Schoolmaster lessons in the South East...?

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Scarlett

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Currently facing the harsh realisation that to continue progressing with Large Orange Horse I need to start improving myself before I can really improve him. I had a lesson with a pure dressage Instructor on Sunday who didn't let me out of walk and really feel that I need to sit on something that knows what it's doing to help develop my 'feel' to take back to my boy - he came out of racing in Dec and still finds the basics hard. I'm pretty sure some lessons on some decent horses would help but I'm unsure what my options are or where to go and am worried about paying a lot of money for a lesson at somewhere that teaches a 'different' style of riding from what I'm trying to acheive...

So, my question is does anyone know of or can anyone recommend somewhere I could go to to get flatwork, and possibly jumping, lessons on good horses? My current trainer has a slight 'classical' style and thats certainly something I would like to continue, I don't want lesssons on something that goes against what I have learnt the last few years.

I'm based in Surrey, just outside Guildford, but am happy to drive a bit if I have too.

All suggestions greatfully accepted! :)
 
I'd be interested too but in the Buckinghamshire area. I'd love lunge lessons without stirrups/reins etc. But due to having a huge orange horse too that bucks on the lunge, I'd like to do it on a school master type!
 
Very hard to recommend anywhere in the SE! In the SW you have Huntley and Talland. I have had a great time at Huntley. Haven't been to Talland but know plenty of people that would recommend.

There is also a fab place in north wales - Pen Llyn lusitanos. Not terribly local to Surrey!

I have to say though, correct as it may be, I would not personally use an instructor that restricted all work to walk. I think when working with TBs it is often the absolute worst thing that they can do, as they are often mentally not happy until they have started moving forwards a little bit more. If the horse is tense and frustrated then the rider has no chance of riding correctly.

I had an excellent dressage instructor (competed to GP) just outside of Epsom who I took Pete to for a few lessons as well as another couple of ex-racers. She was very pragmatic with them and was willing to accept that nothing was going to be perfected straight away. She also let me sit on a couple of her nice Dr horses. PM me if you are interested in any details.
 
RachelFerd said:
Very hard to recommend anywhere in the SE! In the SW you have Huntley and Talland. I have had a great time at Huntley. Haven't been to Talland but know plenty of people that would recommend.

There is also a fab place in north wales - Pen Llyn lusitanos. Not terribly local to Surrey!

I have to say though, correct as it may be, I would not personally use an instructor that restricted all work to walk. I think when working with TBs it is often the absolute worst thing that they can do, as they are often mentally not happy until they have started moving forwards a little bit more. If the horse is tense and frustrated then the rider has no chance of riding correctly.

I had an excellent dressage instructor (competed to GP) just outside of Epsom who I took Pete to for a few lessons as well as another couple of ex-racers. She was very pragmatic with them and was willing to accept that nothing was going to be perfected straight away. She also let me sit on a couple of her nice Dr horses. PM me if you are interested in any details.
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You're the second person to mention Talland - I'm wondering if it would be worth the drive there as I don't mind having to travel to get what I need...

The Instructor at the weekend was given the remit of sorting my position out, hence the walk work. He is not my usual Instructor (TS) so it was a bit of a one off for a specific reason. Indy is doing really, really well on the flat and appears to have found his 'forward' in a controlled way :) very pleased with him but it's making me more aware of what I need to improve and I'm hoping a few lessons on an experienced horse will help develop my 'feel' and give me more tools to take back and bring Indy on with.

Thanks for the other recommendations folks - will have a Google and make some phone calls this week to see if I can get something arranged :)
 
Talland is great and well worth the trip. Will never forget doing piaffe/passage/tempi changes etc on one of their schoolmasters. Might even be tempted to go back for a revisit soon given the orange one wont be doing much for a while. Def wouldn't waste your money at Oldencraig and dont know anywhere else round here.
 
