Anyone taken BHS exams at bicton college?

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melandjazz

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Just wondered weather anyone else had take there stage one at bicton college.

i recently took mine there, and the horses we were given in my opinion were unsuitable for stage one. They had horses that bucked/bronced and reared, and generally really differcult to manege. I understand that horses are unpredictible as work on a yard myself, but for the staff to continue to us them throughout the day knowing they were been really differcult to manege.

I know quite a few people who have taken there stages, although at other places( one including my instructor) and they are shocked that we were given horses like this.

Was just interested of anyone elses experience taking exams here, and weather it was just a one off or if they seem to be like this all the time.

Sorry if its a bit long winded.. :P
 
In fact: (by danilovesyellow) recently took a BHS Stage 1 exam at Bicton College and was very fustrated and angry with how the Horses where and how the staff dealt with it. Most of the horses where bucking, rearing and bronking and staff ignored this. I feel it definatley effected my confidence before the exam and my results. I haven't recevied my results yet, but know that i have atleast failed the riding due to the horses. The caller was patronising and very biass. I felt the horses in a Stage 1 exam should be atleast safe and easy to manage, this however was not the case.

Soon after the exam i worte an email to Biction College and The BHS, only to recieve email's back that they cannot do anything about it and refuse to investiagte furhter.

If and when i retake my exam i will not be going to do it with Bicton college, my experience here was not welcomming or something i am prepared to go through again.
 
My boy has been on loan to Bicton College as a loan/college horse: and I have to say that I've never heard of this happening before! I know my boy is a fairly laid back chappie, but even his patience can be limited at times, bless him.

I think what needs to be borne in mind is that ANY horse can exhibit this sort of behaviouir, and its usually when the rider is for example competing, or doing an exam - and horses being horses do pick up on the rider's stress levels, which I would suggest explains a great deal.

Personally I think these college horses do extremely well and cope with such a wide variety of rider abilities, and which of us on here hasn't had a situation where our horses always behave PERFECTLY at say a show????

Also........ sorry if this sticks in the craw a bit, but a lot of riding is about being able to deal with a wide variety of horses and their behaviour, and being able to cope with the unpredictable and I would respectfully suggest that any BHS examiner would take that into account???; its far better of course if horses behave well, but they're not machines and sometimes the pressure of the situation just gets to them and even in the best-run establishments there's nothing anyone can do about it.

The horses at any equestrian college will have been very well schooled and if there are behavioural problems these will be addressed.

My boy benefitted immensely from his time at Bicton and ended up being a thorougly well-schooled and responsive horse.
 
I'm not sure about doing bhs stages at bicton, haven't done any myself. However I am a student at bicton, and the organisation on the yard is a sham!! Its shocking! Couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery springs to mind!

There are some nice horses at bicton, but there are also some who clearly don't suit bicton. I doubt somewhat that there were rearing horses tho!?! Majority of the horses there are worked so hard I doubt they have the energy!! Certainly never had those issues in lessons at bicton. However I certainly wouldn't ever leave my horse at bicton!
 
PoniesRock said:
There are some nice horses at bicton, but there are also some who clearly don't suit bicton.

I doubt somewhat that there were rearing horses tho!?!

Certainly never had those issues in lessons at bicton. However I certainly wouldn't ever leave my horse at bicton!
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Mmmm, in any yard you'll get those horses who are settled with the yard set-up and those who're not IMO. Some horses couldn't deal with a riding school atmosphere and the busyiness of a big yard, and would need a smaller set-up with more peace and quiet.

May I also (respectfully) suggest that to a maybe more novice rider (no offence intended), the horse may do a little nap/prance around etc., but that this may appear to be something other than it is??? I'm not doubting anyone's ability here, but just suggesting that sometimes horses spook or whatever and suddenly its turned into a "buck" or a "rear".....???

To the last point: my horse was on loan to Bicton for two years and he thoroughly enjoyed his time there and was looked after very well while he was there.
 
I agree entirely with the OP - when you pay good money to sit a BHS exam, you should be guaranteed a pass.
If for some reason, you have paid and don't pass, I think someone should be held accountable/to blame and should have to justify to you why they didn't manage to pass you, and what they intend to do about it!
I don't know what the BHS examiners are thinking of, when they don't listen to a candidate's complaints, particularly a failing candidate.
S :D

PS I can tell that the OP and Danilovesyellow are very, very close friends, and perhaps even share grammar cells.
 
Just a thought, but how many of the riders, at stage 1 level managed to control & stay on these rearing & broncing rodeo horses? Guessing their were a lot of falls? Ambulances etc?
Or perhaps one or two kicked at a fly during the ridden part?
 
I have no experience with BHS exams whatsoever so apologies if a silly statement...but surely if this college is so bad for the exams, they wouldn't allow people to carry on taking their ridden exams there or there would be some sort of investigation into the horses' behaviour? I've seen two threads along the same line tonight (and Shils has responded accordingly to both :D bad Shils!) just wondering.
K x
 
As I said on the original thread (which was pulled for being in the wrong place)
All exam centres are subject to the same requirements for running exams. After every exam the chief examiner fills out an evaluation form about the centre on that particular day. If there are any anomalies then the centre will be informed and asked to rectify then before the next exam is run. They cannot and will not change the outcome of the exam (as is the same with most practical assesments - e.g. driving test).

