Am I too pushy?

[honetpot]

I know its sounds expensive but go for private lessons with someone who has good quality horses.
You will learn so much quicker and get to do things you never thought possible. They are often more interested in your development as a rider and as a person, often lesson on their schoolmaster help fund their competing horses. At 28 and after nearly 20 years of riding I had a lunge lesson that taught me that so much in half and hour riding straight and how rider straightness affected the horses way of going.
I would also try a mechanical horse as it allows you to concentrate on you and get core stability.
When I out grew normal lessons I asked to join the working pupils so I was pushed.

 

[zaminda]

You are clearly very enthusiastic, which is great. There are a couple of things that I would suggest and a few questions.
Firstly, do you read much on equine management? This will be invaluable for your college course, and will also give you more insight into what is going on. If you can get hold of the BHS stages DVD's showing the riding and stable management then do, they would give you something to compare yourself to. Be brutal in your assessment of your riding. In your lessons, is your instructor giving position help, or just 'directing traffic'. If the former, see if you can have several lessons on the trot videoed, and look for improvement or lack thereof.
Where are you based, and what college are you going to? For level three I would expect some sort of riding assessment, so see what feedback you get from that.
Have you got ay competition venues near you? Many often advertise positions for the arena party, which would be a great experience, and you might even find a potential share.
Do you live close enough to your riding school to get there independently of your parents? If so, go along and watch the lesson before or after yours, and compare.
I will say, I did some stages training at a local riding school, and to be honest the instructor is hopeless. Only concerned by people not falling off, and keeps everyone well within their comfort zone. Personally I wouldn't pay for a lesson with her, and that could be the situation you are in.

 

[bouncing_ball]

I'd think about showing your parents this thread as you put your case across very clearly.

Where are you located? As maybe someone can suggest the right contacts. In terms of good places to ride or good share opportunities. I've seen some great share arrangements where kids help out and learn and get chance to have lessons and compete etc. There are great people around who will mentor keen kids.

 

[Sugar_and_Spice]

I will say, I did some stages training at a local riding school, and to be honest the instructor is hopeless. Only concerned by people not falling off, and keeps everyone well within their comfort zone. Personally I wouldn't pay for a lesson with her, and that could be the situation you are in.

OP is there a manager or is that person the riding instructor too? If there's a separate manager speak to them about what the riding school offers. Many will only be aiming to teach novice riders and don't buy in the horses or hire the instructors to do/teach the more advanced stuff. If that's the case you're simply not going to progress beyond your current level at this riding school.

I'm also wondering about the possibility of you being given the old timer horse because you're a teenager and possibly a slim/light person? Are the other adults in your group heavier? They might not be able to put them on the oldie.

If these things aren't the issue then a chat with the manager, followed with another meeting with the riding instructor there too might help you all agree a plan of action to help you progress your riding. If it is that you need to spend more time focussing on the basics then fair enough, but if you're just being dismissed because you're a teenager a friendly chat about your goals and a plan for your development could be just the thing to get you taken seriously. It's about being assertive, you're the customer and they need to remember that. If the riding school can't accommodate your desire for progress they should be honest about it.

ETA: share horses - you will find you struggle to get a share just for the summer holidays, most people want year round committment. Also don't view it as paying to train someone else's horse, because by doing it you're learning too. If all you ever handle/ride are "ready-made" horses you'll miss out on learning how to get them to that stage. I'm not saying you should be paying the earth to break in someone's youngster for them or reschool a nightmare of a horse, but a less than perfect horse will teach you lots. And if your stable/horse handling skills aren't upto much the horse's owner will be having to spend time explaining/showing things to you too. The amount you'll pay for a share will only be a small fraction of the cost of the horse's upkeep.

 

[Dave's Mam]

I'm sorry if this has already been mentioned but why don't you really try and show the instructor your enthusiasm?
Turn up to your lesson half an hour early and offer to help get your horse ready, if someone can show you how. I am sure they would be more than happy to explain things to you so then you can help them even more next time. Ask questions when you haven't done stuff before. For me, tacking up different horses at my riding school improved my knowledge of different bits, nosebands etc and really improved my understanding of the importance of fitting tack properly and ensuring the horse is comfortable.
It sounds like you get to rug them up after, that's knowledge you are gaining too, even just as simple as leading your horse to stable, untacking and rugging is groundwork.
When you have finished your horse can you offer your help in sweeping the yard or similar? When your instructor sees how keen you are to develop all your skills I'm sure she will be keen on chatting to you about how to improve your riding too.
Do you have any horsey friends at school? My parents arent horsey at all so I took every opportunity to go to other peoples houses to see their horses, I never expected a ride but showing my enthusiasm for their horses and offering to help at shows etc soon led to them offering me their horses to ride. And once you are out of a riding school its much easier to just have a go at more stuff. However I loved being at a riding school and feel the lessons really drilled my position into me, so make sure you are doing as well as you possibly can in your lessons. It does sound frustrating that you are starting again each time but think of it as an opportunity to perfect each skill you are learning, when you feel like you really are doing them to the best of your ability and if they are still not challenging you you really should consider asking moving up another group or looking for a share.
Also is there a local pony club near you? Doing unmounted rallies will help you with groundwork and just watching shows etc will help you look at mistakes to avoid doing and how you can ride each jump nicely. Making contacts will provide you with endless opportunities. After turning up to offer my help all the time at pony club my DC got fed up of seeing me on the floor all the time so gave me one of her ponies on loan and now I have the best pony I could ever hope for! Just grab every opportunity to help out, people will be incredibly grateful and it will give you wealths of experience
But at the end of the day, riding is a sport to enjoy so if you are no longer enjoying it, step back and try and formulate a different plan- a different riding school maybe. When you've worked out some details, pitch it to your parents and say you will get lots more for your money here and you'll be more interested.
Good luck, it sounds like a tricky situation!

