Stage 3 - horse wouldn't move

Um, from what I read the other girl couldn't get the horse to go either and it was subsequently checked by a farrier who deemed it to be lame.

Sounds very frustrating OP. Hope you can get a free re-test.
 
My reading of the OP was that another girl could not get the horse to go either, but she was given another horse and subsequently passed the exam.
 
Apologies - I read the OP wrongly on that part. But I stand by the rest of my post. Having sat the exams, viewed many and knowing a chief examiner very well, I think I have a fairly good knowledge of the BHS exams.
Yes, to err is human and every now and then a centre gets it wrong. But in 99.9% of cases the candidate was at fault, under-prepared, or riding/handling in an unsafe manner, and has decided to blame it on the horse/examiner/whoever.

I still believe there is more to this than has been told, for a candidate to not be allowed to continue in the flatwork section they have to have done something fairly bad.
Don't forget, the riding exam is not done behind closed doors with only candidate and examiner present. There is more than one examiner, all the other candidates, and whoever is around at the centre.
People DO NOT get sent out just for having a lame horse. There has to be more to this. A team of examiners would not just send one rider out for having a lame horse but give the other one a different horse in the way that has been described.

I've seen too many instances where people have been below the required standard, failed and then blamed the BHS. To not fair IMO.
 
Patterdale said:
Apologies - I read the OP wrongly on that part. But I stand by the rest of my post. Having sat the exams, viewed many and knowing a chief examiner very well, I think I have a fairly good knowledge of the BHS exams.
Yes, to err is human and every now and then a centre gets it wrong. But in 99.9% of cases the candidate was at fault, under-prepared, or riding/handling in an unsafe manner, and has decided to blame it on the horse/examiner/whoever.

I still believe there is more to this than has been told, for a candidate to not be allowed to continue in the flatwork section they have to have done something fairly bad.
Don't forget, the riding exam is not done behind closed doors with only candidate and examiner present. There is more than one examiner, all the other candidates, and whoever is around at the centre.
People DO NOT get sent out just for having a lame horse. There has to be more to this. A team of examiners would not just send one rider out for having a lame horse but give the other one a different horse in the way that has been described.

I've seen too many instances where people have been below the required standard, failed and then blamed the BHS. To not fair IMO.
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In my case, I felt my bashing was justified. Our examiner was going on about how the centre has kept them waiting and how we were very behind time and could everyone keep this even more in mind when being 'time efficient'

I'm tacking up for lunging, she's stressing everyone out, I don't 'fit' my saddle but tell her when she comes round that the reason I didn't do this is because I worked at the centre and had watched this horse have its saddle fitted less than 2 days ago, I KNOW that it fits but if it had been a strange horse I would have fitted it, but I was aware of our time constraints for the exam and had tried to use my time 'efficiently'

I also pointed out that the reason I had odd boots on was that there wasn't a complete set in the box, but only one brushing and one tendon boot. Instead of walking around gormlously for a full set when they had again asked us to keep an eye on the time, I fitted both to the front legs, explained this to the examiner, and explained that I would prefer the brushing boots for lunging but thought instead of fitting no boots, I would show that I could fit both. She nodded, checked the fit, even SAID 'yes they fit' and walked away.

Sheet back and failed care on lunging, for boots and saddle. I was FUMING. Passed the riding with not one cross. We appealed but nothing came of it.

On the other hand, I have seen people pass levels that really shouldn't have.

Have been looking into the UKCC direction as have spoken to many people and they agree that this seems to be a more fairer way of examining.
 
Patterdale said:
Apologies - I read the OP wrongly on that part. But I stand by the rest of my post. Having sat the exams, viewed many and knowing a chief examiner very well, I think I have a fairly good knowledge of the BHS exams.
Yes, to err is human and every now and then a centre gets it wrong. But in 99.9% of cases the candidate was at fault, under-prepared, or riding/handling in an unsafe manner, and has decided to blame it on the horse/examiner/whoever.

