Anuka
Well-Known Member
Following on from the Livery Yard horror stories thread 
Come on, tell us your worst!
Come on, tell us your worst!
Riding School horror stories
- Thread starter Anuka
- Start date
MrsMozart
Just passing through...
Um.
Er.
Can't remember any.... No doubt with my new found enthusiasm for having some jumping lessons (okay, not just yet lol), there will be some for the telling!
Er.
Can't remember any.... No doubt with my new found enthusiasm for having some jumping lessons (okay, not just yet lol), there will be some for the telling!
SusannaF
Well-Known Member
Using solid leather (no elastic, no quick release, just buckles and leather) triangular Vienna side reins on almost all the horses for all lessons except jumping.
misterjinglejay
Well-Known Member
Years ago, I wanted to get back into riding, and my OH wanted to learn so we found a RS not too far away.
It was run as a charity, and resued ponies from the meat man, travellers etc and used them in lessons - thus getting charity money for them and leeson fees aswell (at least I was told that was how it worked).
The animals they had were not looked after particularly well - untreated sweetitch, mud fever, sores etc. One poor elderly pony was severly lame, so they turned him away for a few months only to find out later that the poor lad had actually broken his leg, and in the time away had healed crookedly!
The fields were ragworty and overstocked, with poor fencing and no grazing.
They worked them really hard, up to four or five hours a day, giving lessons in the deep dusty school, and regularly ran out of food/shavings/hay.
I bought my lad from a friend of the owner, and put him on working livery there. When i found out what it was like, I put him onto their version of f/l (which invovled me mucking him out every day cos they were so bad at it!), but because they couldn't get their lesson fees for using him in the school, we got asked to leave - Yipee!!
We later found out the the local vets were on the board of trustees, and that they were fiddling the tax man!
It was run as a charity, and resued ponies from the meat man, travellers etc and used them in lessons - thus getting charity money for them and leeson fees aswell (at least I was told that was how it worked).
The animals they had were not looked after particularly well - untreated sweetitch, mud fever, sores etc. One poor elderly pony was severly lame, so they turned him away for a few months only to find out later that the poor lad had actually broken his leg, and in the time away had healed crookedly!
The fields were ragworty and overstocked, with poor fencing and no grazing.
They worked them really hard, up to four or five hours a day, giving lessons in the deep dusty school, and regularly ran out of food/shavings/hay.
I bought my lad from a friend of the owner, and put him on working livery there. When i found out what it was like, I put him onto their version of f/l (which invovled me mucking him out every day cos they were so bad at it!), but because they couldn't get their lesson fees for using him in the school, we got asked to leave - Yipee!!
We later found out the the local vets were on the board of trustees, and that they were fiddling the tax man!
blacksabbeth
Well-Known Member
I can remeber when i was a kid,around 8 years old.I became a good little rider,i can rember it was a lesson in the morning when i had to ride a chestnut pony,supose to be 7 years old but found out it was younger at later date,anyway everything was going fine in the indoor school,trotting said pony asked for canter and it lost control,it bronked,plunged,leaped,reared,bucked you name it the pony was doing it,well i had no choice but to bail out either that or it was going to kill me,i could hear my mum gasp from the stand,said instructor said to just stay down on the floor,well big mistake the bugger turned round and gunned for me and managed to canter over my chest,was rushed to docs and had to have time off!
