Nervous friend, can anyone help?

JadeyyAndLadyy

JadeyyAndLadyy

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Posting on behalf of a friend.
A friend of mine had an accident while riding resulting in her collar bone and wrist breaking. She now wants to try and get back into the horsey world but is lacking confidence. Shes asked around but no one seems to want to take her on as everyone wants someone with heaps of confidence and experience.
Does anyone on here have any suggestions? Or anyone out there with a safe horse willing to help her out by letting her visit, lead the horse, do a bit of grooming and generally spend time with the horse so she feels comfortable around them again? She is in Thame area.
Your help would be really appreciated, thank you :)
 
Thanks everyone
Ive tried to help her but I dont trust Lady to be safe enough to give her confidence, i reckon her confidence would be taken away more than anything :( She can be a buggar at times!
Ive suggested riding school, do they do lessons with the horse just spending time with them without riding?
Its a shame everyone is so far away, thats always the case! Everyone nearby just dont want to help :(
I will ask her about the holidays ;) I was born in Newcastle so thumbs up for the geordies ;) :D
 
I'm the friend who this thread is about, I actually tried contacting a few local riding schools but most stated that they didn't have the time to do that. I actually used to work at one of them and got a very rude message from the new owner, charming.

I've been out of the horsey world for a good few weeks and I absolutely hate it, never been more miserable.

If anyone can help then please let me know.
 
Sorry to hear you have had such a negative response from some riding schools :( have you thought about trying a weekend riding holiday - explain the situation to them and I'm sure they would be happy to help? To be honest - if you said to a riding school you would pay a private lesson price just for some confidence building grooming etc, then they shouldn't really say no?
 
nillynoo said:
Sorry to hear you have had such a negative response from some riding schools :( have you thought about trying a weekend riding holiday - explain the situation to them and I'm sure they would be happy to help? To be honest - if you said to a riding school you would pay a private lesson price just for some confidence building grooming etc, then they shouldn't really say no?
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The riding schools near me unfortunately aren't the best, I used to work at various ones over the past 10 or so years. I recently was offered a job at one but turned it down after a couple of days because of how terrible the establishment was, lots of bitching about customers, poorly treated horses and the staff were terribly rude. In this day and age it was a stupid idea but I couldn't work in an environment like that.

Ideally I'd like to work with someone who owns their own horses, in a private yard/livery yard etc. I could hopefully go and do a few days around my job and get some experience - I'd like someone who'd be willing to teach me.
 
Of I were you I would volunteer at an rda centre. lots of geeing and leading generally well behaved ponies. You dot even have to touch the pony, side walkers are also needed. I find it hard to believe any riding s hook would turn away a paying customer who wanted a stable management session.
 
Hi,

Sorry to hear about your/your friend's experience (I know you're both watching the thread :)) .

Shame you're not near Notts, my pony loves attention and my girls (3 and 5) groom him and he's a diamond. If you're willing to come up this way for a weekend (shopping trip ;)) you're welcome to come and spoil my lad :D.

Might I suggest looking at some part loans? There's a few advertised on sites such as Preloved who are wanting someone to help look after/contribute towards their horses/ponies (there are some honest ones out there). Perhaps put an advert out offering your/your friends services for free (as long as the horse/pony is right of course). There are some gems out there - before buying ponio I tried a wonderful former riding school horse who was soo gentle on ground and a pleasure to ride (I'm a novice BTW). Also, some of our local riding schools part loan their horses/ponies - is that an option near you?

Otherwise, does a local (friendly) riding school do a 'own a pony/horse' day? Our local school does these and they are fully supervised, very friendly and include lessons and/or hacks.

Hope this helps and please let us know how you get on. :)
 
I'm way too far away to be of any use, but noticed your prev posts equestanabbie - don't you currently work on a yard? Or is this where you sustained injuries and I'm guessing no longer work there?

Word of mouth is an excellent tool, keep chatting to anyone horsey you meet and build a network, then you'll be amazed at the options that open up to you :)
 
I'm sure a riding school would be more than happy to help - they normally have to put up with small kids wanting to 'help' so they'd be more than happy to have an adult to help out and spend some time pampering the horses!! And would be a great opportunity to build up a bit of a bond before getting back on board.
 
Thanks for the comments everyone, I really appreciate it.

I have contacted every single riding school around my local area and they were all extremely dismissive, rude or just didn't bother replying. I rang every single one and also sent out some emails but nothing, this was a good few weeks ago so that's very disheartening.

I'm very weary of sharing horses. I went to see a share horse in March last year and ended up having a really bad accident, I actually found out at a later date by a lady that I worked for that the horse shouldn't have even been ridden and the owners were extremely dodgy people. Blessing in disguise maybe?

I've tried everything and it's such a shame. I have a few good friends (like the OP) who just don't have suitable horses for me to work with. Ideally I'd like something that could lead me into a job.

I used to work with a lady, I worked with her full-time for free, I was there for 5 months and just couldn't afford to do it anymore. I was very disappointed as I was led to believe it would turn into a paid job in the new year, needless to say it didn't.
 
equestrianabbie said:
Thanks for the comments everyone, I really appreciate it.

I have contacted every single riding school around my local area and they were all extremely dismissive, rude or just didn't bother replying. I rang every single one and also sent out some emails but nothing, this was a good few weeks ago so that's very disheartening.

I'm very weary of sharing horses. I went to see a share horse in March last year and ended up having a really bad accident, I actually found out at a later date by a lady that I worked for that the horse shouldn't have even been ridden and the owners were extremely dodgy people. Blessing in disguise maybe?

I've tried everything and it's such a shame. I have a few good friends (like the OP) who just don't have suitable horses for me to work with. Ideally I'd like something that could lead me into a job.

I used to work with a lady, I worked with her full-time for free, I was there for 5 months and just couldn't afford to do it anymore. I was very disappointed as I was led to believe it would turn into a paid job in the new year, needless to say it didn't.
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Have you tried charities though? There must be some in your area.
 
nikicb said:
Have you tried charities though? There must be some in your area.
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Yep! I emailed The Horse Trust, sent them emails and even visited but they said they didn't have anything suitable.

Reading and reliving all of this is horrible, I'm telling myself that it just isn't to be and that I should move on but something inside of me is telling me not to. It's difficult because it's something I'm so passionate about but I just can't do. I've exhausted every idea I think of. It's a shame but I'm still going strong, I must be mad!

I'm determined that I'll find something eventually.
 
equestrianabbie said:
I'm the friend who this thread is about, I actually tried contacting a few local riding schools but most stated that they didn't have the time to do that. I actually used to work at one of them and got a very rude message from the new owner, charming.

I've been out of the horsey world for a good few weeks and I absolutely hate it, never been more miserable.

If anyone can help then please let me know.
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If Kent is close enough then I have a horse with lovely manners who would love the extra attention :D
 
Is the home of rest for horses is Speen still going? That's not far from Thame is it? And I'm sure they'd be glad of some help x
 
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