I still believe there is more to this than has been told, for a candidate to not be allowed to continue in the flatwork section they have to have done something fairly bad.
Don't forget, the riding exam is not done behind closed doors with only candidate and examiner present. There is more than one examiner, all the other candidates, and whoever is around at the centre.
People DO NOT get sent out just for having a lame horse. There has to be more to this. A team of examiners would not just send one rider out for having a lame horse but give the other one a different horse in the way that has been described.

I've seen too many instances where people have been below the required standard, failed and then blamed the BHS. To not fair IMO.
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Totally agree, I have a good working knowledge of the exam system and this just wouldn't happen the way it's being portrayed.

Jenni_ said:
In my case, I felt my bashing was justified. Our examiner was going on about how the centre has kept them waiting and how we were very behind time and could everyone keep this even more in mind when being 'time efficient'

I'm tacking up for lunging, she's stressing everyone out, I don't 'fit' my saddle but tell her when she comes round that the reason I didn't do this is because I worked at the centre and had watched this horse have its saddle fitted less than 2 days ago, I KNOW that it fits but if it had been a strange horse I would have fitted it, but I was aware of our time constraints for the exam and had tried to use my time 'efficiently'

I also pointed out that the reason I had odd boots on was that there wasn't a complete set in the box, but only one brushing and one tendon boot. Instead of walking around gormlously for a full set when they had again asked us to keep an eye on the time, I fitted both to the front legs, explained this to the examiner, and explained that I would prefer the brushing boots for lunging but thought instead of fitting no boots, I would show that I could fit both. She nodded, checked the fit, even SAID 'yes they fit' and walked away.

Sheet back and failed care on lunging, for boots and saddle. I was FUMING. Passed the riding with not one cross. We appealed but nothing came of it.

On the other hand, I have seen people pass levels that really shouldn't have.

Have been looking into the UKCC direction as have spoken to many people and they agree that this seems to be a more fairer way of examining.
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The UKCC would assess your coaching skills not your riding or stable management.
 
EventingMum said:
The UKCC would assess your coaching skills not your riding or stable management.
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And that is ultimately the only reason I ever wanted to take the BHS exams- to teach. You don't HAVE to be able to do the stable management side of things to BHS standards to be a good instructor. I know I can put a rug on a horse etc. Fair enough its good to know more about the anatomy side and feeding side etc, but any horse person who wanted to teach should feel that they should research this out of interest themselves anyway.

Suppose its different if you wanted to go on and coach others to take their BHS exams...
 
Jenni_ said:
And that is ultimately the only reason I ever wanted to take the BHS exams- to teach. You don't HAVE to be able to do the stable management side of things to BHS standards to be a good instructor. I know I can put a rug on a horse etc. Fair enough its good to know more about the anatomy side and feeding side etc, but any horse person who wanted to teach should feel that they should research this out of interest themselves anyway.

Suppose its different if you wanted to go on and coach others to take their BHS exams...
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What a load of rubbish!

Incidentally, in your exam I wouldn't have dreamed of taking a horse out to lunge with one tendon boot and one brushing boot on. I would have asked for matching boots, any more than i would at home or on someone elses yard. And they would have provided them.
Also, if I was told to fit a saddle, I would have demonstrated fitting a saddle. Even if it was my own horse and I was a master saddler, the examiner wants to see you FIT a saddle. So you could say, 'I know this saddle belongs to this horse, but here are the points I would check to ensure a good fit, and this is how I would do it.' So if you were asked to fit a saddle, and DIDNT fit a saddle, then I can totally see why you failed!
 
Patterdale said:
What a load of rubbish!