Same R/S friend was getting on pony checked her girth said it felt loose,said instructor said dont be stupid poor pony wont be able to breath,so politely she kicked on with it everything was fine till said pony spooked and the saddle slipped which resulted in my friend being dragged up the wall of an indoor school whilst pony was cantering,god knows how she did it but managed to get pony stopped and get off!we never had that instructor again.Ok so not terrible stories but ones i will never forget.xx
Same R/S friend was getting on pony checked her girth said it felt loose,said instructor said dont be stupid poor pony wont be able to breath,so politely she kicked on with it everything was fine till said pony spooked and the saddle slipped which resulted in my friend being dragged up the wall of an indoor school whilst pony was cantering,god knows how she did it but managed to get pony stopped and get off!we never had that instructor again.Ok so not terrible stories but ones i will never forget.xx
dibbin
Well-Known Member
Before coming to my current yard (which has a RS on the premises as well), we were at a small RS closer to the house, but we left because their management of their lessons was appalling, not to mention the boggy fields and badly looked after horses. The school was tiny, and they'd put 8-10 ponies in the lesson, so half of you stood in the middle for the first half, and the rest stood there for the second half! So ... you paid full price for, basically, half a badly-taught lesson. And they kept putting me on a pony that I detested, he was utterly mannerless and WOULD NOT HALT. You could sit deep, stop moving your hips, haul on his mouth, anything, and he simply would not stop walking! Which meant they insisted on someone walking beside him ... I'd been riding for 5 years at that point and found it bl**dy embarassing. In the couple of months we rode there I jumped twice and cantered once (in my assessment lesson the first time we went). I would NEVER go back, and have not hesitated to tell other people how shocking the place is!
Whoops, that was a bit of a rant
I had my worst (in terms of damage to my confidence) fall at a RS when we lived in Lancashire ... I used my crop on the pony to put him into canter, he tanked off; I panicked, lost my balance and came off out the side door going round a corner - straight into the wall of the indoor school. Was on a different pony the following week, cantering to the same corner, I had a minor panic attack and pretty much flung myself off! It was a while before my instructor managed to get me to canter again.
Whoops, that was a bit of a rant
I had my worst (in terms of damage to my confidence) fall at a RS when we lived in Lancashire ... I used my crop on the pony to put him into canter, he tanked off; I panicked, lost my balance and came off out the side door going round a corner - straight into the wall of the indoor school. Was on a different pony the following week, cantering to the same corner, I had a minor panic attack and pretty much flung myself off! It was a while before my instructor managed to get me to canter again.
Thelwell_Girl
Well-Known Member
Please note, there ARE lovely riding schools! Just no one seems to talk about them...
noblesteed
Well-Known Member
There were several riding schools near us when I was a kid and many of them 'rescued' ponies from the 'meat man' and put them to work. It was quite sad really. There was one we went to where they had VERY old ponies/horses for beginners and VERY young ones for the more experienced kids, including 2 fell ponies rounded up straight off the moor and stuck in the riding school within a week - after they had removed the head of a crossbow from one. We later found out most of the horses were stolen, electricity meter etc had been bypassed etc etc. The Proprietor is now a very expensive dressage instructor who unsurprisingly lives in France!!!!
As an adult I moved back up north from London after Uni, where I had been at a lovely RS. I tried a local place near my new house - dear me. Half an hour of trotting while the 'instructor' had a conversation with her mate over the gate, occasionally shouting '20m circle' 'change the rein' etc. I felt so sorry for the horses, they looked so bored. A man was in the lesson riding his OWN horse in the most horrendous jockey-type position I have ever seen, poor thing. After the 'lesson' the instructor asked if I liked it. Then her friend came over and to show me how tame my horse was, he stuck his fist in it's mouth!!!!! They asked me if I wanted booking in for next week and I said NO I won;t be coming back.
Needless to say I found a lovely RS where welfare was paramount, til I left to get my old mare on loan.
As an adult I moved back up north from London after Uni, where I had been at a lovely RS. I tried a local place near my new house - dear me. Half an hour of trotting while the 'instructor' had a conversation with her mate over the gate, occasionally shouting '20m circle' 'change the rein' etc. I felt so sorry for the horses, they looked so bored. A man was in the lesson riding his OWN horse in the most horrendous jockey-type position I have ever seen, poor thing. After the 'lesson' the instructor asked if I liked it. Then her friend came over and to show me how tame my horse was, he stuck his fist in it's mouth!!!!! They asked me if I wanted booking in for next week and I said NO I won;t be coming back.
