Can you learn to ride at a riding school?

brighteyes

brighteyes

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Or will you never actually have the skills to get a decent tune out of a well and correctly schooled horse?

My latest pupil has just joined me from two years at a RS - age 12 - but no real idea at all about anything. As said in the thread below, this child was 'jumping' but I wonder what the pony made of it all.

I've gone right back to basics with him and it's all balance, position and safety seat until he is at one with my horse. Until then, he's not having a 'fun' time hooning about thinking he's riding! Still gives the lessons 10/10 for interest and himself a very harsh 8/10 for effort.

I have to say I thought I was learning to ride at a RS, but it was only after getting my own, and some regular tuition, that I began to understand what it was all about. And I cringe to think I believed I was anything above a hapless passenger!

Many years down the road I am still working hard and refining my skills - and this is with almost daily practise.

Can you learn if you are in a group or is it unlikely you'll ever amount to anything much on even a private lesson (or two) a week?
 
Well, I ride weekly at a riding school and have done for 7 years, and I can ride alright. Didnt jump for at LEAST a year and a half, mainly because i didnt want to and because the stables wouldnt let me until i could canter properly. I can walk, trot, canter and jump confidently now, but the jumps dont go above anything over the odd 3".
I'm hoping when i get my own to progress a bit more
I know riding school ponies can be alot easier than other horses, but they've really taught me alot.

I think it's a good start, well it was for me and i'm just waiting to progress.
I find them very useful because i dont have horsey parents, and my stables and horses are really nice, maybe i was just lucky x

ETA - i ride in a group now, started with private lessons but then moved on to a jumping rally.
 
I certainly learnt to fall off when i was learning at a RS! But that did teach me to get back on and carry on. I also learnt to ride a variety of horses/ponies there, not all of them are old plodders. Its enabled me to be able to sit on a slower/lazy horse and have the determination to get them moving and doing what i want them to do. I feel that if i learnt to ride on something with a bit more oomph then i wouldnt be able to do that, i would expect them to do it. Im glad i wasnt bought up riding push button ponies, i feel im a better rider for spending a few hours a week chasing and beating my old RS loan pony around the school just to get him in to trot! However, i did feel i learnt more from one-on-one lessons.
 
I suspect it depends on the riding school, but in general I would say no! I learned at a riding school from the age of 12-16 before loaning and then buying my own and although it gave me the basics it was only when I started riding 'proper' (ie non school) horses that I realised how dire my riding was! It was only when I started reading more and visiting events, watching much better riders, etc, etc that I realised I wasn't riding in a correct or effective way, which is when I decided to go it alone! I think most riding schools teach the simplest of aids for control so the pupil can progress as quickly as possible rather than taking time to get the position good and the aids properly established. I understand completely why this happens as obviously they have to make a living and most parents (and often pupils) want to do as much as possible as soon as they can. It is a shame though as with a little extra attention in the first couple of years you could avoid all sorts of problems - it's taken me ages to work through all the bad habits I had which had never been corrected.
 
You can learn to ride properly at a good RS but I think that even so private lessons would be preferable to group ones. The challange is finding that good RS in the first place. :)
 
More riding school bashing coming I fear :(

There are plenty of people who have never been near a riding school who are rubbish - rubbish riders are not reserved to riding schools! Look on the bright side, at least they are trying to get tuition unlike the average know it all :)
 
fadedv said:
More riding school bashing coming I fear :(

There are plenty of people who have never been near a riding school who are rubbish - rubbish riders are not reserved to riding schools! Look on the bright side, at least they are trying to get tuition unlike the average know it all :)
Click to expand...

^Agrees!

They aren't all rubbish, just the bad ones mean that everyone thinks that all RS are rubbish :(
 
I think it depends where you go and on the rider. My daughters went to a local RS and they learnt the basics, got a decent instructor and some good ponies so she came back to my ponies and then was able to understand what I wanted her to do. I think having our own did help though as a friend of my eldest daughters' came to ride with her one day and she went to the same riding school, she fell off my old plod twice and no one has ever fallen off her..well not in walk or standing still anyway.....she was terrified of all my ponies and honestly, they are not naughty, they are real kick along plods, I wouldn't let her on my daughters show pony as she is easy to come off.

