Schooling correctly

russianhorse

russianhorse

Well-Known Member
Joined
11 December 2009
Messages
1,253
Location
Peterborough
Visit site
Hi y'all

Sorry but probably another boring thread from me, but here we go :D

A couple of threads and not being able to catch my horrid lad the last couple of days (probably due to having vet, farrier and being ridden all in one day :/) got me thinking - a lot

The threads were about correct lundging and how many people don't do it "properly" and another about how schooling can really get you to bond with your horse

Right, now I'm going to bare my soul (so no comments like you're a moron and shouldn't own horses would be appreciated :D)

Okay, so I never came from a horsey family, we got Dizzy stupidly when he was 4. I have never had formal lessons on him, but from feedback I'm quite a good rider (not perfect, but I have the hang of it) except I'm not great at jumping so when financially free from paying for my kids riding lessons, I might try and summon the courage to get some (not because I'm scared but because I don't want to be laughed at)

Anyway my question is (after waffling), where did you learn to school/lundge/bring on correctly? I've done schooling and lundging with Dizzy via reading lots but I'm more of a hands on learner so doubt I'm doing it right. When I've asked people I know if I could watch to learn, they look at me like I have 2 heads :(

I would love to be able to do it properly :)

Thank you for listening to my self pitying ramblings today, as I sit on a pile of hay in Dizzys shelter. A cadburys chocolate bar for just reading (I have a fridge full :D)
 
russianhorse said:
Hi y'all

Sorry but probably another boring thread from me, but here we go :D

A couple of threads and not being able to catch my horrid lad the last couple of days (probably due to having vet, farrier and being ridden all in one day :/) got me thinking - a lot

The threads were about correct lundging and how many people don't do it "properly" and another about how schooling can really get you to bond with your horse

Right, now I'm going to bare my soul (so no comments like you're a moron and shouldn't own horses would be appreciated :D)

Okay, so I never came from a horsey family, we got Dizzy stupidly when he was 4. I have never had formal lessons on him, but from feedback I'm quite a good rider (not perfect, but I have the hang of it) except I'm not great at jumping so when financially free from paying for my kids riding lessons, I might try and summon the courage to get some (not because I'm scared but because I don't want to be laughed at)

Anyway my question is (after waffling), where did you learn to school/lundge/bring on correctly? I've done schooling and lundging with Dizzy via reading lots but I'm more of a hands on learner so doubt I'm doing it right. When I've asked people I know if I could watch to learn, they look at me like I have 2 heads :(

I would love to be able to do it properly :)

Thank you for listening to my self pitying ramblings today, as I sit on a pile of hay in Dizzys shelter. A cadburys chocolate bar for just reading (I have a fridge full :D)
Click to expand...

hey you sound just like I did!! Id ridden since I was 8, had ponies on loan, ponies to ride etc etc. At age 30 I finally bought my own and was happily galloping about the countryside, entering hunter trials, XC & SJ comps and having a ball:D (dressage was boring and for people who were scared to gallop and jump or over 50 ;) )Then I started to have the odd problem with napping on hacks and my Y/O suggested a lesson. I though, aye ok, got the RI in and had my eyes opened beyond belief:eek: She asked me to bend and flex, she told me to half halt. And I had to stop in the school and say I have absolutely no idea what you are going on about :eek::confused: :o

That was almost 7 years ago. The best thing I ever did was join a local riding club and tap into their lessons. I now compete in dressage more than any other discipline haha and spend most of my time schooling.

What I have learned (and it has taken years to fully understand this) is that correct schooling is the foundation of everything you do with your horse. The fundamental 'way of going', how he moves and uses himself correctly builds strength and muscles in the right places which in turn = better performance in other disciplines. It also builds on your communication with him and his obedience, as well as your riding. 7 years ago I had no thoughts about it whatsoever and would happily hoon about and jump fences. Now I have a mare who is weak behind and not as balanced in canter as she should be and I am not jumping her properly until I have a good enough quality canter to jump out of.

I hope that helps, join a RC if you can! I also went to 'lunging lessons' our local RC put on!
 
