TL;DR I’ve been riding at my current barn for five months, taking lessons once a week. My trainer has pushed off me riding more for months. I found another barn where I can ride 3-4 days a week and at a more advanced level. I don’t know how to talk to my current trainer about it.

I like my trainer well enough, and I started talking with her about half-leasing a horse back in early November. She offered for me to half lease her horse, who I greatly enjoy riding. We were going to start in January but every time I brought it up, she told me she still needed to think through some logistics. It got pushed to February, and my trainer still hadn’t thought through structuring the half lease more formally. Beginning of February rolls around, nothing. I brought the half-lease up again in February and she asked if I would be fine riding just two days a week (I wouldn’t, and certainly not for the cost we had been discussing) and on a specific schedule that doesn’t work well for me because her friend also rides the horse. I’m getting really frustrated, and it doesn’t seem like there are other options of horses to lease–the other horses I’ve ridden there weren’t a right fit.

I started checking out other barns, and having lessons elsewhere made me feel like I wasn’t advancing enough with my current trainer. My current trainer has kept me doing flat work and wants me to do only flatwork all year. I rode extensively as a junior and am coming back into riding from almost a decade off. Considering the horses I’ve been riding at my barn, and not feeling comfortable on them, that felt slow but okay by me. The other trainers had me jumping in their lessons right away and I felt great doing so on their horses. It felt safe and I was confident.

Most importantly, I can ride 3-4 days a week at this new barn.

What’s the most appropriate way to tell my trainer that I’m switching barns? Should it be at the end of a lesson, or does it even have to be in person? I’m only at the barn for my weekly lesson so I’d have to structure it into my lesson time. I feel like a total wuss about this!