Riding school hack for birthday treat...bad experience!!!

[petite-girle]

For my birthday my friend booked us on a 2 hour hack at a riding school in Kent (and this was not cheap!!!). I was so excited and looking forward to a fun hack around lovely woodland and getting to ride a new horse. Unfortunately it turned out to be very disappointing experience and not fun at all.

I was put on a massive 16.2hh horse. It seemed fine just walking round. The trouble started after we had our first canter, the horse I was on went into a bucking frenzy!! So we came back to walk. We then tried another canter and once again the horse starting broncoing. I was slighty worried at this point as the horse was huge for me and I felt very unsafe and I didnt fancy being thrown off!! We tried just trotting and yet again she started bronco'ing, this time she seemed she had the intent to get me off her back and she very nearly did. This was all right at the beginning of the ride and already I wanted to get off. I told the lead person and she just said 'oh she's never done that before, we'll just have to walk.' So for the rest of the 2 hours we just walked round the woods in case my horse was to buck me off. This was so disappointing!!

I put a complaint in to the director and got a rather rude reply saying that the horse I rode is a 'joy' to ride and 'popular' with many riders.

This was not the case for me!!!!!!!

 

[happyhack]

What did you say in your complaint? Did you say to the ride leader that you felt unsafe and would prefer to swap onto a different horse?

Sorry to hear you had such an awful ride.

 

[Laura1234]

Crikey, what an awful response from a riding school. They should have done more when you said you did not feel safe, they are supposed to look after their clients!

 

[missyme10]

I'm sorry to hear you had such an awful ride, and how unprofessional of them to react this way.
Surely the lead rider would have confirmed how bad the horse was.
I'm not sure how such places stay in business as word get round!

 

[petite-girle]

yes I told the lead rider I felt unsafe and that I wanted to swap horses but the horse she was on was a youngster and was also throwing in bucks (although not as bad) and so she wouldnt swap, and my friend was not willing to get on the horse I was riding either!!

 

[Kat]

If it was a two hour hack and this happened at the beginning surely they could have returned and swapped horses for you. If the horse is normally a Joy then there was obviously something wrong. If someone says they feel unsafe expecting them continue is quite frankly irresponsible and negligent, especially if this is a rider that you don't know.

Did the ride leader do anything?

If the horse is normally good and it was seriously bucking (as opposed to flicking its heels up once or twice in excitement) I would expect them to at least stop and check the horse's saddle, (that it is the correct one, put on properly, has not slipped, that the numnah/polypad hasn't slipped, there is nothing catching or pinching) and that it is sound and so on. If they were satisfied that there was nothing wrong then they should have either swapped horses with you or another member of the group if safe to do so or returned in walk and taken a different horse.

I would make a further complaint and outline your concerns reasonably and logically and explain that you felt firstly that you were put in a dangerous position and secondly that this was reacted to badly and that as a result you didn't get value for money.

Keep copies of all correspondence and if you don't get a decent response report them. If they are approved by the BHS or ABRS report it to them, otherwise the council licence riding schools so you could complain to them and also to trading standards. Bear in mind that the council can take reports of dangerous occurences, investigate them and if necessary prosecute in the same way as the HSE if the incident is serious enough.