Started having riding lessons. Can u tell me if this is right?

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Anna2015

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My friend is on her 3rd riding lesson and she is a complete beginner. They are doing the rising trot and the horse she is on gets very close to the horse in front and the instructor said she has to stop her getting so close so tells her to tighten her reins so tight the whole time around the school ? She said she feel so bad on her mouth as she is basically using all all her strength and holding her head as if she is halting? The whole way around the school?

Also she came off and hit the floor today as they are learning to trot without stirups. It's only her 3rd lesson. 3rd time she has ever sat on a horse and she's feeling out of her depth saying she doesn't want to go back. Is this normal?
 
That doesn't sound right at all - or safe. She shouldn't be learning to trot without stirrups - the instructor is pushing her too fast. I'd much rather teach someone to ride on the lunge, not in a group lesson. Are they all beginners or has she been lumped in with a more advanced group?
 
It is difficult to judge without seeing what is happening but it doesn't sound as if she has been placed in the right group. If there isn't a group at her level, she should be offered a 1-1 lunge lesson. It also sounds as if she hasn't been given the best horse for a complete beginner. I do hope that this experience doesn't put her off completely.
 
No, not right. The horse shouldn't be entirely under her control yet, and trot without stirrups isn't something you do until rising trot has been satisfactorily mastered. It's an exercise to improve balance, so you need to have a degree of balance and confidence to begin with - something that isn't there by lesson #3. I'm not surprised she feels out of her depth. She is.

I don't think much of this instructor. Pulling the horse back by the reins for the entire time is one good way riding school horses get ruined. She's ruined your friend's enthusiasm already and is in the process of ruining her confidence. It's her 3rd lesson and she's already had a fall and doesn't want to go back. I'd advise finding another school.
 
In her group is only one other girl that is also a beginner. The other girl was worried about trotting without stirups and often gets told off for cutting corners. I said to her this doesn't seem right but I have never had a lesson so thought I would ask on here
 
You don't mention if your friend is a Child or Adult but ether way I certainly wouldn't have her riding in a group lesson until she can walk , trot , halt and turn safely on her own and I certainly wouldn't have her riding with out stirrups in trot yet.
When I was teaching I used to start children and extremely nervous adults off on a lead rein learning walk and rising trot. If the adult was quite confident I would start them on the lunge learning walk, halt and how to do rising trot as their ability grows I would then allow them off the lunge or lead rein but would stay close to them and only when the person was confident would I then place them in a group on the same level and confidence. Also when I started teaching the rider sitting trot I at first would get them to held on to the pommel so they could keep their balance. I hope this has helped. Can I ask is the riding school your friend is attending BHS or ABRS registered?
 
Doesn't matter how others teach, (I've never seen a RS regularly teach anything other than vaulting on the lunge in about 15 years of many RS experiences and don't much like the idea any better than teaching pulling on mouths) the point is that this RS doesn't suit this learner.

So, she needs to stop or change RS.
 
I don't have a problem with beginners leaning in a group lesson, BUT, I would expect someone on their third lesson to still be on a lead rein.
 
I think your friend needs to find a new riding school. This one seems far from safe, I wouldn't expect someone on their third lesson to be in sole control of the horse or pony, and certainly not expected to ride alone in a group lesson; to me this is downright dangerous. At best your friend will lose the desire to ride and to learn the correct way of doing things, at worst she could end up badly injured. Most schools round here that I've quickly googled require beginners to have a course of private lessons to start with before moving into groups when they've mastered the very basics - not before!!!!!!

Please, please, please find somewhere else that does know how to teach and look after beginners correctly.
 
Haha. At my old RS in France, the very first lesson you would walk trot and canter, and group lessons were 8-10 people in a 20x40 indoor school... I miss those days. You certainly became aware of your surroundings quickly :D
 
No probs with group lesson for newbies - I actually think it's better cos they get some time to just be on the horse without being super self aware the whole time. No to horse that needs holding back, trot without stirrups, most likely trotting without a lead rein and letting them fall off though. For beginner everything should be so well controlled and horse so steady that you have to try quite hard to fall off.
 
Sounds like they're going about the same pace as one of the local schools here. I have a friend with a novice daughter. Sat on a horse a handful of times, only been walking off the leadrein at ours. Gone to do a course at a local riding school and they've got her cantering and jumping and she's on lesson 6 maximum with not the best balance or co ordination. They had them trotting without stirrups in group lesson on the 2nd lesson :s
 
Doesn't sound right to me. At my old RS they have beginners on a group lesson, but each rider is on a lead rein. They don't go off the lead rein until they can balance in trot correctly and do a half decent rising trot and steer at the same time. The horses and ponies are steady eddies and know what they're doing. When on the lead rein the riders are encouraged to do things themselves like steering etc but there is always that backup until they're established. Definitely not by their 3rd lesson!
 
Amye said:
Doesn't sound right to me. At my old RS they have beginners on a group lesson, but each rider is on a lead rein. They don't go off the lead rein until they can balance in trot correctly and do a half decent rising trot and steer at the same time. The horses and ponies are steady eddies and know what they're doing. When on the lead rein the riders are encouraged to do things themselves like steering etc but there is always that backup until they're established. Definitely not by their 3rd lesson!
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this sounds like the RS I used to go too as well - and even when you were off LR you had a helper to run beside you for the first 2/3 trots off LR just incase.
No trotting without stirrups until rising trot was good, and balance in rising and sitting trot had been established.
Trotting without stirrups as part of a ride doesn't sound odd to me as we often did it - but in a group of riders who were able to trot without stirrups individually and we were all able to canter with stirrups as well.

OP, I would suggest your friend tries somewhere else or lessons. There's no harm learning as a group, but it sounds as if your friend is being pushed too much and isn't being taught in a way that suits her best.
 
Maybe the instructor thinks she is more capable than she is? When I first started in 94 I cantered in the second lesson - though the small horse was very well behaved and well schooled. The lady was just like walk -trot - ok now, stand like this (did the xc position) and canter, and I did. I stayed on, steered and didn't cry or crash so she was like, your capable, this si what we are doing. But then I was only 11 and didn't want to argue as she was scary!
When my mum went back to riding a year later, she pretended she was a beginner and they didn't have the adults on lead reins for more than 4 lessons. Within 3 months they were doing no stirrups work, she never got any further as her 17.3hh dope on a rope mount spooked and fractured her back. But they expected a lot more of the adults.

Now it is a LOT slower learning to ride. I guess that makes more money? Even when I moved RS within a year 2 members of the class had their own ponies and were doing XC - nd yes, they did have extra lessons and they were good natural riders.

as for the no stirrups, do the mounted soldiers in training have to earn their stirrups?
 
They do but they are otherwise fairly fit and not paying for the privelege ;) :D

There is nothing worse than riding a dead mouthed horse that wants to go round with it's head up the backside of the horse in front IME.

Expecting full control while trotting without stirrups on session 3 seems a big ask to me and little fun for anyone, including the horse.
 
I wouldnt be happy with the way the instructor teaches.

Isnt it normal to circle away it your horse gets to close to the one in front.
Or your friend lead the ride if her horse walks faster the the other!
 
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