My daughter has been taking lessons here for several years now. I love deerfield and believe they have made a huge impact in my daughters life--many other barns I tried were no where close to the same level.
This program comes at a hefty price, though, and as of lately I have been questioning whether or not it's worth it. We could pay half as much for board elsewhere and get better facilities. They teach western and say they teach jumper but despite being promised jumping lessons my daughter has gotten to jump only a handful of times over the past year (and this is with two lessons a week). Lessons with the show trainer are $85/lesson. LEASING a horse is over a thousand dollars a month which is crazy and ridiculous compared to any other barn.
As I said the people here are great--Jessica is one of the best trainers in the entire region English or Western. Katie is great with the kids and throws a fantastic summer camp. My daughter has improved her self confidence ten fold since she started here and has made many great friends. Her horse is well cared for. But we have had to make a lot of sacrifices to afford it and I know several other parents who would have to leave Deerfield's program if they had any financial difficulty which to me is not right. I will fight tooth and nail to keep my daughter with deerfield on their junior team for as long as I can, but I am constantly in fear of the day when I can no longer afford it.
My one last critique aside from the price is that despite saying they do english, they really don't. I see a few people in english sometimes but there is a lot of pressure to ride western and often you aren't allowed to choose.
My suggestion for improvement would be to LOWER your prices! $85/lesson and $1000+ for a lease is crazy especially when your barn is so small.
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