Riding School Rant!! Long!!!

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emma137

New Member
Apr 12, 2009
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Rochdale
I have returned to riding after 15 year break and have now been riding for approx 6 months. My first riding school was fine to begin with but I found it difficult to have different instructors & horses on each lesson and hack.* I found that this knocked my confidence at times.* Also I felt that of the RI were holding me back and not allowing me to progress and their attitude changed considerably when I told them that I wasnt going to buy their 4 year old cob!!* I have also been riding approx once a week with friends on one of their horse.I decided to change riding schools to one up the road from first one where the people are much nicer and RI is lovely.* However i feel that this riding school is beginning to be a bit like the first one!!Hope you're still with me!!!atThe first 2 lessons & hack were on the same horse, a bit lazy but a good confidence giver.* Today on a hack I was riding a different horse, arab/connemara mare.* Started off ok but large white van coming towards us & she just span & tried to head for home.* Managed to cope with this (just).* There wasnt much traffic at all today & when no traffic she was lovely to ride but later on there was a few cars/vans together.* At first she was a bit joggy but managed to ride her on but the last van (which was stationary), she suddenly reared, and tore off with me.* I managed to grab hold of her mane and after very fast pony trot & few steps of canter I managed to slow her with my voice.* RI was critical of my tone to the pony but I was petrified!* Was then a nervous wreck incase we saw any more traffic!Why do riding schools insist on putting you on different horses? Each horse is so different it takes time to get used to a horse and be able to relax. Surely it would make sense to use the same one, build up some trust & confidence and then work on improving riding and only then change to a different horse??? Do I tell her that I want the same horse & refuse to ride the one from today and if she wont agree stop going? Friends are loaning their pony to me in 6 weeks time & I wanted to consolidate and improve as much as possible in time for him coming but he is such a sweetheart maybe I should just wait for him & stop my lessons??
Are you allowed to write a post this long?????:eek: And I kept it short!!!:D
 
I think usually if you ask for a specific horse they will let you ride it. But also if it's a group hack it depends on the ability of the other riders, they may need a slower ride and whoever decides who rides what may feel you are capable of riding this other horse. If you're looking to improve you could always ask to go in a lesson. I think it is beneficial riding different horses because you never know what kind of horse you may end up riding in the future. This answer is probably not what you're looking for at all but anyway. Good luck with the loan!
 
I clearly can't comment on the horses or RS you have been to

but in general you can't expect a RS to give you the same horse every time
they may have felt after seeing you ride for a few weeks you could cope with a different horse ( right or wrong)

or the usual horse may have worked hours that week that made it unavailable

is it a group you ride in if so it may be like the group I ride in and it all depends on who is riding that week
 
Riding a number of different horses is great for you.

Having said that I wouldn;t expect this to happen on a hack, I would expect it on lessons in the school.

I personally feel for RS to put riders on horses new to them out hacking is at best folly :eek:
 
Yes it's great to ride the same horse everytime at a RS - unfortunately if you do this for too long you you may end up with no confidence to try a new horse when the time comes as you will be so used to the one you ride.

However - I would not expect any RS to play up to that extent on hack, and it would have been better if you were on a horse that you knew. If a RS expects clients to hack out on horses they don't know then I think you should expect them to be near enough bombproof.
 
I lso agree different horses can actually help you improve BUT I have also noticed from my own experiences that a lot of RS no longer seem to have many good, safe horses:confused:

It now seems normal for RS horses to have ridden vices such as spooking, rearing, bucking, spinning which to be honest although they are not machines I have trouble getting into my head that you should be paying to ride horses with known vices???
 
First thing comes to my mind is that this riding school is not adequate they should never have put you on a horse that is nervous in traffic.

Secondly you are the paying customer, if it were me I'd insist on indoor lessons on the same horse.

If I were you I'd just wait till I got my horse and take private lessons, i.e get in a recommended freelance instructor.

Don't waste your time, money, energy and life on these riding schools.
 
