ARE YOU HAPPY WITH YOUR RIDING CLUB??????????

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Michelle73

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I don't want you to spill the beans on which club you're a member of and I certainly won't say which club I'm a member of. But I feel that my club are not catering for happy hackers and non-riders, those of us who keep our horses on a very tight financial budget and don't have transport but we just want to have FUN and get to know more horsy people. Does your club cater for us happy hackers and non-riders - what sort of things do they offer?

I'M PROUD TO BE A HAPPY HACKER, I STILL SCHOOL MY HORSE AND MAKE HIM PERFORM TO THE BEST OF OUR ABILITY JUST IN CASE WE EVER GET TO COMPETE!!
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No mine doesnt, we just have dressage and SJ through the winter and huge summer shows in the summer. The only thing for non riders is helping out for the day
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Oh and the summer shows are at a venue where id say 9 out of 10 people would need transport to get to.
 
I'm not a member, but my sharer is and as far as I can tell they don't seem to do anything for the 'non competitive' type, there are plenty of clinics and a show and competitions...

...but none of this surprises me, the club will run events dependent on its membership, and riding clubs are usually geared to the more competetive type. If you want events throughout the year in your area, look at your local BHS committee, they will almost certainly have organised open days, talks, fun rides and possibly even BHS Trec events at a lower competitive level..

...or start an enthusiasts club yourself. some of the best clubs have started from very small seeds
 
I think my Riding Club is great. I am on the committee and I think everyone on the committee works so hard to pull off well ran events.
We run a nice mixture of Events. Although it is Dressage, Combined Training, Hunter Trials, One Day Event etc. Although, yes, it is competitive stuff.
I think if you are unhappy with anything your Club does you have to approach them with help/suggestions etc.
As a none rider you feel there is nothing for apart from helping out? What would you like to see arranged for none riders? Could you yourself organise something?
My job is organising the Dressage events. On the odd occassion off my own back I organise a Clinic.
If your Club is really bad and you get no feedback from suggestions etc. Could you and some friends work towards setting a club that does satisfy your needs?
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You could fill a niche in the market?
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You could give it a fantastic quirky name.
You could arrange group rides, talks, trips to big events, clinics, nights out, quiz nights, coffee mornings, yard visits, road safety talks, work to open more bridleways, your list could be endless and if you got a good group of members, you could have a blast!!
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my riding club caters for everyone - they do group lessons, fun rides, sponsored rides, more advanced individual dressage and SJ lessons with different recognised trainers each month. They also do little shows throughout the summer, dressage competitions etc.
 
I'm on the committee for our riding club, and we do masses of stuff for non-competitive riders, and there is even stuff for non-riders as well.
We do regular outings (recent ones include greyhound racing, skittles evenings, pilates classes, monthly supper meets, one happening soon include coach trip to Badminton). Also lessons most weekends SJ, XC and flatwork. We hold rides about 6 - 8 times a year eg Windsor Park, other local areas that have nice riding, and also run Le Trec competitions and training. And summer camps on which if youdon't want to jump etc you don't have too - it is great, like pony club but with wine!!

I reckon there is something for pretty much everyone, but definately let your committee know if there is stuff you want to do, as if we don't know people want it, we wouldn't run it!!!
 
I'm on the committee of my Riding Club (delightful job as honorable membership secretary) and I do feel that we cater for everyone.... we run shows (dressage or SJ) everymonth as that is how me make money for the club. However, we also have a club trainer who does groups lessons for members at half price, clinics with top trainers (list 1 judges etc) and we organise quiz evenings, BBQs (and this year a ho down complete with mechanical bull) and we run an Adult Summer Camp every year which is definatley geared towards having fun - 4hr hacks to the pub and back etc
 
Can i suggest that if you don't feel they support your aims, to ask them and help them oraganise events that you want to do i'm sure they will not turn you ideas away esp if your willing to help, but that's the key, ideas plus backup.
what about suggesting some of these
Eg oraganise small hacks for memebrs and limit number??? Suggest maybe going to races, or visit a local stud, or visit badders etc........
 
I resigned from the committee of our Riding club last November having spent 4 years arranging events and fixtures which were very poorly attended. Dressage, clinics and straight forward training sessions always pulled in the members but social events, pleasure rides usually ended being cancelled or just committee went.

