Reply to Horse riding as an activity

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My daughter rode for three years. It was outrageously expensive and time consuming. I was happy when she moved on to other things. [/quote]

What’s expensive? The lessons and equipment, or competing/ owning a horse?

I’m just comparing it to music, which I did at a pretty high level and my child seems to want to do also. It can add up. What I like about it is that you can enjoy it for your whole life, collaborate in ensembles, learn discipline and growth mindset through daily practice, and participate in a musical community. This definitely has the community aspect but it doesn’t seem to have daily practice unless you get super serious and buy a horse. So if DC does it for a few years, is it basically just having an expensive pet and learning mutual respect for animals etc.? [/quote]

We spent about $5k a year just on once a week lessons, which to me was really expensive for a kids hobby. Gear was probably another $1k.  There’s no opportunity to practice or get better unless you add additional lessons, it’s not like music or really any other sport that allows you to advance through practice on your own time.   My daughter enjoyed it, but for us, it was just not worth it. Her friend is a serious rider who leases a horse and shows and they spend upwards of $30k a year. [/quote]

It’s $100 a lesson? Wow, I’m not seeing those prices, but maybe I have to dig deeper.

I just feel like the having to have a horse to ride is a major issue. Obviously the child is going to want to ride more and more and be with the horse all the time to learn, but if that doesn’t happen how much can they actually learn in a few years? Maybe enough to go trail riding recreationally and have some nice childhood memories.[/quote]

I'm the poster with the 10 year old DD also playing violin. Obviously she wants us to buy a farm and have horses, goats, sheep, chickens, ducks, rabbits, dogs and cats. And breed foxes (thank goodness that's illegal in MD). 
But the deal is that she practices her violin diligently and gets rewarded with an hour of quality time on a horse once a week. In the two years she's done this, she has progressed to canters, while some of her friends at other barns have not progressed that much. My take is that if your child is highly motivated and listens to instructions, they will progress to their own satisfaction (and yours), even with a measly one hour a week. And yes, the goal is to be able to hold your own on a horse as an adult. For example, we rode horses during our trip to Iceland, and since the kids hadn't started lessons then, we were stuck in the walking group, while another group took off at a canter across the rolling hills - boy was I envious. You can do long trail rides all over the USA, and they're particularly nice in National Parks. Ride, camp out under the stars. Bliss.
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