Sending my boy away for schooling livery

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spacie1977

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Hi there, I'm thinking of sending my 6yr old off to schooling livery for 4 weeks to help bring him on a bit more wih his flat work as I don't have the skill or time to see his full potential by myself. He still needs a lot of work on his bend and canter transitions, especially on the left rein, and I want him to become a bit quicker off the leg as he's a lazy sod at the moment who thinks he can ignore my leg and just plod on however he likes whilst working in the school. Does anyone have any experience of sending their horse away for professional schooling to be able to impart some advice on this? I'll miss him like hell and it will cost a small fortune but will hopefully be good for both of us in the long term. I'd want to have some lessons by the trainer to know how to continue what he's learnt, but is there any other advice anyone can give? Also has anyone had any experience if sending their horse to Jo Gummer in Huntingdon, Cambridge? She's one of the people I'm considering sending him to.
 
I will give a few thoughts from the opposite side, I take a few in for schooling, if you can have a lesson before you send the horse it will help you feel it is the right person, or not also it gives you a chance to discuss properly what you are expecting and they will be able to assess you and the horse on home ground and be able to work on a plan for the horse.

Before he goes get him checked by a physio and make sure the saddle fits, most that come here have required physio and it is a waste of money to have a horse in schooling livery that is in some way not able to work. Get him fairly fit for the same reason, to really benefit he needs to be up to doing some hard work not struggling due to lack of fitness.

Once he goes you should be welcome to visit at any reasonable time, a month will go fairly quickly especially if you go and have a few lessons.
 
I sent my horse away for a months schooling and went up weekly to have lessons on him. This helped me see the horse progressing and also helped me learn what I needed to improve on.
When the horse comes home you can then get the trainer out regularly to ride him/give you lessons.

I think it is important to communicate the key things you are hoping to achieve so that you and the trainer are on the same page. It is also worth being open minded to new approaches ect.
 
Be very careful who you send your horse to! I sent mine to somebody who came very highly recommended and my horse came back with potentially career ending injuries and a fear of being mounted/dismounted.

Make sure whoever you send him to runs it as a proper business with insurance/contracts/receipts. I'm not sure where you are based but I would recommend Talland and I wouldn't send a horse anywhere else now!
 
We offer schooling livery and always have the owners come and have lessons with the horse at least once a week

Every horse and rider are different so we dont have set training regimes, some take longer to come together than others and progress at different paces

We offer "after care" as well with continued lessons and help at competitions etc. if needed

I agree, be careful who you pick and make sure everything is done properly and ask if unscheduled visits are allowed as this is your horses future you're putting in someone elses hands

It is definitely worth it when with the right person, luckily I have my OH to ride and produce mine when he's getting a bit much so he doesnt go anywhere :D

When viewing yards/people make sure you ask if they have other horses in for the same thing at present or if they have any references/testimonials from previous customers

Good luck! :)
 
Thank you all for your advice I really appreciate it. My husband has been stroppy about me spending so much time with my horse after work every night. So I've decided to move his permanent home to full livery in our village. The lady there does schooling livery and after speaking to other local people who know of her, and reading she's done a fair bit of competing and producing horses I trust she'll be good for my boy. She seems really chilled out too which is something I was worked about in finding someone to school him; I've seen a couple people who would be highly recommended, who have been quite stressy and aggressive with horses not performing in the way they want. So anyway, I won't be sending him away now but will have him schooled at his new yard where I can also get regular lessons with the same person. That'll also mean I don't need to miss him as I can still walk down to the stables to share some polos and cuddles on the days I'm not riding :-)
 
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