As many have said, I doubt broncing and rearing horses were kept in the exam. The BHS has enough H&S training and awareness to avoid this!
 
I wonder sometimes if people expect the horses to be trained to do it all for them? Our local equestrian college ran half day introduction to show jumping courses using the school horses. That didn't last long and they had to change it to people bringing their own horses as they had numpties turning up for the course who couldn't ride full stop but presumably thought that didn't matter! :p
 
I was not at the exam but I am aware that Bicton cancelled their stage two exam a week or so ago at short notice (I teach a girl who was supposed to be taking her 2 there) and all the riders had to go to Duchy.

Come on HHO, we are not all expert spellers - hate the way people mock those less capable than themselves.
 
SouthWestWhippet said:
I was not at the exam but I am aware that Bicton cancelled their stage two exam a week or so ago at short notice (I teach a girl who was supposed to be taking her 2 there) and all the riders had to go to Duchy.

Come on HHO, we are not all expert spellers - hate the way people mock those less capable than themselves.
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In this case I wasn't commenting on the quality of the spelling. I was saying that the two "different" posters on the same subject did not spell words the same.

It was being suggested earlier that they were the same person with a different username.
 
Sorry rockysmum, wasnt aimed at you. I got the impression (probably incorrect) that people were hinting 'troll' or 'multiple user' just because of poor spelling.

And actually, I do know both of the posters personally (which is why I am not going to be drawn into discussing the thread content in any detail) and they are not the same person although the are very good friends.
 
I took my Stage one down at Bicton in 2010 and took my stage 2 up in Huntley. Huntley by far is a much better place. Staff so much friendlier and better horses, I know I did the stage 2 up there so would of had horses that may have issues but it just seem such a friendly atmosphere and all the staff were chatty. The horses I had for my stage one to put polietely were like donkey which I know they are suppose to me. I am also a student of Bicton College but haven't been to college for a while as I study and do my course away from the college at work.
 
SouthWestWhippet said:
I was not at the exam but I am aware that Bicton cancelled their stage two exam a week or so ago at short notice (I teach a girl who was supposed to be taking her 2 there) and all the riders had to go to Duchy.
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I was booked on to the one at Bicton and I heard it was cancelled a month before it being actually cancelled so chose to go up to Huntley. And personally Im glad I did go up there.
 
SouthWestWhippet said:
Come on HHO, we are not all expert spellers - hate the way people mock those less capable than themselves.
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No, we are not. HOWEVER, it is too easy to say 'I can't spell right, I have this....'..or 'It's not my fault I can't spell because of that'....

We have very poor literacy skills in this country, and too many excuses.

My husband is terribly dyslexic and his spelling is appalling, however, he uses a dictionary to check things out, and will ask me to check anything over for him. He takes the time to do so, and doesn't use this as an excuse for anything. I'm far from perfect but I do try to make sure I use correct spelling.

If something is worth writing about, don't you think it's worth taking the time to make sure it's written down correctly? Simple things like making sure 'I' is a capital letter when referring to yourself, that sort of thing.

Forgive if I hi-jacked the post, but I felt it was important to comment on this.
 
DragonSlayer said:
No, we are not. HOWEVER, it is too easy to say 'I can't spell right, I have this....'..or 'It's not my fault I can't spell because of that'....

We have very poor literacy skills in this country, and too many excuses.

My husband is terribly dyslexic and his spelling is appalling, however, he uses a dictionary to check things out, and will ask me to check anything over for him. He takes the time to do so, and doesn't use this as an excuse for anything. I'm far from perfect but I do try to make sure I use correct spelling.

If something is worth writing about, don't you think it's worth taking the time to make sure it's written down correctly? Simple things like making sure 'I' is a capital letter when referring to yourself, that sort of thing.

Forgive if I hi-jacked the post, but I felt it was important to comment on this.
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This sort of hijack deserves a big thumbs up - from me anyway :D

I don't think the suggestion was "can't spell therefore troll", more "two contentious threads on same "interesting" subject by similar styles of poster on first day of Easter holidays therefore possibly troll" anyway.
 
I only posted this as wanted to know of other peoples experiences, as felt mine was not so good.

I do understand that horses are unpredictable as stated in my first post, and work at a riding school myself.

However for BHS stage one, the horses are and should of been suitable for the criteria.

It shouldnt matter so much weather your really experienced or a novice as the exam is aimed at people starting their career.
 
Um, sorry to be brutal but some time-honoured words consistently come to mind throughout this thread - perhaps re-arrange as seems fitting, i.e. "workman; a; tools; bad; his/her; blames"!!!

But methinks OP is being unnecessarily premature in her doom-laden assessment of the outcome, as she has not heard formally yet whether she has passed or failed the exam in question???
 
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