Riding clubs.. benefits?

[blood_magik]

I'm contemplating joining a riding club as I finally have weekends off (yay!)
I never had the chance to do pony club when I was younger so I'd love the opportunity to make some new horsey friends outside my yard

For those of you who take part, I have a few questions:
- Do you think it's worth doing?
- If you compete BD/BS/BE, have you found that RC has, for lack of a better word, taken over?
- Am I restricted to one horse?

Thanks

 

[charmeroo]

Hiya!

The thing with RCs is that the more you put in, the more you get out of it! In other words, if you are prepared to go along and support shows, and help out too, you will meet all sorts of people and make loads of friends and contacts. I don't think you could say that they have taken over from BD/BE etc. I think it depends on how much RC activities are around in your area, also affiliated shows too. Don't forget, RC classes tend to be cheaper! And training etc tends to be subsidised! At our RC, the club pays all the team member's entry fees for championships, friendlies etc so this can be a big benefit too. Social events! Gosh the list goes on and on in the benefits of membership!

On the downside though - you may find that the RC shows, ie dressage and SJ may be held on less than perfect surfaces, and with SJ the course building could be a bit hit and miss (sorry for the pun!). I know that a lot of clubs try and get BD listed judges for their shows but there are only so many of these to go around, so dressage judges may not always be of the highest quality.

And no - you can have/take as many horses as you like!