Sending your horse to a riding school.

Well done Charlie 76 for putting the record straight. I have worked in many different yards as a freelance instructor. Some I will not teach at again as they are poor and others are excellent. It all depends on the set up, staff , management etc.
My own boy went to HMS Dryad in Hampshire and was wonderfully cared for and came home better schooled - he was used for training the exam students only. I have very strong opinions on horse welfare coming first at riding schools but sadly, some are too money comes first and are up against it with bills etc. The right horse in the right riding school can thrive for many years giving. They give older horses a working life after many people don't want them
 
Its interesting to hear how mnay peolpe are so against sending there horse to a RS.

I am going to Autrallia for 6months in October and have asked the YO or my local riding school (where i work on a sunday and have a weekly lesson) if she would consider loaning him from me to be used in the RS

I know the staff at my RS greatly cares for all the horses thre and they are well looked after and each horse has individual requirements that are met by the staff.

My only concern of sending my horse to the RS is the limited turnout as my horse is used to 24/7 in summer and out all day and in at night during the winter.

The horses at my RS have pleanty of hay, and those who are a little underweight get extra at dinner time.

As others have said it really depends on the RS, and i probably wouldnt want to send my horse to my RS if i hadnt been there 7 years and know the ins and outs of the place! And i wouldnt want him there much longer than 6 months.

If you are considering sending your horse to a RS i would say pick carefully, but dont let people comments put you off.

I was also concerend about "numpties" riding him, but we have several horses on the yard that are only used for more experience riders

the ponies at my RS usually do around 2 1/2hrs per day, quite often the horses do less than that. and they have mondays off. so they are not over worked.
 
Just to add, if we are offered a nice well schooled horse for the school then we reserve them for the nice, well schooled riders!
Maybe we are just different from other schools in thats as well as novices we have a large number of riders who would be of at least a stage 3 standard and above.
We don't want stale horses any more than the next person.
Don't get me wrong,we have our share of laid back cobs as all schools need them but they get treated in the same way as the rest of the more quality horses.
Here is an example of some of our school horses:
http://homepage.mac.com/kevinroyle/Sites/240607/c3/pages/page_2.html

http://homepage.mac.com/kevinroyle/Sites/240607/c3/pages/page_25.html

http://homepage.mac.com/kevinroyle/Sites/240607/c3/pages/page_71.html
He is in his twenties BTW


http://homepage.mac.com/kevinroyle/Sites/100607/rt1/pages/page_29.html

http://homepage.mac.com/kevinroyle/Sites/100607/rt4/pages/page_15.html
 
My horse is on full livery at a riding school. He is very well cared for and appears very happy. He is not used in the school but there are 5 horses on working livery. All 5 are happy content horses and all their owners are pleased with the arragment.
 
Fantastic pictures. You must be very proud of your school and the horses.
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Don't do it, it will become depressed, possibly over worked and ridden by numpties (my opinion), bought my lad from riding school to save him !!!!

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Oh good. Another post on yet another thread dismissing all riding school horses as braindead plods that are overworked and badly treated and all riding school clients as 'numpties' *sighs*
 
Personally I wouldn't send my horse to a RS if I couldn't ride for 6 months as I would turn it out, which I can get for free or I could pay for it to be on working livery - just call me tightfisted.

Like everyone else has said there are good schools and there are bad schools, so choose carefully.
 
I have just sent mine to a riding school! Nice well schooled mare (50 dressage points!) but has real issues about hacking out by herself. She is really happy there, which she certainly wasn't with me. I was at working livery at this riding school many years ago, so I know how well they look after their horses and I also know that they have some pretty competant clients. There are a lot of riding schools I wouldn't dream of sending a horse to, but I would have no hesitation in recommending this one.
 
I just gave Chex a 6 month holiday when I couldn't ride! I wouldn't send him to a riding school, but I also wouldn't put him on loan or have a sharer (too overprotective). The only RS I've seen is the one I bought Chex from, and there is no way on earth I would ever send a horse there. Some described in this post sound really nice though.
 
Some riding schools I wouldn't but the one I go to now for lessons I would, I make near enough a 100 mile round trip once a week for a lesson, I am taking my mare there for two weeks schooling livery so I can have lessons on her as well, the horses are all well cared for and though they have only a few working liveries, they are graded to what standard riders use them, if they are quiet enough for novices they are only used a few times, and rest of time used by experienced riders only so they don't lose their schooling and can have fun, they have enough food, hay, bedding and all go out for a few hours a day or live out overnight in summer, not all riding schools are bad but some are and I do wonder how they get BHS approval
 
No. I wouldn't even sell one of my horses to a riding school - mind you I doubt many riding schools around me could afford any of my horses!
 