Incidentally, in your exam I wouldn't have dreamed of taking a horse out to lunge with one tendon boot and one brushing boot on. I would have asked for matching boots, any more than i would at home or on someone elses yard. And they would have provided them.
Also, if I was told to fit a saddle, I would have demonstrated fitting a saddle. Even if it was my own horse and I was a master saddler, the examiner wants to see you FIT a saddle. So you could say, 'I know this saddle belongs to this horse, but here are the points I would check to ensure a good fit, and this is how I would do it.' So if you were asked to fit a saddle, and DIDNT fit a saddle, then I can totally see why you failed!
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Obviously I wouldn't take a horse out with odd boots! But I worked with what I had and used my time efficiently like they'd asked. I fitted both and quickly said the pros and cons and which one I'd prefer to lunge in overall. I wasn't taking it out to be lunged, just tacking it up. In your exams you don't get to tack up the horse you're lunging- it comes to you ready. There were two boots in the bucket, both could be used for lunging, didn't want to waste time mooching about interupting folk who were busy and stressing out themselves so I quietly just got on with it and gave appropriate answers. If I was pulling the horse out to BE lunged then I'd have made sure I had a full set.

Again, I said to her what I would check IF I was fitting a saddle. In hindsight I should have kept my big fat honest mouth shut and lied and said I'd fitted it. Totally obvious that the saddle fitted and I ran through how I knew that. But there again, I got penalised for adhering to what they'd said about 'hurrying up' What I said when she asked if I'd fitted the saddle was 'No, as I know that this horses saddle fits it as I witnessed the saddler out on Tuesday, but this is only because I am aware we are short of time today. If I was tacking up a strange horse then I would fit it completely and would check it fitted as (XYZ)

It was not a good day. Whole exam was rushed through and we got spilt into groups and 10 minutes into the practical girls got pulled out as they were meant to be in the group riding.
 
Jenni_ said:
Obviously I wouldn't take a horse out with odd boots! But I worked with what I had and used my time efficiently like they'd asked. I fitted both and quickly said the pros and cons and which one I'd prefer to lunge in overall. I wasn't taking it out to be lunged, just tacking it up. In your exams you don't get to tack up the horse you're lunging- it comes to you ready. There were two boots in the bucket, both could be used for lunging, didn't want to waste time mooching about interupting folk who were busy and stressing out themselves so I quietly just got on with it and gave appropriate answers. If I was pulling the horse out to BE lunged then I'd have made sure I had a full set.
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Just as a point of interest in Stage 2 now you do tack up the horse and then lunge it.
 
It seems people have differing experiences Although i passed all my stages 1-3 i found much of the equipment required, faulty or non existant, at one time being told to "do your best with what youve got" well whatever way you cut it, a 5ft 3 rug aint fitting a horse needing a 6ft 3.
I saw horses pulled out to use that werent suitable, and in fact i had to ride one in my stage 2 that was an absolute ar$e bucking and cayrrying on every time it was asked to canter, and im not talking a flick of the heels im talking handstands down the school, me hauling its head up :-o
I spent 20 mins schooling the little chit to transition into canter without attitude, it was then removed as unsuitable for stage 2 students, i was lucky, i could sit it out and it peed me off so much it was worked until it did as i asked , but someone else might not have been so lucky and might have come off or failed on something else because their nerve went. At stage 2 you are asked to work in a well schooled horse to show improvement, that horse certainly didnt meet that bill on theat day, and its not the first ive seen that didnt fit the bill.
I decided after passing my 3 not to spend any more on the expensive BHS where i felt it was a hit or a miss, i followed the UKCC route for teaching/coaching and was subsidised so it saved me a fortune, i also get reduced rate insurance cover through them.
 
I absolutely agree with everything Patterdale and EventingMum have said.

I have referred the OP to The BHS as, from her post, the description of the experience is not what is standard procedure for the Stage 3 exam. However the situation played out, the OP needs some sort of clarification on the circumstances. None of us can give that as we were not there.

I am also very annoyed at the 'BHS Bashing'. As I have already said, the number of complainants would appear to be a very small proportion of the number who take exams each week/month/year. The system is not perfect. I cannot think of one which is. Constantly I hear cries of 'The BHS needs to change' from people who then quote experiences from 10 years ago or 'facts' from exams which are 2 syllabus changes out of date. The BHS HAS and IS changing. It may still not be perfect but I believe it is moving in the right direction.

