Ah, riding lessons. The quintessential dream of every horseless horse kid. After all, how on earth are you supposed to expect to get a horse if you don’t even know how to ride it?
But getting to ride is easier said than done. Even if you have the cash and time for riding lessons, how on earth do you know if you’re getting a good deal? How do you review your options to make sure you get the best deal?
While I don’t ride anymore, I did take lessons for three years, and when I first moved the first thing I did was look for a riding barn. And I have researched my fair share of budget-friendly horse programs too. Today, I’ll share five tips towards finding the perfect program to satisfy your horse time needs.
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1# What do you Want?
This is the most important question of many to ask before you open your computer to start googling. What do you want to get out of the program? What is your budget for lessons? Most horse lessons range from $45-$60 for an hour-long session. Do you prefer private lessons, or would you be okay in a group setting? Do you want to be able to tack up and prep the horse yourself, or do you just want to ride? Do you want to ride western or English? Is there a specific discipline you want to learn?
Make a list of all the items that would be in your ideal horse lesson. Include your budget price. When the list is done, you can move on to Google.
(and if money is short, and you can’t get to horses, check out #4!)
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2# To the Google
Now that you have a list, it’s time to go to the Google. Start with your state and something like “horse riding lessons in (fill in your state)”. I’ll use Tennessee as an example for this. If you want to be really specific, you can use “horse riding lessons near (city, state)”
Now, let’s pretend I live in Chattanooga, TN. I am willing to drive up to an hour for riding lessons. When I google “horse riding lessons near Chattanooga, TN”, already several options pop up on the map.
Let’s say I’m looking for private western riding lessons, in the area of $50 dollars a lesson. The best place to find the information is always the website– a barn with a good website (make sure to check for AI pictures– AI pictures indicate a scam) is always a good sign. They might also have a Facebook page, but as I don’t have Facebook, that is not as important to me.
The first thing on the list is Hidden Hills Farm and Saddle Club. A quick Maps search reveals that the location is thirty minutes from Chattanooga, well within my limit.
They have a lovely website and it’s easy to find everything. Interestingly, they have a Work-to-Ride program where students can work for discounted riding lessons. They teach Western and have lessons for $45 dollars an hour.
All of the pictures look legit and they offer tons of programs. If you’re near Hidden Hills Farm, it seems like a brilliantly awesome place for riding lessons.
Horse riding prices will probably vary state to state. In Florida, since it’s a tourist attraction, lessons are $60 and upward. Places that have loads of horses might have lowers costs.
NOTE: just because a website has poor construction does not always mean it’s scam. Some very lovely barns choose to focus more on their Facebook pages than their websites. But poor website construction can be a sign of a scam.
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3# Look for Rescues
Some rescues offer riding lessons, which I was surprised to discover but it is a thing. In the very least, many horse rescues are happy to have volunteers, so even if they don’t offer riding lessons, they are well worth looking into for some horse time. And you’ll have an opportunity to help with handling horses from all sorts of backgrounds.
4# No Money? No Problem!
So what if it isn’t time that’s the problem, but cash or locations? After all, horse riding is hard to come by in the city, or if money is tight right now, it might not be the best time to ask about something as pricy as riding lessons.
No problem! There are still plenty of alternate opportunities available online for the horse crazy soul.
Places like MyHorseUniversity offer free courses on health care, horse ownership, and handling. There are also online horse forums like HorseCrazyGirls.com specifically for connecting young horse lovers (of course, check in with your parents before joining any online forum. HorseCrazyGirls is moderated, but not all sites are).
Some horse camps will offer scholarships to those who can’t afford to attend horse camp, so that may be something worth looking into as well.
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5# Don’t Discourage
Even if none of these things work out for you, don’t get discouraged. Even if there are no in-person horse opportunities for you now, there are still horse books to indulge in, websites like these to visit, horse models to collect, and more. Even some of the greatest equestrians didn’t ride horses as kids– some of them had to wait until adulthood to get barn time. Your horse opportunities WILL come eventually, so don’t stop loving horses!
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What about you? How did you find your lesson barns? And if you don’t have access to horses, what programs have you found that have helped satisfy your horse cravings? Tell me in the comments below!
Great post! I was lucky enough to find a horse rescue five minutes from my house, and as a volunteer, I was allowed to ride the horses. Riding and caring for rescues definitely gives you a lot of experience! 😅