Firstly on a general hunter a schooling/ breaking yard with some eventers shown the correct way and also had to learn how to get on with it when doing difficult spoilt horses.
Then a big BHS training yard when doing exams you learnt want you had to know to pass exams but also saw and worked with GP riders producing horses.
Then by myself reading watching developing my system.
Then with the trainer I have now
But I don't think you ever stop learning and refining what you do that's the great thing about horses you can always be pushing to get better a things
 
Thank you neversaynever :)

Stupid question but do you have to take your horse to RC? (haven't got a trailer)

Yes very similar to you, I will and have merrily ridden any horse but am now beginning to realise that I need the real foundations. For example, my lad who was fab to hack before has lost his confidence (now on a scary farm with tractors jobs etc) and because clearly my schooling hasn't been right, we're on the road to nowhere. Also it's just dawned on me that he & I don't actually have a bond/partnership and I think that's really down to not enough schooling. I'm just the lady who feeds him, keeps him warm and snuggy with a straw bed, jumps on his back to take him scary places etc, but I'm not his leader or partner....,. And this I'd making me quite sad

I'll look into RCs :) thank you
 
Honestly, I'd have lessons with someone you respect and whose way of riding/ general horsemanship you'd like to emulate.

Al's instructor for the past 2 years has been someone who is an eventer. She produces young horses amazingly, knew instinctively when Reg (sister's horse) was being a div and when he was actually finding it hard, knew exactly what Al needed to do to prevent an evasion she could see coming before the horse knew he was going to do it and was onhand virtually 24/7 for phonecalls and texts. She really taught Al how to begin to ride well- up til those lessons, Al had been good but there had been no structure to her riding.

Unfortunately, this lady has moved away but the confidence and skills she gave Al mean she's now having lessons with some new people and loving it and learning insane amounts. Competing always comes second to lessons for Al though, she loves learning :)
 
When I first started work as a working student at a yard in USA I was awful! Didn't have a clue! So they made me ride about five or six horses a day and gave me a lesson at least once a day. They also had me watching every lesson which I found very helpful. I know this level of work isn't practical but what I'm trying to say is practice, practice, practice! Don't get disheartened when you can't do something straight away, everyone picks things up at different rates but ride and watch others as much as you can. Lessons are great but take your time to find an instructor you click with and go home and practice everything you've learnt. Schooling and getting a feel isn't something you can achieve over night but eventually it all comes together with time. I've found it very useful to read dressage and schooling books as well as you can read through slowly and take your time getting to grips with the theory of how the horse should go/look. This gave me more of an idea of what I was looking for while schooling/bringing on.
 
Nothing substitutes good instruction, BUT (!) I've actually started recommending people look at this alongside their lessons - it's gives them an understanding of what we are asking horses to do, and how we affect them (for good or bad)
I know this might not be a poplular thing to say, but there is an awful lot of rubbish tuition out there! When an instructor is asked to teach so done, they often feel they know where the rider wants to end up, and want to get them there as quick as possible. So instead of spending several lessons on the lunge, getting someone to actually understand how it feels when they're straight, or teaching how light an aid should actually be, they pop them up to canter, tell them "sit up, more inside leg, hold your outside rein"... ( you get the idea) :D

Anyway, it might be worth a look, get some DVDs - can you get someone to video you lunging / riding, so you can self critique?

I'm not saying I agree with everything the way it comes across in the pictures / quotes etc on this site, but having been lent her book recently by a friend, I think it's worth a browse
http://www.jonibentley.co.uk/Home/Training.htm

Good luck :)
 
Last edited:
I have a mum who was horse mad as a child, was bought her first pony that was only 4 by my unhorsey grandparents when she was 5, she learnt how to ride by trying to stay on, (and falling off) was self taught, has some sort of natural knack I suppose...and she taught me literally on a lunge line in a field.. so I'm now 24 and started to actually have correct schooling/dressage lessons with my lovely instructor & learn from the start when I was 20 (& mum joined me) even though at the age of 9 I could gallop around on mums tb at 20 I then had to start at the beginning to get a correct position & had a few weeks of correct walk & trot lessons. I've never looked back..
 
Learnt the basics of riding and staying on many years ago at a riding school, had a long break and then went back to a riding school for a while. Starting part loaning horses over a period of a few years and finally got my own horse 6 years ago still really only knowing the basics of riding but not understanding how to work my horse properly over her back and into an outline. Finally starting having lessons with a dressage rider/instructor at the end of last year and have now discovered the joys of how to work my horse properly for the first time. We are definitely a work in progress but we are getting there slowly and I just wish I had started the lessons sooner.
 
I've just been riding less than two years now and no previous experience of horses other than loving and admiring from a distance.
A lot of my riding lessons are based around the basic schooling exercises and making me aware of how the horse is moving and how to correct and deal with evasion and laziness. I share two horses and therefore two friend's have been really good at teaching me the basics of handling and lunging.
What was really helpful to me was having classical French lessons ( philippe Karl trainer) He took the time to explain lots of the basics of horse handling and horse behaviour and how to behave both on the ground and when mounted. I also read a lot as I'm making up fir lost time...sooo much yet to learn :rolleyes:
What I'm finding is that I also need to follow my own instincts and listen to the horse too. Thanks to another forum member I've had some tuition in ground work natural horsemanship style whilst in the UAE and this has been really interesting and helpful.
I suspect that you know most of the important stuff already but you just don't realise it. Maybe arrange some lessons but explain what you've just said in your post so that the RI can tell you what you are doing correctly and make suggestions about areas to improve on.
 