I did not pass all of my exams first time. It would have been VERY easy for me to stomp my feet, say the system is rubbish and step out of it but the simple fact was I was not up to standard. When I passed it meant all the more because of that. My qualifications (combined with experience, personality and bl00dy hard work - I come to this conclusion from the feedback I have had) have opened a hell of a lot of doors for me and that is WHY I keep pushing myself to go further with it. There is a reason there are only around 65 FBHS's in the whole world.

Jenni_ I do not wish to dwell on this point but I seem to recall you telling this story a few times before. Only previously you had put exercise bandages on the horse for lunging as this was what he normally wore when you worked with him which, as someone pointed out at the time, is not appropriately protective for the majority of lunge horses - hence why you were unsuccesful at that attempt.
 
I also find some of the BHS bashing slightly tiresome. Mainly because people also moan about how low the standard is at other times!
I'm disappointed to hear about Huntley closing, although haven't been able to find anything about it shutting via google, as I was hoping to take my stage 3 there too!
I think they have improved there way of doing things hugely, although I do find it disappointing that you get very little feedback post exam. I passed mine, but it would have been nice to see if they felt you were scrapping the standard, or well above, and in which areas, so you know which areas need the most work.
 
Having done my one and two at equestrian centres that I didn't know, and my three at a centre I was training at, I personally think that all candidates should have to do exams where they do not know the horses or equipment. That way its a blank canvas and you couldn't end up with people making the same mistake as Jenni (who I think should have acted as though she didn't know the horse and asked for other boots etc).

Its a shame the way things have gone nowadays in that you don't get the results and comments there and then, as you did in my day. That way you could discuss their comments and make sure that you fully understood them. I believe it was due to over aggressive candidates and their doting parents that put an end to that.

I failed my stage 2 first time round. I actually think it did me good and took me down a peg or two. Made me be a little more serious in my next one and actually think what I was saying and doing more. And yes, sometimes the wrong rugs were put out, or things that didn't fit properly, but it was how you fitted them and what you said that counts.
 
Yep, I'm with Ruth83, the BHS bashing can get over the top in here sometimes. I've got my AI through BHS exams (including a failed attempt at Stage 3 when I was underprepared) and at every single exam I've had two horses to ride on the flat.

I would suspect that if the OP's daughter did not get to ride her second horse, she must have been deemed unsafe to continue by the examiners....whose job it is to examine & make judgements based on what is in front of them.

BTW, you are completely entitled, I understand, to express reservations about the horse regarding lameness to the examiners, who will provide an alternative horse if necessary.
 
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Jenni_ said:
In my case, I felt my bashing was justified. Our examiner was going on about how the centre has kept them waiting and how we were very behind time and could everyone keep this even more in mind when being 'time efficient'

I'm tacking up for lunging, she's stressing everyone out, I don't 'fit' my saddle but tell her when she comes round that the reason I didn't do this is because I worked at the centre and had watched this horse have its saddle fitted less than 2 days ago, I KNOW that it fits but if it had been a strange horse I would have fitted it, but I was aware of our time constraints for the exam and had tried to use my time 'efficiently'

I also pointed out that the reason I had odd boots on was that there wasn't a complete set in the box, but only one brushing and one tendon boot. Instead of walking around gormlously for a full set when they had again asked us to keep an eye on the time, I fitted both to the front legs, explained this to the examiner, and explained that I would prefer the brushing boots for lunging but thought instead of fitting no boots, I would show that I could fit both. She nodded, checked the fit, even SAID 'yes they fit' and walked away.

Sheet back and failed care on lunging, for boots and saddle. I was FUMING. Passed the riding with not one cross. We appealed but nothing came of it.

On the other hand, I have seen people pass levels that really shouldn't have.

Have been looking into the UKCC direction as have spoken to many people and they agree that this seems to be a more fairer way of examining.
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I am not surprised they failed you to be honest in this case. You shouldn't have just assumed that the saddle fitted as you had worked there before. They may have put a different saddle on for the purpose of assessing you. Also with regards to the boots I would have put none on and ask for a full set of matching boots. They want you to do what you would do in real life if you are left in charge of a yard.

