Price of clinics

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SWE

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Blimey does it vary!

Some great value ones round us between £20-25 per horse in a group of up to 4.

However I am wanting to move up a step to jump a bit bigger and it seems that as soon as you want to jump over 90cm the price rockets!! Has anyone else found this?

The only ones I've found that are bigger are run by BE and are £45+ each or are with really decent trainers and are £60 or more!

I just can't afford it 😭 it really does make it hard and make me feel like I'm not in the right class to be doing this anymore!!
 
mule said:
Do you need to go to clinics? You would likely get more out of a private lesson.
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I've found them useful to get the baby horse used to working with others as when we get to a competition it can sometimes be a bit too much, hence where possible I go to clinics if I can. But not a bad idea to try and do a few private and mix with clinics in between.
 
If its only to get a youngster used to working in groups then carry on with the cheap clinics periodically and invest the rest in lessons. I've just shelved all plans to compete this winter so I can focus time and money on training. I'm nowhere near the level I want to be at and while I do ok, I'm not getting any better on my own. One lesson with a really good instructor and the improvement in us both is dramatic, so its a no brainer for me to focus on that for now. I'm not suggesting you do that, just suggesting that a good trainer one on one is worth their weight in gold!
 
The price shouldn't change based on height? I pay £35 for Nick Turner clinics and it doesn't change whether you're jumping 60 or 130 and that includes course hire.

XC clinics tend to be more as the course hire charge is on top of price but shouldn't be more than £60 even with a top trainer. BE organised ones are always more expensive as I think they take a cut.
 
The BD ones are so expensive that I can't justify doing them. They also do camps which I would love to do but I'd need a second mortgage to pay for it. Such a shame that those of us on a shoe string are priced out of the market. Luckily my trainer is very reasonable at £35 a lesson.
 
Sometimes it depends on the facilities being used and whether the trainer is passing that course on to you.
If I organise a clinic for low level xc, I can hire a nice course for £15 per rider. If I want to run one for people jumping 90+, the course hire is usually £20 minimum, more likely £25.
With SJ I can hire a decent school with enough jumps to train unaffiliated competitors for £15/hour, plus £5 per extra horse. If I want to put up a decent 1m course with fillers, again I'm looking at £20-25 for outdoor, £35+ for indoor. Still +£5/10 for additional horses.
I can teach technique and various other areas with the simple set up, but IME people who come to clinics want the opportunity to jump a number of fences or a course if its not a 'specific' clinic (eg gridwork)

Add to that the fact that those teaching at higher levels are generally more experienced and it takes time and money to get that experience!
 
Try doing western/horsemanship! Obviously it's more niche than eventing/jumping/dressage so the clinics aren't as frequent but even so the price is prohibitive. Clinics with good horsemen are £400-550 as they are generally 2-3 day jobs because the clinicians are often from overseas. Then you then have stabling/accommodation associated costs.

There is one I would like to go to next year where the cost of the clinic is £460 for 3 days, plus £55 for arena hire, plus £25 per night for stabling including straw but you supply your own hay or can buy nets of haylage there, plus putting yourself up somewhere and the travel costs to get there etc. That's the horse costs at £590 before hay/fuel/human accommodation so not much change out of 1k! So as much as I would like to go I just can't justify that cost. I'm not for one minute saying that the trainer isn't worth every penny but it does make a £65 BE lesson seem reasonable!

I fully intend to utilise the local RC next year for the green TB & QH so that they learn how to play nicely with others. I'm fortunate that there is quite a lot of RoR clinics/lessons an hour away from me so I can take the TB to those too. The plan is to box to one trainer and hire a local arena for lessons with a different trainer so that we progress that way but RC/RoR is a cost effective way of having group lessons
 
Along TPOs comments I've just seen that the price of the local (2hours away) 1 day western clinics has gone up to £80. It was £75 last year which I think was an increase on previous years too. It suddenly seems to have tipped it over to a bit too pricey for me. Ok its 3 hours riding time so less than the price of 2 x 1 hour private lessons and it generally includes lunch too. But I think I might get more out of the lessons. However lessons at a weekend are scare at this venue. Lots to think about. I'm not saying its not worth that much , more that is just tipped to being a budget issue for me.
 
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