I spent my childhood fleeing around, showjumping, XC, games, did a bit of eveything. Only thing I wasn't taught was how to ride properly!! I stopped riding and got back into it about 2 years ago when I was 29 (bought my horse a year ago), and only now am I learning what inside leg to outside rein is, how to get my horse to work properly over his back and into a contact, bend, flexion, getting his hind legs to step underneath him etc etc... My lessons are invaluable for not just me, but for my horse. I want him to be healthy and sound for years to come, and I wont achieve that if I dont get him using the correct parts of his body. Riding correctly is a real art, and a definite skill that you can only learn from a brilliant instructor! I've had some awful instructors and now have an amazing one that has taught me more than he will ever realise! Fleeing around a field as a kid really didnt teach me as much as I probably thought!
 
it does help if you have a trailer so you can take your horse along to things but an RI should be able to come to you if you have somewhere you can school. The nice thing about going along to lessons the RC arrange is that they are often in a group and subsidised price wise.
 
Up till I was 18, flatwork & schooling were just a necessary evil to jump, & though I wasn't awful I didn't really know a great deal about it, I would ride pretty much anything happily with washing line reins, if it worked nicely itself that was great, if it wanted to race round with its head up, that was also fine. I only really started learning about how to work a horse properly when I went working with them age 18. I'm just grateful I rode bareback as a kid/teen a lot, so my position wasn't bad, & because I just wasn't remotely interested in a contact I at least hadn't picked up habits like fiddling with the mouth, or wrecked anything trying to ride 'on the bit'.
 
I started off having weekly lessons at a riding school. they increased to two a week when I was ten and I started loaning at weekends when I was twelve.

I booked stable management lessons at my riding school and I was the only one there so she ended up showing me how to lunge properly and pull manes etc.

I consistently had lessons (one flat and one jumping) until I was 18. Until recently, I'd book the odd lesson if I felt I needed help with something. I'd just gotten a new horse and was more concerned with us getting used to each other.

I'm injured at the moment (sob) but once I'm back in the saddle for more than 15 minutes at a time, I'll be having weekly lessons again. I'll need them after being out of action for the best part of 5 months and I want to get the best from my horses.

I'd be quite happy to let someone watch my lunge or answer questions if I could. you won't learn if you don't ask. :)
 
I didn't learn to ride until I was 13 at a local riding school. I used to spend all weekend and school holidays there and took one of the riding school ponies on part loan when I was 16. As well as being a riding school, the owner took horses to back and school and was a dab hand at buying bargain bucket ponies from Beeston sales and bringing them home where I was generally used as the crash test dummy for these and the youngsters who were there for backing. But it was always done properly and I learned a lot from watching and helping. I got my own horse at 17 who I kept for a couple of years and then sold at quite a decent profit for all the work I had done on him. I stayed with the same riding instructor for years, who had by then moved on and set up a livery yard, so when I came home from working in London every couple of weeks, she always had something for me to ride. We are still friends to this day.
I also spent a few years working at a rehab yard every weekend/bank holiday etc which taught me a lot.

I echo what Norfolk Pie said further up - there are a lot of awful instructors out there. It doesn't matter to me whether they are BHS qualified or not - I think experience is actually better than qualifications - but I want someone who has ridden to a good level, not someone who has done a few local shows and suddenly thinks they're Carl Hester!
 
I'm in a similar situation. Was taught how to ride from age 7-11 until i got my first pony, then lessons stopped as we couldn't afford those and pony. Was never actually tauggt how to school a horse and have just picked up what i know from books and watching others. Am hopefully going to take a few lessons on my mare this year.
 
Reading books, watching others and discussing ideas can be nothing but helpful, but realistically you need lessons if you want to learn. An instructor will see exactly what is happening between you and your horse and help you correct problems step by step - unfortunately there is no substitute for that. You may also find it helpful to ride a horse that knows its job already as that will give you a feel for what you are trying to achieve with your youngster.
 
Get some videos for us to CC. Or even just for yourself to CC. I found some (hideous) things about my riding from analysing the videos of me. Lessons are good too obviously but videoing my lessons has helped me immensely.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top