Schooling livery vs freelance rider

[Lauren1993]

Hi all,

my daughters 11hh pony is in need of some schooling / hacking before we can progress her off the lead rein.
I’ve been quoted £120 a week for schooling livery plus £40 transport each way & another £150 plus £80 transport.

I currently pay someone to ride her at our yard once a week £10

I was just trying to figure out would it be more cost effective to keep her at home & have her ridden here 5/6 times a week (if my current rider can do so - it would be the equivalent to schooling livery days worked)
Or would it be better to send her away for 2-3 weeks.

how would schooling livery be broken down cost wise ?!
My only concern with staying at home is the rider comes, rides for 20-30 mins then she’s done… no extra time is spent with her so it’s literally just the riding.
On schooling livery do they spend more time with them training other aspects too , not just riding once a day ?
Thank you.

 

[Fieldlife]

Depends how good the current rider coming in as, and how much she is training the pony?

 

[Tiddlypom]

On schooling livery do they spend more time with them training other aspects too , not just riding once a day ?

It depends, but I doubt if at schooling livery that the pony would be ridden for more than 20 or 30 mins a day either, and will be tacked up/untacked in a rush. No extra time handling either. Pile em up and get em done. More times at home when you can look after pony yourself would IMHO be better.

 

[The Xmas Furry]

What is the additional £150 for?

£120pw is very cheap for schooling livery, even if the pony was out at grass 24/7.
Get the breakdown from them as to exactly what this covers and what work would be done, or we will all be guessing, like you are.

Finally, £10 to ride, or to school? If the latter, then again, it's very cheap for skilled work.

 

[Lauren1993]

The current rider is just a friend who comes when she has time , has a little ride in the school then goes round the farm & just gets her to do as she’s told at the moment as she can be abit nappy & sharp. So just a general ride not specifically schooling her.

I want to be able to lead my daughter out on hacks safely & have a lesson in the school once a week or so.
so it’s more important to me for her to have the time spent making her safe on the roads, seeing traffic etc. so I guess training livery rather than “schooling”

My concern as @Tiddlypom has said is on schooling livery she will only be rode for a short time & no additional work done with her for a lot more money !

if my current rider can’t commit to more days then I have found another rider who charges £25 …. So this would be the same cost as schooling livery pretty much.

 

[MissTyc]

The best deal I ever found for a small pony was via local pony club. We sent my friend's 12hh very green pony to a very knowledgeable home while their pony was walking off a ligament injury. Could be worth asking around pony club for recommendations more generally, for both livery or rider.

 

[Lauren1993]

The current rider is just a friend who comes when she has time , has a little ride in the school then goes round the farm & just gets her to do as she’s told at the moment as she can be abit nappy & sharp. So just a general ride not specifically schooling her.

I want to be able to lead my daughter out on hacks safely & have a lesson in the school once a week or so.
so it’s more important to me for her to have the time spent making her safe on the roads, seeing traffic etc. so I guess training livery rather than “schooling”

My concern as @Tiddlypom has said is on schooling livery she will only be rode for a short time & no additional work done with her for a lot more money !

if my current rider can’t commit to more days then I have found another rider who charges £25

 

[canteron]

Or a mixture - a few weeks at school for a specific purpose (canter confidence for example) then back to your weekly rider to consolidate!

 

[Abacus]

Could you compromise by using your current rider say 3 times per week, with a bit more focus on schooling, and doing some other work yourself taking the pony out on the lead rein (without rider) as this is something you want the pony to do. If you can get her relaxed without the rider then adding your daughter should be quite simple. If she isn’t safe yet led from another horse you could long rein her.

 

[gallopingby]

Schooling livery at £120 a week probably won’t get your pony ridden more than 4 x a week at that price. A competent pony club child currently without a pony and properly supervised would probably get you much further on, plus you could maybe try ride and lead with her riding the pony until he gets the hang of things.

 

[Lauren1993]

I intended to do most of the work myself but with having a nearly 6 month old & my 4 year old I just don’t get the time without the children to do the work with her.
Safety for my children is obviously most important so I wouldn’t lead her out with the children on foot on or board until she is safe to do so.
so I’m committing some time when I have childcare to lead her out alone & with others.
Spoke with my rider & she is going to come 4 times a week for £25 per session & work with her for longer & be more consistent & do some varied work so hopefully within a few weeks we will get somewhere x

 

[Bonnie Allie]

I’d be approaching it from a different angle. Be specific about the outcome you are looking for. Let both parties give you timeframes and pricing to reach that outcome. Then check their approaches and see if the suit your needs. Pointless going for a cheaper option if the provider can spare the time and it becomes a best efforts basis.

