We had a 9am lesson that we purchased with a GroupOn. I know you can't expect the world when you buy a groupon, but the instructor (Esther) didn't show up until 9:15am. She spent the first 10 minutes unpacking her water cooler and applying sunblock to herself. At 9:27 she started talking to my daughter, and she showed us the horse gear and we spent 10 minutes grooming and tacking the horse (very reasonable amount of time and expected). At 9:37, the lesson itself began and was pretty good. The lesson ended at 10am.
Esther seemed to be a good instructor, but it's hard to judge from a 23 minute lesson. As soon as my daughter had gotten used to this particular horse and understood the lesson objective, the lesson was over. Nothing was learned. The only thing that was accomplished was to make my daughter realize some of her riding weaknesses. And while that's important, a 9 year old needs to be shown progress and encouragement also. Otherwise, kids quit activities.
Side note: the horse was extremely old and not very healthy looking.