LESSONS
During your first few lessons, you will learn how to safely catch your assigned lesson horse, and then how to groom and saddle him or her correctly. Usually after two or three lessons you will become proficient enough that your entire lesson will be a riding lesson.
If you have prior experience with horses, please pay particular attention to our grooming and saddling rules. Our horses are used to being handled and groomed in a particular manner and our program sets them up with good manners for groundwork and all that follows.
Students are asked to wear suitable clothing that is neither too tight nor too loose. Jeans of any type are not suitable. Sweat pants, breeches, riding tights or some sort of leggings are all acceptable. Boots can be of any variety except women's dress boots or wide hiking boots. All boots must have a heel.
We provide hard helmets for the first month of lessons. An approved bicycle helmet is also acceptable. However, if after the fourth lesson, you are sure that horseback riding is something that you wish to pursue, we ask that you to purchase your own APPROVED ASTM riding helmet. Please mark the inside accordingly.
Riding helmets, boots and clothing can be found at the two tack stores in our area, Tack Room Too and TLC Tack.
We also provide a small area in a back room behind the garage where students can sell or buy outgrown or no longer needed items, such as breeches, farm T-shirts or sweatshirts, boots, etc. New items are always appearing, so check often.
We are strictly a lesson facility and our lesson horses are for lessons only. We do not rent them out for trail rides, birthday parties, picnics or special occasions.
For safety reasons, we also do not allow relatives or friends to ride or sit on a horse at any time.
Once you are grooming and tacking up by yourself, you should arrive at the farm at least 45 minutes before your scheduled riding time so you can prepare your horse. You should be in the arena, on your horse with stirrups and girth adjusted, and ready to begin your lesson at your scheduled riding time. Young students may need at least one hour to prepare their horses, and during the winter all students should arrive an hour early to allow time to clean up their horses.
We try to stress promptness, cleanliness, and a responsibility to be respectful of the horses, instructors, other students, and of the facility. Lessons begin on time. If you are late, your lesson will be shortened by that amount of time. If you are asked to re-groom your horse because the horse is turned out less than spotless, your lesson will be shortened by the amount of time that you take to re-groom your mount.
After a lesson you should allow yourself at least 45 minutes to walk your horse, re-groom your horse, clean the equipment used, clean up after yourself, and make sure that the horse is correctly turned out. The average amount of time spent at the farm during the summer months is about 2.5 hours. That time increases to an average of 3.0 hours during the winter months when the horses tend to be dirtier.
Here is a sample time schedule:
First lesson (grooming)
Arrive 5 to 10 minutes before scheduled time.
Leave 5 to 10 minutes after scheduled time is up.
Second lesson (grooming & tacking)
Arrive 30 minutes before scheduled time so that you can practice catching and grooming your horse, then the lesson continues with tacking and untacking.
Leave 5 to 10 minutes after scheduled time is up.
Third lesson (riding)
Arrive 45 minutes to one hour before scheduled time to catch, groom and tack up the horse.
Leave 45 minutes to one hour after scheduled time is up.
Your riding instructor will give a further explanation of time requirements and when parents need to drop off or pick up the student.
The price for the following one hour group lesson (2-10 students) is $35.00:
Grooming or tacking up
Riding on a TPA horse
Riding on your own horse
Trail riding (no time limit)
Cross country school
Stadium school
The price for the following 45-minute private lessons is $45.00:
Riding on a TPA horse
Riding on your own horse
Trail riding (no time limit)
The price for a one hour private grooming or tacking up lesson is $45.00.
We prefer that you pay at the time of your lesson, or pay in advance. Any paid for, but missed lessons in which we are given due notice will be credited to future lessons (see Cancellations).
Please do not give checks or cash directly to any instructor. Please pin all checks to the check board in the corner of the tack room by the phone.
If you take lessons from Charlie please make all checks payable to Charlie Anderson, Timepiece Arabians or TPA.
If you take lessons from any other instructor, please make your check out to that instructor.
If you need to cancel a lesson, call and leave a message with farm staff or with your instructor. If you call at least two hours before your lesson, you will not be charged for the missed lesson; otherwise you will be charged for the entire lesson. If you cannot reach your instructor, please leave a message for Charlie at the farm: (360) 943-9076.