I get fed up with the BHS bashing as well. Those who have their BHS qualifications work hard for them and despite what is stated on here, they do actually have to have bit of knowledge to pass them once you get to stage 3. Most people could fumble their way through 1 & 2 with some reading and some basic help but three and above are a lot more in depth.

I have my BHSI stable managers and my BHSI senior coach certificate. I also have my UKCC level 3 coaching certificate. I worked very hard to gain those. To pass my stage 4 care I had to know I depth detail about selecting brood mares and breeding. Know everything about the endocrine, reproductive, respitory , circulatory systems, I had to know every nutrient and vitamin in feed and what it was used for. I had to know the anatomy of the eye, lower leg and everything about foot balance. As well as every day things such as putting on a knee or hock bandage, lecture a student in taking TPR and in depth knowledge of grass land management.
In the stable managers I had give a twenty min lecture on the conformation of the horse in front of me, select a horse to purchase and why, know all there is to k ow about artificial insemintaion, fitting 4 * horses, international sj and dressage horses, golden horse shoe endurance horses, talk about medication, tack, worming, know all there is to know about running a yard as a business, riding school requirements , health and safety, COSHH, RIDDOR, book keeping etc and give a prepared lecture inc hand outs. Plus much more.
Riding wise for the four you ride to medium on the flat, jump approx newcomers height SJ and BE novice cross country, You also lunged a green horse with pole work. You need to be able to discuss in horse in depth and age every horse you work with.
I taught to advanced level on the flat in the senior coach exam, gave a commentary on other people's lessons, taught a jump lesson to fox hunter level and have to have an large knowledge of training horses to these levels.
I also sat , but not yet achieved my riding part of the BHSI exam, again it is demanding, riding two horses to adabmced/ psg level on the flat, jumping to fox hunter height SJ and XC BE intermediate, again, you need to have a lot of knowledge of competing at these levels, you also have to lunge very green young horses and be able to talk about your training methods.
You really have to be out there , doing things.
People who think the BHS exams are a waste of time are usually the ones not achieving them.
I do think however the OP has cause for complain TBH.

I have been at the raw end of the BHS exams system. In my last exam, the equitation part of the BHSI , I felt it went ok, the horses went well on the flat, I improved the sharp horse so much so that the staff said he looked brilliant, I also felt my discussion was relevant, my SJ horse jumped clear other than one stop which was a lack of power which I then corrected and she jumped very well. My cross country horse was renowned for stopping but jumped clear and my lunge horse improved.
However, I didn't pass, when I looked at my results sheet the comments didn't reflect how I felt it went and all but one section was initialled by the wrong examiners, examiners that hadn't even seen me. When I questioned it I was old it was a printing error and the comments were correct.. I could do know more as it was my word against theirs.
Expensive printing error though!!

It didn't stop me going through my UKCC though and I would still persue my BHSI.
 
I took my BHS exams 20+ years ago and ended up writing a letter of complaint about the standard of horses provided for the exam (I passed all 3 stages in one go, but it really was unfair for the less experienced candidates, being asked to perform movements that the horses clearly were not schooled for or capable of). Sad to hear that this is still going on, but would question if this was the only issue with the OP's examination?
 
I have just seen this thread and am also surprised that the OP's daughter was not allowed to complete the flatwork section on a second horse. I passed my Stage 3 riding in July and as I understand things, you assess your first horse and ride the second with the aim of improving its way of going. Both my horses in my exam were very green and the second was a big heavy cob type who was completely built on his forehand. We were asked to work on turns on the forehand, canter transitions and lengthening/shortening of stride. Well, I did a couple of turns on the forehand and a couple of lengthenings/shortenings and realised that this wasn't helping my lad and so moved on to the transitions for the remainder of the session. I then fully explained to the examiner why I had done this, recognised that he was not established enough to cope with some of the movements she has asked us to ride, and also explained what I would continue to do if I had him to work on for a couple of week. If things are as the OP has stated then it doesn't seem very fair that his daughter was not allowed to continue to the second horse and sounds a very unusual situation - I can only assume she was well below the standard. Maybe they saw something in the other girl that made them want to see more of her, and the OPs daughter just was not quite there yet. Hate to play devil's advocate here but, hopefully the examiner would have explained to the daughter why she was not being allowed to continue. Could this be a case of a young girl who is understandably upset and embarrassed at failing her exam, and then relaying a slightly skewed version of events to her father? I feel very sorry for her but hope she can take the positives from this and work to achieve the standard in the future.