Needless to say I found a lovely RS where welfare was paramount, til I left to get my old mare on loan.
aimeejay
Well-Known Member
When I was about 6/7 I started learning how to ride at a little RS near us. Not really a horror story at all but more of a rant, she left me on the yard on my own a little spooky chestnut next to (in the eyes of a six year old) a huuuuuge, big, 'evil', horse who was trying to bite the chestnut and the chestnut would spin around. Well when my mum came back from paying etc, she was not happy She then had a drama and stayed on the phone to her boyfriend for an HOUR, so I was stood there on this little chestnut for an hour, my mum was by this time very annoyed. Finally got on the lesson, dreadful lesson, then she made me go and collect some hay. At six, I toddled off finding hay only to have a 17.2hh wb gallop at me, this was the 'big, evil horse'. It had got out of its leadrope. Very scared little girl! Sorry I'll stop rambling, rambling, rambling
She then had a drama and stayed on the phone to her boyfriend for an HOUR, so I was stood there on this little chestnut for an hour, my mum was by this time very annoyed. Finally got on the lesson, dreadful lesson, then she made me go and collect some hay. At six, I toddled off finding hay only to have a 17.2hh wb gallop at me, this was the 'big, evil horse'. It had got out of its leadrope. Very scared little girl! Sorry I'll stop rambling, rambling, rambling halt_at_x
Well-Known Member
Using solid leather (no elastic, no quick release, just buckles and leather) triangular Vienna side reins on almost all the horses for all lessons except jumping.
Sounds like a RS I went to, who use gadgets on every single horse all the time (including when jumping). Usually harbridges, very tight bungees or the YO's own creations. A common one there is to put a running martingale through the bit rings and attach the martingale rings to the reains so that it acts like draw reins but without a snaffle rein option. Most horses not in snaffles there either so they have gadgets and strong bits. The gadgets are just the tip of the iceberg there though.
There are indeed - and there are a couple which I have no hesitation in recommending to anyone.
AprilBlossom
Well-Known Member
The one I used to work at would probably feature as some peoples horror stories lol!
Not in any way because the teaching was bad (I taught a few lessons hanging but that was never conveyed haha) but our 'ponies' ranged from the well-into-their-twenties welshies who knew all he tricks in the book to get out of work, to ex grade B show jumpers who were out of action and picked up cheap due to navicular or other ailment. Variety-wise we could give a wonderful experience but I'm sure some parents were a bit apprehensive when we'd run out of littlies so put darling tabitha on an old 16.3hh hunter who wasn't impressed at being dragged from her field full of cronies to be subjected to such an embarrassing ordeal, hence was a complete mare about it! (of course being a good hunter she knew her responsibility to keep her rider aboard so there was no risk to the rider, just us on the ground haha)
We didn't do things by the book, not by any stretch of the imagination, but the kids I thought had an absolute blast and are now liveries on the yard years later, so we mustve done something right!
I think the most horrifying thing we did was when putting on a display at end of a pony week for the parents and, following the yard dogs storming in and getting a bit frisky in the middle of the school, all the gelding whippin em out the staff decided gymkhana games would be fun (remember the steeds we have...) and draft in leaders for all the horses to keep calm. The leaders were drafted in on the promise of a 'leaders race or two' at the end, which is where it all went horribly wrong. All children evicted from the school and all leaders/staff hop on, stirrups crossed as too lazy to change them, no hats, probably some in shorts and trainers, you get the picture?
About a minute later the school looked like a war zone! No one was hurt thankfully, but there were just people scattered across the school floor, all absolutely creasing up, a bridle less pony zooming around and half the others grazing with heads through the fence looking very embarrassed at their staff... Parents and children watching from side are all white and shuffling back towards their cars!!! Needless to say everyone rebooked!! The lack of pretentiousness sort of made up for our foolishness when it came to our own riding and they knew we'd never endanger their kids-just ourselves it seems!!
