Riding school comments

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katherinef

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I have been riding at my riding school since August. I rode as a child and went back to riding in August. I can walk, trot and canter competently.
The group lesson is very mixed and some of the standard of riding is not good (this is another issue I feel I am being held back)
Today our usual instructor was missing and we had a stand in instructor. The lesson for one hour started nearly 20 minutes late but we finished on the hour.
We did nothing except practising leg yield, walk to halt, halt to trot. She did say to me she knows I can do more but because she doesn't know the ride doesn't want to let me canter today.
It was unfortunate I heard her say to her mates before the lesson Oh this is a really bad lesson isn't it. That has really upset me.
So far the experience of this riding school has been good but this experience today has really put me off. Plus there were nine riders today. Surely that is too many?
 
The comment about not knowing the ride/not doing any more comes from a H&S issue sadly.

FWIW though, you don't need to canter in every lesson and the perfectionist in me would love an hour of trying to get something bang on correct on a RS horse. Though I spent eight years at a fantastic RS where if you couldn't get it in walk and trot, you weren't allowed to try in canter. Looking back it's not done me any harm at all!

I would find another where the group lessons are more balanced with the right abilities.
 
To be honest a lesson only in walk and trot can still be really good for you but if you ride for fun then I can see how disappointing it is not to canter.

Personally I would ignore the comments- just a bit of ignorance.

What would concern me though is that 9 riders is just way too high. I wouldn't pay for that outside of a beginners session. Four maximum.
 
Unfortunately riding schools face insurmountable economic pressures. The instructors themselves will be earning very little. It's a very depressing situation for all concerned. That said, I am sure many people in the class were satisfied; you can't meet everyone's needs and realistically both ends of the bell curve get clipped (same as in education, the least and most able suffer).
There is no other way to keep afloat.

If you want smaller numbers, a lesson with a more specific aim, or instructors who can teach to a higher level/ have a more experienced background... you may need to go to another school. Consider doing an intensive course at somewhere like Talland to get back into the swing without picking up undesirable habits. You might also find that sharing a horse one day or two days a week (will be tricky to find but possible) and hiring an instructor for a lesson may be more appropriate for you.
 
Can you book a private lesson with the instructor you like? If one to one is too expensive, do you have one or two friends at a similar level who could share the lesson?
 
You're probably wasting your money having a group lesson. Unless you're going on a hack, for around the same money, it'd be better to have a private lesson every 10 days, than in a group every week.

Don't take the instructors comments to heart, she may have been trying to excuse her own failings by blaming the riders. A good instructor gets the best out of the riders and makes the most basic of lessons interesting or fun.
 
Firstly 9 in a lesson is too much in my opinion.
Secondly, why on earth she made that comment beforehand I don't know. It's very unprofessional and if I were you I would complain- what a way to make someone feel inadequate.
Thirdly, running late but finishing on the actual time is not good enough. You are paying for an hour, you want an hour lesson.
However, personally don't really see an issue of doing just walk and trot- they are fundamental to doing more advanced things.
 
Transitions and lateral work are a fantastic thing to learn!!

Much better than just some basic walk for 10 mins, trot for 10 mins, canter for 10 mins etc!

9 is not uncommon in group lessons, however understandably a bit frustrating if you want the instructor to be more focussed on you. I used to enjoy riding in larger groups as it gave great practice for show warm ups, and watching other horse and rider combinations do the same excercise as you is a good way to spot others faults or how they excel.

The paying for 1 hour and only getting 40 mins though is not great. As said above maybe its time to have a look at getting more one to one tuition, but bear in mind the instructor will often try to help you on things which you may struggle with/not like and not always the super fun stuff.
 
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A good instructor can deal with a variety of levels in a lesson (to a point) but it's bl00dy hard work.

I would agree that 9 in a commercial lesson is too many - depending on the size of the school. 4 would also be unrealistic from an economic viewpoint. 6 would be about right. I have taught 12 in a riding club group (own horses) in a field but all of stage 2+ standard, and they were paying £5 each.

For the instructor to make comments as she did where she could be overheard was unprofessional - we're all entitled to a moan and I agree that chances are she was struggling to think what she was going to do with the group, but to say it in public was not right. Perhaps a quiet word with the YM is in order? Especially regarding the timing issue which I think is the biggest problem. I don't think she was out of order not to get you to canter when this was the first time she had taught the group and there were so many of you. You can get plenty out of a lesson even completely in walk.

Private lessons are obviously going to give you more focus from the instructor. If you can afford 2 x private as you have said then fab. Otherwise consider 1 private and 1 group where you can think about putting what you have learnt in the private into practice whilst riding around.
 
