Adult Riding Holidays for training - UK

I haven’t been there for any jumping but I think Brian is pretty good at that too!

I don’t know enough about the lower level of horses to help there. I always paid for the top level dressage schoolmasters.
 
teapot said:
and for @Orangehorse's benefit - Alex Wyatt has closed the training centre side in recent months (and also has had a stroke since publicly announcing the closure). He's still offering freelance coaching on your own horse :)
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Yes, poor Alex, he had decided to stop offering schoolmaster lessons a little while ago.

However, he is making a very good recovery and is back at the stables and will be offering lessons on your own horses.
 
Gosh some of these replies are pretty scary!

Expecting to tack up your own horse when they don't know you from Adam is really poor, IMO.

Instructor not being ready and getting a shorter proper lesson as a result!? Jeeez.
 
Well it was brilliant! 4 lessons. Flat and jump with Adam and flat and jump with Brian. 4 different horses.

It was well organised and very friendly.

When I first arrived I was shown where everything was: barn, arenas, tack room, loo, cafe. And the white board where everything was written: lesson times, where, who with, which horse. You were meant to see who you were on then tell whoever was there, who would bring the horse to you and then you’d go to whichever arena you were in. 3 of 4 times that worked fine. For lesson 3 no-one was there so at the time of the lesson I looked at the map which showed where each horse lived and went and got her myself. She was already tacked up so I was only 2 mins late to the arena. It is a huge place with loads going on and the horses were brought to riders by working pupils/students. The quality and reliability of whom probably vary! So I can imagine that system occasionally faltering but I can’t think of a better way and I had the confidence to just think ‘ I know who I’m on and where I’m meant to be’ so I sorted myself out. For a first lesson that kind of hiccup would be very annoying though.

Adam’s lessons were more like supervised schooling. I’d warm up the horse, he’d ask me what I thought. We’d have a chat about how to improve the horse. I’d do that and he’d feedback. Useful but similar to my Ingestre lessons. He was very flattering about how well the horses were going. I imagine this is just his teaching style because I know I’m no great shakes as a rider! But the horses did definitely improve through the session. So it was a confidence boost even if I didn’t learn a huge amount. And we did jump a metre which I wasn’t expecting to do, but he was so encouraging that I felt safe and confident.

The Brian lessons were amazing. Loads of guidance on tweaks to position. And when it was right the horse just softened and lifted and floated along! It felt brilliant. I’ve got pages of notes now.

All 4 horses were well schooled and responsive. Several levels above the horses I’ve been riding at my local school. Also above the Ingestre horses. I’ve realised how hard it is to improve on dull, stiff, resistant horses. How much easier it is on educated ones. Particularly on ones that will give you instant feedback by going well if you ride them well. I wasn’t on their ‘schoolmaster’ horses and both Brian and Adam said I was not on easy horses. They were all ones that people often struggled because they were all ridden by a wide variety of riders with a wide variety of abilities. But they were much much easier than the local riding school ones so my next goal is to have a lesson on one of their ‘good’ horses!

I will 100% be going back.
 

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Ambers Echo said:
Well it was brilliant! 4 lessons. Flat and jump with Adam and flat and jump with Brian. 4 different horses.

It was well organised and very friendly.

When I first arrived I was shown where everything was: barn, arenas, tack room, loo, cafe. And the white board where everything was written: lesson times, where, who with, which horse. You were meant to see who you were on then tell whoever was there, who would bring the horse to you and then you’d go to whichever arena you were in. 3 of 4 times that worked fine. For lesson 3 no-one was there so at the time of the lesson I looked at the map which showed where each horse lived and went and got her myself. She was already tacked up so I was only 2 mins late to the arena. It is a huge place with loads going on and the horses were brought to riders by working pupils/students. The quality and reliability of whom probably vary! So I can imagine that system occasionally faltering but I can’t think of a better way and I had the confidence to just think ‘ I know who I’m on and where I’m meant to be’ so I sorted myself out. For a first lesson that kind of hiccup would be very annoying though.

Adam’s lessons were more like supervised schooling. I’d warm up the horse, he’d ask me what I thought. We’d have a chat about how to improve the horse. I’d do that and he’d feedback. Useful but similar to my Ingestre lessons. He was very flattering about how well the horses were going. I imagine this is just his teaching style because I know I’m no great shakes as a rider! But the horses did definitely improve through the session. So it was a confidence boost even if I didn’t learn a huge amount. And we did jump a metre which I wasn’t expecting to do, but he was so encouraging that I felt safe and confident.

The Brian lessons were amazing. Loads of guidance on tweaks to position. And when it was right the horse just softened and lifted and floated along! It felt brilliant. I’ve got pages of notes now.

All 4 horses were well schooled and responsive. Several levels above the horses I’ve been riding at my local school. Also above the Ingestre horses. I’ve realised how hard it is to improve on dull, stiff, resistant horses. How much easier it is on educated ones. Particularly on ones that will give you instant feedback by going well if you ride them well. I wasn’t on their ‘schoolmaster’ horses and both Brian and Adam said I was not on easy horses. They were all ones that people often struggled because they were all ridden by a wide variety of riders with a wide variety of abilities. But they were much much easier than the local riding school ones so my next goal is to have a lesson on one of their ‘good’ horses!

I will 100% be going back.
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Sounds amazing 😃
 
Ambers Echo said:
Well it was brilliant! 4 lessons. Flat and jump with Adam and flat and jump with Brian. 4 different horses.

It was well organised and very friendly.