Thanks to everyone for your replies!! I agree totally that it is beneficial to ride different horses and good experience for the future. But knowing that lovely Henry Horse is coming for good and is totally bombproof I feel I may be putting myself through alot of stress and may end up losing confidence rather than gaining it!! The RI seemed surprised that the mare reared and sped off with me and had been told by owner when bought a year ago that she just jogged a bit on the spot with some traffic!! I think when I have my lesson on Friday I need to tell her that at least on a hack I need the same horse and not the mare again. I think if she cant accomodate that then I will either stop riding there altogether or just stop hacking out with them. RI is really lovely and I hope she will be understanding!!
 
most of the members probably won't agree but, I don't think beginners should be out in traffic to begin with. It is to risky of a situation to put a beginner in especially on a horse they haven't been on before. It's dangerous enough on your own two feet on the roadside sometimes without being on an animal that can take off straight into an oncoming vehicle at any time.
But that's just me, I'm a nervous nelly at the best of times.:)
 
well i think that you should ride different horses and saying you refuse to ride if you dont get the one you want is, horrible as it sounds, childish. the point of going and having lessons is to improve and you get changed up so you can.
the RS i worked at last had an adult refuse to ride any other horse but the one she started on, and it got to the point the YO asked her to leave as she would refuse to pay once she got the yard if she wasnt on "her horse"
he had gone on an trip with his owner that day.

you can really hinder your confidence if you ride the same horse all the time then you have to ride a different one say if the horse is lame. its one thing if you are truely a nerveous scared rider whos ability cannot be provided for by another horse and you having that security of the familiar.

also a new horse on a hack, while in an ideal world shouldnt happen, you have to remember there are other clients and sometimes your usual horse has been needed in other areas or has done too much for the day or is off.

also i dont know the horse, but say your RS is responsible any horse can have an off day, i worked with the RDA once one of our best horses had a funny 5 min and decided every tree was scarey, completely outta character but happened.

its up to you if you choose to move RS but i think you will find it at pretty much any yard your at.

best of luck in whatever you choose to do, and please dont take my comments as me being a bitch, just trying to be honest from the view of someone whos worked on having to sorted out riders and their mount choices. its hard
 
Horses are unpredictable, the horse you see as nice and sensible might have spooked out on that hack. My mare, who I've had for 5 years, bucked 2 days ago, span and dropped her shoulder and my sharer fell off. She has NEVER bucked in the whole 5 years I've owned her and there is no way I'd have predicted it.

Riding different horses, especially after a long gap, will help boost your confidence/improve your skills and you will need a bit of pushing which riding more challenging horses will give you. Why don't you ask for a lesson on this mare ? Controlled environment etc - you might find you really like her ?

I had a 13 year gap from riding and after 6 months or so settled into a group lesson that didn't challenge me but was comfortable - I should have pushed myself, joined the more advanced group etc. If you're getting a horse on loan already you need to be challenging yourself too.
 
I don't think that they should have taken you on the road on a mare that is obviously not confident in traffic, I would disagree that several incidents during one hack is a funny 5 mins, plus the owner had admitted she can get a little tense and jog. It's not fair on you, or on her as your nervousness after her first fright would only have made her worse.

I think you can insist on having the same instructor, especially if you have private lessons. I also think it wouldn't unreasonable to ask for the same horse for the first 6 or so lessons whilst you gain confidence if you are prepared to book in advance. You can move onto other horses from there.

I've had bad experiences too so I empathise!
 
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I believe that in lessons you should try out as many horses as the RIs who know your riding ability and level of nervousness/confidence (i.e. not a new RI who has no idea of your ability) are happy to put you on. At worst you stay in walk for a whole lesson - there's nothing wrong with that , I still have lessons where we don't come out of walk for more than maybe 3 or 4 minutes if at all, and I've been riding a long time, have two horses of my own. Working on the quality of the walk, on your position, on riding accurate figures (shallow loops, circles, figs of 8 etc) is all good for you.

However on hacks you really need to feel that you're in control as it is a well known fact that horses feel their riders nervousness and act on it. So if they can't accommodate your wishes to only hack one or two horses that you trus then you should have a lesson instead or not ride at all. Most RSs will try to accommodate your wishes but sometimes all the riders on the same day want to ride the same horses... which obviously isn't possible.

Are you going to be having lessons on your loan horse? Will you be hacking him out alone? It would probably be a good idea to get some extra skills under your belt if so, such as what one of my RIs used to call the "defensive position", distraction techniques (keeping his mind busy on YOU, so he doesn't think about being silly), and slowing down your horse with your body (not by hauling on the reins), etc so that if he does ever take fright or plays up (the best of ponies can have a moment) you are in the best position to handle the situation safely.

Keep enjoying your iding. Keep riding. Have fun.
 
