Re: My First Lesson

mflood22@xxxxxxxxx wrote:

On Mar 31, 10:28 am, "Woost" <tro...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

<< Can you imagine such a thing today?>>

Actually that's much how my daughter started at age 7.5. First year
was just walk/trot and practicing "perfect" equitation. She did throw
in quite a bit of bareback riding at the end of lessons ...

I see two problems in my casual observation of classes.

The first is the cost. Individual lessons cost about $50 in my area. Some instructors will do an individual half-hour for $25, which may be better for young children or timid beginners. At that rate, the cost of a year's worth of lessons is considerable (though probably not out of line with other organized sports these days).

When I started riding, group lessons cost about $3. I was able to take three to five lessons and go on a couple of trail rides a week. Compared to the general inflation rate, $3 in 1975 is equivalent to about $11 today (http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl). So the cost of lessons has gone up more than twice the rate of inflation and probably income.

The second is that parents or kids or both want to advance quickly, and sometimes instructors accommodate them. It's fine for an instructor to stand on principle, but the students may go elsewhere.

- Jim
.

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