At Stage 3 level they may require you to ride all sorts of horses, you should be at a level where you can recognise what needs to be done with a horse and explain your plan for each individual animal. They are not looking for whether a horse can perform certain school movements - they are looking to see whether you recognise what the horse is capable of and therefore, ride accordingly.
 
These threads all ends up the same with a variety of people saying they had an iffy experience doing BHS exams, and an opposing group vociferously claiming they are all lying/deluded.

When I (and 9 other candidates) failed our riding at stage 2 it was ludicrous. The big problem for me was the quality of horses and the discrepancy between the high riding standard of some of the candidates and the very low standard of horses provided.

I am a huge fan of the BHS and actually rate the exams, especially at stage 3 & above, it's just a shame there aren't more good riding schools/ECs in the UK. I retook my 2 at Huntley, and ensured I booked my 3 there so I could have some guarantees that the horses were able to do the work required in comfort.
 
As many have said some centres struggle to get the numbers of horses at the desired level on a exam day. This can be for any number of reasons, horses go lame, get sold etc etc and also economics may play a part with it becoming increasingly difficult to justify keeping horses of a standard if the day to day clientele doesn't warrant it. Assessors are well aware that this may be the case and at this level would expect the candidate to assess the horse and work it accordingly if it is not ready to fulfilling the brief given. When changing to the second horse it is common practice to move a candidate on to a more suitable horse if it is felt the candidate has been unable to demonstrate their ability fully on the first horse. That said, if the candidate is clearly below standard on either horse they will not pass. In a ideal world all horses used would work at or above the desired level but in the real world this won't always happen and bear in mind it's unlikely that the candidate will work in equestrian utopia either. Personally I would rather employ someone who can work with the less than perfect horse than someone who has only ever experienced foot perfect paragons of virtue as sadly I don't have many of these on my yard.

Assessors are also very aware that candidates performing well above the required standard can make those working at the required standard look weaker and must bear this in mind and not be influenced by the superior candidate but apply the criteria for passing to each individual.

No system is perfect but neither are many candidates and the BHS is constantly monitoring and updating exam procedures and practices, today's exams are far removed from those in days gone by so comparing them is really a pointless exercise.
 
siennamum said:
The big problem for me was the quality of horses and the discrepancy between the high riding standard of some of the candidates and the very low standard of horses provided.
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I'm a little confused by this statement - if the standard of riders was so high then surely they would have been able to get something out of the horses??? It depends on what you class as a 'low standard' of horse. There were a number of girls from a college in my exam, who were obviously used to riding push button schoolmasters and they were surprised by how much more difficult they found the exam horses (we took our exam at a riding school). Whilst they were riding school horses, I found they were also capable of performing to a good standard and were capable of the requirements for Stage 3. They yweren't necessarily the easiest horses to ride, but I would not describe them as a 'low standard'.

In my experience, a horse will go as well as it is ridden, within its capabilities. For example, in my exam there was a girl in my group who had a lot of trouble with her SJ horse, she couldn't seem to get her going at all, horse and rider crashed through a jump at one point. The examiners stopped her half way through her round. In some cases they may have let her try again on a different horse; however, they had already watched that same horse jump a lovely clear with her previous rider.

Again, they are not examining the horses, they are examining the riders. In my experience, BHS examiners are very experienced and knowledgeable horsemen/women. They see countless riders every week and they know what they are looking at. In most cases (with exceptions for illness/injury/behavioral issues), the way a horse is going is a reflection of who is on board. The point is that the rider should realise the level of their horse and ride it accordingly, and then be able to explain this to the examiner. As long as the way they rode the horse and the explanation of why match up then they will generally be at the required standard for a Stage 3 examination.
 
