Horseback Riding Lessons & Training
Longmeadow has beginner to advanced horseback riding lessons available in multiple disciplines. Ride your adopted horse, bring your own horse, or ride one of the Longmeadow Rescue Ranch horses! Lessons are available for anyone interested in advancing their riding and horsemanship skills, whether you’ve adopted from Longmeadow or you’re dreaming of a horse of your very own.
Lessons with your newly adopted horse will help you to understand the training already received here at the ranch and will teach you to use tools and techniques to continue the learning process with your new partner. All lessons include 45 minutes of riding time, which does not include tacking and untacking.
- Private Lesson: $60
- Semiprivate Lesson (2 people): $50
- Group Lesson (3 or more people): $40
Riders must be 5 years old or older. Proof of personal medical insurance is required and a parent must stay for the lesson.
Keep your newly adopted horse at Longmeadow and invest in additional advanced training: Your horse will receive a minimum of 5 horseback riding training sessions per week to include ground work and training under saddle in appropriate cases.
- $650/30 days (includes board)
Additional lessons with your adopted horse are available at the rates listed above.
We have limited training opportunities available for both Longmeadow Rescue Ranch Alumni horses as well as any privately owned horse.
- $825 / 30 days (includes board)
Additional individual group or private lessons with your horse are available at the rates listed above.
- First 10 Days : Included in your $100 hold. This payment goes towards your adoption fee.
- Second 10 Days: $200 Board Fee
- Third 10 Days: $200 Board Fee
Note: Equine are no longer ridden or trained when they are put on adoption hold. In order to keep equine in work or training we recommend one of the options above (lessons or training).
Exercise rides (30 min. rides by a trainer or training assistant) are available for equine who have completed the training for riding. These sessions are $50 and must be paid for in advance).
Contact Longmeadow Rescue Ranch’s head trainer Courtney Sims at 636.744.4198 to arrange boarding and/or training.
**Adoption, hold, board and training fees are non-refundable**
Courtney grew up in Missouri in an equestrian home. As a young adult, she worked as an assistant trainer at Shadbolt Cattle Company in Merriman, Nebraska. There she refined her skills training young horses under saddle. She worked with unhandled horses and trained them to become working ranch horses. She then trained under Saddlebred and Hunter Jumper trainer, Kris Wallace, at Columbia Equestrian Center. While under Kris’ guidance, Courtney assisted in starting horses over fences and preparing them for their future eventing careers.
Courtney’s passion lies in the rehabilitation and retraining of rescued horses. She specializes in training equine who have been mistreated, working to reconstruct the trust lost due to their prior experiences. She has been a trainer at Longmeadow Rescue Ranch since 2018. Her goal is to foster an environment in which she can discover and nurture the strengths of both horse and rider. Courtney also teaches riding lessons at Longmeadow to help increase the riding skills and general equine knowledge of potential adopters, volunteers, and staff members.
