A year of riding lessons - RS / RI (London) advice needed

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loladay

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Hi there Everyone. I'm becoming confused and disheartened after a year of individual and group lessons (once a week) at two different London RSs (not to mention broke ) ...

In group lessons I am very much aware I'm riding as something of a passenger on horses who are following those in front whereas in individual lessons I'm struggling to get my horse going forward even with liberal use of kicking and whip (as instructed by RI) ! All I'm doing is flapping around and I absolutely hate riding so harshly !

I really want to increase my confidence at the canter but am getting stuck in walk/trot due to napping, lack of skills, etc.

Also my RS of choice doesn't offer any consistency in terms of RI. Recently they swapped the one I'd requested to another rider in the same menage for no reason I could work out ! Does it not make sense for an RI to get to know a pupil so they can bring them on / target their known weak areas / match them to a horse they can progress on ???

Aggghhhhh !!!

Any and all advice would be extremely welcome .... am happy to consider new schools and also travel out of London for a residential expert riding clinic or something .... Bottom line is I genuinely want to begin to learn to ride sensitively (and in mutual communication) and not just beat a horse into half-hearted submission or pretend being a passenger is riding !
 
Whereabouts in London are you? If you are South West based, I'd recommend Chessington Equestrian Centre - I've been there a year or so and have since bought a horse and keep him there on working livery. They have a team of half a dozen instructors, but usually one instructor would teach the same group each week, or you can request a private lesson with someone specific. They have a wide range of horses too.
 
loladay said:
Any and all advice would be extremely welcome .... am happy to consider new schools and also travel out of London for a residential expert riding clinic or something .... Bottom line is I genuinely want to begin to learn to ride sensitively (and in mutual communication) and not just beat a horse into half-hearted submission or pretend being a passenger is riding !
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Well done for wanting to ride properly. Such a shame you are not being taught how you want to (and should) ride. Cant help you with where you can go but i definately think you need to go elsewhere. It sounds like the horses have switched off and dont listen to their riders because of the way they are being taught. You cant blame the horses. But then that doesnt help the riders to learn, its a viscious cycle. Good luck finding somewhere
 
whereabouts are you based - my instructor also teaches freelance at littlebourne - although I have never ridden there they do have a RC which uses school horses and the horses all hack out and do lots of different things such as competing to try and keep them fresh.
 
Based in North London but happy to travel out a little if I can find the right place/person/horse.

And I do realise it's my lack of skill and that other riders can get the same RS horses going forward and doing allsorts but I figured someone on here might have a confidence/skill-building idea to get me past my current plateau that neither me nor Google have come up with yet !

Many thanks :)
 
If you're up for courses outside of London, google Dovecote Stables. Sam will teach you to ride as you describe, on schoolmaster horses, who are responsive but also varying levels of forgiving. Don't be surprised to be on the lunge for a bit though!

He's incredibly good, and it will bring on your riding more than any bog-standard riding school ever will.
 
When I wanted to start riding after a break in preparation for getting my own horse again, I really struggled to find a decent riding school around London. The only place I liked was usually fully booked at weekends.

In the end I found a very good instructor who was willing to teach me on her own wonderful horse. This worked out cheaper than a riding school and I learnt so much more that way. It may be worth asking around in case there is an instructor in your area willing to do the same?
 
It's a catch 22 situation I'm afraid. The RI doesn't want to scare you by putting you on a more forward thinking horse, but you can't get any improvements to your riding whilst you have old plodders.

If I were you I would go for some lunge lessons. This way the instructor is in charge of the speed and you can concentrate on your position or aids or whatever you want.

It also helps to talk to your instructor about what your targets are. I have several instructors here (Hong Kong, long story), but there are big differences between standards. My favourite one discusses my next target with me once we have reached one.
 
loladay said:
Hi there Everyone. I'm becoming confused and disheartened after a year of individual and group lessons (once a week) at two different London RSs (not to mention broke ) ...

In group lessons I am very much aware I'm riding as something of a passenger on horses who are following those in front whereas in individual lessons I'm struggling to get my horse going forward even with liberal use of kicking and whip (as instructed by RI) ! All I'm doing is flapping around and I absolutely hate riding so harshly !

I really want to increase my confidence at the canter but am getting stuck in walk/trot due to napping, lack of skills, etc.

Also my RS of choice doesn't offer any consistency in terms of RI. Recently they swapped the one I'd requested to another rider in the same menage for no reason I could work out ! Does it not make sense for an RI to get to know a pupil so they can bring them on / target their known weak areas / match them to a horse they can progress on ???

Aggghhhhh !!!

Any and all advice would be extremely welcome .... am happy to consider new schools and also travel out of London for a residential expert riding clinic or something .... Bottom line is I genuinely want to begin to learn to ride sensitively (and in mutual communication) and not just beat a horse into half-hearted submission or pretend being a passenger is riding !
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You could take a look here for residential clinic http://www.whisperingback.co.uk/
 
Thanks to everyone for your suggestions. I have already started looking into them.

