Anyone know of good unaccompanied children's riding holidays?

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kirsw

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Hello

I don't normally post on here but I'm posting on behalf of my 10 year old nephew. He really wants to go to a residential riding holiday for kids but it's very difficult to tell the good from the bad so we thought we'd ask to see if any of you knowledgable folks could let me know of any good places he could go, or bad ones to avoid for that matter!

My nephew has his own pony at home but is quite a novice, nervous rider so really wanting somewhere that'll help build his confidence. He also doesn't want to end up at one with only girls (maybe in a few years he'll see the advantages of that!).
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My sister has found one run by Camp Beaumont but its in the South of England which seems a little far away from home if anything were to go wrong, we are in central Scotland. It really worries me that some websites can seem very professional but the places may be far from that! There is a well advertised place local to us that appears lovely on their website but it is far from that in reality so any advice would be much appreciated!
 
Probably too far South (and I don't have kids!) but did a 'grown up' one of these here http://www.valleyfarmonline.co.uk/index.php?categoryid=42

There were quite a few well supervised kids around at the time and it certainly has a more varried program than many places. This is great becasue nearly everyone will be a total beginner at a few of the activities (they got us vaulting even though OH had only been on a horse for 1hr before the trip!) so your son won't feel left-behind if all the others are experienced little SJers or anything.

All the horses and ponies I came into contact with (I'm quite small so do meet the little ones too!) seemed safe but not 'brain dead'.
 
What about joining the local branch of the Pony Club and going to their summer camp? It might not be residential for 10 year olds but it would certainly help him massively with his riding and general care of his pony - besides, as a Mum I'm not sure I would want my kids going to a residential camp at that age. He would also be more likely to make friends that he can stay in touch with year round by joining the PC.

My sons are among several boys at our branch, so it may not all be girls, though he may have to accept there are more horsey little girls than horsey little boys about
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I used to work for Camp Beaumont. I'm now a mum and I would not allow my child to attend one - although we have done PGL and similar. In fairness it may be that thier safety record has massivly improved since I worked for them which was quite some time ago now. But as a Mum I would prefer not to take the risk.

Ditto the PC idea above. My daughter is 10 too. Her PC camp last year was her first residential one. Just as well it was only 30 miles away becuase homesickness proved a problem!

If he really is determined to stay away from home I can reccommend Wellington Riding Centre. http://www.wellington-riding.co.uk/
But it is quite a long way South for you. Talland Eqiutation in Gloucestershire might be closer and has a good reputation - although I have no personal experience.
 
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Thanks for all the replies guys, very useful information particularly regarding Camp Beaumont, Shay. I think he would love the pony club and the local branch meet regularly very close to my parents house where his pony lives. The only problem is he is one of the these busy kids who does karate 5-6 nights a week, plays football and does cross country running for his school so I'm not sure where he'd fit it all in!

Thanks again guys and I'll pass this on to my sister for her to think about.
 
Pony Club camp- it is amazing!
I have done it since i was 4, and some are residential, some are not- but they are SO much fun!
ours is residentail from 10/11 years old...
And he would fit in- we all do loads of other things aswell as riding, and some just go to the camp and some just do the rallies...
 
I went here when i was younger... http://www.willowfarmholidays.co.uk/index.html and it was fantastic, i had such a great time. The ponies although probably different now were really well schooled and it was really fun packed. They even have local shows sometimes and you can take your own pony if you want... it was like being part of the family as we all satyed in the farm house.
 
As previous poster says probably a bit far away but very good reputation and very clear safety standards at Wellingon. My daughter rides at Wellington, and I have to say that although my daughter hasn't attended the holiday, lots of her friends she rides with there do attend every summer, some for 2 weeks. I do think they're very well run, and they do have some nice instructors who make the experience enjoyable - the kids who go all seem to have a great time (we go and buy a drink after the lesson and if we're not quick it clashes with meal time, and the kids all pile in chit chatting away). I do know that quite a few boys go on their courses, so I'm sure you could ask for a week with good numbers of boys in. They do at least a couple of lessons a day, all assessed and according to ability (they have plenty of schools and instructors so have several groups on the go), lots of stable management - all the ponies used on regular lessons later in the day are seen sporting a wide range of snazzy hair dos! Aside from the riding they have lots of organised fun things to do, trips out etc, and I think they finish with pony games and rosettes. I think I can honestly say I've not seen a glum face there, don't think they have time!

