Lesson prices - hourly rate or fixed despite length?

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A1fie

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Just wanted to know others thoughts. My instructor has said that she charges a fixed price irrespective of the length of the lesson.

Now I have had a few lessons with her and they have always been one hour but the last one was only half an hour because she said that my horse had had enough.

Am I wrong to feel a little bit niggled if I regularly start only having half hour lessons but being charged the same as those having an hour? I have never had any lesson that lasted more than an hour.

I do rate her as an instructor and wonder whether I am being a bit petty. The cost is £20 per lesson which is really reasonable but if it means in effect that it's for half an hour, then it suddenly seems a lot dearer.

What do you all think? Is this common? Am I a tight petty moaner??!!!!
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I would see if it is going to become a regular thing to cut them short, however £20 even for 1/2 hr looks cheap to me!!
 
Hmm thats a bit strange? My RS charges 15 mins, half an hour, and hourly .. all different. But it is still quite cheap especially if it is £20 for an hour .. so good and bad x
 
I woudl be niggled, but that is pretty reasonable for half an hour let alone an hour. Perhaps look at the other way round and that it's a half our £20 lesson that sometimes lasts an hour. I have to say I think it's pretty uncommon for lessons not to have a set time. How does she know what time to book herself for other people/places - just keep them waiting or turn up early??? Seems a bit disorganised IMO

I know I've had some that have gone over time because things haven't quite worked out and rather than finish ona bad note, we've carried on.

I currently pay £30 for a 3/4 hour lesson but have paid as much as £73 for an hour (with a pro rider!). There's normally a queue for lessons when an instructor comes to our place so it's not often lessons go over as there's nearly always someone waiting!
 
I agree with Marymoo, see if it is a regular thing as i agree that if you have achieved what the lesson was aimed at then fine but at the end of the day you have paid for and hour and so you want it to be more like 45mins at least even if you just spend teh extra time walking the horse off and talking about the lesson.
 
I used to charge a fixed fee for a lesson when I travelled to clients homes. We would normally plan for 45 minutes, but go over! (It's a good job I didn't ever book more than one site for lessons in an afternoon!) If I was working with a client and their horse wasn't fit enough I might well stop after half an hour - it isn't fair on the horse. In a riding school, the horses are fit, and can easily cope with the demands of the lessons, be they 30 mins, or an hour. A private horse is not always as fit, so you have to tailor your lessons to them. Equally, if we were working on something, and the horse was getting stale, we might call it a day (I don't see the point in keeping jumping a horse once you have achieved the object of a lesson just to make up time) but if we could switch to something else, we would do. I think 20 is very reasonable for even a 30 minute private lesson.
 
i used to pay £40 an hour for a private lesson at my RS but my trainer (i alwas had the same one) would regularly go over if they werent busy or we hadnt done a strenous lesson.

When I worked in Jersey my boss used to charge £20 for half hour lesson with me and im not qualified and £40 for 3/4 hour with her who was qualified
 
TBH if your instructor gives you an hour more often than not for £20 think you can forgive the odd 1/2 hour lesson.
We pay 35 per hour but instructor has often gone over his time occasionally will go under time due to as being said horse has had enough.I think it works itself out tbh.
 
My RI, charges the same amout regardless of the length! We do what she has planned, and if horse is being good then we leave it, if horse isn't being good or i'm making mistakes, then she goes over.

I think £20 is resonable for half an hour!!
 
Thanks everyone. It's always nice to get other peoples opinions so I can see when I'm being unreasonable!
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I charge for an alotted time and most of the time this is kept to as I will have more lessons booked. In all honesty a good instructor who knows you and the horse should be able to plan a lesson to last for the agreed time. It is only when we encounter an unexpected problem that the lesson will over-run so we finish on a good note, but this is not often IME.

Obviously with a new combination things may take a bit longer but then I generally book new clients in for a full hour anyway.
 
Thanks Burtie - I think on reflection I wasn't being fair. My horse is still not fully up to fitness and it is right that his needs are put first. Thinking about it, when I have had lessons on other horses they have been longer.
 
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