Talland or Huntley or somewhere else?

SpottedCat

SpottedCat

Well-Known Member
Joined
18 May 2007
Messages
11,668
Visit site
Ok, in my continued 'horseless strop' state I am going to book a few schoolmaster lessons (flat and jump) somewhere to a) make me feel better and b) ensure I don't forget everything I learned in the US.

I want to be a 'long term' customer of somewhere and go several times a year as I have decided that as a slightly rubbish one horse rider I need to ride schoolmasters in order to improve as much as I want to.

These are the two most obvious places which spring to mind, however any other suggestions in the Bristol area gratefully received. Any experiences also welcomed, do feel free to PM!
grin.gif
 
I spoke to a few people about Huntley because I was thinking about doing my stage 4 riding there this summer, and the general opinion was that the horses had all been there for quite a long time and would need alot of leg, so don't know how much you would learn by the time you got them forward? That's just what I've heard tho!
smile.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
Summerhouse

[/ QUOTE ]

They don't do proper schoolmaster lessons do they? It's certainly not something I've ever associated them with and there is nothing about it on their website, which makes them look like a bog-standard riding school - not what I am after at all.

I want somewhere that I can be taught to ride Medium and above dressage movements and to jump courses 1.15 and bigger on horses which have been schooled to do it but give you nothing unless you ask properly (the latter part being my understanding of a schoolmaster).
 
I would think about Dovecote Stables at Chard, it's not that far away and they have recently imported four horses who are all established in everything you need. (dressage, not jumping)
You get the chance to have a private lesson for I think £30?
They've got a website but haven't been established that long, plus it's just you and the trainer in the arena which makes for good concentration, though I think Talland is excellent having to dodge numerous lunge/other riders on lessons makes it harder to concentrate.
Have a peek at their website. (or pm me, I know them well)
 
Excellent idea HH - in fact I've seen Sam teach when I did the Mary Wanless clinic eons ago so know his style too. Do they do jumping there too do you know? Chard is well within reach considering I am swanning about most days just doing the odd bit of freelancing here and there!
 
Huntley easily, I trained at Huntley for uni comps and had a comp at Talland. Huntley was so much better i thought!

Have a lesson with Carol she is really fab.
 
Def Huntley. Talland are alright but the horses are half dead and i rode the advanced ones.

Get a lesson with Judith see is ultra fab, i did stage 4 training with her.

Huntley have fab horses specially for jumping and everyone is really nice!

Good luck
 
I would say Talland easily has the better dressage horses but not so much overall.

If you are 'only' looking medium/advanced medium level then I think Huntley easily best of the two. I have stayed for a week at Huntley in prep for when I did my A at Talland. And I have had lessons at Talland in prep for another attempt at my A at Huntley (see a pattern
smirk.gif
never could quite pass the darn thing though
frown.gif
)

Anyway If asked correctly there are horses at Huntley who can happily do what you want but they will make you ride. Not I mean dead to the leg but more if you don't ask right they won't do it and several have their quirks as that is why they are there in the first place!! i rode all sorts and most wouldn't be suitable for schoolmaster lessons because they are used for training and are often novices being schoolde up but there are a few that are more than suitable and if your only having lessons here and there you don't need mulitple different horses.

Teaching wise really rate the lot of them. Judith is straight and to the point but when you ride well she will tell you and when you need correction she tells you whats wrong, whats causing it and how to fix it, and that you have to do it now
tongue.gif
Bit scary but she did the job on me
grin.gif
Carol is brill as well, really learnt a lot from her
smile.gif
 
Thanks Santa - it is 'only' those levels for now as let's face it there is no point in trying to learn stuff above that level until I have some kind of consistency at that level (if that makes sense?!). After all my horse is only working at elementary and won't be doing an intermediate test for a while yet as I don't ride well enough to do intermediate SJ yet.
 
Without wishing to hijack the post, I'm keen to find somewhere similar in the London / Bucks area - I went to Contessa, but it was a bit far from my part of London (West) and a bit disappointing... any suggestions very gratefully received!
 
I think its very sensible as why learn the tricks unless your using them and with a lot of the talland horses it is a case of learning which buttons to press as they are such good schoolmasters. Yes the odd GP schoolmaster lesson is a hell of a lot of fun and gives you a good feel you won't be able to apply much of it to your own horse.

The huntley horses I found good because they didn't automatically go well, you had to really ride them and if you had a problem with your position (like my screwed up back) then you are forced to correct it before you get the good work. I can't remember all the names but there is a grey (lippi/spanish stamp) who if you let him would lean on your left hand all day long, but if you rode him correctly into the contact and neck reined slightly he went beautifully. Then there is 'nightmare' (yes that is her name
wink.gif
) who given the chance will go round with her head in the air looking like a donkey no matter how nicely you asked. If however you told (rather than asked
wink.gif
) her she needed to come round she did and again works really well and will happily do medium+ test!

My favourite though was a little (about 15h2 i think max) chestnut cob. Was a loon if allowed and generally ran through the bridle and did motor bike turns and thats just for the dressage. I just seemed to click with him though and if i had time/money for a project he would have come home with me as had such potential to be a great RC open teams horse as he had a cracking jump.
 
I think Dovecote looks great and would def be worth a try.
I never really learnt much at Huntley and Talland is pricey plus it's a bit hit and miss as to how useful the horse is to genuinely help you progress your riding
 
[ QUOTE ]
Ooh very interesting about Dovecote Stables, they're only about 15 minutes from me. You've got me thinking now!!

[/ QUOTE ]

We could share a lesson?! Only £20 each then and I can usefully do things during the day at the moment....
 
Sam is a great teacher, I have had tons of lessons from him on my own horse and on one of his when he was up here - he does a mean lunge lesson too LOL! I found his method of communication excellent and always felt as though I had improved and understood more of what I was aiming to do and he doesn't mind numpty questions. I would 100% recommend.
 
Ooh great thread. Thank you so much for starting it - I have just moved to Brizzle with no links to the area and am looking around to try and ID the good livery yards and places for lessons too. How about Eve Pool at Urchinwood (in Congresbury)? She's a BHSI and I'm told, very good. No idea what the horses there are like though… Another name that I have been given is Hinton Dressage (Alice and Alex Peternell)…. Does anyone have any intel on either of those?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top