Not in any way because the teaching was bad (I taught a few lessons hanging but that was never conveyed haha) but our 'ponies' ranged from the well-into-their-twenties welshies who knew all he tricks in the book to get out of work, to ex grade B show jumpers who were out of action and picked up cheap due to navicular or other ailment. Variety-wise we could give a wonderful experience but I'm sure some parents were a bit apprehensive when we'd run out of littlies so put darling tabitha on an old 16.3hh hunter who wasn't impressed at being dragged from her field full of cronies to be subjected to such an embarrassing ordeal, hence was a complete mare about it! (of course being a good hunter she knew her responsibility to keep her rider aboard so there was no risk to the rider, just us on the ground haha)
We didn't do things by the book, not by any stretch of the imagination, but the kids I thought had an absolute blast and are now liveries on the yard years later, so we mustve done something right!
I think the most horrifying thing we did was when putting on a display at end of a pony week for the parents and, following the yard dogs storming in and getting a bit frisky in the middle of the school, all the gelding whippin em out
the staff decided gymkhana games would be fun (remember the steeds we have...) and draft in leaders for all the horses to keep calm. The leaders were drafted in on the promise of a 'leaders race or two' at the end, which is where it all went horribly wrong. All children evicted from the school and all leaders/staff hop on, stirrups crossed as too lazy to change them, no hats, probably some in shorts and trainers, you get the picture? About a minute later the school looked like a war zone! No one was hurt thankfully, but there were just people scattered across the school floor, all absolutely creasing up, a bridle less pony zooming around and half the others grazing with heads through the fence looking very embarrassed at their staff... Parents and children watching from side are all white and shuffling back towards their cars!!! Needless to say everyone rebooked!! The lack of pretentiousness sort of made up for our foolishness when it came to our own riding and they knew we'd never endanger their kids-just ourselves it seems!!
dibbin
Well-Known Member
There certainly are ... I've been to 6 since I started riding, and loved all except the one that we had to leave
RuthnMeg
Well-Known Member
I've been to several, all had good points, but one used to let the old ponies stand in the middle of the arena tacked up but riderless just because they either 'didn't want to be left out' - retired old troopers, or that they will be used in the 'next lesson'! Some even joined in with the ride.
It was certainly interesting!!
And on another occassion 1 poor old pony had a stroke. He went all wobbly. Luckily I saw this and ran in and grabbed the little girl rider before he fell. He did recover, but was retired. It wasn't a pretty sight at the time.
It was certainly interesting!!
And on another occassion 1 poor old pony had a stroke. He went all wobbly. Luckily I saw this and ran in and grabbed the little girl rider before he fell. He did recover, but was retired. It wasn't a pretty sight at the time.
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wilsha
Well-Known Member
didnt go there but there is a rs down the road that the owner swears at the very young kids and takes themout on dangerous roads and keeps about 8 horses in a mud filled about 3-5 acre paddock over the winter and apparently some peoplehave threatend to call the rspca unless they sort out the horses in the paddocks
horsecrazy25
Well-Known Member
I loved my riding school nothing bad to say x
xwilsha
Well-Known Member
i didnt go to that one thank goodness ! i went to a lovely one
NicoleS_007
Well-Known Member
Ummm in my lesson my friend was riding this obese tank of a pony, attempted a half barrel straight jump and the horse didnt pick up, tripped over it and fell on her! Took about 10mins to get the horse up, luckly no one was hurt, but that pony was dangerous it just galloped round and round all the time, no one could actually ride it!! ... 3yr old being worked for 3 hrs straight ... and basically more dangerous ponys which shouldnt be in a RS which people think there cool if they sit on it then get tossed off it!! ... Oh one hore basically ripped its ear half off and all it got treated with was bute an aloe vera, it clearly needed stitches. Another one sliced its leg on tin in a field, got infected and still no treatment! Another attempted jumping a gate and when through it and sliced top of its leg badly and got treated with aloe vera again, it needed stitches!!
Crazydancer
Well-Known Member
I felt I was the horror story for a while!!!! Went to a new yard, had an assesment, went fine. Called up the following week to book a proper lesson, gave the name of the horse I had ridden, only to be told that unfortunately that horse had had colic and died! So booked for another horse, equally sweet, fine again. Called back the following week, only to find that that one had broken a leg in a freak field accident and had been pts. I almost didn't go back as I was scared I would 'kill' another one with my 'seat of death' as my then partner teased me about.
mytwofriends
Well-Known Member
Well this has made me remember the name of the first ever pony I rode at the riding school when I was small - Nobby. Nice.