I have had a few RS kids come round since to hang out with the girls and those who only ride at RS are a bit iffy in their riding but most are ok.
 
I think riding schools can only ever take a rider so far. They teach the basics. The horses know their job and are well mannered and safe - they have to be to be used in a riding school and put up with lots of different riders! If a rider wants to improve further, they need to have their own horse or get experience riding more sensitive, quirky horses - and learn how to 'get a tune' out of whatever they ride.
 
Depends on the RS...There are some very good RS that can produce some very good riders and horses.

I'm not sure where the preconception comes from that just because you own your own horse you can ride any better than someone at a RS?!!?

There are allot of riders out there who buy happy hackers or plod around a school on their own horse but it doesn't mean they are good at riding and there are people who ride at RS who either though time or money commitments are very good at riding but don't have their own horse.

The worst offenders are people who ride and regardless of whether it's at a RS or own their own horse "Big Up" their skills...There is always someone better than you but the only way you can improve is to learn from others.
 
Well back in the dark ages of the early-mid 70's I rode at a riding school close to my childhood home. From memory it was a typical riding school, with a mottley (sp??) selection of hairy ponies and a couple of smarter horses - ie they weren't as hairy!

The owner was a loud, ruddy faced woman called Anne, very friendly, who was keeper of "the book". We'd turn up for our lesson, run and find her and she'd check "the book" to see who was available for us to ride. We had our favourites and she'd always try to oblige.

We took lessons in the field or we'd go on a "road ride" which usually took us to a canter spot. It was such fun!

Those days gave me a fabulous grounding. I didn't move on to "proper" lessons until much later and I didn't get my first horse until I was in my late teens, but my riding school was where I learned all the basics and more.

:):)
 
There are certain benefits to be gained from working with one horse consistently, and others to be gained from riding a large variety of horses. There are benefits to riding schoolmasters, and benefits to riding green horses. How many of these benefits you can reap, depends entirely on the horses available for you to ride, and on the quality of instruction on offer. There are certainly riding schools out there that can offer a good education to the non-horse-owner. Progress beyond a certain level depends on how much horsepower the riding school is willing/able to invest in, and that's a bit more rare. However, if you are unable to acquire a good position, clear understanding of aids including basic lateral work, and decent jumping technique, you should probably look for a different riding school.
 
I had private lessons at a riding school for 3 1/2 years. Previous to moving to this riding school, I had had lessons for a year so was still very much a novice. In those 3 1/2 years I rode a mixture of horses- 3yr olds to 30 year olds, ex eventers, exmoors, 13hh to 18.1hh. We spent a year just jumping grids and doubles with and without reins/stirrups, progressed onto a small course and went xc. Learnt to ride in both a snaffle and double bridle, lateral movements up to half pass, rode a few dressage tests, hacked out and led beach rides. My instructor asked me to assess each horse I rode after warming it up, its faults and how they could be fixed through schooling. I fell off more times than I can remember, rode horses who were notorious buckers, nappers but also rode some beautifully schooled horses who were only used in lessons by riders who were balanced and had the ability to work them properly.

I left that riding school about 2 1/2 years ago as hit a brick wall and needed to ride for more than 1 hour a week. From there I went to share a privately owned Friesian x TB mare for nearly a year, then moved to the horses I'm with now about 18months ago. IMO the riding school gave me the basics/foundations, a relatively secure seat, the confidence to ride any horse or pony due to constantly swapping who I rode on a weekly basis... so I think you can learn to ride at a riding school but it does depend how good a riding school it is and how well your instructor understands you, mine was fantastic and knew when to push me out of my comfort zone. If I had stayed at the riding school I was at for the first year of riding, I reckon I'd still be there now 7 years on.
 
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I was at riding schools on a regular basis from age 5 to 15, riding a huge variety of horses and hacking out frequently. I learned a lot, even if I'm very rusty after an 11 year break.
There are some excellent riding schools out there (I went to a super one in Norfolk last year) and presumably some clunkers too.
 