Def makes more sense to do the position work on a schoolmaster then. The other place that I forgot about which is ok (and maybe not quite so far??) is Contessa in Hertfordshire. They are very much from a classical P.O.V. although weekends are horribly busy in my experience there.

The reasoning why I like Huntley is because when you get on one of their 'schoolmaster's they don't treat them as already being 'perfect', and will ask you to assess the horse and make improvements to their way of going, just as you would on any other horse. They will of course do hardcore lunge lessons to sort position too.

I badly need to go back as my flatwork has gone to pot slightly!
 
Definitely Talland!. Highly recommend their lunge lessons. Jenny Loriston Clarke says that Ali does the best lunge lessons in the UK.
If you want to treat yourself, book in to Barnsley House overnight. Amazing food and location, and a mere 5 mins drive from Talland. Took my other half there while I rode and he loved it.
Also, go to nearby Burford and have coffee and cake at Huffkins yum yum!
 
Herts05 said:
Definitely Talland!. Highly recommend their lunge lessons. Jenny Loriston Clarke says that Ali does the best lunge lessons in the UK.
If you want to treat yourself, book in to Barnsley House overnight. Amazing food and location, and a mere 5 mins drive from Talland. Took my other half there while I rode and he loved it.
Also, go to nearby Burford and have coffee and cake at Huffkins yum yum!
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Another heads up for Talland! I trained there, and it was fantastic!
 
Scarlett said:
The Instructor at the weekend was given the remit of sorting my position out, hence the walk work.
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I'd have a bit of an issue with that tbh! It's pretty easy to make positional corrections, and maintain them in walk, whereas the trot is generally where it all goes to pot. Position isn't just about sitting pretty - its about everything being in the right place to enable you to ride him effectively. I'd have a good old grumble if I asked for a position lesson, and spent the whole time fannying around in walk!
 
Auslander said:
I'd have a bit of an issue with that tbh! It's pretty easy to make positional corrections, and maintain them in walk, whereas the trot is generally where it all goes to pot. Position isn't just about sitting pretty - its about everything being in the right place to enable you to ride him effectively. I'd have a good old grumble if I asked for a position lesson, and spent the whole time fannying around in walk!
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With all due respect I was struggling to achieve what was required in the walk, had I been told to trot it probably would have went very, very wrong... As it was I came away with a positive experience and learned a few things I have been able to incorporate into my riding this week. I don't care if I'm asked to walk, trot or canter for hours on end, I care that I learn something and I am able to make improvements :)

Talland is looking like the leading contender, though with travel its going to be over £100 just for one session - I really hope it's worth it!! :)
 
Talland is well worth the trip. I had an excellent lesson there and took my bhsi there a week ago and every horse was nice.
 
Can anyone recommend a particular instructor at Talland? If I'm going to make the trip I'd like to make sure I end up with the right person! :)
 
Scarlett said:
With all due respect I was struggling to achieve what was required in the walk, had I been told to trot it probably would have went very, very wrong... As it was I came away with a positive experience and learned a few things I have been able to incorporate into my riding this week. I don't care if I'm asked to walk, trot or canter for hours on end, I care that I learn something and I am able to make improvements :)

Talland is looking like the leading contender, though with travel its going to be over £100 just for one session - I really hope it's worth it!! :)
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Fair enough! If you came away with useful stuff, then that's what matters. Care to share? I'm always interested to hear about such things.
 
Auslander said:
Fair enough! If you came away with useful stuff, then that's what matters. Care to share? I'm always interested to hear about such things.
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Sadly it was all pretty much reiterating the basics of weight distribution and body angles plus a couple of things that were pertinant to my own physical inabilities - I'd love to say there was a revelationary moment where suddenly I could ride correctly but alas no! I did, however, end up with my stirrups 6 holes down - on top of the 4 holes down I have been working on, so 10 in total - and feeling too short still! I also could barely move the next day so I was obviously using something differently :)

I think the biggest problem is not knowing what 'correct' feels like, hence my desire to sit on a horse that knows what it's doing and can hopefully guide me! :)
 
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