Kellys Heroes
Well-Known Member
Just the fact that I spent 4 years being held back by people who said they could ride and couldn't!!
We'd be due to jump straight jumps the next week until people turned up in our intermediate advanced class - said they could ride and couldn't even do rising trot so we'd be back to flatwork again!!
I was paying £13 for an hour with 11 other kids! I learnt more in a month with Rebel on part loan than I ever did in 4 years at the RS.
And the fact there was some pretty crazy horses there - it once took me 25 mins of an hour lesson to pull my horse up out of canter, I just could not stop her. One horse just took it upon herself one day to start rodeoing, threw me off against the wall and bronced across the school - RI got me up, got on the horse and promptly got deposited on the floor as well! Bearing in mind I was 10 and this was a 16.2hh hw cob, it was a fairly big deal and it took me a few weeks to get back on her! There was another lovely little palomino gelding there called Phantom - he was 12.1hh and he got EVERYBODY off him...without fail. He was ace
We'd be due to jump straight jumps the next week until people turned up in our intermediate advanced class - said they could ride and couldn't even do rising trot so we'd be back to flatwork again!!
I was paying £13 for an hour with 11 other kids! I learnt more in a month with Rebel on part loan than I ever did in 4 years at the RS.
And the fact there was some pretty crazy horses there - it once took me 25 mins of an hour lesson to pull my horse up out of canter, I just could not stop her. One horse just took it upon herself one day to start rodeoing, threw me off against the wall and bronced across the school - RI got me up, got on the horse and promptly got deposited on the floor as well! Bearing in mind I was 10 and this was a 16.2hh hw cob, it was a fairly big deal and it took me a few weeks to get back on her! There was another lovely little palomino gelding there called Phantom - he was 12.1hh and he got EVERYBODY off him...without fail. He was ace
rhino
Well-Known Member
Oh gosh, I'm trying to remember the worst ones...
How about: having to use 2 polypads on a pony, only one had to be pulled up really high along the neck to hide the open sweet itch sores?
Using a paying customer (in a lesson) to 'back' a pony which had been sold to the owner very recently almost 'wild' and had been hugely difficult on the ground?
The owner after the vet after he had discovered the ancient pony's eyesight had deteriorated very badly and told her not to use it in the school, deciding it was perfectly all right to loan it out for a novice child to hack.
I am sure there are many, many more
and I have fond (!) memories of being chased by my instructor flapping an umbrella because the school horse I was riding (the 3 year old one) was terrified of a jump...
How about: having to use 2 polypads on a pony, only one had to be pulled up really high along the neck to hide the open sweet itch sores?
Using a paying customer (in a lesson) to 'back' a pony which had been sold to the owner very recently almost 'wild' and had been hugely difficult on the ground?
The owner after the vet after he had discovered the ancient pony's eyesight had deteriorated very badly and told her not to use it in the school, deciding it was perfectly all right to loan it out for a novice child to hack.
I am sure there are many, many more
and I have fond (!) memories of being chased by my instructor flapping an umbrella because the school horse I was riding (the 3 year old one) was terrified of a jump...
VioletStripe
Well-Known Member
There's a riding school near where I live which I tried once or twice. No turnout at all for the horses, they sometimes spend half the day tied up in their stables, you weren't allowed to canter unless you were a certain height!! (they couldn't care less about your ability on the horse or your age, you had to be a certain height), only ever rode indoors, despite being able to ride around a nearby park and having an outdoor school, the tack was always in a disgustingly dirty state, and they once shouted at a horse for spooking. Never ever went back. xx
xxGrumpyHero
Well-Known Member
ahhhhh the first riding school i rode at was awful in hindsight. absolutely awful. but at the time i was age 6 - 10 so i didn't really realise it, neither did my parents because they are totally non-horsey so nothing seemed "wrong".
