Bridlewood Riding Centre

09/27/2024

A western kind of afternoon

09/25/2024

The best camp, lesson, trail, and show ‘ponies’

09/13/2024

A few moments from the summer fun.

07/18/2024

This little gem, Briella, has the most laid back, quiet, soft energy. Can’t wait to watch her daddy Glamourdale at the Paris olympics. Big thank you to Charles Ranch Equine for all your breeding care to make this happen.

https://www.facebook.com/CharlesRanchCA?mibextid=LQQJ4d

07/16/2024

Another Mission Creek Derby in the books. We had 18 riders from Bridlewood and everyone did so great. Kirsten Blakney you are my rock. Could not have done this show without you. Thank you for all your time and effort into making this all work.

Big thank you to Lynda Ramsay and Danica Sandercock for another amazing show. The show was super organized and flowed so well. A great show for everyone from first time showing to well experienced.

07/08/2024

Thank you Canoe Creek (https://www.canoecreekequestrian.com/) for letting us school on your fabulous cross country course. Lots of fun and great prep for the Mission Creek Derby next weekend.

05/14/2024

Thank you so much to End of the Road Farm in Summerland for the awesome 2 phase Derby. I couldn’t have been happier with how everyone did. They all had some challenges presented to them but were able to ride through it so well.

02/04/2024

Just goofin around in this strangely warm weather …

01/16/2024

Salt and pepper?? Sure wish the cows were waiting till there due dates and warmer weather. Instead they are early and it’s darn cold out there.

12/28/2023

Meet ‘Treatzza Pizza’ aka Pete. Merry Christmas Conner ❤️

12/05/2023

Finding Gears, thank you Jan!!

10/30/2023

Thank you so much Carl and Camilla Woods for the amazing clinic!

10/20/2023

Alright Kirsten your right - we need more holes and possibly taller standards for you. 🤩

10/14/2023

Gotta love the custom bonnets. Thank you so much Gabriella!!

10/10/2023

MREC is one of my favourite places. Last Horse Trials of the year was here a few weeks ago. I can’t express enough of how proud I was our Bridlewood students. It was their first horse trials and they all totally rocked it!! Couldn’t be happier for them - just wow 🤩

10/02/2023

Last show of the season is in the books. Thank you to the Kelowna Riding Club for putting on such a wonderful venue. So proud of all the riders today - you all did amazing. Great way to finish off the year ❤️

09/05/2023

Absolutely true. Hay cost is more here - $15 per bale at the moment and sure to increase in the coming months 🙈

"I didn't think riding lessons would cost that much..."
Well. We wish it didn't. But, if you don't own your own horse and you ride a school horse (horse owned by a riding barn), there is a harsh reality behind the expenses.

As the cost of living for everyone increases, our horses are no exception to that. The days of $5 60lb good quality hay bales is over. Grain is no longer $15 per 50lb bag. So how much does it actually cost today (in 2023, in North East America)?

Let's break it down...
Hay $12 per 40lb bale - 1 bale / day = $360 / month (no access to pasture + free choice hay)
Grain - $30 / bag - 1 bag / week = $120 / month
Bedding - $7 / bag - 3 bags / week = $84 / month

(For reference, these numbers used to be $5 / bale, $15 / bag, $5 / bag )

So far, for just basic supplies for your horse we are at $564 (in comparison to 5 years ago it being $270), excluding any labor costs or facility costs....let's keep going.

Your stall fee (mortgage/rental) will run $350 / month on the low end (with an indoor arena). I have seen dry stall fees cost as much as $500 as well.

The following fees would be divided amongst horses on the property...

Insurance $50 / month
Manure removal / arena/facility maintenance $50 / month on the low end
Utilities $75 / month

Without labor, we are at $1,089.00

Let's say your horse gets a total of thirty minutes of care each day (turn in, turn out, stall cleaning, water bucket refills/cleaning). That 30 minutes probably doesn't include blanket changes or any additional services aside from general care.