There are some excellent riding schools around who teach much more than the basics. I didn't have a horse until I left school and I got a very good foundation from learning and helping at a riding school. The RS I went to had a very old school owner who had very high standards of stable management, and whose philosophy was that you should be able to enjoy riding and jumping anywhere (as in, in fields and open country as well as the school) and I learnt such a lot. However, when I got my own horse and a regular private instructor I learnt a lot more about 'feel' and improving the horse myself.
I think an RS is an excellent start, and I still go every fortnight for lessons at another school with an excellent reputation near me ( I now live in a different area to when I was growing up) to enjoy riding well schooled advanced horses who can teach me how to teach my own horse.
It depends on the school, the quality of the horses and instruction, and also on the rider and what their aspirations are.
 
Yes i believe you can.

I rode at a fantastic riding school for 6 years and rode a huge variety of great horses. I had both private and group lessons though found that once a week was not enough to progress very fast. I had some shares over the years and was able to practice what i had learnt in lessons and so progressed much faster.

I still now go to the riding school every month or so to ride something else or have a lunge lesson even though i have had my own fabulous horse for nearly 2 years.

I found that the riding school had given me a great grounding. Have carried on learning with private instructor on my own horse which i enjoy much more as we can work together but i would never discount my riding school lessons as useless xxx
 
Brighteyes, nice to see you're doing wonders for the 'elitist' impression horse riding gives many... Reading through it, I see not your points (well made, and valid for the one side of the argument) but instead it reads 'if you don't own a horse you're not a proper rider'.

I think it boils down to an individuals interpretation of the term 'rider'. I just quickly googled it-

5.
any object or device that straddles, is mounted upon, or is attached to something else.

So in my opinion anyone can become a rider at a riding school....
 
As has been said, yes, you can, but depends on the quality of the school and their horses. Having said that, I hit a point where I knew that if I wanted to progress in dressage, I needed my own horse and one that could do more than the school horses, although they were already schoolmasters to a certain level and I already had my own happy hacker horses, so no shortage of horse experience. I was very lucky to drop on to an advanced medium schoolmaster who I put on working livery at my instructor's school and never looked back. She benefited from a lovely talented horse, as did the other pupils and I did because I worked with the same horse in lessons and outside. So yes, but depends how far you want to go, I think and whether you want/need to develop that relationship with one horse that you don't necessarily get with school horses.
 
I live in France and the riding school my daughter rides at and that got me back into riding after a 25 years absence is excellent. One big difference from England is that pony clubs are the riding schools and the schools teach the kids to ride but also take them to competitions where they ride the schools horses and get to do things that you need your own horse for in the UK. You pass your 'galops' at a riding school which go from 1-7 and are the equiv. of BHS or pony club tests.
So yes you can learn to ride in a riding school.
 
I have to say that the last riding school I was at (where I also worked), I learned a hell of a lot. Perhaps it was due to the fact I rode lots of different horses, many of whom were quite challenging, and also due to the fact I had a FANTASTIC instructor. I remember vividly a 'lightbulb' moment when I was about 10 or 11, when I'd just started riding at this school. I had been riding since I was 6 and had never been able to sit to canter properly. I was on an ex-medium dressage horse named Q, who had lovely paces anyway, and it was the first time anybody had ever taught me to 'go with the movement', and I did and it was just like :O why did nobody tell me this before?

Without doubt, it was my riding school which set me up to become the competent (I hope!) rider I am today!
 
So much depends on the riding school, the instructors and the horses they have at their disposal.
I learnt to ride on the bi annual holiday at a family friend's farm, and when I say ride, I mean I could hold the reins correctly, vaguely steer and rise to the trot. When I was 12, i started having fortnightly riding lessons at my local riding school and helped every weekend and got a free ride out of it. We had all sorts of 'interesting' ponies and horses to ride. Some of them were lovely but they were the most popular, so I always ended up with the quirky ones that no one else wanted! But it really does teach you to ride! As I progressed, I groomed for my RI who competed upto BE OI and rode her horses and learned so much. The RIs at the yard were very keen and wanted you to progress - in fact one of the instructors became the 'expert' in Your Horse on the problems page which in essence was hilarious!
This riding school wasn't (and isn't) a big establishment but definitely wanted its clients to achieve. Since getting my BHSAI 20 years ago, I have taught at this riding school and at many others. There are brilliant riding schools and appalling ones. Please don't tar them all with the same brush
 
I think it depends on the RS. IMO far too many people think that they have learned all there is to know after a couple of years' weekly lessons. Then they buy a horse which is far too much for them to deal with, because they have ambitions beyond their capabilities and don't realise that there will be no-one else to keep 'on top' of the horse and ensure its good behaviour. I also believe that RSs are too frightened of being sued etc to teach people to ride in the way that I learned to ride many years ago, when it was common to ride with no stirrups/no reins/bareback on a variety of horses.
 