they had [sometimes] up to 3 horses in one single stable .. they had these awful stalls where the ponies were tacked up in the morning and left tacked up ALL DAY until they were needed on the lessons.
another thing is they had some pretty dangerous horses, i broke my arm there because the pony bronced after every fence (yet they failed to tell me ...and decided to let me ride him on my first ever jumping lesson...how awesome) so i hit the deck after the first fence and broke my arm. there was another horse called copper who was quite big (well for a 10 year old me) and he was just horrendous. a girl on my lesson got put on him and he just randomly bolted for no reason (from a halt) and started broncing...the girl managed to stay on during this until he galloped at the arena wall then slammed on his breaks, dropped his head and bucked her off forwards into the wall (i think she broke her back.. i never saw here again anyway) i left this RS about 3 weeks after this incident.
a few years ago (i was about 14) i met someone at my new RS on my lesson who also used to go to the bad RS and she told me that none of the instructors were qualified, they just used anyone that was available on the yard, and that it had been closed down since because it was awful.
my last RS was nice though, they took good care of the horses and they weren't over worked. they got turned out overnight every night too so it was pretty nice.
they had [sometimes] up to 3 horses in one single stable .. they had these awful stalls where the ponies were tacked up in the morning and left tacked up ALL DAY until they were needed on the lessons.
another thing is they had some pretty dangerous horses, i broke my arm there because the pony bronced after every fence (yet they failed to tell me ...and decided to let me ride him on my first ever jumping lesson...how awesome) so i hit the deck after the first fence and broke my arm. there was another horse called copper who was quite big (well for a 10 year old me) and he was just horrendous. a girl on my lesson got put on him and he just randomly bolted for no reason (from a halt) and started broncing...the girl managed to stay on during this until he galloped at the arena wall then slammed on his breaks, dropped his head and bucked her off forwards into the wall (i think she broke her back.. i never saw here again anyway) i left this RS about 3 weeks after this incident.
a few years ago (i was about 14) i met someone at my new RS on my lesson who also used to go to the bad RS and she told me that none of the instructors were qualified, they just used anyone that was available on the yard, and that it had been closed down since because it was awful.
my last RS was nice though, they took good care of the horses and they weren't over worked. they got turned out overnight every night too so it was pretty nice.
Kellys Heroes
Well-Known Member
Where were you? I was at Ryders...it was a good school, just that we never progressed and the horses did get a bit stir crazy!!
holzrokz
Well-Known Member
I used to go to a pretty bad one as a child/teenager, although it was technically a trekking stables. I have many a bad story from that place!
They made us 'kids' do everything for them, without even asking us nicely. They expected us to lead the ponies on hour long hacks every single week and got a right *****y on then we got older and refused to do it for them, especially when they gave kids whose parents kept their horses there free rides for doing it! I never got a single free ride. Most of the ponies were a nightmare to tack up because of the way they were treated. They would often kick and bite us and some were really quite nervous which was always made worse when the staff would raise a hand to them when they wouldn't stand still! And they were kept in the most grotty barn that was extremely dark with no hay or water!
The 'lessons' they gave were terrible, just making the kids go round and round in circles on one rein the whole lesson and the staff spent more time talking and messing around than teaching. Eventually when i was about 13 me and friend ended up teaching the little ones on a saturday and they let us teach them completely on our own (and were clearly not qualified! although i would say our teaching was a lot better than their was!)
I finally left when the horses me and my friend were riding were getting a bit out of control, and seeing other friends stables made me realise just how bad it was there! (along with the fact that i had picked up soo many bad habbits from lack of decent teaching)
Thankfully i'm at a great place now, and there are some pretty decent places out there
They made us 'kids' do everything for them, without even asking us nicely. They expected us to lead the ponies on hour long hacks every single week and got a right *****y on then we got older and refused to do it for them, especially when they gave kids whose parents kept their horses there free rides for doing it! I never got a single free ride. Most of the ponies were a nightmare to tack up because of the way they were treated. They would often kick and bite us and some were really quite nervous which was always made worse when the staff would raise a hand to them when they wouldn't stand still! And they were kept in the most grotty barn that was extremely dark with no hay or water!