I remember one of our club members who was a trained Sports Massage Therapist offering to do us a free demonstration. She put huge amounts of effort into chalking up her horse in different colours to show us the muscles, getting her family involved, tea, buns etc. Myself and a fellow committee member arrived at the start of the demo and we were the only ones present - with great relief two other committee members turned up, one with her reluctant family in tow. It was so embarrassing.
 
Thanks everyone for your input. Don't know what went wrong with the poll!!!! I have recently bombarded my club with what friends, fellow members and I think are good ideas but the club has poo pooed most of it. I've also introduced an event rider to the club to give clinics that I can hack to but that wasn't met with much enthusiasm!! Last year I thought it was a fantastic club because there was loads of stuff that I took part in, this year I'm finding the committee have turned into a clique - they have their own agenda and I feel like I'm the biggest interferring pain they've ever met. I asked them to put their name behind a fun event so that I could use their insurance, didn't require any other help but they said no because it wasn't "economically viable". They'd totally missed my point - it was never meant to be a big event, it was for happy hackers to drag their horses in from the field and try something new!!! If I run it myself its going to cost a minimum of £400. By the time you've paid insurance, venue, rosettes. However, its just made me more determined to do it. I'm hoping some local businesses will sponsor the event. More work!!!! But I don't mind if it boosts fellow hackers confidence, gets them having fun and trying something new.
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How do you go about setting up a small enthusiasts club? Where would I go to find out about insurance etc etc. I've had 7 people so far ask me to set up my own club because I share their vision but when I point out the work load involved they all back off!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks again for all your replies, I'm finding what you've got to say very interesting. Please keep them coming.
 
I'm also on the committee of my local riding club. We run 4 dressage shows & 1 SJ show in the winter, plus a ODE in the spring, an ET in the autumn. We also have a 4 day senior camp in the summer. However we find than most of the members don't realise what is involved in organising everything & everyone on the committe works full time / has their own horses plus some also have kids. We only have so much free time to give. Our AGM is only ever supported by the committe and a few helpful members. We've tried a quiz, a curry afterwards or a trip to the local pub in an effort to get a better attendance. We very rarely get offers to help run events, even though we ask in every news letter.
What i'm trying to say is if you want social things & organised rides, let your committe know & offer to help organise. I know we would be delighted to have someone offer to add things to the calender & be so grateful for an additional committe member. Our committee meet about once a month at someones house with food & wine, so the meeting are social too.
A RC is only as good as it's members.
 
I have volunteered to organise stuff. I have offered to help. In fact for the AGM for all your clubs I reccomend getting small prizes together for your members and have catergories like - Madest Member, Favourite Suggestion, Most Active non-competitive/competitive Member, Member who has recruited the most new members etc etc, you see where I'm coming from - then you could give these awards out at the AGM. I think it would encourage the members to get more involved. Also when I was a member of the South West Area Welsh Pony & Cob Society - they used to have a lecture at their AGM - obviously they had a lot more members turning up! They also used to run a raffle and I always got a prize!!! I feel so deflated by the club now that I have now refused to run an event that I had planned and I will no longer try to recruit members for them - I distributed 500 membership forms for the club last year around local yards and tack shops. Thats the kind of dedicated help they're pushing aside. I've also joined another club in the area - sent my fees off yesterday and they do a camp and they've offered to attempt to find me transport with someone else so that I can go to the camp. Now thats what joining a riding club is all about, surely? Helping each other, teaching each other and trying new things together but more than anything having fun?????!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Michelle
10/10 for enthusiasm, you have obviously tried to influence from the inside which is the best first step.
You could try volunteeering as a local rep for a more established organisation like BHS or Horsewatch and piggy back off their insurance for events (but you would have comply with their ethos, follow their health and safety guidelines and funds raised would have to go to them)

To start your own club you would need a committee, rules and statement of intent and opening meeting minutes to open an account (never try to run this kind of thing through your own account), 3rd party insurance and possibly event insurance built in (about £350 pa), a treasurer and a secretary as well as a chair. All Events will need insurance unless already covered on your annual policy...and that is before you have even started....

it isn't easy but can be done, in the first year you need to concentrate on building up a cushion of funds..but after that the world is your oyster
 
My riding club is fantastic - has really high class training with top riders and high class competitions for those who want to compete more seriously, and more fun stuff for those who just want to have fun (eg dinners, trips, sponsored rides, week long horse holidays etc) and is a really friendly place to be
 
I wouldnt even consider joining my local riding club. Hearing the moaning that goes on amongst my friends who are members has been enough to put me off. The moans do seem to be about the lack of organisation....things like not getting 'times' for clinics or events until the preceeding evening, lack of thought when arranging which horses go together in which groups for schooling clinics etc.