Thanks for your replies. Dooley, I think you have summed things up very well!!
I am not a particularly nervous rider and am happy to ride different horses in my weekly lesson but I am not experienced enough to cope with a horse that rears & bolts in traffic. In my opinion there are too many people/animals that could get hurt if I cant manage such a situation.

Rgbilyeu: Think you have misconstrued what I said in my posts! I dont turn up demanding the same horse, I am happy to ride others but not a horse that is unsafe in traffic!

I think I'll discuss things again with RI on Friday on my lesson and see what she suggests. At then end of the day riding should be fun and this pony was really lovely and responsive when there wasnt any traffic, such a shame she reared and bolted and made the hack very stressful at times!
 
I disagree about people riding different horses in the first stages of learning to ride.

They need to gain condfidence, trust, balance, correct use of the reins, and how to ride on the same horses so that your not dealing with different issues that you can't handle. Then once they learn the basics and feeling more confident it is safer to start riding different horses.

The road incident is a good example, if a person is confident and in control even if the horse did spook the person riding would not have panicked and sought to regain control. this is difficult for a learner on a a strange horse. But then I also agree learners should not be out on roads unless led or they are on a well known safe horse and given some instruction on road and riding safety.

However Emma you say your not a nervous rider but how experinced are you? Good on ya for admitting that your not experienced enough to cope with spooky horses, many people don't admit to this. The RI said she 'd been told the horse only jogged, Maybe they should have rode this horse out first to get a better idea of how the horse rides in traffic.

There is a riding school near me that I would never take a person / child to. Too many in the group, no RI at the back, riders sitting facing back chatting, loose reins, very little Hi Vi gear, RI in front often on mobile phone. That's just for starters. It shocks me to the core (not saying your RS is like that, this is just here).

The overall dealings here is, are you happy? you say the RI is really nice so I am sure she is gonna sort things out for you.

Happy hacking...

Demson
 
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Demson said:
I disagree about riding different horses in the first stages of learning to ride.
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But this is not a complete beginner though it's a person having returned to riding after a long break - and been having lessons for 6 months now.
That in my opinion is very different!

I rode for a few years in my teens, didn't ride for over 20 years, then booked a lesson when I was in my early 40s and the instructor didn't believe I had had such a long break. Neither did I to be honest... some of it is like riding a bike, it stays with you forever. Only your confidence doesn't unfortunately. But it is very very different from a complete beginner learning completely from scratch. In that case I would agree, having the same horse can be very beneficial.
 
But you said the RI was surprised the horse behaved like that - my point is that you can't tell when a horse is going to spook all the time. They put you on what they thought would be a suitable horse for you, but they're animals not machines.

My horse has never bucked in 5 years but did this week - as I said.

By the way I have a problem with hacking / had one but am now recovering and when I started to hack out (after about a year of lessons again) I was really nervous so can sympathise.
 
Dooley said:
But this is not a complete beginner though it's a person having returned to riding after a long break -

.
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Please read my post again, I do say "However Emma you say your not a nervous rider but how experinced are you," indicating I am not saying Emma is a beginner.

From Amandal = But you said the RI was surprised the horse behaved like that - my point is that you can't tell when a horse is going to spook all the time. They put you on what they thought would be a suitable horse for you, but they're animals not machines./QUOTE]

But you CAN assess a horse and know what level of rider will be capable of riding it. Its not merely about if the horse spooks but also on what level of experience the rider has to deal with the situation. After being involved with horses for over 35 years with immense experience in the equine industry I understand horses are not machines.

What I am getting at here is the RI says she was told the horse only jogged, it would have still been good practice for the horse to be ridden out prior to lessons to assess the horse the best they could to give an indication to the level of rider best suited to it. What ones perceptive of a jog could be entirely different to another.

Cheers :)
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emma137 said:
Rgbilyeu: Think you have misconstrued what I said in my posts! I dont turn up demanding the same horse, I am happy to ride others but not a horse that is unsafe in traffic!
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my appologies then sorry about that.

horse unsafe in traffic then yeh you should have a word with someone see if its typical behaviour or not, if it is have a wording with your instructor or the YO

sorry again for my confusion
 
hi, i dont know if this is any help, but i know what you mean when you say "they put you on different horses everytime" my r/s used to do that until i told them firmly that i am not going on a different horse anymore, im sticking to the one i have had for a while, thank you very much!

i told them this about a year ago, and i have had the same horse ever since (unless she is sick or somthing, then obviously i'd have another)
x
 
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