Can you remember your first riding instructors name?

Anyone who makes you jump bareback with your hands on your head on a horse that has never managed to get over a jump in its life or smiles gleefully when your doing the wall of death on the newly aquired ex race horse, or screams if you dont shut up i'll make you walk home, when you actually have a broken ankle, has his name clearly etched on my brain for all eternity - or at least until I can run him over with a big lorry!
 
orionstar said:
Anyone who makes you jump bareback with your hands on your head on a horse that has never managed to get over a jump in its life or smiles gleefully when your doing the wall of death on the newly aquired ex race horse, or screams if you dont shut up i'll make you walk home, when you actually have a broken ankle, has his name clearly etched on my brain for all eternity - or at least until I can run him over with a big lorry!
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He sounds like a charmer, you haven't named him tho :D

Mine was an aussie lady called Penny Ritson at tarduf riding stables near falkirk. She had a massive chestnut tb'ish type called Jacobite. I rode a lovely wee pony called plum, he was so black that he actually looked plum. I loved when i got him, another two faves were misty a lively grey or flash who was a bit more laid back. Had my first canter and rosette on Flash. good times!
 
Yup, when I was a teeny 5yo I had Pauline, who had taught my sisters before me and is still on the go :D She was great! :D
 
I was 9, I went on a "walk out" on a pony called Roly. I think my first proper lesson was on a pony called Buzz .. Not sure though. I think my instructor was called Emily but I can't remember :o
 
yes!! I still have her teaching me now (26 years later!). Her name is Angela and she's brilliant. She taught my parents to ride too :)

my first ever lesson was on a pony called Dinky. think I only had 2 lessons on him, then we were given a 12hh welsh A by a friend who'd hunted with my parents, so I had lessons on her. :)

now OH is having lessons with Angela too!
 
Yes his name was Robin and the pony was called Hamlet, i was 8 and the pony was 5, Robin taught me everything in his own unique way including teaching me to canter on a hack by shouting "hold on" at me.... never had a lesson in a sand school as we didnt have one, by the time i was 11 i was backing and riding on his TB racehorses, it was the best horse education i could ever off had and i wish he was still here to "teach" my children, he was my best friend and like a second father to me, i spent so much time at the yard with him for the best part of 10 yrs that i might of well have lived there, he took me hunting, racing, everywhere, i used to love leading the TBs up and walking them after a race at 13, sadly he passed away very suddenly whilst i was at University, i miss him terribly and its been nearly 10 yrs now, My oldest son is named after him (middle name), and i have been lucky enough in the last yr to find a share pony on the farm next door to the yard i learnt to ride on and Robins ponies now in their late 20s and retired are there so have been able to intriduce my kids to them, (except for Hamlet who im still searching for) :). So i have been able to teach my sons to ride on the same tracks in the woods that i learnt to ride on with Robin all those years ago.
 
snowpony said:
Yes his name was Robin and the pony was called Hamlet, i was 8 and the pony was 5, Robin taught me everything in his own unique way including teaching me to canter on a hack by shouting "hold on" at me.... never had a lesson in a sand school as we didnt have one, by the time i was 11 i was backing and riding on his TB racehorses, it was the best horse education i could ever off had and i wish he was still here to "teach" my children, he was my best friend and like a second father to me, i spent so much time at the yard with him for the best part of 10 yrs that i might of well have lived there, he took me hunting, racing, everywhere, i used to love leading the TBs up and walking them after a race at 13, sadly he passed away very suddenly whilst i was at University, i miss him terribly and its been nearly 10 yrs now, My oldest son is named after him (middle name), and i have been lucky enough in the last yr to find a share pony on the farm next door to the yard i learnt to ride on and Robins ponies now in their late 20s and retired are there so have been able to intriduce my kids to them, (except for Hamlet who im still searching for) :). So i have been able to teach my sons to ride on the same tracks in the woods that i learnt to ride on with Robin all those years ago.
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That is so sad but such a nice story too. He sounds like a lovely man.
 
Mrs.Rigby, and she taught at a little RS in Lyme Regis, Dorset in the 80's.

I used to ride a little black pony called Spooky.
 
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Mrs Rumble, about (whispers) 42 years ago on Blaze a cheeky little bay Shetland who rolled to get me off. I got back on again tho' and the rest as they say is history.
 
Mine was Bob Garrett, 51 years ago. He now takes my money for my grandaughter to have her lessone. I think mine was 7 shillings and sixpence for an hour. Hers is £15 for half an hour. Not changed much but now has a big indoor school.
 
KrujaaLass said:
Mine was Bob Garrett, 51 years ago. He now takes my money for my grandaughter to have her lessone. I think mine was 7 shillings and sixpence for an hour. Hers is £15 for half an hour. Not changed much but now has a big indoor school.
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Lovely!.

