Loaning to a College

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Neddies

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Has anyone ever loaned their horse to an equestrian college? I just wondered whether they would recommend it and whether college's have any specific criteria regarding the horses that they take.
 
If it's on full loan generally anything from 15hh+, easy quiet all-round ride, capable of jumping 2ft6-2ft9 courses and a bit of xc. Must be good and happy stabled as turnout is usually limited to weekends and holidays.

If on working paid livery however.....most kinds tbf lol!
 
agree with the above they do tend to want 15h plus that can jump generally. Turnout tends to be very limited as is hacking, so wouldnt suit a stressy horse! Also if you're horse is good for jumping it may get over jumped and become stale - i saw this happen so many times! I personally wouldnt do it, but it depends on the horse, the college and the situation i guess! were you thinking of any college in particular?
 
My old pony mare was used by the first college i was at and i wouldn't recommend that establishment at all. The second equestrian college i went to i didnt have my horse there but i knew friends that loaned to them and although they were better there than my first college i still wouldn't lend mine to them. Not all are the same and i'm sure there are good ones out there but i had a vvv bad experience so wouldn't personally do it knowing what i know!
 
Do not do it....

I Sent mine to a local college and brought him back early, he lost loads of weight, was badly schooled - i.e. allowed to go around with his head in the air and taught to run flat out a fences! Considering he's done a fair amount of eventing etc in his time, he was much better than that!

Its also a real pain as mine had to come back every half term, and all other holidays - what I thought would work out as a way of saving money and keeping him fit ended up costing me more and being a real pain as I needed to do a lot of rehabilitation schooling when he came home.

Morris hated it and was always glad to be at home for the hols! If you have a real plod it may be ok but mine is a TB and was really not suited. Make sure you visit the yard several times, talk to staff, students etc. If he does go make sure you make regular visits unannounced and watch the students ride, also make up a really comprehensive pack on your horse before he goes so that they all know everything there is to know about your horse!
If you want any more info please pm me
 
I wouldn't recommend it, wondering if people are thinking of the same college I am?
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Turnout is limited to the first couple of weeks end of September/beginning October, and then maybe again towards April/May. As soon as it rains the horses have to come in. The horses are ridden a couple of times every day in the week normally in the school, just going round in circles, maybe a bit of jumping. The owners can ride at weekends however after a long week I would like to give horses time off, but they do not get turned out.
Would not suit a horse that stresses out easily and tbh I wouldn't even put a nice calm horse in an environment like that.

And yes they do have specific criteria as stated above
 
I will disagree with the negative comments as I loaned my horse to a college. However, I was at this college at the time so could see how he was being cared for. He was 6 yo at the time and a very people-friendly horse who quite frankly loved the attention!

At that particular college they did get turn out - think it was all night during the summer months and a few hours a day over winter. They could also be hacked out at weekends and I used to hack him out myself and take him for a good gallop! However, he was also hacked out by others so it wasn't just special treatment as such.

I have to say his flatwork improved no end and he seemed very relaxed and happy and got into a routine no problem. I will say however I don't think it helped his jumping an awful lot as although generally a confident jumper he could be put off by an unconfident rider . It was nothing major though but part of me thinks maybe he should have been only used for jumping with the more competent riders. He loved the flat lessons though as he liked to show just how clever and quick he was to learn!

On the whole I think he enjoyed it - he was a bit of a character there and caused his far share of trouble being lead to and from fields and letting himself out of stables etc! I don't recall having to bring him home over holidays either, we did over xmas I think but for the rest of the time he stayed there. He was only there for one year and as said i was there as well.

I have heard not so good reports re other colleges which shocked me as they make themselves out to be great and a friends horse I know lost loads of weight. Still, that could be to do with some horses just not being suited to the environment and over-stressing.

Mine was at Brackenhurst in Notts in case you were wondering. Maybe because it's a smaller college compared to some helps in the management of the horses?
 
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agree with the above they do tend to want 15h plus that can jump generally. Turnout tends to be very limited as is hacking, so wouldnt suit a stressy horse! Also if you're horse is good for jumping it may get over jumped and become stale - i saw this happen so many times! I personally wouldnt do it, but it depends on the horse, the college and the situation i guess! were you thinking of any college in particular?

