Has anyone ever bought a Riding School or Ex Riding School Pony/Horse

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EquestrianFairy

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Just enquirying..

How old was it?
Did it have any vices or issues from being in the Riding School?

Anything worth mentioning?

What do you did with it/do with it once you bought it?

Thankies
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Yes 8yo cob. Diagnosed with advanced arthritis two years later, retired four years after that. Still a pampered pet seven years on from that.
 
I bought Red in Aug 2007.
He is now 19.
I didn't actually buy him from the riding school- another girl had had him for 2 years after he'd left.
He had been at the RS for 10 years (I think he had, not too sure tbh)
He doesn't have any issues from being at the RS- in fact, the owner of the RS used to school them to a reasonable level in Dressage- he has taught me how to do proper leg yielding, etc.
He is amazing- although he can be a little sod when i ride him, when my novicey OH gets on him he really looks after him and just plods!

ETA- he's just an all round good egg these days- i hunt and compete him, and the OH toddles about a bit. he's the chesnut in my sig by the way!
 
Just make sure it is actually a riding school and not just a dealer in disguise! It all depends on the riding school if you know nothing about the riding school then i would say no.
 
Not all ex riding schools work them into the ground. I used to go to one who would sell on his horses/ponys after a year (or if they were really good they'd go out on short loan) so they didn't get school sick. They were all schooled and competited up to appropriate levels too.
 
I brought a 8/9 yo section d cross from a riding school a few years ago. Best horse I ever owned.

The only issues he had were training really - he didn't understand about one person looking after him, and continuity - so that was a bit strange for him. He also had a dirty stop jumping (which was why he was sold from the riding school) - but I never had a problem with him doing this once he trusted me.

I SJ'd him, hacked him in every place imaginable and got points at elem. dressage with him inside 3 months of owning him.

He was an absolute little star

IMO horses / ponies from a RS have exactly the same chances of being screwed up and having issues as horses / ponies from private yards.

xx
 
yep i bought Lady from a riding school she had been there for 3 years but for the last 18 month of that she became difficult to mount, they had to bribe her with food while someone got on and that didnt always work. They also said she was tense when someone got on.
Turned out the tense part was actually a slight cold back, but with only me riding her mounting is no longer a problem as long as i use a mounting block.
Love her to bits and wouldnt change her.
Oh and she was 10 when i bought her, she will be 13 this year.
 
I bought a 12 year old who had been in a rs for 7 years. He was the worlds worst school pony, if you didn't ask him nicely he would not do it..... he was mainly ridden by small adults as he was truely horrid to kids. I schooled him and took him to elem dressage and won the RC dressage champs with him. In his later years he became the perfect schoolmaster and gave confidence to the the special few I let ride him. He was never sick or sorry and was pts in the autumn of his 23rd year from cancer.
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Here he is at the age of 23 qualifying for the veteran horse society regionals just before the cancer really took hold.
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Not all riding schools work there horses into the ground and have horses unable to be ridden alone! Pickle has been a riding school horse (working livery) for 3 years. He hacks alone/company, schools, jumps 3ft3 with a novice, never refuses a fence. This hasn't changed.

I would love to own some of the RS horses at my yard, particulary one fabulous ex stunt horse who is bombproof (like walks up to a tractor thats one with combine harvester so you can talk to the farmer)
 
The grey in my siggie (Tally) was bought from a riding school 12yrs ago when she was 12yrs old and I was 10yrs old. She was a dream. She went on to do all PC activities and taught me a lot. She is now happily retired as I've out grown her and she's a little stiff. It's a great place to get them from I think, providing the riding school is reputable.
 
Yep, Porridge was used for clients by her owner before the woman I bought her from. Vice wise, she knows all the tricks in the book re: evading, so you have to ride correctly, and she is a sod for slotting in behind another horse out hacking if you aren't paying attention - on the plus side it means she stops and goes with the others and is a great hangover and hunt ride
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My first pony was from a riding school. My mum bought her for us to share. She was 18 when we got her and had been worked pretty hard. She was difficult to hack out alone for the first few months but after that she was fantastic! We did loads together - hacking, hunting, showing, fun rides etc.
We had 10 wonderful years with her before she was PTS because of a brain tumour.
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We bought a saint of a ShirexClyde for my OH to learn on, and my sister to regain her confidence on the road on. She had been at the RS for two years, had picked up a few bad habits, but they were easily rectified. She was knocking on a bit. She was worth her weight in gold and we were very sad when she died at a grand old age (estimate of 40 plus from our vet).
 
