Riding in London

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Willber

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Hello all,

I'm a newbie to the forum and looking for a little advice. Has anyone ridden at the London Equestrian Centre before? Looking to book some private lessons somewhere in London and they look good, but wondered if anyone has any experience there and any views on the quality of instruction/horses? Any thoughts v much appreciated, thanks!
 
I never went there myself as I heard poor reports about them unfortunately. I have heard Lea Valley is supposed to be good, or if you're willing to go outside of London try Wildwoods, if is in Surrey near Epsom, and easy to get to on the train.

I can also PM you another one to avoid if you would like!
 
Wimbledon Village Stables is amazing amazing amazing membership scheme makes it affordable.

have a look at wvstables.com it really is the best .
 
Trust me Wimbledon is great and the horses are amazing and I take great offense to anyone who says otherwise. If you want a riding school where horses come first go there. Trust me I alot of the others round london the horses do up to 8 hours a day in the summer.
 
Thisbe said:
Trust me Wimbledon is great and the horses are amazing and I take great offense to anyone who says otherwise. If you want a riding school where horses come first go there. Trust me I alot of the others round london the horses do up to 8 hours a day in the summer.
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I was replying to the OP, the order got scrambled! I never went to WV :) I preferred to get right out into the country for a good blast of a hack;)
 
WVS is really good, I had 2 horses on livery there and rode there from the ages of 9 to 14. The instructors were good, it had a generally good atmosphere. Io nly stopped riding there when I wanted to start seriously competing my horses so had to move to a livery yard.
 
I used to livery at LEC a couple of years ago - like any RS some instructors are better than others (they have working pupils there so some instructors are just starting out or training) - evenings you will find less busy so the classes are smaller and you will get more attention - also they use some freelance instructors in the evenings who are sometimes more experienced -weekends can be manic if there are lots of lessons on or children's parties.

When I liveried there they also brought in "visiting instructors" to do jump clinics who were professional SJ's and you can hire the school horses to do the jump clincs. They also sometimes run competitions and again you can hire the school horses to enter.
 
without wishing to be rude to anyone who has bothered to reply to the OP - do some of you know ANYTHING about London geography? If the OP is asking about riding in Mill Hill its a safe bet she lives in North London. Expecting someone to trog right down to Wimbledon to ride is taking the mick a bit.

Wimbledon Village Stables is indeed lovely but you generally need to take out a small second mortgage to afford lessons there!
 
Thanks for your comments everyone. Will look into some of the names people suggested. I'm in Kennington actually, just south of the river, so I'm quite well placed for mill hill (straight up on the northern line), or for getting out into Surrey, so will look into those different options. WVS does look lovely but I'd pretty much ruled it out on financial grounds already unfortunately! Thanks again.
 
Just want to say that the London Equestrian Centre is fab! I have my lesson there weekly, they are BHS and ABRS approved, take the utmost care of their horses and ponies, and are really nice people to boot :)

Obv I'm a bit biased :D, but I've been going there since I was eight, they have a wide variety of horses, from shetlands to 17hh schoolmasters, and they teach you all the parts of horse care, from stable management to riding (i.e. If you can, you can tack up/untack and also help out. They are also some of the most reasonably priced stables around, I've ridden at WVS before but they were a bit too expensive for me to have weekly lessons! I live in North London too, and for me I just hop on the tube to Mill Hill station, get the 221 bus across the road and I'm right outside :D

It's either that or walk past the golf course (20 mins, no thanks!)
 
trundle said:
without wishing to be rude to anyone who has bothered to reply to the OP - do some of you know ANYTHING about London geography? If the OP is asking about riding in Mill Hill its a safe bet she lives in North London. Expecting someone to trog right down to Wimbledon to ride is taking the mick a bit.

Wimbledon Village Stables is indeed lovely but you generally need to take out a small second mortgage to afford lessons there!
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Why would you assume that? I used to travel all over London to ride:confused:
 
I ride at LEC and find them really good - and MUCH friendlier than the neighbouring riding stable. I hadn't had lessons in about 15 years so was rather concerned that it would be a typical "canter to the rear of the ride" type, but the horses are really good and not stereotypical "riding school ponies". The instructors vary, but they're happy for you to swap instructors until you find one who suits you, and group rides don't exceed 8 people, so even at their busiest you don't end up riding with a hideous number of people. So, yes, I would recommend! Its also only about a 10-15 minute walk from mill hill east station, or the 221 goes from the station past the front door (although by the time you've waited for the bus you could have walked it!). Feel free to PM me if you want more info.
 
Yay! Another LEC rider... They are quite fab, and I agree with timefort, the horses and ponies aren't just 'push buttons', you have to ride them, not be a passenger! People in the office and on the yard are v. helpful as well, and if you help out on a pony day for example, they always try to get you on something in a lesson :D
 
This thread takes me back! I'm a Londoner born and bred my sister was older and she used to work and ride at Civil Service RC in Hyde Park, then she used to work for Wimbledon Village Stables but then it was called Hillcot Stables, I used to love riding there on the Common, I've got pictures of me on a small black pony called Pickles wearing ordinary trousers and no hat (this was the 50's). As I grew up I graduated to stables in Streatham (horses kept ina mews behind Streatham High Street) and rode on the Common. Happy days car drivers were brilliant. Now I live in Sussex and the drivers are generally ok but some are awful. Happy riding. I used to live near Kennington. It's changed!:)
 
South London School of Equitation?! Sounds like it would have been perfect for me! Funny to think of horses stabled in Streatham now...

Thanks for advice LEC riders, think I will enquire about booking a private up there, and let you know how I get on :)
 
MFH9 said:
Another Southerner here; I used to ride at Selsdon Park.
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My last horse was kept on Farleigh Common :)

Having not ridden for almost 7 years, and having moved to Wimbledon 5 years ago, I'm finally going to start riding again on Saturday - at Ridgway Stables, as OH bought me a gift voucher for Christmas, but I intend to start riding regularly again now, and will try WVS out after my gift voucher is used up.
 
Hi Divasmum. South London School of Equitation was considered very posh by us who used to ride from the Mews. I have a lovely picture of my sister riding a fleabitten arab called, wait for it, Araby Boy on the common at Wimbledon, there was also a cowboy called Cal McCord who kept his lovely mare there think she was called Ladybird. Happy days.:)
 
There was a small yard just up Brixton Hill in Morrish Road, a real Victorian treasure, mostly stalls with grooms accommodation above, it was call Beaumont Riding Stables. The other nostalga trip is this, when I was small I lived and still did until I got married near Lower Marsh and round the back of Royal Street the totters used to keep their ponies and carts, they were under the railway bridge and I have a very distant memory, must have been 4 or 5 of going with sister to the big horse market/sales at the Elephant and Castle. Like I said happy bygone days.:)
 
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