Lesson musings, how many, costs etc - what do you do?

ArcticFox

ArcticFox

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Hi All

So I was pondering the season ahead and trying to work out what lessons I would have and I just wondered what others do.

Dressage is my weak spot and I would say that SJ is an area I am stronger in. XC I do when I can.

Last season I had a weekly flatwork lesson - which I think really improved my Dr so I'm aiming to do the same this year. The instructor I use is very good at both flat and jumping but for me, I prefer flat lessons as I get most out of them.

I also get sporadic lessons in SJ but feel that I should probably try and get regular lessons although not weekly.

XC I try to get a few good ones at the start of the season, then I get them as I see instructors I know and like who are running them at times I can make it.

So it costs me around £150 per month for Flatwork lessons. If I started getting fortnightly SJ lessons this would cost me another £80 - do you spend this much? Any XC lessons would be another £50 a pop probably.

How do you balance what lessons to have when? What do you spend on yours?

Just a pondering really - I know everyone is different, but just wondered!
 
With older established horse was having a flatwork lesson every other week or possibly once every three weeks, so I think those cost £35 including travel for the instructor. He is now semi retired so not having any lessons with him at all.

Now am in process of reschooling a new ex racehorse and tend to have a lesson a week if possible but instructor works on the yard so no travelling and a reduced rate from her for clients based on yard and then take horse to riding club clinics for additional training if possible. Those again are at a reduced rate (£15 or £20 a time).
 
I dont have the money to splash on weekly lessons and at the moment am struggling to find an instructor that i like and actually teaches me.
I have got monthly SJ lessons through my RC-super instructor, and have booked in for my first XC clinic next month, I will try and get some more XC clinics in as im new to eventing and thats gonna be my weak point.
However my dressage is well established (points at BD elem) so i think that one flat lesson a month is good enough for me.
 
I have been having weekly dressage and jumping lessons since October, but am a bit of a special case. I'd struggled to find a dressage instructor for over six months and had been riding totally on my own, so had been squirrelling that money away until I could find someone. Then I had a turning-30 crisis and decided to fulfil a lifelong ambition of having a crack at XC, which never having done much jumping, was going to need some intensive work! It works out around 200 pounds, I think, per month, so I will soon have to go to alternate flat and jumping lessons, as I need money over to get in more practice XC.

I do tend to do that anyway - have periods of intensive lessons (two or three times a week) and then periods when I take everything I've learned and try to work on it myself.
 
When I finally get back into riding, when all work stuff has gone away, I will be aiming to have as many productive lessons as possible. I have learnt the hard way that it is not possible to do it all on your own, and a good instructor will help to get the best out of me.
 
My lessons are classed as one of our monthly outgoings in our budget. I budget £100 a month for weekly sessions with my regular instructor but there is always scope either way, if I save anything one month I'll carry it over if I can. Once horse is ready I'd like to be competing once or twice a month, I might have to reduce lessons a little then but equally if it's felt we need any particular training - clinic, sj course hire etc - then I will find the money for it.
 
I have weekly flatwork sessions, although as I have several I'm training its a different horse every week. I usually go to trainer's yard for my lesson as I think its good to get them out and about and not always to shows, plus her school is much better than the ones I use! So that's £120/month plus diesel.
 
I try and have weekly lessons when time allows, sometimes it's fortnightly.

Luckily watching/taking me eventing is my mums hobby too so she pays half (her offer!).

I tend to focus on flatwork as i just find if my flatwork is better, then jumping is automatically too. Plus dressage is the area I struggle with most.

I tend to only have 1 xc lesson a year as I only have 1 eventer and find 2 xc schooling does him so I have 1 lesson and 1 outing to jump more in course style. Though obv. If a problem pops up i go again possibly with an instructor if pos
 
I've recently found a fab new instructor who really knows how to get me to get the best out of my (schoolmaster) horse. Unfortunately she lives 2 hours away, so I only manage to have a lesson with her every 2 or 3 weeks These cost £30 for 45 mins, which is a bargain TBH! I'll be starting my rising 4 year old again soon, so then I'll have back to back lessons with the old one and the young one, which of course will double the cost to £120 pcm.

I think really lesson spacing depends on how often you school - I like to be able to practice at least twice, and preferably have the latest set of sheets to show my instructor each time, which is why 2-3 weeks works well for me.
 
At the moment B is coming back into work so I'm having a group flat lesson once a week. Although I don't find I get as much from a group session but we aren't fit enough to do a full private at the moment but I still want some instruction.

Once he's fitter and we are ready to start jumping again I will alternate private flat sessions with a group jump. I need to jump pretty regularly to keep my confidence up and don't have anyone to do poles for me so its easier to join a lesson! Once we're competing I may drop a session but we shall see.

XC training will come once we are jumping fit again. I'm planning on having a couple quite close together and then will try and go once a month to a comp or schooling. I'm hoping that we'll be doing this in May time.

On average I spend around £100 - 120 a month on instruction. XC sessions will be about £50 + diesel.
 
At the moment I am concentrating solely on flatwork as, like you, dressage is my weakness. Fortunately, my YO is my instructor and only charges me £15 which is the cheapest I've ever paid... By far. Funnily enough, she is also the best instructor I have had. She previously evented to a decent level, was a dressage judge and even wrote a book a few years ago.

I plan on getting jumping lessons with the same instructor to start off with but SJ isn't her forte so she advised me to go to another chap. Will probably be paying around £50 for each lesson.

