Sending your horse to a riding school.

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Hanz

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Whats your opinions, say for example you have an injury and cant ride for 6months. Would you consider sending to a riding school?

One side of the argument is the horse is well schooled etc

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

What are yiur thoughts on this, and would you ever consider it?
 
No..........................but this is probably because I had my horse on working livery at an agricultural college for 1 year (till I could not trust them any longer and made alternative arrangements), in that year my horse was kicked whilst in a lesson (lame for 6 weeks), had a nose bleed (I was not informed till she had another whilst I was riding, she was then put in lessons despite being on antibotics), fed and rugged for the night despite having just come out of a jump lesson hot and sweating, had skips and shaving forks left in her stable, regualrly had her bit put on her bridle back to front and was left with insufficient hay, so she had none let by 18:00hrs.

I'm sure if your horse had the right temperment and you trusted the RS then it would be fine, but I found my trust was thoroughly abused.
 
My boy lives at a riding school/livery yard and is on working livery. I look after him most of the time except when I'm busy/away and the RS looks after him the rest of the time. Bearing in mind he has been there 5 years and I've been there 9 years so I know everyone etc. The main issues I have if I go away for any length of time (2 days+) is that he won't have enough straw in his bed and it may be dirtier than I would like it. This is usually due to the fact that the rest of teh yard is an aquamax and rubber matting so the newest girls don't really know how to muck straw out.
My only other bug bears about him being in a riding school is that he doesn't always get his boots put on and that my saddle used to get put on the floor.
One thing I would ckeck out in any RS is the amount of hours work they'll be doing and the qualification of the instructer.
Hope that helps
 
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 !!!!
 
No I would never do it, I couldnt do it, I wouldnt like a mixture of different riders on him. I am not going to get into a debate or anything but for a number of reasons I wouldnt do it.
 
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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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Rather sweeping generalisation. Not all riding centres work their horses to death and have depressed over used horses
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I would have thought that most people learnt to ride at a riding school but never had any qualms about it, become a horse owner and diss every single one of them.

Having been around a few schools, I would advise deep research, ask locals (not forum members unless they are in the area) find other (previous) liveries to get their opinion. Then, and only then, can you decide if it will work for your horse.

Statements such as 'become depressed, over worked' etc are like stating that all livery yard owners are bitches or all dealers sell poor horses or all young girls will become pregnant at 15!

Absolute tosh.
 
As with everything else, there are good and bad riding schools. To pick a good one, drop in unexpectedly and 'hang around' for the day, and speak to the teenage 'helpers'.
In a good riding school your ned will be cared for well, always ridden under supervision, and loved by the staff and helpers.
In a bad riding school, he will work too many hours, nose to tail, not have enough hay/bedding and if you go to visit it will have a 'constant crisis management' feel.
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Depends totally on the riding school in question. I do know of one that I would be quite happy to send my horse to in such a situation.
 
I don't think thats a fair comment Spangle. Our 2 local riding schools are excellent. ALL their horse/ponies are well schooled and regularly attend the local shows and dressage comps and do very well too.
I would have no qualms sending any of mine to either should I need to. In fact it would probably do mine the world of good...
 
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'.
 
wow, its amazing how picky people get when someone voices there OWN OPINION on something isnt it, this is my opinion, i really dont neet to justify it or follow it with caveats and exeptions.
end of.
 
Speaking as the centre manager of a large riding school I would disagree with the comments on here as I feel it is not right to generalize in this way.
Firstly is depends on the horse in question, some horses thrive on the work load and the routine, others it does not suit. We have several horses here that belong to 'owners' that have sent them to us as they couldn't manage them in the workload they were in with them. They are more than happy with the way they are to ride now.
Secondly, any good riding school will match riders ability to the horse that suits them. We do not put 'numpties' on quality, well schooled, sensitive horses as we don't want them ruined either!
We provide the best care for all our school horses- better than some private horses IMO. They have the dentist regularly, have the vet when needed, are shod without fail, are seen by chiropracters and equine sports therapists when neeed. They are schooled by staff and lunged as needed. They live in or out depending on each individuals circumstances and are kept regularly wormed.
All of the horses are in tack such as Stubben, GFS ect and are fitted to each horse by our qualified on site saddle fitter.
They have ad lib hay and what ever feed and supplements they need.
We have many people asking if we will take their horses on and often are having to turn people away.
Please do not tar all with the same brush.
For info:
This is us www.hall-place.com

