Horsey and University Life... some experiences please?

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I finished my final A level exam today. (Phew!) But now I am starting to look more and more about my university and how I can fit horses into my future.

I don't own my own horse, however I do share a pony here at home and have shared/loaned various ponies for about 4 years. I will have to give her up when I go to uni, which is only natural considering I will be 150 miles or so from home. I really don't want to have to totally give up horsing about regularly when I get to uni though!

I would class myself as an "independent novice" which means that I can walk, trot and canter independently, I can do *some* stirrupless work, I can jump small jumps (never tried higher as I don't have any horses that can jump much more than 2'6 and by then the jumps seem massive to me anyway ;) ). I do very little by the way of schooling due to a lack of facilities, experience/instruction but I am working very hard on this because I have finally twigged this is a disability.


I am involved in all the horsecare side as well, which I take delight in and even on days when I don't have Ellie I am still on the yard, helping out. I have to say I have never looked after a horse over 15.3hh! Although I mainly hack out here, due to the nature of my pony, I have lessons as regularly as I can to keep on top of my riding quality and I could almost certainly get references from the girl I share with now and my instructor.


OK, now for a small army of questions:
I know a riding club exists, but is it worthwhile being a member?
Are the lessons that riding club lays on worth going to?
Am I, with my limited experience and talent likely to be able to find a share?
If so, how much would it cost? (at the moment the deal I have is incredibly cheap!)
How would I go about finding a share when I get to uni?
Is it best to start horsing immediately so I am used to the routine, or wait till I have settled in and start after christmas or similar?
I am going to do a european law degree - will I even have time to fit in riding round that?

Obviously some of this relates to where you go to university... I will be going to Warwick (if I get the grades) if this changes anything?

Ok... wow that was longer than I was expecting! Victoria sponge cake (my celebration for finishing exams :P ) for anyone who can try soothe my worries!

P.S. who else is going off to Uni this year?
 
Go to the unis sports website and get a contact (or even on facebook they'll prob have a group) and ask people who are already at that particular uni. I competed against Warwick a few years ago and found them a really good laugh of a club, so you'll prob find you get a lot of helpful answers, and yes definitely join the uni riding club - such good fun!
 
OK, now for a small army of questions:
I know a riding club exists, but is it worthwhile being a member?
Def worth being a member, you will do riding, maybe chance of some comps, and also should have a great social side to it as well. So a great way to make new friends who like similar things to you.

Are the lessons that riding club lays on worth going to?
Depends on what place they used, my uni used a place great for hacking out not brill for lessons more due to people who lied about abilities as they try to place everyone in groups of abilities.

Am I, with my limited experience and talent likely to be able to find a share?
Its worth asking around at the yard my uni used they used to loan out horses for share.

If so, how much would it cost? (at the moment the deal I have is incredibly cheap!)
Depends on people anything from £10 a week to £30 is norm in my area

How would I go about finding a share when I get to uni?
Tack shops, riding schools, local papers

Is it best to start horsing immediately so I am used to the routine, or wait till I have settled in and start after christmas or similar?
I would say wait until after christmas as the first few months you want to settle in and enjoy yourself, join the society so you still can ride.

I am going to do a european law degree - will I even have time to fit in riding round that?
Depends on your timetable, its worth trying and seeing as sometimes its great to have that as a escape from studying.
 
Ok I'm going to offer my answers having just finished my first year of uni at Lincoln...
I know a riding club exists, but is it worthwhile being a member?
Definatly, we have a riding society and once a week the memebers use the university horses for £10 an hour in a group of about 3/4 with an incredibly good instructor (usually £40/ph!)

Are the lessons that riding club lays on worth going to?
Yes ... they start with flatwork and then progress to jumping. As said before, the instructor is very good and I have learnt a lot from the few I have been to.

Am I, with my limited experience and talent likely to be able to find a share?
You would have to ask around ... I went to university with no horse and no intention of having one. A month in and I was sharing my aunties horse with another girl, and I've now had him since November and have him by myself.

If so, how much would it cost? (at the moment the deal I have is incredibly cheap!)
Costs me £35/week, which is incredible as I get a stable, turnout, tack room, feed room, one indoor, two outdoors, a walker, full set of sjs, x country field and hacking!

How would I go about finding a share when I get to uni?
Ask around.

Is it best to start horsing immediately so I am used to the routine, or wait till I have settled in and start after christmas or similar?
I would settle in first, it's a bit of a daunting new experience and you don't want to feel that your left out in Freshers week when everybody goes out and you don't knowing you have to be up at 7 the next morning :D

I am going to do a european law degree - will I even have time to fit in riding round that?
Depends if you are willing to make time for it!! In order to be able to do my work etc, my horse is turned out and mucked out by 8.30am every day. He is then bought in at 5 (earlier if I'm going out), ridden, fed and put to bed by 8. I have to make time for him, otherwise I'd sit on my bum all day!

From your situation I would say wait until your there. See what's going on, and if you can find anyone else in the same situation. Join as many societies and clubs and see how it goes. I am a great believer in fate... trust me. I went from being rejected from every vet school, riding for other people but never properly owning/competing, being too scared to jump etc and being quite down in the dumps ... and in one year I am loving the course I am on, have now got a horse, have worked through several issues with him and he is now winning at prelim dressage, and we compete up to 2 foot 9 showjumping :)
 
congratulations on finishing your A Levels!
As far as joining the uni riding club goes, i suggest to definatly join up when you start uni!
im on the committe for the riding club at the uni i go to and i recomend it to anyone horsey.
if warwick have a good club they will have a local yard or several that they use for lessons/training/competitions/fun days etc.
i also do a law degree and find it really easy to fit training around my lectures.
joining is also a good way to make loads of new friends and you might find someone in a similar situation that wants to loan a horse there and you can look for one together :)
Around where i am part loaning is about £25 a week, i think thats a pretty reasonable price considering you ride more than once a week and if you had lessons with the uni club your looking at about £20 for a lesson.
the uni club will normally asses your riding ability and put you in a group with others of the same ability for lessons, so i think its best to start immediatly with your group rather than after christmas as your group may lose contact with you if your not joining in when they go to the yard for there lessons.
ive loved being in the riding club at uni and really improved my riding, going from having lessons to competing against other uni's :)
 