When I first arrived I was shown where everything was: barn, arenas, tack room, loo, cafe. And the white board where everything was written: lesson times, where, who with, which horse. You were meant to see who you were on then tell whoever was there, who would bring the horse to you and then you’d go to whichever arena you were in. 3 of 4 times that worked fine. For lesson 3 no-one was there so at the time of the lesson I looked at the map which showed where each horse lived and went and got her myself. She was already tacked up so I was only 2 mins late to the arena. It is a huge place with loads going on and the horses were brought to riders by working pupils/students. The quality and reliability of whom probably vary! So I can imagine that system occasionally faltering but I can’t think of a better way and I had the confidence to just think ‘ I know who I’m on and where I’m meant to be’ so I sorted myself out. For a first lesson that kind of hiccup would be very annoying though.

Adam’s lessons were more like supervised schooling. I’d warm up the horse, he’d ask me what I thought. We’d have a chat about how to improve the horse. I’d do that and he’d feedback. Useful but similar to my Ingestre lessons. He was very flattering about how well the horses were going. I imagine this is just his teaching style because I know I’m no great shakes as a rider! But the horses did definitely improve through the session. So it was a confidence boost even if I didn’t learn a huge amount. And we did jump a metre which I wasn’t expecting to do, but he was so encouraging that I felt safe and confident.

The Brian lessons were amazing. Loads of guidance on tweaks to position. And when it was right the horse just softened and lifted and floated along! It felt brilliant. I’ve got pages of notes now.

All 4 horses were well schooled and responsive. Several levels above the horses I’ve been riding at my local school. Also above the Ingestre horses. I’ve realised how hard it is to improve on dull, stiff, resistant horses. How much easier it is on educated ones. Particularly on ones that will give you instant feedback by going well if you ride them well. I wasn’t on their ‘schoolmaster’ horses and both Brian and Adam said I was not on easy horses. They were all ones that people often struggled because they were all ridden by a wide variety of riders with a wide variety of abilities. But they were much much easier than the local riding school ones so my next goal is to have a lesson on one of their ‘good’ horses!

I will 100% be going back.
Click to expand...
Sounds like a great experience.
 
Ambers Echo said:
Well it was brilliant! 4 lessons. Flat and jump with Adam and flat and jump with Brian. 4 different horses.

It was well organised and very friendly.

When I first arrived I was shown where everything was: barn, arenas, tack room, loo, cafe. And the white board where everything was written: lesson times, where, who with, which horse. You were meant to see who you were on then tell whoever was there, who would bring the horse to you and then you’d go to whichever arena you were in. 3 of 4 times that worked fine. For lesson 3 no-one was there so at the time of the lesson I looked at the map which showed where each horse lived and went and got her myself. She was already tacked up so I was only 2 mins late to the arena. It is a huge place with loads going on and the horses were brought to riders by working pupils/students. The quality and reliability of whom probably vary! So I can imagine that system occasionally faltering but I can’t think of a better way and I had the confidence to just think ‘ I know who I’m on and where I’m meant to be’ so I sorted myself out. For a first lesson that kind of hiccup would be very annoying though.

Adam’s lessons were more like supervised schooling. I’d warm up the horse, he’d ask me what I thought. We’d have a chat about how to improve the horse. I’d do that and he’d feedback. Useful but similar to my Ingestre lessons. He was very flattering about how well the horses were going. I imagine this is just his teaching style because I know I’m no great shakes as a rider! But the horses did definitely improve through the session. So it was a confidence boost even if I didn’t learn a huge amount. And we did jump a metre which I wasn’t expecting to do, but he was so encouraging that I felt safe and confident.

The Brian lessons were amazing. Loads of guidance on tweaks to position. And when it was right the horse just softened and lifted and floated along! It felt brilliant. I’ve got pages of notes now.

All 4 horses were well schooled and responsive. Several levels above the horses I’ve been riding at my local school. Also above the Ingestre horses. I’ve realised how hard it is to improve on dull, stiff, resistant horses. How much easier it is on educated ones. Particularly on ones that will give you instant feedback by going well if you ride them well. I wasn’t on their ‘schoolmaster’ horses and both Brian and Adam said I was not on easy horses. They were all ones that people often struggled because they were all ridden by a wide variety of riders with a wide variety of abilities. But they were much much easier than the local riding school ones so my next goal is to have a lesson on one of their ‘good’ horses!

I will 100% be going back.
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Fantastic - sounds like it was just what you needed and wanted!
 
Very late to this but I can recommend Stonelea Riding Centre near Gloucester, adults only and nicely schooled horses (too nice for me tbh) but they have excellent schoolmasters for those that want to progress.
 
Ingestre was good but the horses at Talland were far nicer. They were okay but I ended up leaving Ingestre after being presented with a horse that was just not fit to be ridden. A forest of sarcoids between front legs that were bleeding. I am not riding a horse that is dripping blood onto the arena from painful bleeding sarcoids rubbing together. I said I would not ride him and they said they had been treated but no further treatment was possible. I was horrified they were still using a horse in that state and never went back. Though I think I might try again as I assume they got worse quickly and someone more senior will have made the decision that the horse needed to be retired
 
Ambers Echo said:
Ingestre was good but the horses at Talland were far nicer. They were okay but I ended up leaving Ingestre after being presented with a horse that was just not fit to be ridden. A forest of sarcoids between front legs that were bleeding. I am not riding a horse that is dripping blood onto the arena from painful bleeding sarcoids rubbing together. I said I would not ride him and they said they had been treated but no further treatment was possible. I was horrified they were still using a horse in that state and never went back. Though I think I might try again as I assume they got worse quickly and someone more senior will have made the decision that the horse needed to be retired
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I believe the horse has passed, unfortunately.
 
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