You can learn and lots (depending on the school) but what you can't necessarily learn is experience - which is what you learn when you start to stuff independantly.
Having said that I worked at a Riding Stable for almost 10 years - and owe most of my horse knowledge, and skills that I used to have to that - but that was a bit different from being the person who paid....as an employee I would be chucked on any sort of horse and told to take a ride out on it - when I got back, I was aked how it was - OK, bit green, was my reply once - Oh good replied RS owner - as I was told it was unbroken when I got it from the sales 2 days ago.......!!
 
Some people have no choice other than to learn through a RS, and of course it very much depends on the RS and the tutors employed.

I learnt to ride through a RS, and I consider I can ride as well as a good many others on this forum.
 
I learnt to ride at a riding school and now have my own horse. I think riding at the school taught me to get on any horse and get on with it. It also gave me confidence as I rode with a group of friends. The riding school had regular comps which gave me a good introduction to competing as I could ride a familiar horse around a XC course I had already been round.

However I don't think that riding schools teach how to get the best out of a horse or how to really 'ride'. I think they are a great and confidence giving introduction to riding, but to progress to BE/BS/BD standard it would probably be better to have private one to one instruction.

Pic of me and the horse I loaned from my riding school:
JasandSax-1.jpg


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DSC00577.jpg
 
Thats a really good question!!! I rode at a RS for about 5 years before getting my own horse and it did teach me alot but as said previously a RS can only take a rider so far. Since having my own horse iv learn so much more ... thanks to my horses quirkyness :p ... Think it depends on the RS, i work at one and tbh i see people who have been riding years and havent improved then ones who have only been riding a year and are very good.
 
millhouse said:
Some people have no choice other than to learn through a RS, and of course it very much depends on the RS and the tutors employed.

I learnt to ride through a RS, and I consider I can ride as well as a good many others on this forum.
Click to expand...

And some people would love to have the opportunity to learn to ride properly at a riding stable (if it were a good one....) Glad that you are such a good rider - an example to us all!
 
I had 7 years of regular lessons at a RS, the last 3 or so were on my own horse, it was an excellent establishment and I was fairly competent, able to compete in low level RC activities. Sadly the owner emigrated so the school closed, I nopw keep my horse at home, my riding is very poor now!!!
 
Definitely agree with the majority in that it depends on the riding school - there are really good ones and really bad ones - just like any other service provider in the UK.
I work at a really good one - its mixed riding school and livery yard and throws up an interesting situation. We have several "advanced" livery riders, who compete at a reasonable level and believe (rightly or wrongly) that they are better than the riding school riders. I think this is a common problem with private horse owners - you get an unrealistic view of your skills as a rider because you are riding the same horse most of the time.

We don't have a big problem with riding school riders being particularly poor, or believing they are better than they are. Most of them are delighted to get the opportunity to ride and put time, effort and hard work into it. We have many riding school riders who are more than capable of competing at a BE 100 or equivalent level, on a variety of horses.
The bigger problem we encounter are private horse owners coming for a "intensive" session on the lunge or with a schoolmaster. They detail their skills on the phone, more often than not are a bit imaginative with their true skills, and we have to change horse and put them on something quieter as they are an accident waiting to happen on a more sensitive, educated horse.

I don't see the issue with group lessons at all - whilst a private is great now and then to work on something specific, group lessons teach riders to work in groups (obviously) and allows them to learn visually from others, and closer reflects how you would work your own horse (e.g. quiet periods of rest in between work sessions during an hour ride).
I think those with poor views of group lessons in riding schools imagine nose to tail sessions following a lead file. After a rider has learnt the very basics (walk/trot), they should work in open order and learn how to ride a horse in its own space. I'd be horrified if I watched an intermediate/advanced lesson at my centre working as a ride around the school - just makes the horses nappy and creates riders who can't actually control a horse.
 
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