Good advice there.

 

[Crazy_cat_lady]

Are there different instructors at your rs? If there are could you perhaps have a lesson with one of them as everyone has different teaching styles?

I've had a variety of them over the years some I've felt I've learnt absolutely nothing in the lessons others would work on the horse and not me.
New Yo sj's so has been there and done it. Previous instructors had suggested I was really good because I could jump 1m at the end of a grid on my spooky horse. Turns out I was actually pretty rubbish! When H was coming back into work in the summer after being lame we went right back to basics eg spiral in and out a bit of bareback to get the feel etc. I am now seeing vast improvements in his flatwork and jumping and he isn't young (19). I also rode some of the rs horses while H was off including the school master who did help teach feel and how to sit etc.

So that would be my first suggestion or even would your parents let you just have private lessons? I used to have group lessons until I got H but I definitely learn far more in private lessons as you can work on either something different each week or if you want to work on something specific you can do that for a couple of weeks without other people getting involved?

 

[merlo89]

She's the owner of the school and the only instructor!
There's another girl in my group who's the exact same as me, just a year older, the other person is a tall male who just winds the horses up, so I'm not the only person that can ride him as everyone else can, just she believes im the most inexperienced in the group.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

She's the owner of the school and the only instructor!
There's another girl in my group who's the exact same as me, just a year older, the other person is a tall male who just winds the horses up, so I'm not the only person that can ride him as everyone else can, just she believes im the most inexperienced in the group.

How about joining a diffferent group at the same RS? You would only need to tell the RI that you can't make the usual time. Reading between the lines, I wonder if your RI is trying to perfect your jumping position on a nice, co-operative horse. She really should explain that to you though. I( would be concerned if your comaprison of vieos taken a year apart don't show some improvement in your riding, which is not the same as jumping higher jumps.

 

[merlo89]

This is the comparision video, I've made it so people can give me an honest judgment of whether I am being pushy.

If you do know my instructor, please don't mention it to her, as she is a good instructor, it's just whether it's the right place for me!

http://youtu.be/KmgkwWkScPs

The dates are in the description.

 

[Starzaan]

It's very hard to tell from such a short clip - have you got anything longer? What I will say though is that you are on the wrong diagonal when jumping the cross pole, I know I'm picky, but that is something I am incredibly strict about with everyone I teach.

That is all I can offer really without a longer clip. Do you have any slightly longer videos of you riding recently? If you would rather pm then that's absolutely fine.

 

[Red-1]

This is the comparision video, I've made it so people can give me an honest judgment of whether I am being pushy.

If you do know my instructor, please don't mention it to her, as she is a good instructor, it's just whether it's the right place for me!

http://youtu.be/KmgkwWkScPs

The dates are in the description.

As a third party, I would not have put the clip up, because you can bet your bottom dollar someone will know the instructor, and will tell her. Not that you have done anything "wrong", but it may affect your future relationship.

As far as your riding, the jump itself is a minor part of "jumping." I can see a lot of work I would prefer to do on the flat before jumping higher and higher. As Starzaan says, the diagonal is wrong, and this should be just something that your autonomous system does, without you thinking about it. The diagonal itself is not the issue, it is that there will be a whole lot of other "things" that should also be autonomous, that you should be taking care of, before a jump course is put in place.

For example, the thing that stands out for me more than anything else is the contact with the horse's mouth. If you look at the recent video you will see that as you rise up and down your hands also rise up and down. This moving contact with the horse will mean you can't "read" the horse, and he may well stop, run out or whatever. The horse can't concentrate on the fence while you are moving his mouth IMO.

Not that I am saying your riding is bad, just that I think there are things I would also like to work on with you before doing a whole lot of jumping.

Personally, if it were me, I would prefer to firstly do more about riding on the flat until you can keep a more consistent contact, and ride the horse from leg to elastic contact. I would then prefer you to have more work in canter, making sure you can engage, bend, balance and read the horse. Then I would use canter poles. Lots of canter poles. Some as a corridor to be accurate to, some as a grid on the floor so you can feel the rhythm down a line of pole, one stride, pole, one stride, pole.... so you learn to ride straight, to a rhythm and in balance.

Only then would I do a X pole as part of the grid.

TBF I dare say the instructor puts a X pole up as you wish t jump, but looking at that clip I would not just raise the fence without having done all of the work, as above.

If you do not feel you are making progress it is not pushy to seek clarification as to where you are headed, but putting the jump up is not the way I would go.


ETA - What a lovely pony!

 

[Damnation]

Would your parents be willing to pay for a short riding break for you when school is out? A trecking holiday with no pressure, but with hours in the saddle could be invaluable. Rather than judging your progress by how high you jump, maybe try evaluating for yourself, how ou ride during flat work, get someone to video a lesson and then pull your riding apart for yourself and concentrate on one aspect of your position for your next lesson. I have been riding for many years, had our own horses for many years, but still do this periodically, along with schooling sessions only in walk, lunge sessions, sessions entirely without stirups etc etc. There are ways of pushing yourself that don't hinge on the height of a jump or the speed of the horse

YorksG has hit the mark for me. Riding schools do serve a purpose but I do think you can outgrow them.

Another thing riding schools instil in you is the idea that you rate your riding by how high you jump - you may well be able to jump 80cm and stay on, but can you jump 80cm and ride the jump? Its so much more intricate than just staying on, its your seat, your balance, your empathy with the horse. Flat work is the key to your jumping dreams, honest!

What I would say to you OP, is that the summer holidays are not that far away - there will be alot of horse owners out there with children who need a horse to be exercised, if you prove to be an asset to them it could turn into something long term.