I quite agree with clare85. If you are a good effective rider then you should be able to get any horse going to some extent and you should have enough knowledge to be able discuss any issues you have and how you would resolve them long term.
my stage 4 horse was very nappy, when i turned away from home he totally dropped me and crashed , he broke three poles! I picked him.up, gave him a slap and carried on jumping clear.I could discuss what and happened and why. I passed.
They arent looking for perfect people, they are looking for practical people. PEople that could get out in the industry and do a job.
 
I think better riders struggled at Stage 2 (though not at 3) because they misjudged the style of riding expected. You had to be very obvious in your aids and pretty bullying to the horses, the horse I was on was knackered and so I made it do it's job but no more, as I mistakenly felt sorry for it & I was described as not effective. It jumped the jumps out of an active pace & into a light contact. They wanted it to be overridden in quite an obvious way - a girl who was in my group who passed ( I suspect) gave her horse which was quietly nodding off a good belting in the corner prior to her round, the examiners missed this, but thoroughly approved of the animated way the horse went.
There seems to be a view, and always is on these threads, that people like me are lying or aggrieved. I am not aggrieved, I only did the exams for fun. A girl in my group was training intensively with one of the UK's top BHS trainers (at her BHS exam centre), and had her stage 3 booked a few weeks after her stage 2. She was a Swedish Young rider squad person, can't remember all the details, but a fabulous rider. She also rode quietly and didn't do anything unnecessary, she was failed also.

I clearly lacked exam technique more than anything, as presumably did the 9 people out of 12 who took their stage 2 the day I did and failed on their riding. At stage 2 I don't remember any discussion about my riding, or the horses way of going.
 
siennamum said:
I think better riders struggled at Stage 2 (though not at 3) because they misjudged the style of riding expected. You had to be very obvious in your aids and pretty bullying to the horses, the horse I was on was knackered and so I made it do it's job but no more, as I mistakenly felt sorry for it & I was described as not effective. It jumped the jumps out of an active pace & into a light contact. They wanted it to be overridden in quite an obvious way - a girl who was in my group who passed ( I suspect) gave her horse which was quietly nodding off a good belting in the corner prior to her round, the examiners missed this, but thoroughly approved of the animated way the horse went.
There seems to be a view, and always is on these threads, that people like me are lying or aggrieved. I am not aggrieved, I only did the exams for fun. A girl in my group was training intensively with one of the UK's top BHS trainers (at her BHS exam centre), and had her stage 3 booked a few weeks after her stage 2. She was a Swedish Young rider squad person, can't remember all the details, but a fabulous rider. She also rode quietly and didn't do anything unnecessary, she was failed also.

I clearly lacked exam technique more than anything, as presumably did the 9 people out of 12 who took their stage 2 the day I did and failed on their riding. At stage 2 I don't remember any discussion about my riding, or the horses way of going.
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I would tend to agree, the average competition rider will often not be used to the type of horses regularly found in a stage 2 exam so may be out of their comfort zone. However from a centre's point of view at stage 2 they wouldn't want to provide super sensitive competition horses even if they had such horses as many candidates would not be capable of riding them well and may actually have a detrimental effect on such a horse. Remember stage 2 is the first level jumping is seen at and centres and assessors have little knowledge beforehand of most of the candidates other than their heights and weights so the standard of riding on the day can often be a nightmare or a pleasant surprise for all concerned. Justifiably centres will want to err on the side of caution to safeguard their higher level horses, rightly so IMO at this level.

At stage 2 you wouldn't have a discussion on the horses at of going or training - this comes in at stage 3.
 
I think we are 'hearing' one side to the event. We don't know what actually happened on the day, only what has been said on here.

I bypassed my stage one as completed my NVQ level 2 , I was told I could have gone straight to do my 3 but I knew as I had not done an exam before I would know what was expected of me to opted to do my stage 2.

