Anyone else who doesn't school their horse?

GeeGeeboy

GeeGeeboy

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Me and my boy just tend to hack out, do a wee bit of endurance and XC. He's 10 -do you think it's too late to start schooling him? I do take him into our outdoor very rarely but get bored and can't afford lessons at the moment.
Would be interested to see what others do/think. Ta x
 
The thing is that you are schooling your horse every time you ride him. :)

You can always work to improve a horse's (and your!) way of going, either when you ride out hacking or in a school. If you have a look online I'm sure that there will be some school movements that you can put together to make things more interesting, or try downloading some dressage tests to ride to give yourself somrthing to aim for. :)

Eta I don't have access to a school at all, and have ridden my current mare from unbroken youngster to 19 years old out hacking, but she still knows plenty of school movements.;)
 
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Yeah , that's true Touchstone. It's really turns and circles that we have problems with as we don't do them out hacking.
 
ameeyal said:
Me, much to boring, i would rather be nosying in peoples gardens, galloping across fields, or jumping.
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This! ^^^^^

In 28 years of riding I have only ever done hacking/sponsored rides/x-country and in-hand showing. I have recently acquired an ex 2* eventer and have decided that as he is so talented and beautifully schooled I am going to learn how to ride him properly. So am in the process of booking some lessons with a dressage instructor. I do ride now and then in the school and he has surprised me with half passes and the occasional flying change and I have no idea what I did to get him to do that! :eek: (Well ok - I have a rough idea)
I don't really "do" dressage as it bores the pants off me. I have much more fun spotting who has a swimming pool in the back garden and jumping logs out hacking :D
 
I bought my gelding when he was 16. He'd been schooled basically in the past but hadn't really done much at all with his previous owner for 8 years or so apart from mainly hacking

He's now 19 and schools twice a week with circles, lateral work, serpentines etc and we do prelim dressage. He's never going to achive the perfect 'outline' but he's come a long way.

His previous owner who's a friend of mine can't get over the difference in him and vet tells me it's the best way to keep him supple, along with regular hacking (he suffers from mild arthritis in winter, only really in the mornings when he's been stabled in bad weather).

As long as you respect the fact that it's new to them and don't ask too much too soon then I think you can teach basic schooling at any time (within reason).

Of course, if you don't school, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that either! :)
 
me, I did with my big horse, but I bought my pony specifically for hacking and endurance and we dont have a school or even a flat field but even if we did I dont think we would.

Did do schooling when breaking in and bringing her on, altho she hated the school always even after canter stopped being mini-motorcycle wall of death.

Point and shoot, that's our style...:-)))))
 
'Schooling' doesn't have to be all about going around in circles in an arena (which is just as well as we haven't got an arena)! Schooling is just training, and even if you just want to hunt, hack etc., it is worth spending the time to train your horse to do his job well. Hacking and hunting is much more enjoyable if your horse is trained to listen to your instructions and will increase and decrease speed exactly when you tell it, will allow you to dismount and remount easily, will let you open and shut gates, will behave respectfully in company, will hack out happily alone etc.
 
I have never been in a school with Ben, but he is a totally safe hack and at pleasure rides never ever gets strong even with horses cantering out of view. So in a way that is having a well schooled pony :)

TGM makes a very good point, its important even if you just hack to have a well behaved horse ie standing at junctions, standing still if you need to dismount/mount, going through gateways safely etc.
 
I school myself on hacks with my share horse to improve my position and stuff as we don't have anywhere else to school, I quite often read something to improve on and have a go at implementing changes and improving, but I don't think she really wants to be taught anything these days as she is an oldie :-)

I do actually love schooling and have just been to visit the livery I will use when I get new horsey - there is rather a lovely bouncy surfaced school, if I get bored I'll take a nap on it :-)
 
Personally, I find hacking beyond boring and have to force myself to do it for the sake of the horses - I'd rather go in the school and work on something.
 
I disagree with saying your schooling a horse every time you ride him. If you are letting him slop along, not walking properly etc that's not schooling!
 
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