Good barn help will not get out of bed for anything less than $20 / hour, so totaling per month your horse would cost $300 per month, assuming your horse didn't recieve more than 30 minutes of care each day. If you run your facility plus teach, you can't be in 2 places at once, so some help is necessary, especially if you don't cut corners in your care.

We are now at $1389.00

We have not accounted for vetting, farrier, or supplements. Let's do that now.

Farrier - $250 every 5 weeks (low end) so let's call it $200 every month (my personal farrier charges $275-325 for 4 shoes, but to keep Facebook from resulting in uproar over expensive shoeing costs - I've estimated it low)
Vet - assuming your horse is healthy annually you would spend maybe $700 so let's say $60 per month if divided
Supplements - that tried and true schoolmaster you ride probably needs some joint support, so let's buy a lower end joint supplement at $50 / month

We added an additional $310.

Your school horse now costs $1,699.00 per month, and there are many more costs associated (like your tack, equipment, tractor, trucks, trailers, etc)

Okay. So how does this school horse pay for himself? Let's say the horse does two 1 hour lessons per day, 5 days a week. That means the horse can produce income 40 hours out of the month. To break EVEN (theoretically, because any horse owner knows the pricing listed above isn't even as comprehensive as it should be) you would need to make sure the horse worked twice a day, 5 days a week, and charge $42.50 per lesson.
Realistically, If you do not overwork your school horse, the horse is probably working 30 hours per month, which would bring us to having to charge $60 per one hour lesson to break even.
But wait....Our instructor hasn't even gotten paid yet! So let's give them $20 per hour, which of course is low. And for reference, that would mean your instructor makes $600 per month.
Now we're at $80 per lesson.

So when you call any facility, and their lesson price is $80 or less, think of this cost break down!
We don't do this for money. We do it because we love to share our passion with the next generation of riders. We wish this weren't the case financially, like the rest of America and how the economy is. We want so badly to have horses be affordable for everyone, but these are the real, true, uncensored costs of owning a horse today. If riding schools don't charge what they need to in order to stay afloat, I fear one day the horse industry will not have school horses, and the only people who will be able to ride are the ones that can afford horse ownership outright, and then pay for lessons on top of that.

*disclaimer* these prices are based on our experience of pricing in the industry. Pricing may vary based on care and diet provided to horse, area of the country, and specific horse requirements. This pricing is assuming the horse is receiving top level but basic care (free choice hay, quality grain, etc). There may be cheaper options available and there may be more expensive options available. I'm sure there will be many comments that say "those are low" or "those prices are high". We are happy to share receipts as these are the legitimate prices we pay!

07/21/2023

Huge shout out to thank Lynda & Daryl Ramsay, Danica and all the amazing volunteers and sponsors that made the Mission Creek Derby so AMAZING!!

I had so much fun riding, coaching, and watching the show. So proud of the Bridlewood Team of how much you have grown this season so far. Yes, a few of you had me tearing up. I was so deeply happy and proud of you - you dug deep and did so great 💗

Kerri, Barb, Michaela, Julia I missed you in the group photo but you are not forgotten… I see you!

06/30/2023

One step closer. My homebred, heart horse Brynlee has been confirmed in foal to, world champion dressage stallion, Glamourdale. A big thank you to Charles Ranch Equine for their amazing care and services to make this happen!!

https://www.facebook.com/GlamourdaleKWPN?mibextid=LQQJ4d

06/28/2023

Thank you so much to Canoe Creek for letting us use your wonderful cross country fields. It was a super day. I apparently can’t teach and take pictures - too focused on the ride.

06/08/2023

This year was all about the quarter horse foals. Next year is all about the warmblood foals. Ellie is confirmed pregnant to the wonderful stallion First Duke 💕

https://canadianwarmbloods.com/first-duke/

06/03/2023

Cats Picasso you sure throw the chrome. This little guy is so strong and so adorable! Welcome to Bridlewood 💗

06/03/2023

A quick fly over …

05/30/2023

Had a fabulous weekend at the VDRC Dressage Show. 10 riders, all with big smiles. Was amazing to see all their hard work pay off. Big thank you to all the volunteers and Suzanne Wallace for making the show a success.

05/25/2023

In line for snuggles and scratches…