Join your uni's riding club and go from there! Ask around the stables and yard staff when you're having lessons and I'm sure you'll find something suitable. Just be honest about what you can and can't do as it caused problems for us this year with people not being entirely truthful with their abilities!
I had my own horse at uni from the second year onwards, I actually took two horses on loan as well and I've just passed my masters with a first so its 'do-able'!!
Good luck.
 
I took my two up to uni with me, and kept them (DIY) with someone who didn't really want liveries all the time but was happy to have mine up there in term time. So whilst its not quite the same situation as you it is definatly possible to fit horses into uni life...the only problem i had was my house mates moaning that the hallway always stank because of my boots :)
 
Congrats on completing your A Levels!!
Lucky you - I had 2 exams today and still have 2 next week:(
I'm off to Uni in September, and one of my friends has a place at Warwick :)
Good Luck xx
 
I did my undergraduate at Warwick, and I'd definitely recommend joining the club there, particularly if they are still going to the same RS (Radway) as its really nice (they do a lot of dressage there, I found most of the instructors really good and they have some excellent horses, most aren't 'RS nag' like at all).

If the sports are still run there like when I left (2008) then you pay about £30 to join Warwic Sport which gets you insurance for all club and then a further £2/3 to join individual clubs. Because all the clubs are run from one central body they are all well subsidised (most have 50% of tuition paid for), so when I rode there you got an hour group (3-5) lesson for £12! The main drawback is the stables is ~45mins drive so sometimes our lessons wouldn't run if there wasn't a driver that week.

Warwick also have teams that compete inter-university (A,B in the Uni league, C do friendlys) , although I think the format of the competition has changed since I was an undergrad. In the second week or so of term they'll hold tryouts for the teams, then the week after that lessons start (normally on Weds afternoon or Sunday eve). I never tried out for the teams - never felt I was anywhere near good enough - but I did enjoy my lessons there.

My main bugbear with the Warwick club was I always found it very cliquey; if you weren't in a team and just did lessons then you were somewhat ignored (possibly somewhat due to the nature of the lessons, so there was a fair rotation of people, whereas the teams obviously stayed pretty much the same throughout the year).

Doing much riding without joining the club may be tricky; there is a closer RS (the International Warwick School of Riding) which I think you can get to by the X17 bus (doesn't go onto campus proper, but stops at the Gibbet Hill cross roads). The riding club occassionally went there for hacks. Other than that the area seemed to be somewhat lacking in horses; I lived in Kenilworth after I moved off campus and even there I rarely came across any (a couple of times there was a small horse fair by the exit off the A46 by Kenilworth) and there are a few (presuamably privately owned) fields you can see from the bus on the way to Leam. I vaguely recall if you come up Gibbet Hill, cross the traffic lights (as if heading for the A46 exit) and carry on you eventually pass a farm/ tack shop - maybe look in there for some ads for sharers?

TBH for your first term at least I'd just stick to having some lessons with the club. Can you carry on loaning your current horse during the holidays? I did lessons during term time, then in my first year, a friend with a yard at home rescued a couple of horses, one of which I then loaned during holidays till the end of that degree. When it came to degree number 2 (full time, no more glorious long holiday, sigh), they gave me her for the princely sum of £1 and she came with me! :D

Good luck! PM if you want any further Warwick details (and if you're looking for another sport to do, can I recommend Kempo Ju Jitsu?)
 
I was in a slightly different situation but hope I can help a bit!!

I went to Coventry University and took my pony with me, she was a 12hh mare that I'd had since a kid and couldn't part with her...

I was luckily that a family friend let me keep her at her yard and used to do morning feeds and turnout... (probably cos she couldn't face seeing my hung over/drunk face roll up in the car in the morning...

I had to work whilst at uni to pay for her and between having her, working and keeping up with the social side of uni, i rather neglected my studies...

I think if there is a society (we didnt have one) it would be good to join, whats the worst that can happen? If you don't get along with them then you can leave and look elsewhere...

There are a few good riding schools around, I went to a small one near Baginton, which maybe didnt have Grade A horses but had a lovely atmosphere and you felt a part of it rather than turning up, getting on and leaving...

Just remember if you take part in freshers week how strenuous it is!!!

That said when I went back in my second year without the pony, I found life very difficult and missed my 'green time', I was soon back at home with horses again...

Once you get there everything will seem less daunting and you will be able to settle into a routine and work out what is best for you...

Whatever you decide, have a brilliant time, and well done for getting through the horrid A Level exams

x
 
Thanks for all your advice and experiences. It is great to know that I can ask my nervy and slightly daft questions with people willing to answer me well and helpfully!
 
I'm going to uni this year, nott trent to do equine sport science. I'm travelling in from home where we keep my 2 horses (house with land)

I was planning on going to warwick before. i researched them and they have a really good riding club i think! lots of people recommended it. perhaps you can join that, settle for the first term/ year and think about getting a horse on loan then.
I think its def do-able. If i went to warwick i would have taken one of my horses with me to livery. if your committed then go for it :)

p.s. if you want more experience with horses i really recommend being a part time groom over the summer or working pupil (sorry if you are already :P). I have for the last year and it has improved my confidence with very large horses no end!
Oh and well done for completing your a levels! :D
 
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