Bit of a disheartening dilema

jesterfaerie

jesterfaerie

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Recently I have been feeling rather low about the fact that I do not compete, I have never had the chance to compete as I never had a horse and then when I had the horse I had no transport then finaly I had both and I was unable to attend as I had no-one to take me.

Now I am back at square one, and facing going to uni (horseless) in october. I just find it quite dishearning that people younger than me (almost 19) are out there competing and doing very well and have been doing for a number of years (obviously down to talent but maybe oppertunities - such as horsey families, finances to buy a capable horse, etc). I just seem to be in a very deep hole.

I am unable to have a horse whist at uni (due to finances) and there is hardly any yards around me, so finding rides seems evern harder. Would regular lessons whilst at uni help? Is there anything else I could do whilst at uni to help?

Has anyone else had a similar problem, any tips for getting into the competition world? I think I may need a miricle
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!
Sorry for the rather glum, needy sounding post, bit down in the dumps about it all now
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When you get to Uni put some adverts in local tack shops offering your services for free in return for getting some experience, If you are lucky you may get some local competition experience too. If not have regular lessons to keep your riding up to scratch while you are horseless. Also offering to groom for people when they are at shows would be good or offering to help showgrounds/organisers is a good way to make contacts.

Good luck
 
I simpathise

I only managed to aford my own horse when I was 22. What Uni are you going to? Regular lessons would definatly help. If you are gonig to an Equine Uni (AS I did) then often you can share with a student and do a lot of rideing that will definatly help.

PM me if you want more info

But most of all keep ypur chin up
 
You have my sympathy - but it took me 'til I was 39 to reach the point where I could do what I had always wanted to do - and compete!
So don't give up
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and excellent advice from AimeeC - I second that!
 
Which uni are you going to? Most have a riding club with a team who compete against other unis, it's well worth looking in to, because you don't need your own horse you just have lessons on riding school/uni horses and compete on horses provided by the host university. It's a great way to get in to competition. I do compete my own horses, but have competed at a much higher level with uni riding than I've been able to with my own horses in dressage and SJ.
 
I second what virtual has said.. I'm the team coordinator for my uni and we have several teams in the BUSA league and we're planning a friendly team for next year. We also have weekly lessons, beach rides, gymkhanas and generally have a lot of fun! I'd definitely look into joining your uni's riding club, there should be an opportunity to join at fresher's fayre and I expect your chosen uni's RC has a website too.. Hope that's helpful!
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Oh, and edited to say, lets not forget the late night socials at the union!!
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Ship, I am going to Nottingham Trent, and due to it being an Equine course I will have the oppotunity to have lessons.

Shabb I have considered my uni's RC (I posted about it in the Career section) so I will look for their website but I have heard people with their own horse may get priority over a horseless student. If you could give me more info that would be good, I will also contact my uni about it
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Thank you all, your advice has been great. I just hope it helps, as I don't want to wait many years before I can do what I want to do, as I want to aim as high as possible (granted I won't be competing at huge levels - but would like to compete as high as possible) thanks
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Shabb I have considered my uni's RC (I posted about it in the Career section) so I will look for their website but I have heard people with their own horse may get priority over a horseless student. If you could give me more info that would be good, I will also contact my uni about it

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When it comes to the teams (which are always a bit of a headache!) the only reason people that have their own horses seem to get priority is that generally they have more riding and competition experience, therefore are often more capable riders. But this is not always the case.. and at our uni although most people on the teams had their own horse in the past only myself and three other riders (out of 8 plus 2 reserves) currently compete outside of uni. In fact a couple of our girls are completely riding school trained. I was genuinely surprised by the high standards of riding at both the A and B team competitions this year. However, many uni's also have C and friendly teams. Besides there is more to the uni RC's than just the BUSA league. Another thing worth mentioning is that uni students also tend to get a really cheap rate for their lessons!
 
I was on my Uni Team - you should try out for yours, you never know! They tend to look for someone who can ride any horse basically. It definately wasnt the case in our team selection that if you owned a horse you were above the rest or anything, because 2 others on my team didnt own one.

If you dont get on the teams, you can join the Uni riding club (anyone can). I think you get weekly lessons and organised event things.

I left my team pretty soon because I was fed up with the training we got. I had to pay £15 for training I thought was rubbish! I learnt nothing at all and since I have regular training on my own horses elsewhere for only a fiver more I stuck with that! So you may or may not get anything out of it! But it'll give you a chance to ride either way.

Ive always competed pretty much every single weekend since I was 10! But Ive been very lucky in that my parents had always bought me my horses. They still help towards vet & farrier fees now! I think its just luck TBH! Ive never had a horse who's "been there and done that" though, I can be bothered to fork out a fortune for any horse - I prefer to put in the work into a youngster. So you could possibly buy a bargain if you're prepared to put in the work.

Id advise trying to find someone who wants a sharer - might suit you really well.
 