We always take horses on a 2-4 week trial first to ensure it suits us and the horse and to assess each horse individually.
 
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wow, its amazing how picky people get when someone voices there OWN OPINION on something isnt it, this is my opinion, i really dont neet to justify it or follow it with caveats and exeptions.
end of.

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But the point of an opinion is to state it. What is the point of having an opinion without facts or reasons? I don't understand.
 
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Never ever ever ever ...afterwards you could probaly get more life from a 90 yro sea side donkey .

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Really? You must know some fantastic 90 year-old donkeys. Not all riding schools are terrible, I have seen some very bad riding schools and also some fantastic ones. Not all riding schools work their horses into the ground and I have ridden some great horses at my last riding school who were well-schooled, forward going and generally happy.

As someone else has pointed out, most people learn to ride at a riding school yet as soon as you buy your own horse suddenly they are the root of all evil and treat all their horses abysmally. I have seen many privately owned horses who are worked far harder and treated worse then the horses at some riding schools - yet I do not tar all horse-owners with the same brush...
 
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fiar or not, its my opinion

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Is your opinion set in stone or are you prepared to accept that maybe you over generalised?

I worked at a dire RS in Surrey in the 1980's. Breaks my heart to think of those poor overworked, underfed animals but have since been to some great ones(and a not so great one) including the one I now send my daughter to which I would send any of my horses/ponies to if need be..
 
I have to say that it depends entirely on the riding school in question. For example, when I was young, i had lessons at three different riding schools. I would rather send my horse to the knackers than EVER let it go to two of those schools, because they were not good, and with hindsight, did not provide a good standard of care of a balanced workload for the horses. However, the third one was an exemplary RS, then and now, and i'd have no qualms about letting my horse go on working livery at such a place.

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.

To imply that any horse that goes to a riding school will come out the other end a broken-down donkey is a bit unfair on the people who have bought their horses from riding schools and have found themselves with perfectly nice, sensible sound horses on which they have continued to have tons of fun and competitive success.
 
No, I wouldnt consider it personally. I do think it very much depends on the riding school - some are excellent and look after horses beautifully whereas you also get the dodgy ones! I guess it depends on if you really trust the establishment you're thinking about. If you're near it, you could pop in often and then you can monitor the situation and check your horse is happy and being well looked after (and not ruined flatwork wise).

I think it does depend on the horses temperament as to if they suit. I wouldn't put any of mine in a riding school because mine prefer the quiter environment of a private home, one was on a busy yard once and got very depressed! Also, some horses except lots of different riders, others won't.

If I were off for 6 months, personally I would try to offer it for loan but on the understanding it stayed where it was so I could keep an eye on him. If I couldn't find anyone to do this then Id offer him out on loan but only to someone I trusted.
 
If it were either of my old riding schools in South Africa or Swaziland then I definitely would, without question. The places I've been to in this country... I'd have to have a think about it.
 
i stated my opinion and yes i have justification, reasons and can base my opinion on personal experiences, but dont want to go into them particularly
i was taught to ride by my family and then private instructers, not riding schools, so no im not dissing RS after learning there
 
Nope, would never do it. I had my last horse on working livery for a year when I was doing my exams and he became thoroughly miserable. I had to give him 3 months off after I took him off working livery as he was fed up and depressed. He then developed a severe dissliking to schooling and I ended up selling him to a hacking/hunting home. It was the biggest mistake I ever made and really regret doing it.
 
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