I remember my hourly group lesson being £5 an hour, plus 50p if you want to hire a hat!
 
blimey i can't remember, i can remember going round and round the little outdoor school in the freezing cold and every week she would remind us not to forget our 'glubs' (gloves) that was at Ann Jeffersons yard in Willsbridge (think that was her name lol, must have fell on my head too often my memory is rubbish!!)
 
Oh god never forget Major Fairbrace he was so scary, he would put money between your knee and the saddle and god forbid it if you dropped the money. Pony was Corky he would have a wee and then bolt off with you, oh those were the days far too many years ago
 
Ibblebibble said:
blimey i can't remember, i can remember going round and round the little outdoor school in the freezing cold and every week she would remind us not to forget our 'glubs' (gloves) that was at Ann Jeffersons yard in Willsbridge (think that was her name lol, must have fell on my head too often my memory is rubbish!!)
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There's a vets practice there now I think.
 
ROTFLMAO!!! I skipped most of the pages 'cos my mind flew back to 1953/54....Seaton in Devon....."Fanny Foster". She had a student that was pretty good called Jean who is probably still alive today!!! Ponies Seargant - a bay and a sparky little dark brown, almost black,.....I can still remember that first lesson!!!! We, my friend Susan and I, soon managed to talk our parents into our first ponies and we had so much fun!! We joined the East Devon Pony Club and used to hack over the common to Sidbury to have rallies at the Blackmores Farm....Gillian and Hilary!!! We used to hack over, do the rally and hack home. I wonder if you can do that nowadays!!! Come to that are there any East Devon Pony Club people that remember those days? We had rallies all over the place!! There were Roger and Ruth Mason..???whose parents bred Highland ponies!! Not to mention "Briggy", "Gran" and "Scatty". Am I the only one that remembers those days? One of our members became famous as an eventer.....Clissy Strachan.....and her elder sister Sally?....
 
Ha! Alyth, I lived near-ish to Seaton (Farway) went to school in Colyton :)

East Devon PC were our arch enemies! Camp at Bicton was fun when both Clubs were there at the same time! I was in the Axe Vale, you had Clissy (who used to teach me) we had Mary and her lovely one time head girl Annie :) Hacking to rallies, hunts and shows was normal then wasn't it? :)
 
Pam Bannister in Essex, back in the 60's and 70's. Not so much an instructor though, she just used to tell me to 'git orn that li'l pony, take 'im up the lane, see 'ow 'e goes', which usually resulted in me being bucked off in the first 5 seconds or carted for miles. She was a dealer. Taught me a lot though, and I suppose it was 'instruction' of sorts.
 
Enfys said:
Ha! Alyth, I lived near-ish to Seaton (Farway) went to school in Colyton :)

East Devon PC were our arch enemies! Camp at Bicton was fun when both Clubs were there at the same time! I was in the Axe Vale, you had Clissy (who used to teach me) we had Mary and her lovely one time head girl Annie :) Hacking to rallies, hunts and shows was normal then wasn't it? :)
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Hi Enfys!! We used to hack over Sutton Thorn to Colyton for the opening meet of the Axe Vale each year!!! Axe Vale PC started up after we had joined East Devon, probably about 1959/60!! I am trying to remember the names of people I knew involved at that time!! Small world isn't it??!!
 
It was 1970, I was seven years old. The pony was a little bay pony with a white stripe down its face and it was called Shrimp. My instructor was called Barbera Bennet and that was at Oswaldtwistle Riding School near Accrington Lancashire which she owned. She was very large and always led the hacks on a big black mare called Mrs O'Grady. The school which was in one of her paddocks was entirely fenced by those big 3ft barrels.

To this day I can remeber all the school horses names, exactly which stables they lived in and every tiny detail about the place. Funny really as sometimes I cant even remember what I had for my tea last night.

Lessons were 50p and hour!!!!!!!!!!

Barbera Bennett was fierce, on one hack she made my sister sit facing the horses backside because she kept looking behind all the time!

Very happy days!
 
He was ex Household Cavalry & wasn't that good with kids. I remember going on an all day trek in the rain, it almost put me off. He made riding a real chore & it was only my real love of horses at the age of 8 that made me carry on.
 
Yup - Judith, I I used to work with her (before she left the motor trade to pursue a life working with horses). I started to learn when I was 26 (18 years ago..eek!) the horse was an ex-eventer, 23 called Adam who if you didn't apply the correct aids you were going no-where. Loved having lessons with her, she was at Wellow, she gave me the confidence to carry on when all I wanted to do was wimp out !! :)
 
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