Getting back to horse riding

[atagam]

Hi!
I am 22 and I would like to pick up an old hobby of mine - horse riding. I am not from the UK and I used to be around horses all the time from the age of 8 to 13. I knew how to care for a horse, I knew my way around a stable and I was pretty confident rider.
I remember the communities at home being quite toxic and if you didn’t have your own horse, you would either have to be paying lots of money for private lessons that didn’t teach you anything about being around horses other than riding them or the owners of the stable used children as free workers and verbal abuse was not unusual. That is what made me quit this hobby years ago.
Now I would like to get back to it, but I am not sure how to go around it. I would be interested in sharing a horse in the future (I did that in the past), but for now I don’t feel confident enough and would like to start volunteering somewhere with the opportunity to ride or join a club where I can both help out with cleaning etc. and riding. I am happy to pay for it, but I can’t really imagine paying £30 for half an hour of riding.
So I guess my question is: how to get back into it, how to find a nice community and learn?
I am based in Stirling, so if you know anyone in the area (I am willing to travel for the right horses and people), please let me know!
Thank you very much.
A.

 

[MidChristmasCrisis]

We have a couple of RDA groups locally where volunteering could give you horse care education and a few riding schools...but lessons are expensive there is no getting away from that and you are right, you need to be confident before searching for a loan or share, so some financial investment on your part will have to be undertaken.

 

[atagam]

I’m not trying to get anything completely for free, I just feel like £30 for 30 minutes on a horse is ridiculous!
That’s why I’m trying to find a way around it.

 

[Cutgrass]

Don't forget what you're paying for is mostly the instructor's time and expertise. A good instructor and a few lessons would probably really help you to get back into it and build your confidence while you're looking for a volunteer or share arrangement.

 

[Cutgrass]

Oh and the cost of their facilities!

 

[MidChristmasCrisis]

Ring Wellsfield or visit and discuss the possibility of loaning one of the riding school horses...they were doing this during lockdown to help with financial upkeep. Perhaps they are still open to such arrangements now. But again this will have a cost attached. Haddington is too far away but they loan horses and ponies and you d get experience and riding.Most things associated with the equine world carry a cost which you cannot work around.

 

[atagam]

Thank you for the tip, Wellsfield actually looks nice and the prices are reasonable as well!
Again, I am not expecting to do everything for free, I was around horses long enough to understand how expensive it is to care for them. I was just exploring the option of helping with them and lowering the price of the classes.
I remember paying a monthly fee, having shifts when I (and other members) help out with the cleaning and we would get some riding time on top of that. That is more what I would be looking for rather than paying for individual classes every week. If it doesn’t work here on that basis, I understand and will go with whatever is available.

 

[HazuraJane]

Your initial description of the pitfalls of being a 'work to ride' helper rang true for me; not all places, but enough that I recognised a common thread.
You are going about this in a well thought-out way.
I wish you the best of luck, and perhaps you'll be able to source some lessons in a group which may be financially more palatable.