When I was at uni many years ago people who rode at riding schools were often a better team prospect as they were not just able to ride 1 horse. Uni riding often needs the ability to assess a strange horse
 
I've been lucky enough to have owned horses before, but had to sell before I went to uni (just finished 2nd year) -
Teams are really good fun - the training at my uni isnt great, but I've heard good things about riding at Nottingham Trent - my friend was there this year - they won the BUSA finals this year, so must be a pretty good standard over there, which must bode well for the training there. I've been captain at my uni this year - only 1 of our A team has their own horse - obviously can't speak for NT but its down to how well you can get a tune out of a strange horse, not necessarily what level you've ridden your own horse to that counts.

I put an ad in h+h and on horsequest at the beginning of 2nd year, and got lots of responses - found myself a couple of nice things to ride/compete over term-time, and one owner actually let me take her mare to have at home over the xmas hols. Also found some yard-work this way.

Sure you'll find something when you get there - speak to other students etc, and if nothing comes to you definitely worth putting adverts up. Hope it works out for you
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When I was at uni many years ago people who rode at riding schools were often a better team prospect as they were not just able to ride 1 horse. Uni riding often needs the ability to assess a strange horse

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I'd agree with this. Although people with their own horses tend to have more competition experience, they sometimes just don't have the ability to get the best out of a riding school horse. Students can't ride their own horses in competitions, so they wouldn't get priority for this either.

Try out for your team, and even if you don't get in try to stay interested and join the uni riding club. The more you're seen, the more likely you are to be picked if someone drops out (after organising the teams at my uni for 3 years, we get lots of people dropping out for various reasons, especailly in the B tem and are on the look out for relacements). You could also offer to set up a friendly team if you don't have one already.
 
Thank you everyone for your input.
I have emailed someone from the college asking about their RC and how to get involved also in about surrounding clubs and groups which pay be worth looking into.
I don't think I will apply in the first year, as I would like to have some lessons first and gain more experience at riding different horses so that for peace of mind at least I don't feel out of my depth!
 
Hiya, I am at Nottingham Trent Uni and I am doing the National Diploma in Horse Management. The horses are very good, they have 1 advanced dressage horse and two medium dressage horses and lots of elementary dressage horses. They have a few grade A and B showjumpers and have quite a lot of really good eventers and ponyclub type horses. The teaching is even better though, the head is Liz Taylor who competes at advanced level dressage and is a BHSI. There is Tina Canton who competes at a high level in eventing, is a BHSII and has her own stallions and owns Tinderbox event horses. There is Sam York who is also a very good eventer and BHSII (I think). There is Anne Varley who has competed at and runs lots of top level showing shows including Festival of the Hunter. All the rest of the staff have all competed at a good level in their discplines. The college team is quite good so it may be a little hard to be picked onto it but they certainly have good enough horses for you to compete on. What course are you doing?? I did my BHSAI at the same time as my diploma so I rode every day and know all the horses/staff. There is quite a lot of courses that run all at the same time so there is a lot of riders up their and there is some really good ones. I would try and see if you could volunteer at a local riding school, that possibly competes their school horses, Trent Valley equestrian is just around the corner from NTU and they hold regular comps. and you can hire the horses. Depending on what course you are doing I would imagine if it is a horse course you will do quite a lot of riding and everybody seems to on all the courses. This will let you get used to riding all different types of horses. I can only see the horse you have in your picture so I don't know what you are used to riding but all the horses are over 14.2hh. Some of the new people are daunted by riding 17hh horses at first but when you get used to it you'll be fine. It didn't bother me as I am used to riding lots of different horses as a professional rider/producer. As for getting into the competition world, I think you need to get as much experience as possible riding as many horses as possible. You may be able to take NTU horse's in one of the comp. they hold there. I have my own horses but I do not keep them at uni. Let me know what course you are doing, and I will be able to give you loads more info if you want. Can't really offer too much info on BUSA teams as I wasn't allowed to compete as a professional rider and my horses have jumped at a too high level to be allowed to compete. The local Pony Clubs and riding clubs also use NTU as a venue for lots of things but they are never advertised on the website, you have to be there to know whats on really. They also do demo's/clinic's quite regularly which is good to watch. Let me know if you want any info on anything, love to help in any way and look forward to meeting you!!!

ps the equestrian centre's website is www.brackenhurst.org.uk
there isn't much on it at the mo though!!!
 
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Can't really offer too much info on BUSA teams as I wasn't allowed to compete as a professional rider and my horses have jumped at a too high level to be allowed to compete. !!

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I'm not sure where you got this information from, because you are allowed to compete, even if you ride professionally. You are not allowed to compete your own horses at BUSA competitions, whatever level you are, but horses of any level can be used in competitions (Prix St George and Grade A SJ horses are used at most BUSA finals).

BUSA is well worth looking in to if you're interested in competing on lots of different horses and meeting new people
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