 

[Xmasha]

Personally id find a reputable schooling livery. Freelancers can frustrate the life out of you. Even the very good ones ! Getting them to commit to a short term job ( lets say for 2 months ) is very difficult. They will initially say no problem, then it creeps it. Oops sorry cant it make this morning as ive a xyz to sort, or a new horse arriving or some other reason. Do yourself and your blood pressure a favour and find a good pony specialist, but be prepared to pay more than £120/wk,

 

[Orangehorse]

Neither sound that suitable. I would look a little longer. There are specialist pony riders.

However, you can do quite a lot at home with "spook busting." Look at the Tellington-Touch with ideas of obstacles and things you can do unridden. It is very like the Horse Agility type thing. You are building a relationship and teaching the pony to accept and deal with unfamiliar things in life.

 

[JBM]

I think it depends where your based schooling livery where I live is like 80-140 a week depending on the place
I chose a place for 100 a week and was full livery and ridden 6 days a week horse came on very well

 

[The Xmas Furry]

I think it depends where your based schooling livery where I live is like 80-140 a week depending on the place
I chose a place for 100 a week and was full livery and ridden 6 days a week horse came on very well

It does very much depend where you live. Where I am, you wouldn't even get full livery for £140pw, let alone anyone training a horse or pony in that too!

 

[JBM]

It does very much depend where you live. Where I am, you wouldn't even get full livery for £140pw, let alone anyone training a horse or pony in that too!

My full livery is €70 a week but do it for €60 a week if you pay for 2 months

 

[lannerch]

My full livery is €70 a week but do it for €60 a week if you pay for 2 months

Wow how the hell do they make it pay offering full livery so cheap

 

[Katieg123]

What is the additional £150 for?

£120pw is very cheap for schooling livery, even if the pony was out at grass 24/7.
Get the breakdown from them as to exactly what this covers and what work would be done, or we will all be guessing, like you are.

Finally, £10 to ride, or to school? If the latter, then again, it's very cheap for skilled work.

I think the 150 you're talking about is a second quote for a different yard

 

[JBM]

Wow how the hell do they make it pay offering full livery so cheap

They don’t have any paid staff really it’s family run and some kids help out in exchange for free lessons feed huge round bales of haylage which is like €30 a bale
Only includes one bag of shavings a week but I just buy more
Cheaper I think because you can’t use arena when lessons are on

 

[maya2008]

My cautionary response would be that however much you love your pony, it will not become a first ridden after a few weeks of schooling. Sell pony, buy a first ridden would be my suggestion. Other options: keep child on lead and share a first ridden until child can help bring this pony off the lead themselves. Bombproofing them can be done in less time, but what appears bombproof with a competent rider will still likely spook looking after a less confidence giving rider. My novice husband has a lovely cob who will spook with him where he never would with me, for example.

Real life examples of why I suggest that:
- our Shetland, who first learnt to go off lead with the family before us, when their kids were almost too big. Went off lead for them, in school and following out hacking. Ran off to gate with my son, whenever asked to work solo and not follow person or pony. Liked to buck him off in the school when she got cross with him too! It took YEARS for him to progress from confident lead rein and fine on older reliable pony, to being able to wrangle her solo in a school. 2 years, lessons on other ponies, three instructors. All that time she was perfect for an older child if we chucked one on. Pony aged 13, always beyond perfect on lead in any situation, child aged 4.

- The Shetland cross a family we knew bought. Young pony, lovely on the lead rein. Schooled by a more confident child for a few weeks off lead, was going beautifully in school and out hacking off lead. All good. Family’s novice 9 year old took over after six weeks or so. Behaviour of pony gradually deteriorated over time until kid was terrified of it. Not at all pony’s fault, just kid could not give her the confidence she needed (nor could she correct her when she got too close to the fence or did other things that were not ideal). Again, pony was fine for the more confident child when they asked them to have a sit and see what happened.

- Any of our ponies from last year’s ‘crop’. All were started by being ponied out hacking until they no longer cared about anything we might see. Then ridden by confident, competent 9 year old out hacking, in front, behind, in the middle. Taken to the beach, taken to arena hire etc. Three of those will look after a less confident child, following behind with flappy reins or going steadily in front. That’s a less confident 8 year old though, who needs a kind pony but is able to give clear directions at all times (and for whom every pony magically goes on the bit…). She can sit the odd spook if something unforeseen happens (a tractor tyre in a random field with no tractor in sight was apparently terrifying) and can keep calm if needed (horses galloping beside her, herds of cows etc). I would not, under any circumstances, put a just off the lead child on any of them. They simply don’t have the experience. I would want an older pony for that.