*Er, so if you've never had lessons at one, then what experience of riding schools have you had? *

ive worked in some
 
Yes, if it was the right riding school. I would have no problem with sending my horse (if I had one) to the RS where I am.

The majority of the horses that I have my lessons on are working liveries, plus this enables me to ride not sure the slower horses, but also some competition horses.

They are regularly schooled by the staff, very very well looked after, as is their tack & other belongings and it's a very good set up. Plus having also worked there, I know that we looked after the livery horses well, if not better than the RS horses purely because we knew the owners were expecting the best possible care. They are not over-used and stuck in the school all day every day, all out 24/7, hacked out regularly, competed by the staff occasionally, the list goes on

A lot of it comes down to the set up of the RS in question, its management and the staff.

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And the other, is the thought of beginners not 'riding' the horse and being unsensitive, and the horse developing bad habits.

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I'm taking issue with that, purely because if the horse was not suitable for a beginner rider, it should not be used. If the rider gets put on the horse and rides in an insensistive manner which ultimately is detrimental to the horse's level of schooling, that's the fault of the RS itself for not choosing a more suitable beginner ride.

And anyway not all RS clients are unsensitive, beginner riders. Again, choosing the right RS which attracts a vast array of ability will mean the horse that's on livery may well be ridden to a very very good standard.

ETS: having re-read this thread. Think it highlights both mine and Sunflower's point about RSs and their clients all being made out to be god damn awful!
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Id never do it. The first pony i had on loan was a riding school pony about 6 years ago and i used to hate watching her be riden around by beginners who would boot her sides at the same time as pulling her in the mouth and who would bounce around roughly on her back. Id have to basically beg the yard owner (who i loaned her from) to have another bale of straw to add to her bed so that she could actually HAVE a bed! Shed be left tacked up when nobody was using her in order to 'save time' later.
Despite this, i have been to some riding schools (very few but some) that dont overwork their horses and do treat them right and i think that so long as you find the right place then there is no problem.
 
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Of course it would be ruined.
All riding schools work the horses for 8 hours a day, leave them standing fully tacked, and tied up with just a mouthful of hay.
Let's not forget also they put all the beginners on well schooled advanced horses to yank their mouths and kick their sides and hoon around on!

I would doubt very much that any riding school would be open for business if that is how it worked!

Have you got a broom Spangle? You will need it for your sweeping generalistaions also!

Unless you have seen every single riding school in the UK you cannot judge them. How one school operates does not mean that they ALL do the same.
How many riding schools are there in the UK that you have seen first-hand to make an opinion such as yours?

You would have to road test them all to decide that all horses on working livery become 'ruined'.

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That is SO untrue. Don't tar all of them with the same brush. I have been on holiday to the most fantastic riding school twice, when I didn't own a horse. The horses were turned out 24/7 unless it was winter, their banks were 3ft high in the stables (and I have a picture to prove it!) and they bought ponies off the moors and reschooled them into horses who actually wanted to work for you!! Some, yes I agree. but most definately not all. Have you been to every single riding school in the country to prove your point? somehow, I doubt it.
 
personally i wouldn't dream of it !!! yes there are some good centers out there but if my ponio went to any of my 4 local riding schools she would proberbly get recked as she is so sweet they could beat her and she would stand there and take it she is so safe it would proberbly only be the beginners and disabled that would ride her i would rather not put her through that
 
Why would they beat your pony? That sort of thing wouldn't happen in my yard!
Any school worth their salt will be BHS and ABRS approved.Both the ABRS and BHS do spot inspections that you cannot prepare for and they also watch lessons in progress- therefore if the horses and facilities are not being cared for correctly then this is picked up.
If the are not ABRS or BHS approved then there is usually something not up to scratch.
All of our horses are risked assessed and any quirks or medical issues are stated on a sheet- this is updated yearly or 6 monthly.
All of the riders are assessed on their intial assessment to ensure all riders are in the right group and riding the correct horse for their level.
I also assess the instructors and give them regular teacher training.
 
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Of course it would be ruined.
All riding schools work the horses for 8 hours a day, leave them standing fully tacked, and tied up with just a mouthful of hay.
Let's not forget also they put all the beginners on well schooled advanced horses to yank their mouths and kick their sides and hoon around on!

I would doubt very much that any riding school would be open for business if that is how it worked!

Have you got a broom Spangle? You will need it for your sweeping generalistaions also!

Unless you have seen every single riding school in the UK you cannot judge them. How one school operates does not mean that they ALL do the same.
How many riding schools are there in the UK that you have seen first-hand to make an opinion such as yours?

