How much would you pay someone to school your horse for you whilst you are on holiday

Polos

Polos

Well-Known Member
Joined
5 June 2012
Messages
856
Location
At the stables :)
Visit site
In about 2 weeks I am going on holiday for 3 weeks.My new horse needs to be ridden and turned out everyday in order to keep him sane. I was speaking to my instructor today about it and asked if she would be willing to school him everyday if I paid her, she said she would. My horse is kept on full livery (but does not include exercising) so he would be turned out and brought in and my instructor is soon to be moving to the yard where I keep my horse. I am glad she accepted as I will not just let anyone ride him as he is a horse that requires an experienced rider to get the best out of him. I was thinking of paying her in the region of £200 for the three weeks but as I have never paid anyone to school my horse before I do not know if this ammount is too much or to little. How much have you paid someone to school your horse whilst you are away?
 
I guess you,d want her to ride for an hour everyday ..£200 sounds great to me , if shes up at the yard already it could,nt be more convenient :)
 
padderpaws- She didn't specify a price-should I ask if she had one in mind?

and it would be quite convineint especially as she has something to ride that she could do a bit more on as her horse is only a youngster and just backed.
 
You're best sitting down with the instructor & working it out. Most people will have an hourly charge, so you would just multiply that by the no. of days she will ride him.£200 is £11 per day if she rides him 6 days a week. Fair enough if she's just exercising but not much for an hours schooling. Plus her time to get him ready etc.
 
It's a business arrangement you are entering into with your instructor, so you need to be specific and to communicate.

Be specific about the number of days you require ned ridden and what type of work and for what duration; how many lunged, how many hacked, how many flat schooled, how many jump schooled etc etc

Ask her what her fees are and also whether they include the mileage to and from the yard.

I must admit that £200 sounds a tad light to me; however, I would pay a few more pence for Carl Hester or John Whittaker than I would for the local AI (no offence to AIs, but you get my drift).

Also, who has responsibility for cleaning your tack during this period? Just a thought.............
 
I don't know how other instructors work but I was more than happy to pay mine £25 for riding/schooling my horse per session. I say session because sometimes an hour is too long for the horse. I was paying for her time and expertise in schooling not for a set time of riding.
 
My instructor charges £12 for half an hour schooling. I also have to pay cost of school for half an hour and for her to turn him out afterwards. She is on yard anyway so no travel time/costs.
 
I pay my instructor the cost of a lesson and we agree she will ride minimum twice a week. If she has time, she will pop by and ride him more but she normally doesn't charge for this. Normally bring her chocs/wine back from hols too. She charges £32 per lesson (c.45 mins but can be longer/shorter depending on how he is).
 
I currently book blocks of lessons. The lesson can be for me or my instructor schooling Armas.
10 one on one lessons are £123 :) £12.30 per lesson I consider that to be a bargain in comparison to the U.K
Thats for a 1hr lesson non of this 45 mins lark.
 
Last edited:
I'm going to be charged £23 a day, but my horse is very green, so I would have to send him away for schooling either way :)

Someone in my area horse sits, and charges £11 a visit, so I would want him being checked on at least twice a day, so that would be at least £22 a day so I think I'm getting a bargain for the schooling :)
 
Armas said:
I currently book blocks of lessons. The lesson can be for me or my instructor schooling Armas.
10 one on one lessons are £123 :) £12.30 per lesson I consider that to be a bargain in comparison to the U.K
Thats for a 1hr lesson non of this 45 mins lark.
Click to expand...

WOW. :eek: That's amazing. I have to pay £40 for 45 minutes. I'd love for my lessons to be £12.30 :D
 
I know some people are suggesting £25 per session and fair enough for once a week, but if someone is doing it for 3 weeks and daily, I think a discount would be fairer, I would speak to your RI and negotiate a price x
 
The negotiation of a discount is obviously between the OP and her instructor, and may depend on whether the instructor is particularly busy or not atm. But I'm not sure how a discount is "fairer"? The OP wants a service which the instructor can provide, at the same cost to her (in terms of her time, fuel and energy) on each occasion. If different clients send me books of 60k words and 200k words to edit, guess which of them pays the larger bill? I might offer a discount to a charity, but not to a commercial client whose requirements just happen to be larger than another's. You could also argue that a block of time under a capable rider, rather than the odd one-off session, is more beneficial in the long run to the horse and thus to its usual rider.
 
That's arguable, the RI is on site and often during many businesses a larger order is offered discount, but like you said it's not our business, it's up to them to negotiate....,in these hard times the RI may be grateful to get such a large workload.
 
Devonshire dumpling said:
That's arguable, the RI is on site and often during many businesses a larger order is offered discount, but like you said it's not our business, it's up to them to negotiate....,in these hard times the RI may be grateful to get such a large workload.
Click to expand...

Or the RI may not.Especially if she is really good and has plenty of custom!
 
I'd say £20 per hour is fair for schooling but would expect a discount from this if you are paying for three weeks in a row so £200 sounds more than fair to me!
 
Yes, £20 is obviously the max rate anyone deserves for schooling a horse, including preparing before & after. I mean, its not as though to school or teach well it takes years of hard work or anything, & that if you are actually experienced you deserve a decent wage for sharing that skill. If you go to the same shop everyday do you expect discount too?
 
littlelegs said:
Yes, £20 is obviously the max rate anyone deserves for schooling a horse, including preparing before & after. I mean, its not as though to school or teach well it takes years of hard work or anything, & that if you are actually experienced you deserve a decent wage for sharing that skill. If you go to the same shop everyday do you expect discount too?
Click to expand...

yes?
 
padderpaws said:
My instructor charged me £25 per ride.
Click to expand...

this though she usually throws in an extra so pay for 5 get 6 horse gets day off. In fact in 4 weeks I am getting YO's husband to ride while I am away for a fortnight with permission to compete if he wants (I'll pay entries, he rides the competition for free). I will be paying £25 per sesh.
 
littlelegs, I didn't say that £20 is the maximum people should be paid to school a horse - I school horses for clients myself and the rate had varied in the past from £15 - £25 and I suspect it would be a lot more if you were paying someone like Mark Todd to school your horse. But in regards to discount, yes I think 3 weeks of solid work is worthy of a small discount since it is much more difficult to find work every day for three weeks on one off jobs for individual clients.
 
You'd need to talk to the instructor, but my instructor generally charges £25 per 45 minute session, however if I have 3 or more in any one week that drops to £20 per session. I didn't ask for this, it's her usual way of working.

I agree with littlelegs though, of course teaching and schooling are hard earned skills and therefore should be paid appropriately. It's not just the session on the day that you're paying for but the years of hard work the person has put in to be in a position to be able to do so.

Talk to the instructor and ask what their thoughts are on the subject, oh and enjoy your holiday. :)
 
Fair enough showjumper06, but without knowing the ops instructors level its impossible to say £20 an hour/ £200 for the week is fair, especially if we don't know how hard up for business or not she is.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top