I have ridden one RS/Livery horse that was more finely-tuned to even the slightest leg and that was really satisfying but I do understand the whole Catch-22 thing....the plodders are the safest but also the least responsive (and nappy) ! Perhaps it's a stage everyone goes through at an RS and patience is the key (???).

Problem is there is no consistency of RI at all, even if you try and book a specific person, ergo no targets. It would be great to find someone like you have depurple1 but not sure how ...

In the meantime, if anyone wants to PM me with specific recommendations in/around London, I'd be really interested to hear of your experiences.

:)
 
I'm afraid I am the wrong side of London for you (W Kent/Surrey/E Sussex), but I had a similar story. I was (not any more, happy to say ;)) very overweight and the RS I used to go to (quite rightly) would only put me on one or two weight-carriers - who were nice, safe horses but hardly full of 'get-up-and-go'! I went there for probably two years without progressing - most of the lesson was spent (like you) flapping around trying to get a canter - not my idea of fun! In the end I paid quite a lot for a lesson on a schoolmaster (worth £100,000 apparently!) who showed me what it could be like! This was at the famous Oldencraig (I think it would be too far for you - but google it to see).

Shortly after I got my first loan horse who was also very nearly a schoolmistress and taught me soooo much! In the end, she went home and I now have the lovely Hugo (no schoolmaster, but what I need in my old-age!)

I also had lessons at the yard where I now keep Hugo (and still do) - they only really had the one horse who was suitable, so I knew I'd always have him (my LovelyLovelyBob). As it is really a livery yard with lessons on the side, you know who is going to be doing the lessons on a certain day.

Good luck - I know exactly what you are talking about!!
 
loladay said:
Problem is there is no consistency of RI at all, even if you try and book a specific person, ergo no targets. It would be great to find someone like you have depurple1 but not sure how ...

In the meantime, if anyone wants to PM me with specific recommendations in/around London, I'd be really interested to hear of your experiences.

:)
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Word of mouth I think is the best way to find a good instructor - I found mine completely by accident though - I needed some manure for the garden and ended up at her yard!

I have PM'd you with a suggestion of a place to avoid though.
 
We are having a very similar issue with my partner at the moment to some extent, in that they wont move him up a lesson till his canter seat improves, but the lesson he is in hardly ever canters so he cant get better. The way we have worked through others issues in the past is:
1) we are a bit fortunate that I have throughout my riding career been involved with pretty much every riding stable in the local area, so if there is somewhere else that can work through the issue better with him (either in group or privates) I know where to send him; and
2) when he first started having privates I went with to let the instructor know what he wanted to be working towards.

Often the instructors at riding schools are not of a brilliant quality, and many of them although they can ride the horse better than you will not be sufficiently aware of what they do differently to make it better (hence the repeated instructions to kick/whip that get you nowhere).
You definitely need to move somewhere which will let you book a specific instructor if you want to be able to take responsibility for your own development, which unfortunately it looks like you are going to have to do. (do you have an experienced friend who could come and watch a couple of your private lessons to let you know whether they think you actually could progress with the instructor you are using?) You need to build a relationship with someone and be quite forceful about the fact that you are the paying customer, and you want to work on X, or you want to work towards riding a different horse, or whatever it is you think would help you improve. In an ideal world you would trust your instructor to make these decisions for you to help you progress at an appropriate pace, but sadly in your case (and I believe far too often in general) the instructor lacks either the ability or the motivation to help you progress at a speed you are comfortable with.

I wouldnt continue with group lessons unless you think you are getting something out of it. I generally think groups are better cos you get time to rest your horse and learn through what other people are doing too, but in your case it sounds like you need to be in a position to direct your learning, which is much harder when there are other people to consider as well.

Please dont be afraid to just tell your stables you wont be around for a month and spend the time trying out some other places. They may be useful to you again in the future, but right now it doesnt sound like what you need. I also find it helps to be very upfront about what you want from a place when you are on the phone booking the lesson. If they get the idea right from the start of what you want, it is much easier than them getting an idea about you and then you trying to change it afterwards.
 
Yeah, I think a lot of the London schools have riders over a barrel due to the level of demand and the lack of competition and accessible places to ride, hence the high lesson fees .... £40 to £50 plus an hour ... and little room to dictate terms !

Means it's very difficult to get enough time in the saddle to start developing any 'feel', let alone the right muscles in the right places!

At the moment I'm spending more on lessons here than I would on livery if I'd stayed living oop norf ...

:(

Still I'm very grateful that I get any time at all with horses ... revisiting a 30-year old childhood dream is a real joy, despite my wee moan on here :)
 
Here is the link to littlebourne

http://www.littlebournefarm.com/

I have also in the past ridden at Trent Park and London Equestrian centre.

Trent park have some feisty horses - I actually got a share horse after being frightened there by some of the horses.

London Equestrian Centre also have some more sensitive horses again some I found too much for me!

Both struggled to understand that I preferred to ride ponies and although I might be fairly competent I prefer a quieter sort of horse or even better a pony. Have you tried explaining your frustration to your instructor, even if they are charging £££ they will often want to keep your business and also their reputation.

However I have not ridden at either of those places for several years since I am now the proud owner of a new forest pony.
 
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