[/ QUOTE ] oddly enough my mare was 14.1hh if that and a wlsh x arab,think they only excepted her as she jumped pretty much anything and would jump over 3ft courses with total ease. They totally over used her and she was always in the top jump class being jumped fast and high. She had no turn out most days,you had 2hrs on a morning at weekends and then she would get bullied by much bigger horses. The hacking was rubbish and the bills were massive even when they were over using her,i allowed them to use her up to 3 times a week but it ended up being more,her tack went missing and was never cleaned,they used another horses bit on her on 3 occasions; the list is endless!! I decided to take her back home for the rest of my college year and she was never the same again,her jumping went stale after college and she started refusing at even the smaller fences and got grumpy,i new she hated being at college so i got her out as soon as i could but i feel it was too late really. On two occasions i caught a couple of the 'dressage' riders wearing spurs on her and i went mental!! She is the most responsive pony you could come accross and had never needed them before,a lot of it was just for fashion,god i think back and hate those days,the people are so bitchy at those places!
 
I’m enquiring on behalf of a friend, she may have to sell her horse but she really doesn’t want to. She thought about loaning him to a college. He’s 16.1hh and 10 years old, he has a lovely temperament is great in the stable and to handle but is a little bit green schooling and jumping as he’s mainly been used for hacking. We’re in Sussex and the college nearest to us is Brinsbury, I’m not sure what it’s like there. I think maybe she might be better off loaning him to a private home if she really doesn’t want to sell him.
 
i would def try the private home option first,he will be ridden by one person mainly then. I found a fab loan home for my mare through horsemart,have also had a good response from right equine and new rider too.
 
Hmm It's a tough one. Loaning to a private home could be worse than loaning to a college in some cases - even with the strictest vettings of homes etc, you can still end up with someone totally clueless!

However, having been to Brinsbury (I did my BHS stages there in my gap year) I would not let a horse of mine go there. Don't get me wrong, there is not much wrong with how the yard is run (or there wasn't in 2002/03 anyway) but the range of students is staggering. There were people that had never ridden, people that thought they must ride in spurs/with whips on any horse, instructors that bawled and shouted all day, even on the yard etc. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to how horses were allocated - one day a 14.2hh pony could be ridden by a skinny teen, the next it could have a 20stone man on. None of the horses got special care or attention, and most ended up grumpy from being prodded, lead about, ridden excessively etc all day, five days a week. They had no turn out during the week, and very rarely even at weekends. Of course, things have probably changed in the years since I was there. The only 'for' reason I would give for having my horse at college, is (as long as it is reputable) at least you know they will be fed, cared for, shod, wormed and have the vet regularly. You can not always be sure with private loan homes that these things are carried out.
 
Hmm, well in that case maybe a loan home is more appropriate as I would imagine there are plenty of people looking for horses to hack and if that's his forte I can't see finding him a nice loan home.

Just do it properly, get proper agreements in place. Ideally ensure the horse is freezmerked and chipped as, although the successful, happy loan stories far outweigh the bad you can never be too careful.
 
At my college we take on loan horses in fact most the horses at my college are on loan!
They all vary in there behaviour one cant be groomed in a stable as he dont like it, some will hang there head over the door and take a bit out of you, but all us 200 equine students dont take no notise we just get on with what we got to do,

Here is a copy of what my college is after:
Good, all-round horses with good temperament.
15hh+, 5 years old and over and suitable for student training.
Sensible to ride and straight forward to handle.
Must be able to jump and preferably be working towards Stage 3 level.

But the more excitable horses are used in the group A lessons, there are 3 groups A, B and C, C being the group with riders who struggle a bit and A being riders who can manage just about everything!
 
Same about my college: One day a 14hh pony will have a small girl on, and the next a huge person that really should be riding 17hh heavyweights. Even if you do state that you are a nervous rider, they may put you on the fizziest thing going! I would advise maybe looking into a nice private loan home if possible.

My first loan mare came from Kingston Maurwood, she was 8 years old and had NEVER been out on a hack!
 
Look at where to train centres not just colleges, I know that the centre where I ride do occasionally take loan horses, especially ones suitable for stage three. Although the care isn't quite what you would get in a good private home the horses are looked after and happy. They get turn out daily in summer and as much as possible in winter. A few they have had on loan have gone back much improved too!

I also know a BHS livery yard who are considering getting some horses and becoming a where to train centre. I wouldn't hesitate to trust any horse to them, the care their liveries get is second to none and I'm sure if they do take on horses and start doing training they will get the same excellent standard of care.
 