I do agree with the clique thing when it comes to the committee - it certainly rings true from what I have heard.

Shame.

I was a member of a dressage RC many years ago and the organisation and effort that went into it was wonderful.
 
i have to say i find that very disappointing that your rc doesn't channel your energy
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very short sighted IMO. I have to say that my club would love to have a member willing to help and oraganise different events.........
Have a look at bhs website about starting you own club or phone them, and also look at other folk website for ideas
 
See I think my RC could do with a sort out.
1) Lesson seem to be mid week at times like 11am - great if you are retired or a mum at home but not for full timers like me.
2) Groups are so unreliable I can be with novice and nervous on my horses and that drives me mad.
3) The quality of instructors can be VERY poor but its because they are cheap.
4) We have over 200 members and not enough events/lessons
5) They do not seem to push anyone - a lot are far more capable than they give themselves credit for.

I have joined this year just to do teams and do not attend lessons anymore as they do nothing that interests me. I persoanlly would love to see lessons such as - thinking of trying novice/elem dressage, how to see a stride, how to get confidence riding, how to lunge, How to school while hacking etc etc
 
Thanks. Really appreciate your comments. Hoping to get involved and be appreciated by another club in the area. I'm not sure that I want to set up a club of my own - just wanted to play an active part in a RC that way I don't have to be committed 100% of the time (just 99% of the time LOL
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). Also it would have been nice to have felt appreciated for my efforts/ideas/suggestions. Never mind onwards and upwards!!!!
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Our RC is pretty good. (I'm on the committee too)
We have wed PM training nights every week alternating flat and SJ/WH run in a four hour period to help with working people etc.
We have a fun show (with SJ) and a showing show (with Dressage) each spring and autumn.
We do social events like a xmas quiz and two car treasure hunts a year. We are looking to hold a race night too. We do raffles at all events and members bring a prize of up to £5 value to be raffled. We try and hold non-riding training like having nutrition talks, dressage from Prelim to Advanced etc, XC talks etc. (tend to be poorly attended tho)
We combine our AGM with an event to boost numbers like last year we had a joules rep selling stuff and a talk by the air ambulance (which some members have had to use when falling off at XC events!)
We could all do the test training if we wanted to as well.
We have a non-riding member/social member catagory as well for membership.

We compete at all the qualifiers and put forward as many teams as we need to let everyone have a try who wants to. You can go on a team even if you are not very good (I'm the testament to this!) which is fab 'cause you have to attend a certain number of lessons which *should* help you improve.
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Just wanted to bring this up again, to see if any other views have arisen since I last logged on.

I'm pleased to announce that I plan to go to Adult Pony Club camp in October. I'm sooo excited, this is run through Vale of the White Horse RC. I'll be paying my deposit on Friday. YIPPEEEEEE!!! My poor boy won't know whats hit him!!!!

Please keep your opinions coming as I'm finding it interesting reading.
THANK YOU.
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I was a member of my local riding club until I bought my youngster. I asked them if they could include some inhand training days as I know that there are a few of us with youngsters. I left the club when they refused to try this out. They also do not do an awful lot for hackers and non riders which is very disappointing. I am planning on emailing a few further afield to try and find one that will cater for our needs.
 
It seems after my scathing letter of complaint to my RC (Not VWH RC I might add - they're fab so far) my other RCin the area seem to have taken on board what I've said as they've changed the way they're wording things, perhaps they're remembering its not the committees club but its the members club??!! Will have to watch this space and see if it continues to improve. KEEP YOUR COMMENTS COMING, I may end up discussing this issue with BRC BHS end. Its interesting that more than half of RC members are unhappy with their clubs.
 
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