Not cantering is really not an issue for me. My last lesson I cantered once purely because the lesson before that in that horse we had a couple of dodgy moments so psychologically I needed to canter in this lesson. Having had a quick canter I went back to working on bend, suppleness and accurate soft transitions in walk and trot and shortening the reins from free walk to medium walk without losing the softness. Wasn't going to get a soft balanced on the bit canter transition from where walk and trot were so better to do something achievable.

Had fun jump lesson earlier in the week on whizzy pony so good for me to do detail work on this one. Probably spent at least half the lesson in walk regaining correct bend and about 15 mins warming up in walk.

Admittedly now I'm starting to realise what I don't know- can walk, trot, canter, jump but the can of worms that is straightness, being off the leg and improving a horse is starting to rust and some worms are creeping into the edge of my awareness. Suddenly that "easy" horse is a LOT harder to ride...
 
To those saying four in a lesson is hard for a school to make economical I understand that. Obviously the more in a lesson, the more money you make. And people choose heavily on price so they'll go for a school ten pounds cheaper without asking why.

My point was that, as a client, I wouldn't want to be in a lesson with more than four, and I'd expect to pay enough for the school to make a profit to do so, and that's what I recommended to the OP.
 
Cantering isn't everything. In my lesson today we did no cantering at all and half of it was at walk. Why? Well, horse is stiff on one side. We spent all of the lesson on circles with leg yielding, shoulder-in and haunches-in. She is now a lot more supple on that side and totally transformed.
 
Totally hear what you are saying. In fairness we did do some leg yielding which I enjoyed and sometimes its good to work on the more technical stuff. I think its the shortchanging of time and her comment beforehand which has thrown me. I am not a super rider but not useless either and even if I was struggling comments like that don't help.
 
I would be moaning about not getting my full time! The hardest lessons I do are the ones where my instructor keeps the speed low but really makes me work. The last one was when my horse was having a growth spurt. We walked most of the lesson. We were working on my position and me not blocking him. I could barley walk at the end of it . The next day..........ooooooooooh!
It does sound to me that you are ready for private lessons. Being in a group is now holding you back, I think!
 
katherinef I think if you are serious about your riding you do need to have private lessons. IMHO its better to have slightly fewer private lessons than more group ones where you are always held to the level of the worst or most novice rider, and also you are effectively unsupervised for large amounts of the time which is when the bad habits get established! HOpe you can sort it and continue enjoying your riding :)
 
Rapidash said:
To be honest a lesson only in walk and trot can still be really good for you but if you ride for fun then I can see how disappointing it is not to canter.

Personally I would ignore the comments- just a bit of ignorance.

What would concern me though is that 9 riders is just way too high. I wouldn't pay for that outside of a beginners session. Four maximum.
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Standard amount for a group lesson is 6 - if you are riding in a lesson just of four you are very lucky.

As an instructor of novice instructors I will always tell them - Teach what is in front of you. The OP's scenario is often what you will have in a Pony Club group.

Walk, Trot and Halt everyone. Ask riders if they are happy to canter. If yes - have the ride in walk, canter the lead rider from the next corner to the back of the ride. Assess. Repeat for each rider. Those that chose not to canter can trot to the back of the ride.

Next canter if everyone is safe then you can trot the ride and still have only lead file canter to back of the ride. For the more experienced riders you could have them canter a 20m circle before rejoining the rear of the ride.

If this was me OP I would ask to speak to the owner/manager and voice your concerns about the vast levels of riders in the ride and also the size of the group.

With my school if a ride started late it ended late. This was why I always had 15minutes between lessons so that if a group ran late the next would still be able to go out on time.

If you have no joy in getting at least an apology and an explanation then I'd be looking at a different school.
 
katherinef said:
Totally hear what you are saying. In fairness we did do some leg yielding which I enjoyed and sometimes its good to work on the more technical stuff. I think its the shortchanging of time and her comment beforehand which has thrown me. I am not a super rider but not useless either and even if I was struggling comments like that don't help.
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I find this amusing as if the other riders were so novice they wouldn't have a hope in hell of leg yielding. Sounds to me like you had an inexperienced instructor who has maybe just started learning about leg yielding herself.
 
9 is too many 6 would be standard from my past experience. Most definitely I had great lessons with 6 in the class even of varying abilities as we would all be on different horses that suited our capability and each exercise could be adjusted by the instructor to the individual making it either more complex or a bit simpler.

To be fair to the RS school sometimes people are ill and you may have to amalgamate a class and a new instructor doesn't know everyone's ability and will be more cautious. The last thing she needs is 9 unknowns cantering around falling off. If it is an occasional occurrence then fair enough but not if it were the norm. Sometimes though you just get to the point that a group RS lesson just doesn't cut it anymore and a share where you can build a partnership with a horse may be more appropriate.
 
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