The 'lessons' they gave were terrible, just making the kids go round and round in circles on one rein the whole lesson and the staff spent more time talking and messing around than teaching. Eventually when i was about 13 me and friend ended up teaching the little ones on a saturday and they let us teach them completely on our own (and were clearly not qualified! although i would say our teaching was a lot better than their was!)
I finally left when the horses me and my friend were riding were getting a bit out of control, and seeing other friends stables made me realise just how bad it was there! (along with the fact that i had picked up soo many bad habbits from lack of decent teaching)
Thankfully i'm at a great place now, and there are some pretty decent places out there
ShowJumperBeckii
Well-Known Member
its not really a horror but my 2nd rs was bad she only cared about her money
she put me on a horse that hated water and hated jumping and i was learning to jump i was about 5-6 and this horse didt want to jump so i fell off so many times did she care NO? as logn as im paying for lessons who cares
also another yard that i was at riiding there tack is just horrible the kids that work there dont muck out probly pull the horses around like there toys
and nnot being bitchy but told my mate she was GCSE level at riding
a few weeks later cut all teh inside of the horses mouth when jumping coz she pulls back to balance her self soooo cross
she put me on a horse that hated water and hated jumping and i was learning to jump i was about 5-6 and this horse didt want to jump so i fell off so many times did she care NO? as logn as im paying for lessons who cares
also another yard that i was at riiding there tack is just horrible the kids that work there dont muck out probly pull the horses around like there toys
and nnot being bitchy but told my mate she was GCSE level at riding
a few weeks later cut all teh inside of the horses mouth when jumping coz she pulls back to balance her self soooo cross
GrumpyHero
Well-Known Member
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GrumpyHero
Well-Known Member
second one was ryders! i agree bout some of the crazy ones and not progressing, but it's x1000000 better than my previous one! i used to go to one in urmston .. can't remember its name but it was pretty bad.
MiJodsR2BlinkinTite
Well-Known Member
Golly, there was an awful one back in the 1960s/early 70's sort of time, in Exeter, Devon, where there was no hacking or school, all those poor horses did was to go on a track in what was literally the back yard/orchard bit; just went down the end and turned round and came back again. It would never (hopefully) be allowed now, such a pokey little dump and the horses were so bored with all of it, but surprisingly, the dotty old hagrid that ran it, was renowned for having a good eye for a horse and some of hers, when mercifully sold on to private homes, apparently did well.
She died quite a few years ago now and its all been turned into housing, but every time I go back there I still think of those poor fed-up horses just trudging down to the end of the path and back again. Shameful! Tho' I think the old gal who ran it was very knowledgeable in her time but went more than a bit dotty when she had the riding school.
Does anyone else in the Exeter/Devon area remember this riding school? I won't mention the woman's surname but it began with G and sounded like a precious metal.
She died quite a few years ago now and its all been turned into housing, but every time I go back there I still think of those poor fed-up horses just trudging down to the end of the path and back again. Shameful! Tho' I think the old gal who ran it was very knowledgeable in her time but went more than a bit dotty when she had the riding school.
Does anyone else in the Exeter/Devon area remember this riding school? I won't mention the woman's surname but it began with G and sounded like a precious metal.
Kellys Heroes
Well-Known Member
Not sure...?
I went to Mavita at one point - that's another kettle of fish!!!
By God!
I got put on this little ploddy 13hh chestnut mare - lovely horse but she was so miserable! - you entered the arena whilst there were still lessons going on, just joined in, there was upto 25 people a time in this little arena and even people jumping in the middle. 3 different RI's in the centre teaching 3 different lessons, people coming in, people leaving, jumping, cantering, on lead rein, different RI's shouting to different riders, then to top that, liveries coming into the arena too - and I remember there being no lights it was just horrendous! Only had 2 lessons there!
K x