(Have contemplated sending daughter but as she has usually had ponies to ride at home I'm reluctant to spend the money and have ponies here doing nothing, in case you're wondering)
 
I remember I went on one of these as a child. They bloody starved me and wouldn't put the heating on in midwinter. No hot water either.
Breakfast was one tiny scoop of cornflakes, lunch was one piece of toast each and a tin of beans, then shared between 5 of us. Supper was a boiled egg - EVERDAY!!!!!!!!!!!

I spent the whole time cold and hungry and not clean. The living conditions spoiled the entire experience.
Hopefully standards have improved since then,but just in case, make sure his mum packs some extra warm clothes and food in his suitcase
 
Holly831 said:
My friends daughter has been on these for the last 3 summers and loves it! It seems really well organised and safe!

We live not far from them and sometimes use their school or compete when they have camps, I have never seen anything that would make me not want to use them!


http://redhouse.orpheusweb.co.uk/rhrhpages/rhrh.htm
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Red house is AWESOME! I loved it but now me and my family have moved to the highlands of scotland so I am looking for a similar camp up here!x
 
I went on a PGL holiday in the Brecon Beacons as a teenager and absolutely loved it. Got the same horse to ride and care for all week and did other activities as well as the riding, seem to remember canoeing as well as archery and shooting.
 
suffolkangel
www.willowfarmholidays.co.uk is near Skegness and is still going - probably almost 20yrs now. Some of the original ponies are still there - retired now, which is sweet. They only take a few kids each week though as a family group and they get booked up really quick.
PGL is ok but expensive and if you want a riding holiday they do everything from archery to swimming and not enough of any one thing really.
 
ASCAP child I attended both camp Beaumont and pgl holidays and personally unless both their safety and lodgings have improved I wouldn't recommend sending a child to either of them. I went about 25 years ago though so hopefully they have improved a lot since then ...............
I did go to Wellington riding centre too and they were very good, but a very long way from you though and I would recommend them to both novice riders through to advanced as they have a wide selection of horses to ride
 
Achinghips said:
I remember I went on one of these as a child. They bloody starved me and wouldn't put the heating on in midwinter. No hot water either.
Breakfast was one tiny scoop of cornflakes, lunch was one piece of toast each and a tin of beans, then shared between 5 of us. Supper was a boiled egg - EVERDAY!!!!!!!!!!!

I spent the whole time cold and hungry and not clean. The living conditions spoiled the entire experience.
Hopefully standards have improved since then,but just in case, make sure his mum packs some extra warm clothes and food in his suitcase
Click to expand...

This sounds similar to my experiences of PGL in the Brecon Beacons ........... I was lodged in a ****ty leaky caravan with 2 other girls and it was awful and cold and crap in general :-(
 
Achinghips said:
I remember I went on one of these as a child. They bloody starved me and wouldn't put the heating on in midwinter. No hot water either.
Breakfast was one tiny scoop of cornflakes, lunch was one piece of toast each and a tin of beans, then shared between 5 of us. Supper was a boiled egg - EVERDAY!!!!!!!!!!!

I spent the whole time cold and hungry and not clean. The living conditions spoiled the entire experience.
Hopefully standards have improved since then,but just in case, make sure his mum packs some extra warm clothes and food in his suitcase
Click to expand...

I went on one like this ! kicked out the house after breakfast not allow back in till 6 , a cold box with mouldy sandwiches put out the back door for lunch - we all walked 3 miles and back every afternoon to use our spending money on food. ( this one was in kent ) but it was also 30 years ago. I went on 2 brilliant ones though with fantastic care and learnt loads. I think the best one was near Ely
 
Suffolkangel said:
I went here when i was younger... http://www.willowfarmholidays.co.uk/index.html and it was fantastic, i had such a great time. The ponies although probably different now were really well schooled and it was really fun packed. They even have local shows sometimes and you can take your own pony if you want... it was like being part of the family as we all satyed in the farm house.
Click to expand...

I went there for years as well! Before I managed to have my own. It's fabulous, I was going to go back last year and help but due to other commitments, sadly couldn't :(
 
I did PGL in the Breacon Beacons and I loved it! I went twice. We stayed in a lovely big old house and I had one pony for the whole week.

We had a gymkahna and a turn out competition at the end of the week.
 
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