Are basic horsemanship principles not taught anymore ?

I've learned as I've gone along but I knew I was inexperienced with my first, and got a sharer who was experienced to help me. We're still friends 10 years on. But the main point is I was self aware, so I knew I had lots to learn and I read books, googled, asked questions and generally have thrown myself into the horse owning world. I still have tons to learn (and hho has been great for this too) but I know it and am open to it. But how do you deal with those who refuse/are blinkered or don't want the help? Tbh I've never really come across them.
 
I agree with alot of what has been said but I grew up in an era when you could spend all day at the RS helping out and learning but it does seem harder to do this now with Health and safety insurance premiums etc and alot of the small local RS having closed down. The ones near me are now very professional set ups with paid staff doing to work and little time for eager teenagers. Having said that the little one I worked and rode at is still going but no kids want to do the graft there. As an adult I got back to riding with my OH who was new to it. We had to push to get anyone to show him what to do. Eventually we signed up to do bhs horse owners certs although i ended up doing nvq before getting our first horse. Sadly despite trying to do it all right - My OH eventually gave it all up as he was fed up with being made to feel like an idiot by other liveries who 'knew it all' because they had had horses longer they must be right even though they were full of s##t !
 
If I was taking on someone to have unsupervised responsibility for one of my horses I would want to check that they had the knowledge and experience to do it properly and to the standard that I expect and they wouldn't get near the horse on their own until I was happy they knew what they were doing.
lastchancer said:
I agree with JFTD. If someone claimed to have enough experience and knowledge to take unsupervised responsibility for one of my horses, then turned out to be so green as to put a rug on backwards - I'm afraid I would hit the roof. What if the horse had colic or was lame?
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As others have said we all learned by 'helping' at our riding schools. There is a current attitude that would call this 'using the teenagers' or 'trying to get something done for nothing' and suggesting that the RS owners (if they were permitted by Health & Safety) were actually 'using' the youngsters. Yes we were surely used and abused but we learned discipline, how to care for our horses, how to run a yard and also we above all had great fun. The attitude that nowadays prevails is to guard against being used, sometimes even when a proper apprenticeship is offered, and ultimately it is everyone's loss. Sad times but I am an oldie!!
 
blowsbubbles said:
While I believe everyone has their own responsibility for their horse ultimately here the instructor should have ensured a suitable cool down was carried out before letting the lesson finish. Not only does it promote correct procedures, but anyone unsure would have it reiterated, and no one would have to 'go against the grain' in cooling third horse down.
I don't believe anyone is intentionally cruel but I think we are all potentially guilty of some naiivty and some efficiency/lazy ness for certain tasks.
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The instructor had another lesson after our lesson, all adults on the lesson riding their own horses. It was not a riding school situation. Owners need to take the responsibility to warm up and cool down correctly. I really don't agree that the instructor in this situation should be concerned about the basics. If an owner books a lesson for 50 minutes then the warm up and cool off is pre and post the lesson in my view.

My good horse had lessons with Spencer Wilton and Vicki Thompson and they certainly did not want a stone cold horse coming into the lesson, the horse was presented as ready to work and at the end the horse left the school and the owner was responsible for the cool down. Whilst last weeks session was not in this league all the attendees were adult owner/riders and should be in possession of the basic skills to look after their horses. Just my own opinion and I am no expert but I just found it all rather bizarre to see expensive kit and bling on show yet no horsemanship skills.
 
oldie48 said:
If I was taking on someone to have unsupervised responsibility for one of my horses I would want to check that they had the knowledge and experience to do it properly and to the standard that I expect and they wouldn't get near the horse on their own until I was happy they knew what they were doing.
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I also agree with this - which is why I added the caveat to my post last night that I don't have loaners or sharers partly for this reason (and partly because they're my horses for my pleasure!). I'm presuming PB wasn't aware that the mother of her loaner was in charge of horse care that evening instead of the loaner themselves - although I know nothing of the situation so I'm just hypothesising really!
 
I've had two "experienced and good" riders here recently. On close questioning, both admitted that the horse is tacked up and ready when they arrive at the riding school and they have never actually caught and head collared a horse in the field to bring it in! Not surprisingly, they do not have a clue. I'd be quite impressed if they could put on a rug, even backwards.

With Health & Safety legislation going berserk, is it really surprising that not many learn from experience these days?
 
And yet, on the (few) occasions I've been to an RS in recent years, I'm always lumbered with tacking the animal up - even though nobody ever seems to know where the tack is, or even, on one occasion, where the horse was :p
 
Thank you Siennamum, for a wonderful new word. A 'gorm'. Just perfect.:D

I agree that if the inclination is not there, then you're on a hiding to nothing. My friend and fellow livery has just got a new horsey. A highland pony. He's quite unfit, so we are planning his regime with military precision. I suspect we are considered nutters by some of the others. Like we care.
 
JFTD said:
And yet, on the (few) occasions I've been to an RS in recent years, I'm always lumbered with tacking the animal up - even though nobody ever seems to know where the tack is, or even, on one occasion, where the horse was :p
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I suppose it hadn't occurred to you that you might be the only one there who can actually tack up.:)
 
No ponyclub growing up but worked for lessons with my neighbour as a small child, saved for riding lessons, and did anything to get my equine dose. Didn't have my first pony on loan till I was 16 (heaven) and had help then. Had my own horse at 20 and never been without since. Still curious and watch my physio, saddler, vet etc etc..
 
WelshD said:
funnily enough I was thinking the other day that grooming was becoming a bit of a lost art
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It's a running joke on our yard that I'm always the last one ready to ride. It's because I always groom first and Jazz wears a quarter sheet because he's fully clipped ...

ETA - I wasn't a Pony Clubber either, but my instructors when I was younger did full horse care and stable management as part of the "learning to ride" process. I was a whiz at polo bandages from the age of 8 :p
 
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