My first ever horse was bought out of a riding school, we had known him for 18 months, felt confident to buy him out the school, thought we did everything right, we kept him at the school on working livery, but i only owned him for a week, took him out for a hack on his own with my dad on foot, he saw horses on a different bridleway, reared spun round and bolted for home... I went round his neck to avoid the trees but he went under one that their was only just enough room for him and I took a solid branch in the face which took me off backwards, smashed my face up pretty good but my hat saved my life, I couldn;t ride for quite awhile but we kept him on working livery then the school shut (it was at this time we found out from one of the staff that he was known to have issues and they always worked him on twice as many lessons as he was suppose to do in our working livery agreement) anyway we had to move him and he became impossible to do anything with... my dad took me down the yard one day to see him and he was gone my mum had sold him to a a dealer recommended by the yard owner who dealt with problem horses, I never found out what happened to him after he left us... this was back in 1988!
 
Yes, my Welshy that you were going to come and try
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He was nearly 8 I think when I bought him. No vices at all (although he can be a little sod and is thoroughly stubborn, but that's not the fault of the RS
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) although he did turn in to a nutter for a while when his workload dropped from 3 hours a day to about that a week!
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He didn't like the RS environment and was v unsettled there. He is much happier being on livery and having one "person", if that makes sense.

Did all sorts with him, SJ, XC, unaffil ODE, dressage to Novice, hunting (wooo!!), fun rides, hacking, everything!
 
Absolutely amazing, unfortunately the one after her only made it to 9
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The Shire (show standard) that came directly after her only made it to 7
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Both beautiful horses, but we have decided that they are now so interbred that they have far too much risk of severe health problems. Other people may not agree with this, but it is the decission we came to. That is why sister now has an IDx much as she was drawn to another true heavy.
 
20/22yo, had known for 8.5years and had been my riding school favourite since the moment i saw her. i knew her habits - crib biting. she had done this long before she entered the riding school apparently (i found the people who imported her from denmark). when i was finally able to get hold of her, she had been intermittently lame for a long time, and i gladly took her to retirement and gave her a home for life. i didn't expect her really come sound but she did and we were schooling hacking and jumping and having fun. just when i was thinking i could think about taking her to some shows (clear round jumping and unaffil dressage) she went chronically lame and remained broken for 2.5 years and was a very spoilt field ornament.

miraculously she became sound after that, she'd lost a load of weight, moved yards and i started to sit on her thinking i could just walk and maybe trot for 20/30 mins once or twice a week. we ended up completing 10 and 7 mile sponsored rides, 78% dressage (prelim) always placed and winning combined training against much younger horses when she was 27! i woudn't have had it any other way, if there was a way i could do it all over again, my god i would do it a thousand times over and then some
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[ QUOTE ]
The Shire (show standard)

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Yes.... show shires.... I really don't like them, far too tall, leggy and narrow. Wouldn't be able to do a days work. the Black horse in my sig is a
( or here http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h135/Bugsey66/Image029.jpg )
Is more what a true shire should look like. He isn't a great example but much shorter, wider and more muscled. Also have a better neck. Breeders need to stop going for height.
 
Yes - my WB is from a local yard where he was bought to be used as a dressage schoolmaster. He hated being in the school all the time didn't like being ridden by loads of different people and was stabled a lot (he cribs). They used him a couple of times at the end of last season as a hunt hireling which he loved. They no longer run a hireling business so effectively there was no job for him. After 5 months of being roughed off he came home with me - he hacks, will hunt and is happy to go in the school. He is turned out everyday so he can wallow in the mud and is a lot more chilled (noticeably cribs less). Likes his routine and likes the consistency of one owner. Loves a fuss, cuddles and attention in general - big baby!!
 
