Anyone recall Park Farm, Northwood /whats your ideal riding school?

[tuscanyD]

Back in the old days when I learned to ride at Park Farm - there was no whingeing about riding favourite ponies - there was no may/may not turn up next week etc etc

We paid for a 'term' of lessons in advance and we rode whatever horse we were given! - then during the spring/summer/xmas breaks there was nothing but comps games and activities etc. If you missed a lesson you got a credit note to the value of!

Every horse and rider was graded at the end of every term one rider in each class was awrded a most improved rosette - the discipline and organisation wqas brilliant.

The casualness of many riding schools these days is quite scary - its hard enough to make money without having to deal with half your lessons not turning up week after week.

Plus we used to have lessons outside in the fields - trotting/cantering up and down hills etc so we all learned to be effective out of the school too.

It was great - I wish I had the money to run a shool of my own along those lines. Plus I'd make stable management etc mndatory somehow too. Maybe up the price a bit and give them 30 mins before the riding class...

What do all of you think about moderen riding schools compared to where you learned to ride?

Is the modern consumer driven approach ruining the education in common sense that riding/horses used to be?

 

[Rambo]

Don't get me going on this one...

Where I grew up and learnt to ride, we used to have lessons anywhere from in a makeshift sand school in a quarry to the village green. We used to hack out in the woods from a young age...which involved riding down country lanes to get to them. We used to jump fallen logs and the like out in the woods...hell, we even used to drag fallen trees across the path to make jumps. We used to spend all day from dawn 'til dusk at the yard, mucking out, mucking about (!), and generally being with the horses. We would ride the ponies down to the fields bareback at the end of the day, and we all loved it, and we all survived !

It's all far too sanitised these days imo

 

[tigers_eye]

Oh, that was yards from where I keep my horses now and the place has passed into legend round this way! Are you still local? So many people remember it and go on and on about how fab it was. The place I'm on is just a livery yard these days (like so many places) but it has a fairly common sense approach - lots of bareback riding to and from fields, gymkhana games in the summer, etc

 

[tuscanyD]

No not local - I grew up in Watford but Park Farm was the only place I could get to by bus as my parents didn't drive!

A 40 minute trip for an hours ride! But i loved it.

It was great - used to have showjumping qualifiers there - I saw Caroline Bradley jump Tigre there plus other greats!

If you got there early you got to tack up etc

Is your yard part of the old school or is it seperate? What happened to all the land and the x country course etc?

 

[tigers_eye]

I think the land is separate, although I believe the woods that back on to the yard's property back on to Park Lane's old land on the other side. I can find out what happened for you!

 

[Rizz1a]

remember it well from when I grew up in the south. Park Farm used to run shows regularly. It was years before it's time over there, used to have the best facilities available as a venue. Remember the Stirrup Cup bar?

 

[tuscanyD]

Oh yes but I was too young to drink!

Did you ride there?

 

[Joolyboo]

I haven't posted for yonks but I used to ride at Park Farm in the 80s!!

My favorite pony was a grey called Cloudy. I still remember riding round the tracks that back onto Mount Vernon Hospital.

Then I worked at Battlers Wells farm when I left school.

Does anyone remember Battlers/know if its still a livery yard?

Those were the days!

 

[teapot]

My RS is just like that

Only thing we dont have is the credit note - but if you give atleast 24hrs notice, you'll be fitted into another lesson etc.

Have to say - my lessons don't come cheap though

 

[sarahmagic]

I used to keep my horse at Littlebourne Farm just down the road from where Park Farm was. It was all closed off by then but we used to sneak in through the woods and jump the XC fences and gallop round the fields! I think the land was bought by the leisure centre but they didn't seem to be doing anything with it - bit of a waste IMHO.

 

[SJFAN]

I didn't ride at Park Farm but thoroughly enjoyed some super indoor show jumping events (the Lancia sponsored series in particular and Everest sponsored pre-Wembley 3 day shows) and also a number of lecture demos. Saw Steve Hadley jump Milton there a few months after Caroline Bradley's death. It was a lovely venue with a cross-country course as well. I only wish it was still operating.

My local riding school was not too far away in Harrow Weald - not Suzanne's (too expensive for me) but nearby Lower Priory Farm. Usually bought some of their free-range eggs after my fortnightly ride - much appreciated by my mum. We groomed the ponies and cleaned tack - the same was true when I went pony trekking at Shilstone Rocks on Dartmoor. Enjoyed bareback riding, but not as far as I remember at Lower Priory where I do remember we had to do quite a lot of exercises and riding without stirrups. When one of my best friends' family moved to Surrey she was able to have her own pony, a smashing 14.2 part Exmoor mare. During holidays there we would build small courses using poles and oil drums, as well as making use of natural jumps while out hacking. Happy days!

 

[tuscanyD]

I remember little Cloudy! I didn't ride her much - maybe too big What about Honey, Robin, Lincoln, Sprite [BEST gymkhana horse!], Countess, Gladstone, Sgt pepper, Wireman, Puzzle, Moselle, Churchill....?

The posh horses too - Cider, Raffles, Oakwood, Sumwun, Rowane

I had a soft spot for a grumpy grey part livery called Hamish.

I love a good trip up nostalgia alley don't you

 

[Joolyboo]

Oh nostalgia! I used to look after Churchill at Battlers wells after Park Farm closed and the horses were sold! A hogged roan cob with sweet itch? He was a naughty little monkey who used to scrape the ground constantly when his Mum was grooming him but didn't dare do it with us.

I loved another grey pony called Pip and there was a really naughty little dark bay mare who wore a crupper and used to tank off with everyone on hacks, I forget her name. Moselle rings a bell. Was Robin a little chesnut? I've got photos of me riding a little chestnut pony at Park Farm.

There was another big chunky bay gelding called Johnny at Battlers on livery whilst I was there. There were a few ex Park Farm horses at Battlers wells when I worked there but I'm getting old so I've forgotten their names. Sadly Battlers changed ownership in 1987 so I lost my job.

I remember littlebourne farm, it wasn't a livery yard in those days, my riggy little pony kept escaping into their fields and I'd have to go and get him back so I don't think the Dents liked me too much!

I'm glad you posted this, thank you, its cheered me up thinking about it as I don't get near horses at all at the moment.

 

[Nuttymanxmare]

Wow my mum grew up in Northwood (used to own a big red brick house and farm in the village with a pond as far as I can remember) and they used to keep horses too.

I live not far away either and regulary shop at Horse House.

When I was growing up I uses to be able to hack the ponies bareback all the way to the fields in just a headcollar