What to pay the equine professional: A horse trainer/riding instructor's worth

A topic in recent times is the "cost of equine related lessons"...

Becoming involved with horses is a physical, financial, time consuming, mental and emotional investment.

In terms of buying a horse, there is a common notion that because a person can pay the initial purchase price and maintenance fees, they now will have a rewarding experience.

But what about the investment in the rider's education? Though there may be an emotional connection with a horse, there is nothing natural about people understanding horses or how to communicate with them, never mind knowing how to ride them. This is a crucial part, a fundamental necessity, that is frequently overlooked in a partnership.

Below is my perspective from my personal experiences.

I feel that our society somehow doesn't see monetary value in someone's knowledge/experience/skill set, unless they have gone through the mainstream educational system- i.e. law school, medical school, etc. For those occupations, for a limited number of years of schooling, folks can charge anywhere from several hundred to several thousand dollars- AN HOUR. And no, their services are not typically only for one hour, but often many hours and on going consulting, surgeries and trials, etc. After which, whether you survive the surgery, win the trial, etc. you literally winding up "paying for it" for years or even a lifetime.

But when it comes to a pleasure sport/hobby/interest- because it is for fun- somehow there is less "value" in the instructor's knowledge. I'm sure there's always some crazy abnormal scenarios, but typically, your yoga instructor, martial arts instructor, dance teacher, tennis pro, golf teacher, etc is going to be charging less than several hundred dollars an hour. Even for those jobs or careers, there are often defined courses, educational programs, etc. to justify the cost of instruction.

And then you come to the Equine Industry. I might offend a few folks, but anyone who has real world experience recognizes that for all the University courses offered with equine focused degrees, they aren't worth anything when it comes to getting hired in the horse industry within the USA.

That means as an equine instructor/trainer, your value, your experience, your knowledge, skill set, has to be attained, achieved, continued, through creative, unique, self-driven yearning/desire/hunger for "finding" (literally) other equine professionals to teach you.

This often includes things like being a working student for years (think slave labor), or if you do find a paying job- very labor intensive jobs with very little direct instruction/pay, inconsistent schedules with no room for a social life/family/financial stability, and many other sacrifices all in the name of becoming a better horse person.

I recently had to write a bio on myself, and as I started listing my experiences from the last 25 years, ranging from riding under Grand Prix jumper and Dressage trainers, working under Olympic Gold Medalists while based in Europe, riding at race tracks, working on ranches starting colts, riding horses on sheep farms in South America, clinicing with some of the best horseman from around the world in a variety of disciplines, riding hundreds of horses I've that have been teachers in themselves, plus the thousands of hours I've spent honing my craft as an instructor, trainer, communicator, clinician, lecturer, and published contributor.

So, how do you put a "value" to that? What is my "worth?" In the USA, there is a huge discrepancy depending on location and services offered; I know I can charge double what I charge in remote Idaho if I head to CA or FL or MA.

Putting the value of the knowledge shared and taught aside for a moment, what about covering costs for the liability and property insurance for the facility, the maintenance and upkeep of the "gorgeous setting" folks enjoy their lessons in, or maintenance and care for the lesson horses? What about the hundreds of other tasks that require effort, intention, labor, money and energy that there is no direct "payment" for? What about the time-consuming correspondence via email and phone where folks take up your time, often not leading to future income. Web design/upkeep, blog posts, newsletters, accounting, office work, none of which you get paid for.

So the next time you find out how much a training session or lesson costs with a quality instructor, pause for a moment. Yes, you may be looking to do horses "just for fun." Please keep in mind the professional you are seeking to learn from has probably sacrificed and lived an unforgiving, unrelenting life full of financial stresses and physical labor, to acquire and hone their skills and abilities to share that with their students. It may be difficult for you to relate to, but perhaps think of it as learning opportunity in a condensed version, without all the personal sacrifice.

And by the way, sitting on 1,000 lbs of an emotional, prey animal, being "hopeful" that you will figure it out is not the safest choice. Learning can be a healthy, positive approach that stimulates growth, improvement and solidifies the equine partnership.

Even us professionals do not reach an "end point." Every horse, every student is an opportunity for us to improve what we offer the public.