They don't do it for free, I looked into it many years ago and with the extra charges for worming/shoeing etc,repairing broken tack/rugs it wasn't viable, plus if they can't use them for a few days a livery charge kicks in which was also charged in the holidays.
It depends why you want to loan the horse in the first place as if its for financial reasons they you won't be any better off.
 
I wouldn't purely because a lot of the horses I know have become very "shell" like or grumpy, not many are happy in that situation. Most of the time they get wormed, vets etc but things can be missed as a larger scale of horses and they don't have the time to tend to a lot of things like a private home would. The horse sounds nice and if carefully looked for the correct private home could be found
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[ QUOTE ]
They don't do it for free, I looked into it many years ago and with the extra charges for worming/shoeing etc,repairing broken tack/rugs it wasn't viable, plus if they can't use them for a few days a livery charge kicks in which was also charged in the holidays.
It depends why you want to loan the horse in the first place as if its for financial reasons they you won't be any better off.

[/ QUOTE ] this is def true,they still charged full livery prices for my mare even though she was used 3 to 4 times a week,i mucked out and did everything but they charged a fortune! It def isn't an option if you need to pass the financial reins over
 
Yep, I went to Bishop Burton and to be honest, I wouldn't loan a horse to them. Not because they were terrible but there's no turn out, despite the fact it's based on a working farm!! And yes, in agreement with a few already mentioning riders. Some are happy to just groom and some think they're the next big thing - a lot of students have their own horses kept off-yard so do a rush job taking care of yard horses to do a proper job on their own.

But ya know, their facilities are second to none there if you were wanting to ride on a weekend and I would stipulate a lot of things if i were you or preferably private loan or share him.
 
I took my mare to Bishop Burton with me. Had a terrible time, she only lasted a term. I had quite a few friends also take horses and all of them took them home because of the poor care, riding skills and lack of turn out. This was a long time ago mind.

I'm just pleased I was with her so knew as soon as things were going wrong.
 
My college, turns out horses every other night, some nights half the stables go out the next night they stay in and the other half are out.

like i said the more experianced riders ride the more fizzy horses,
Every day a tutor group from horse management will look after the yard, the horses get mucked out in the morning and brang in and fed, they are all brushed borfore riden, they are skipped out at lunch time and given more hay, brushed before riden and then fed and then who ever is going out go outs the ones that have gone out there beds get thrown up in the corner of stable and the ones staying in get mucked out.
But now each day when students take care of the yard they are allocated 2 or 3 horses to look after like making sure they got the right rugs on, they got hay and water, are are clean and hooves are picked out.
Tack is also cleaned after you have used it if you dont then you dont ride next time!
 
I would never do it after having a mare that came back unrecognisable.. in the way she could be handled, attitude and to ride.. went in a as a perfect allrounder who excelled at dressage, and had evented... what came back was a nervous wreck, could not pick her feet up or touch her legs, bolted when ridden bucked reared and awful to handle and almost impossible to catch. Took months and months to gain back trust and get her normal again and even then she never came back to what she was... and she was only there about 4months,,, amazing the damage that can be done in such a short space of time
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so never ever again!!
 
Hmm yeah it was Bishop Burton I was referring to when I mentioned 'bad reports'. Makes no sense, they have so much land. Our college made sure the horses got time to be turned out. It used to be lovely in spring/summer when you'd walk the horses along the farm tracks to turn them out in the field on the summer evenings. They were always so keen and happy to be going out - some a bit too keen! Lol
 
I went to BCA - back in 1999 and there were a few horses that I felt were pretty unhappy being there. Really grumpy in the stable and some were nightmarish to ride. However, I think it was made worse by the fact they just didn't suit being in a college environment. I seem to remember they had pretty good turnout though. There were a couple of lovely ones too that really thrived but they were few and far between. Who knows it may be different now 10 yrs on!
 
I would heartily recommend it! As a full time carer plus being self employed I can't really do my horse justice, plus the fact he was very green when I had him and was considering selling him coz I'd lost my confidence to ride him. Its the best thing I've ever done and where he's at college there's some super hacking very close by - I can ride him by arrangement at weekends and one afternoon a week. He's a wonderfully schooled horse now and the regular usage has brought out all the best things about his character.

There's an article about us on the equestrian student magazine website (sorry can't remember name of it buy if anyone wants to know please PM me).
 
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