My yard is attached to a riding school and I would say over half the liveries on there were bought off the school. Most have been there years and brought there owners enormous pleasure - real sensible true all rounders
 
I did and I'm not sure I'd ever do it again. Depends on the riding school really....by that I mean how the horse's schooling is based.

I know that doesn't make sense....I'll try and explain.

We bought the pony from the riding school that my daughter adored. She was her first pony. In the RS the pony was very forward going, fun and alert. As soon as she was removed from that environment we realised she only really knew how to follow.....probably stemming from the fact that she was always at the back as she had a tendency to kick out if a child riding behind forgot to use their brakes.

It resulting in us having quite a nappy pony with some fundamental schooling issues....namely that she didn't have a clue when outside of that environment. Fine if you're an older rider, but not so easy when you're only 6 and the pony is a dainty 11.2 that your mum can't school as she'd squash it!

I am pretty sure that our pony rarely ventured out of the school as insurance cover for on the road hacking must be pretty non-existent for riding schools, especially for little ponies aimed at novice children. The lessons were group lessons too, usually 6 in a lesson. I think she'd been in that environment for 3 years or so when we got her too and was only 7 years old.

Having said all that, we still have the pony 4 years later as we've resolved some of the issues over time.

I used to ride at a different riding school, however, and I think it's possible I'd have considered buying a horse from them. They didn't keep them for too long so as not to sour them, usually buying in the early spring and selling them all on (if they could) come autumn. I think they were probably short of grazing for winter.

The horses at this other school were usually taught in private lessons, although sometimes with up to three in a school if friends wanted to book combined lessons. They also had off road hacking into some lovely countryside and woods, so the horses all got time out of the school.
 
yep bright 5 year old (although he ws more like 4 rising 5). he'd only been on school for 6 months so not too bad... used for beginners and hacking. was very unbalenced and unschooled but well behaved and big teddy bear
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xx
 
<font color="blue"> How old was it?
Did it have any vices or issues from being in the Riding School?

Anything worth mentioning?

What do you did with it/do with it once you bought it? </font>

5

No vices or issues

Bit green

We did EVERYTHING and he was an all round super little pony.

PTS at home after 18 years with me.
 
I bought Drum from the local riding school/dealers as a just turned 5yo, I have had him 6 and a half years now and he is fab- my perfect man. He wasn't in the school for very long though, may have helped if he was as I just spent my first 4 years with him messing around and having fun and ignored schooling
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I bought one pony from a riding school which closed down, and they gave me his best friend - bit like Tescos, buy one get one free. But there's no such thing as a free lunch...

Both had been in the riding school for years, and this had its advantages and disadvantages. Both really good at going round and round, not so good at independent work. Didn't matter when daughter was young, but an issue when she was just off lead rein.

They both had a strong herd instinct and would nap badly at things like pc rallies. Walked with daughter to our local show, pony went over jumps 1 &amp; 2 then hung a left and exited arena heading for home at a bone shaking trot, child wild-eyed and rigid with fear. I hurdled the arena rope and came close to an olympic record as I ran to divert the little b****d
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Never thought I could shift that fast (rest of showground was amazed too). Always boxed everywhere after that.

But if you are buying a horse, that is not so likely to have been ridden nose to tail for hours on end, so not such a likely scenario.
 
I think from the right school it can work - however I bought Riv from a riding school that had been taken over - the first time i took him in na school when i got him home he walked backwards for 45 minutes. He knows every trick in the evasion book and had never been hacked out at 7 years old.

However he turned into a fab hacking pony (though remained firmly a g!t in the school) until intermittent lameness was finally diagnoised as bone spavin and navicular - he's retired now at the grand old age of 11!

That said - he is the loveliest horse I have ever had the pleasure to own - but I probably wouldnt do it again as its been heartbreaking, frustrating and highly amusing (he walked backwards into and road cone and then got VERY upset) at times!!
 
I bought one who got kicked out of the riding school for bad behaviour does that count - she wasn't actually owned by them but was on working livery, apparently she chucked numerous kids off - i've now had her for a year and she's never tried bucking ever - must say something about not enjoying the riding school life i suspect !
 
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