So currently paying £60 per month for weekly lessons.
 
I currently have one dressage lesson a month with a GP instructor at £50. Then I have fortnightly SJ lessons with an international lady at £30 ea. My DR lady comes to me but my SJ I travel for so add £20 ea lesson for SJ. So monthly total of £150.

Id love to have 2 DR lessons, but £200 on lessons plus competitions at £150 a month without livery costs etc would bankrupt me! However when I get a pay rise or in summer months I might up it as will have spare cash.

Cannot value how brilliant my lessons are and how much we have significantly improved.
 
Al trains considerably more than she competes, and competing always takes a backseat to her lessons. Last year, she has a regular instructor who she did everything with- they'd turn up once a week (having been in contact during the week) and work on either flat or SJ, depending on what was going on. Often, gridwork was included at the end of flat lessons.

This year, her instructor from last year is going to be away a lot (I think). So she's hoping to attend regular group sessions with John Adams for SJ, and then bi-monthly dressage lessons with someone else who's name I've forgotten but who Al is very excited about! But I think she spends about £100/ month, but now she has 2 who will have lessons I imagine this will go up considerably!
 
£35 a week at the moment as have to hire an arena which is £15 an hour. :(. Mainly doing flat work. Hoping to do some jumping clinics and xc schooling this year when she is more established and I am a lot fitter:o
 
have 3 trainers and try and see each of the UK based ones, once per month, so a lesson a fortnight but actually havent had a lesson for nearly 2 months now, as trainer was away, then i was away, and ive been flat out teaching myself.

that doesnt bother me though as am still *in my comfort zone* if you like, have schooled a few horses to this level so am confident of not going too far wrong.

also, have NMT as super eyes on the ground, so dont go more than a few days without her watching/helping/shouting lol.....last night we had a super session, one of us would walk and watch and teach, then the other would take a break and do the same when person 1 picked back up to work again, works really well for us.

1 trainer i travel to, lesson is 45mins @ £35, plus £15 diesel and i have to stick fairly strictly to that time frame as am one of many per day in a clinic situation so cant make everyone late.

Other comes to me and is £45 for as long as it takes, she has been known to be with me well over an hour when CS was having a naughty day, but equally im happy to stop at 40mins if he's being good.

3rd trainer is based in spain, comes to me and does a 3 day clinic, charges £20 an hour and gives me one free as a thank you for organising! he has trained countless horses to GP and is amazing value for money!!!!! i see him 2 or 3 times a year.
 
Prince33Sp4rkle said:
that doesnt bother me though as am still *in my comfort zone* if you like, have schooled a few horses to this level so am confident of not going too far wrong.

also, have NMT as super eyes on the ground, so dont go more than a few days without her watching/helping/shouting lol.....last night we had a super session, one of us would walk and watch and teach, then the other would take a break and do the same when person 1 picked back up to work again, works really well for us.

1 trainer i travel to, lesson is 45mins @ £35, plus £15 diesel and i have to stick fairly strictly to that time frame as am one of many per day in a clinic situation so cant make everyone late.

3rd trainer is based in spain, comes to me and does a 3 day clinic, charges £20 an hour and gives me one free as a thank you for organising! he has trained countless horses to GP and is amazing value for money!!!!! i see him 2 or 3 times a year.
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Training with my big sister is very helpful ;) PS does a one-to-one with me once a week, but if we're riding together (as per last night) we keep an eye on each other and bounce ideas and thoughts off each other.

I've not had a lesson with our trainer that we travel to in a while - but with weekly shouting from PS, and having schooled up to this level before, I'm pretty confident I'm not doing anything hideously wrong.

I can't wait to get our trainer from Spain back over, clinics with him are really *fun* and I find he works quite a lot on me, isn't just about what the horse is doing, which is great as I'm super wonky and creaky :o
 
Im musing of lesson costs atm.

I do 2 lessons a month with a great trainer i have 2 horses currently in work so i alternate horses.
It's a clinic situation so like PS i cant be late. The drive over to the venue is hell & i have to set off at least 2hrs before & even then sometimes im pushing it which adds a lot of stress at Trainer gets upset if you are late.

My lessons are £48 but the fuel is £30 for each trip there & back.
Unfortunately im looking at having to cut down on training as i want to compete a lot more this year & i cant do both. However i dont want to upset my trainer as i really think she is invaluble.
 
I've been thinking about this recently as before my horse was lame last year I lived at home with parents and had lots of funds now I have a mortgage so have to more sensible, also I have to be more careful with what I do with her, so I think I'm going to train more and compete less as I live my lessons more than competing as I can't do enough at present to be competitive!

At the moment I'm spending about £100 a month on training mainly jumping
 
The lessons up here must be expensive!

except :eek::eek: to yours dressagecrazy!

I do think I would find moving my flatwork to fortnightly would make me go backwards, my horse is doing brill and I guess when Larry is backed I could always have one on him.

SJ is a difficult choice - do I go with monthly or fortnightly. I know its costly and I am v lucky that I can afford that (no livery fees for my horse) but not sure if I should or not.

Guess I'll give it a try and see :)
 
Weekly at 30 a time, I occasionally share. I did about 10 months of flat work lessons and introduced poles to my youngster. Now we do sj lessons, we occasionally share with another girl. This is part of my budget but if circumstances changed i would cut back. I sometimes do a mix of poles and flat in my dr saddle small jumps, and raised poles - this can be a really good mix. Lots if grids and bounces.
 
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