at- prelim/novice- my current trainer is still teaching me something new every lesson- if i was riding at GP and needed fine tuning then maybe i would... i quite like doing one off clinics and stuff (mark todd was the best) but £280 is just ridiculous :eek:
 
£280!!! Doesn't she know that Christmas is on the way?! Seriously though, there are some fantastic instructors out there, some well known, some not, who won't charge any where remotely near that price and you will come away feeling inspired. My instructor has competed at 4* and just got third in trainer of the year! Obviously if I had the next Totillas at home, I would be ringing Nicola Werner now :)
 
There is absolutely no way on earth that a 45 minute lesson could be worth £280. Totally agree with TheoryX1, I am shocked that any of you would even consider paying this for a lesson.

It is amazing how we all seem to think that somehow, someone is going to have the perfect answer as to how to 'fix' their horse. 45 minutes is not enough time to fix anything in the long term, perhaps receiving a few helpful hints... but is that really worth it?

We have a wealth of knowledgeable and immensely experienced trainers in this country who do not charge even 25% of this price for a 45 minute lesson.
 
I find it fascinating how many people say that they would do it if they had a GP horse.

As Dressager said, *all* the top trainers work primarily on the basics. It's precisely the basics which are overlooked by most amateur riders (who instead like to practise movements most days...). So I don't necessarily think that a rider on a GP horse would benefit from a lesson with Nicole more than an elementary-level rider, because chances are *both* riders would be working on the basics for most of the lesson anyway!

In fact I have a feeling it's the amateur, lower-level rider who would benefit more -- say, they could be introduced to notions like tempo control for the first time, which the average instructor/trainer doesn't really think about (or at least not to that extent), and things like that would definitely be worth £280!

Plus, as somebody said, if you put things in perspective, we spend that amount of money on entirely superfluous things. I was virtual-shopping on Ooteman the other night and I realised to my horror that my cart was filled with over 250 euros worth of Anky and Eurostar pads and bandages. Now, I don't think there is any question that my horse would benefit more from a Nicole lesson than the Anky hazel set ;)

And finally, that's the price for most of the big names. Back at home I know of a one-time Olympian who charges 250 euro per lesson, and she is nowhere as experienced, successful, and insightful as Nicole.
 
Nope.

Mind you, I baulk at paying £40 for an hours lesson, so thats no surprise :D

I have two instructors (who I use infrequently sadly) but both are very similar. They both concentrate on what I'm doing, rather than the horse which for me is what I need. Plus they both 'demonstrate' to me on foot what I'm supposed to be doing - which again is good for me. I can't stand instructors who sit on their ar*e on the fence throughout the lesson shouting instructions - really winds me up! :)
 
I would if I had something that was coming up like regionals. A lesson like that could make a huge difference and often you only get one shot at something like that. I would have to know what they taught like and would not just take a risk as I would be gutted if it was not for me.
 
RachelFerd said:
There is absolutely no way on earth that a 45 minute lesson could be worth £280. Totally agree with TheoryX1, I am shocked that any of you would even consider paying this for a lesson.

It is amazing how we all seem to think that somehow, someone is going to have the perfect answer as to how to 'fix' their horse. 45 minutes is not enough time to fix anything in the long term, perhaps receiving a few helpful hints... but is that really worth it?

We have a wealth of knowledgeable and immensely experienced trainers in this country who do not charge even 25% of this price for a 45 minute lesson.
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Have to say I also agree with TheoryX1 and RachelFerd.

£280 is way to much for a one off lesson that you may not get anything from.

I would much rather spend the money with my instructor and have more lessons. In fact I have attended a clinic with a well known, highly thought of instructor, and was disapointed with what I got out of it. The instructor, horse and rider got very frustrated and nothing useful was gained or achieved from the experience.... that was a fraction of the sums we are talkin here but it was a waste of funds that cannot be justifiably wasted.
 
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