Bhs stage 1 exam

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DanniLovesYellow

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I 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.
 
I have no knowledge of this centre but it's obviously very hard if the horses are not behaving in an exam for both the candidates and the assessors who may well not be familiar with the horses. However the assessors will have noted this and it will be included in their report on the exam centre (along with a report on the centre, it's staff etc) which will be sent back to the exams office. It may be that as you haven't had your results yet the report forms are still being processed. There should have also been feedback forms available for candidates to fill in after the exam which again will be checked and if several candidates raise the same point it should be addressed.

Don't imagine the worst until you get your results, the assessors will have been aware if the horses were not suitable for a stage 1 and will have assessed you accordingly. Once you get your results if you still would like to take it further then you should contact the exams office again.
 
I am very surprised with the BHS's reponse. Have they said WHY they can do nothing about it? If the horses were that bad, I expect the examiners will also have complained. Although I am also surprised if the horses were behaving that dangerously that the examiners didn't demand them being pulled out of the exam. In my PTT my examiner noticed in the line up one horses saddle didn't fit (before I had got to it) and had it pulled out of the exam.

The examiners do not just judge the standard of your riding, but how you cope with the horse you are riding. In my Stage 1 I had a horse that would not stand still.... at all. I passed. At Stage 3 I had a horse just not take off for a SJ and ploughed through it. again not my fault, and I dealt with it appropriately and again I passed.
 
Yes I agree, it is expensive enough now to do these exams, so at least you should be provided with suitable mounts, but saying that your results should reflect on the way YOU delt with these issues, as we all know horses are well known to be unpredictable, so you may well be surprised !:)
 
Firstly as others have said, the examiner will take into account the horses behavior & its suitability. When I did my 3, due to a lame horse I was given a 13.2 pony to ride, at 5'10. The manager said as it was ex ja & I was light enough it didn't matter. Bhs examiner made her feelings clear on the subject. Pony was a star, even tho the striding was a slight problem & I had stirrups so short I could barely use my legs.
I don't mean to sound disbelieving but it does sound unlikely for any one place to have so many rearers, broncers & buckers tho.
 
When I took my stage 1 we were split into our groups for the riding, stable management and theory sections. Of course, sods law, my group did the riding phase last. The horses were tired and fed up, after doing 2 hours of school work already they didn't much fancy doing another hour! None wanted to trot or pick up canter (pony club kicks all round, one girl got told off for using her whip too much - she tapped his shoulder twice - which meant she had to boot the poor boy over and over just to get him to move), and 3 of them napped to the gate continually. It was a nightmare!
 
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
 
Shilasdair said:
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
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Gosh, you are sooooo bad! :D
 
Shilasdair said:
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
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Where oh where is the like button!
 
And to OP - I sat my BHS Stage 1 and failed the riding.
Why?
Because I was utterly, truly and spectacularly c r a p. :D
Did I b*tch and whinge? No.
I manned the duck up and improved, to make sure I passed it the next time.
S :D
 
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 failed my stage 4...several times. And had some horses which I would never have chosen to ride if I had the choice (Of course I didn't in an exam...nor do I when I work if I want to earn a living, with the exception of any properly dangerous ones.)

I have passed it now. And am carrying on up the system.
 
Shilasdair said:
And to OP - I sat my BHS Stage 1 and failed the riding.
Why?
Because I was utterly, truly and spectacularly c r a p. :D
Did I b*tch and whinge? No.
I manned the duck up and improved, to make sure I passed it the next time.
S :D
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ROFL at your first post.

I managed to pass my stage 1 first time, examiners obviously forgot their glasses.

However I failed my Stage 2 first time for exactly the same reason, I was also c r a p.

And on that occasion the exam centre was short of horses, do I blame them for failing, no just the examiners for remembering their glasses that time.

OP if you are going to work with horses, which with hindsight is the only reason I can think of for doing these exams, you need to be able to handle it when things go wrong.
 
I did once spend a little time with young people who wanted to work with horses.
When asked what their career aim, they always wanted to 'school dressage horses or eventers.
But very often, when they saw the riding list (of safe, sane horses) they would wail 'I don't want to ride Smokey - he's lazy/bucks/is stiff'.
I always wondered what sort of world they imagined they would work in, where people with beautifully schooled dressage/event horses would pay these numpties to sit on them. :p :D
S :D
 
rockysmum said:
ROFL at your first post.

I managed to pass my stage 1 first time, examiners obviously forgot their glasses.

However I failed my Stage 2 first time for exactly the same reason, I was also c r a p.

And on that occasion the exam centre was short of horses, do I blame them for failing, no just the examiners for remembering their glasses that time.

OP if you are going to work with horses, which with hindsight is the only reason I can think of for doing these exams, you need to be able to handle it when things go wrong.
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Yea and amen to this!!! Poster has said what I actually meant to say!!!

Think there's actually two threads on here running on this topic??? (scratching head).
 
I think that its a great shame these days that people spend so much time riding in an enclosed space, and on horses that are so used to this situation, unlike years ago when you had the opertunity of riding anything and everything that came into the yard ,a dealers yard in my case, you learnt to ride and deal with all sorts without the use of an enclosed arena I might add, but of course with all this 'Health & Safety' issue that would not be possible these days for fear someone might hit the deck and try to claim off the owner, thanks to this now nanny state, so you can really understand why establishments have to be so careful, therefore horsemanship skills are not what they used to be unfortunatly:(
 
I totally agree with all of these points made, and actuaclly have thought this through myself. Unfortunatlley i am nost the best rider but given the circumstances the horses should still be fit for stage 1. The examination process is in stages as you know, so its should be your ability to cope with harder horses. Is it fair that in the exam we had horses that were bucking, bronking and rearing. was it really fair that all of the horses where used 3 times in a row?