I did mine at Pencoed college about 10 years ago ( Oh my god!) out of about 20 candidates there were 3 of us who did not attend that college and 1 was only doing the care. It was busy, we were split into groups and did as we were told. I remember putting brushing boots on ( think it was tacking up for lunging) and the boots were odd, all brushing boots but had 3 left ones and 1 right one, the tack we were to use was already placed out for us and the boots were rolled up in pairs so not noticeable until you went to put them on, no other tack was available. This was discussed with the examiner. I passed.
I also found the riding quite interesting, I had on the flat a giraffe, it was a nice horse but preferred to go with its nose poking out, it did this with myself and its 2nd rider. My 2nd horse was a flat backed cob and was super comfortable for doing the trotting with no stirrups :)
The jumping part was interesting as everyone in my group all knew the horses and kept saying 'Oh you don't want 'Bob' (cant remember its name now!) ' Its horrible to jump and stops all the time' well guess who I got, yes the one that was supposedly rubbish, well I had a blast!! He was super, really quick, jumped brilliantly and I think I grinned the whole way round. I passed.

I do recall a girl boasting about how good she was at lunging, she was at a Distinction with her lunging don't you know, and when it came to it it was like watching a car crash, the horse just kept cantering round and round and she broke down in tears, was awful to witness. I was the 2nd person to lunge my horse who was slow and completely backwards, so I worked on transitions within the pace, by the end of my 10 mins or however long it was there was a huge improvement on the horses way of going, I didn't use the side reins and explained to the examiner when asked. I passed.

I never did my stage 3 as I just couldn't afford the exam prices, Id love to do my stages but Im quite rusty, I don't have the time to train like I used to and to be honest I don't think Im as good as I used to be so it would be a waste of money.

I don't know if the exams have changed at all to include how much technology has come on/improved/changed and training methods, feeding, tack etc etc..... Hmm would be interesting to attend a HS exam now just to be a fly on the wall!!
 
Not sure Nic - the Stage 1 syllabus still refers to 'New Zealand' rug. How many people still use them?

Interesting that you can now sit the exams by unit (costs more obviously)...
 
The requirement for my stage 3 riding on the flat exam was to show lengthenings in trot and canter, shoulder-in and leg yield. There was NO WAY that those horses had any idea what shoulder-in was, nor leg yield, and as for lengthening; what a joke. I was 30 when I took the exams, and a competitive dressage rider. I passed (by actually training my horse to do the movements on the spot) but the other students in my ride did not and it was mad to expect them to be able to show movements that the horses could not do. I wrote a letter of complaint to the BHS (probably slightly unusual in that I was the only one who had actually passed). I thought that it was now standard for the examiners to ride the horses before the exam?
 
What an interesting thread. I did my stages 1 2 3 and PTT about 16 years ago and passed them all first time. My stage 1 I just decided to take one day as I had been working at the local riding school for a while and just booked it at a local exam centre and did it. On the day one of the horses threw someone - however the rider did something very odd to provoke it - she looked down behind her and kind of under the horse to check the leading leg in canter. I rode the same horse as my horse number two - having been kindly asked if I minded given as I just saw it chuck someone. I figured if I didn't do anything odd it would be fine and it was.

My stage 2 and 3 I did at the exam centre where I trained - to be fair I would never have passed my 3 jumping without the advantage of knowing the horses. Also the centre's instructor allocated candidates to horses and allocated me horses he knew I was happy about jumping. (i have never been a brave jumper and whilst competent on a horse I know there were certainly horses I was less great on) I freely admit this was hugely unfair! I also knew the horses quirks - I probably would have passed the flat work section anyway but it can't have hurt to know that horse x cow kicked if you put your outside leg too far back into canter. And that horse y reared up if you were too heavy with the rein - as the first rider found to her cost. I used to assist with the stage 4 exams run there and to be fair at that level they did not really have suitable horses and those they used were - lets say quirky - the students used to enjoy watching the poor candidates who did not know go flying in all directions on our somewhat quirky horses. This too is pretty inappropriate.
 
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