You would have to road test them all to decide that all horses on working livery become 'ruined'.

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That is SO untrue. Don't tar all of them with the same brush. I have been on holiday to the most fantastic riding school twice, when I didn't own a horse. The horses were turned out 24/7 unless it was winter, their banks were 3ft high in the stables (and I have a picture to prove it!) and they bought ponies off the moors and reschooled them into horses who actually wanted to work for you!! Some, yes I agree. but most definately not all. Have you been to every single riding school in the country to prove your point? somehow, I doubt it.

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Hey Truffles. If you re-read my posting, you will see I was actually being sarcastic and asking another poster if they had a broom for THEIR comments, and asking them the same, had they been to every RS in the UK.
confused.gif
 
Well said Teapot. As for RS horses being ridden by beginners who are "unsensitive". Well, surely any horse that is ridden by a beginner is ridden in this manner, and from the Riding Schools I have been to recently they tend to use the more forgiving schoolmaster types for beginner lessons, but also do not use the horses too much and they are also often used in the advanced lessons to give them a bit of a break.
As you said, this thread has only clarified what you and SF pointed out the other day of the perception of RS clients being terrible riders who just bounce around on the horses back and jab it in the mouth and therefore should under no circumstances be allowed to own a horse till they have magically learnt to ride
mad.gif
 
a friend did with her pride and joy and yes there were some niggles but he came back better than he went.

I would consider it is things came to it, but one of mine is a 14yr old ex racer with quirkes and it wouldn't necessarily be a safe option with him
 
I wouldn't personally as i know my horse is so bored of schooling with just me for a few hours a week so would not enjoy riding school work.

Obviously it depends on the particular school but every one i have been to the horses and been perfectly cared for and doted on by many children. The care isn't the issue for me i just know C would get very bored.
 
i was asked my opinion and I gave it. I learnt at to ride at RS but then I worked at one which opened my eyes. I stated that this was my opinion and that opinion is based on MY experience, hence it being MY opinion.

I know there are nice RS out there, but through MY experience i have not found one yet.

end of discussions
 
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As for the place where i ride now (yes, I am still one of those evil RS numpties), they have strictly limited hours of lessons, strict rules on how many hours each horse can do, NO group lessons, and every horse is turned out for a good few hours every day. They will take on new horses on working livery, but only after a month's trial period, and recently "sacked" a pony on its first day, because it wasn't suitable.



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I like the sound of that yard !!!!
grin.gif
 
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They will take on new horses on working livery, but only after a month's trial period, and recently "sacked" a pony on its first day, because it wasn't suitable.


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Ohhh yup that sounds familiar. One horse in particular was put to shame after it dumped the CI about 3 times in a lesson - it was gone by the end of the week
 
I wouldnt with my ponies ATM, but i my old small, quite ponies who were baisicaly unschooled went there, they didnt change in there time, for better or worse.

Haz
 
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Of course it would be ruined.
All riding schools work the horses for 8 hours a day, leave them standing fully tacked, and tied up with just a mouthful of hay.
Let's not forget also they put all the beginners on well schooled advanced horses to yank their mouths and kick their sides and hoon around on!

I would doubt very much that any riding school would be open for business if that is how it worked!

Have you got a broom Spangle? You will need it for your sweeping generalistaions also!

Unless you have seen every single riding school in the UK you cannot judge them. How one school operates does not mean that they ALL do the same.
How many riding schools are there in the UK that you have seen first-hand to make an opinion such as yours?

You would have to road test them all to decide that all horses on working livery become 'ruined'.

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That is SO untrue. Don't tar all of them with the same brush. I have been on holiday to the most fantastic riding school twice, when I didn't own a horse. The horses were turned out 24/7 unless it was winter, their banks were 3ft high in the stables (and I have a picture to prove it!) and they bought ponies off the moors and reschooled them into horses who actually wanted to work for you!! Some, yes I agree. but most definately not all. Have you been to every single riding school in the country to prove your point? somehow, I doubt it.

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Hey Truffles. If you re-read my posting, you will see I was actually being sarcastic and asking another poster if they had a broom for THEIR comments, and asking them the same, had they been to every RS in the UK.
confused.gif


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Ooops - there weren't quote marks, hence I mis interpretted because I thought you had said the top part which said [ QUOTE ]
All riding schools work the horses for 8 hours a day, leave them standing fully tacked, and tied up with just a mouthful of hay.
Let's not forget also they put all the beginners on well schooled advanced horses to yank their mouths and kick their sides and hoon around on!

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