Just to add to the case, i have a best freind that took the exam at the same time, she has been riding for 12-13years and she failed the riding. She has her own horse and works at a yard. and aparently she was unsafe? If the examiners were that good how could you not even pick up that she was infact a RIDER despite being slightly nervous.

The results do not affect me atall i understand completley that i should of been able to deal with the horses and it was infact my nerves that failed me. But would you like someone to investigate the college.

I also got told that infact the Stage2 exam the following week got cancelled after i had my exam. Due to the Horses situation.
 
DanniLovesYellow said:
I totally agree with all of these points made, and actuaclly have thought this through myself. Unfortunatlley i am nost the best rider but given the circumstances the horses should still be fit for stage 1. The examination process is in stages as you know, so its should be your ability to cope with harder horses. Is it fair that in the exam we had horses that were bucking, bronking and rearing. was it really fair that all of the horses where used 3 times in a row?

Just to add to the case, i have a best freind that took the exam at the same time, she has been riding for 12-13years and she failed the riding. She has her own horse and works at a yard. and aparently she was unsafe? If the examiners were that good how could you not even pick up that she was infact a RIDER despite being slightly nervous.

The results do not affect me atall i understand completley that i should of been able to deal with the horses and it was infact my nerves that failed me. But would you like someone to investigate the college.

I also got told that infact the Stage2 exam the following week got cancelled after i had my exam. Due to the Horses situation.
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While I agree that horses should be suitable, I disagree that you, an incompetent (failed) candidate should be the judge of their suitability; it is the Chief Examiner who reports on the day, not you.
And I appreciate that your friend may have been riding and managing horses for 12 years, but time alone doesn't make you either good or safe. If your friend continues to approach BHS exams with the attitude that she has nothing to learn, then she will not gain much from the process (nor will she pass).
If the Stage 2 was at this time of year, they are often cancelled due to insufficient number of candidates (the exam becomes economically non-viable for the charity to run). Often jumping exams (2 upwards) are held a little bit later in the year to give candidates time to practice/get fit after the winter.
Good luck with your future exams.
S :D
 
Not all riders that have been riding for a long time go into exam thinking there better or they can't learn anything, and i think your being quiet hasty. Im not disagreeing with you and i am totally understanding everyones comments and think them my self but feel i have a right to have an opinion unfortunatley my experience wasn't freindly. However i accept my result wether a pass or a fail.
 
I doubt a college had that many horses that are likley to buck, rear or bronk to fill an exam! They have to be so careful and all of the horses will have been through a trial before being allowed to become a college horse, health and saftey wouldnt allow them to have anything intresting.
 
All of the horse apart from 2 at least had a buck. They had to take one of them out of the exam it was that bad, but they still continued to use that particular one on the next group, despite being unsuitable and being taken out before hand?
 
As others have said, there are plenty of good reasons why somewhere may cancel an exam. I still find it unlikely one place has so many nutty horses tho? By your own admission you're not that experienced so isn't it likely the horses weren't actually rearing & broncing nutters?
 
dafthoss said:
I doubt a college had that many horses that are likley to buck, rear or bronk to fill an exam! They have to be so careful and all of the horses will have been through a trial before being allowed to become a college horse, health and saftey wouldnt allow them to have anything intresting.
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This. Seems somewhat implausible... Just how much experience does the OP have? Is she capable of differentiating a leg waved at a fly or a big canter transition from a bronc? Is a "jump" into trot or a little spook now regarded as a rear? I've heard similar claims on yards, so it wouldn't surprise me if such riders made it to BHS stage 1s making the same claims :cool:
 
:) I do understand how you feel, and yes perhaps the situation should have been handled differently, and riders made to feel more at ease in a exam situation for riders feel tense and nervous enough without the added upsets thrown in.

These exams are so expensive now remember when it was just £45.00 if you took one and two together, but of course you had to have your Riding & Road Safety certificate before you could sit the stage two, and that had to be the BHS certificate for they wouldn't except the Pony Club certificate, I am sure the Chief examiner on the day will put it all down in the report, but as I say, you may well be surprised !
 
I can understand and identify the different between a buck and a 'flick of a leg' and agree with u all totally that im not a great rider myself, wheter the bucks where big or small, i saw what i saw. I beleive the horses were not suitable for a stage 1 exam.
 
For a stage 1 the horses would usually be suitable, however, and I am not sticking up for the OP, having taken many BHS exams ( I am about to take my riding of the BHSI and have the coaching part) I have taken exams at equestrian centres and colleges.
At this time of year , many colleges don't have the facility to turn their horses out and many have been in all winter, therefore they are fresher than usual to ride.
I took my BHSIT at a college ( I will not name but its a big one!) and 4 of the riders that were being taught by candidates were bucked off! Then the lunge horse for one candidate was so fresh that the candidate had to lunge it into the floor before putting the rider on. When she asked for a different horse there was not time to swap so she did the best of a bad situation but they just worked mainly in walk.
My lunge horse was freshly clipped for the exam and the rider was nervous, horse was VERY fresh.
Now I don't have an axe to grind as I passed however, the horses , IMO were not suitable/worked enough/ had enough turn out prior to the exam and therefore were not suitable.
In the middle of the summer where they are out and fat I am sure they are ideal.
So IME, if you want easy riding school type horses the do the exam and a riding school not at a college where the horses are kept in, not having a lot of work, are clipped and more than likely ex comp horses.
 
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