The standard of tuition at the riding schools of today

Aaaarrrghhh, just wrote a long reply and lost it!!

Gist of it was that when I learnt to ride 20+ years ago, there were some terrible riding schools (Thelwell kicks, jumps of no more than 1', kids that ride every weekend but can't canter on the right lead and who've never heard of diagonals) and I learnt at an average one, really hot on developing stickability (esp. on a certain 12.2hh called Beauty who was my favourite..!), correct aids, diagonals, canter leads (but don't you dare look down to check!!) but no horses who could do lateral work or trickier jumping tracks.

Since returning to riding, the H&S piece has shocked me as I don't understand how beginners or children can really learn to handle a difficult horse. However, I've ridden horses from "plods" (including gypsy cobs straight from Appleby...) up to ex-comp schoolmasters and been expected to leg yield on all of them, get the right lead and diagonal, canter lateral work and half pass on the ones that are capable, and fun jumping up to and over 1m.

TBH I think it's as it always has been - there are good schools and bad schools, and even within those there may be good teachers and bad teachers but I'm not convinced that standards have really slipped that much.
 
I ride at a riding school, but I only ever have private lessons. With an instructor thats insane. Group lessons are, in my opinion, a waste of time.
 
I'm an adult rider at a RS. I rode for 12 years as a child, had a 12 year break and have been back in the saddle for approx 3 years now.
The point about not clocking up many hours on a horse despite riding for years makes a lot of sense - we only get to practice once a week so of course we will progress slower.
I recently had 3 lessons in 3 days and really felt the difference - imagine how much I could progress if I rode as frequently as a horse owner!
Also I do get frustrated by our group lessons - I'm in one of the adult 'top' groups. Just as we're progressing and starting to move forwards someone moves up into our group from one of the middle groups and we have to go back to a lower level again because they aren't ready to learn the new stuff we were trying. Eg we haven't done any XC this year because we have a couple of people in our group that aren't particularly secure in their jumping.
 
Wishful said:
The only real pattern is that only 2 (scotland and moorland one) would really let you ride without stirrups, so I seem to have lost my sitting trot again - I find it easiest to get the knack without (with the odd bit of rising if I get tense) which I can then translate. Most RSs only seem to allow you to go stirrupless on the lunge, which is difficult to schedule around work
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Yikes - I am out of touch. I can't get over the fact some RS's don't expect all their pupils to work without stirrups. I learnt to ride many moons ago - started off at an RS for 2 years, bought our first pony and started having private lessons on it and haven't looked back since.

My RS taught me to walk, trot (sitting and rising), canter and jump without stirrups all off lunge (only ever had one lunge lesson at the very start and then not again until 18 years later). I was jumping over 2ft 9 by the end of 2 years and doing local competitions. We were also routinely taught basic stable management/horse management as part of our lessons. Diagonals, correct canter lead, leg yield, on the bit etc were all second nature by the time we got our first pony. And that's all on a once a week, hourly lesson.
 
I'm not a RS client but I do keep my horses at a riding school. If this post demonstrates anything for me it is what a good school I am at. The groups are small and well matched and the riders are encouraged to progress..kids on ponies bowling around the outdoor school over jumps bareback is quite a regular feature..and they get to do a fair bit of handling outside of the lessons too if they want to.
 
I used to teach p/t at a local riding school which was just an ordinary place, nothing fancy. I made sure my pupils could start, stop and steer accurately and independently in walk before they went on to trot (back onto a lead rein or my lunge line for that). They started to learn about diagonals while still walking . All correct aids were described and demonstrated to them, and also it was explained WHY things were done is a particular way. They all did parts of the lesson with no stirrups (people are convinced that stirrups keep them from falling off) from day 1 and we played games appropriate to the age of the riders. During the cooling down period in the last 10 minutes (they learned that they had to be kind and considerate to their mounts who were probably doing 7 hours work on a Saturday and Sunday) they learned parts of tack, points of the horse, horse colours and sizes/breeds and a bit of history of horse development and use. They also learned how to lead correctly, run up stirrups etc., check their girths and alter stirrup lengths. For the slightly older children and adults I made crib sheets for them to take home and study, such as about half-halts, leg yielding including diagrams and a full description of the aids and what can go wrong. One of the most important things they learned was safety and "emergency" riding ie. how to circle a horse which runs off. I often met people who claimed they'd ridden for years but were just passengers which was gloriously revealed when I asked them to trot from front to back of the ride, pass the ride, circle then strike off in canter, circle again when approaching the back of the ride and rejoin. Almost no-one could do the getting past the ride bit!
 
I think the problem with RS's is a lot of the instructors seem to be young and inexperienced themselves.

They have these young girls who have been riding at RS's their whole lives, helping out their at weekends etc and then the RS says 'oh, we'll put you through your teaching exams etc' and that's what they do. But these girls have only been taught one way of riding and if it's not a good way then they will inevitably teach the same rubbish and pass it onto other people.

If riding schools were full of well qualified, very experienced instructors/trainers who are all competing their own horses to a high level in whichever discipline etc then I think it would be totally different. But as it stands, a lot of the time, the majority in fact, arn't. Prime example, I saw an old RI of mine a couple of months ago at a show, we were competing in the same class and really, it wasn't a particularly big class (I'm more of a dressage person than a jumper) and I thought god I can't believe I'm competing against someone who used to teach me when I was younger, she should be well advanced and above me by now, particularly as from what I can remember jumping has always been her forte and it's not really mine.

I don't know, my idea of a good trainer/instructor who I would want teaching me is someone who has years and years of experience, rode many different horses, broken and brought on youngsters and has/is competed/ing to a high level etc. Not a 19/20 something person who, really, isn't THAT experienced themselves. That's just my opinion though :D
 
My local RS lets their pupils do far too much too soon. The latest update is that the girl who has ridden my mare a few times is doing a Hunter Trial with the riding school in September. She can't even sit to canter properly. :(

She started off as such a nice girl but she's now acting like a know-it-all and I'm seriously thinking of withdrawing my offer of letting her ride my mare. I can't take the 'walk, trot and canter are sooooooo boring' rubbish.
 
Faracat said:
My local RS lets their pupils do far too much too soon. The latest update is that the girl who has ridden my mare a few times is doing a Hunter Trial with the riding school in September. She can't even sit to canter properly. :(

She started off as such a nice girl but she's now acting like a know-it-all and I'm seriously thinking of withdrawing my offer of letting her ride my mare. I can't take the 'walk, trot and canter are sooooooo boring' rubbish.
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Oh, RS Know it all syndrome.
As you know from a previous thread, I've had that up to HERE!

Not only do they not teach them to ride, they coach them to a level standard in being up their own wotsit!
 
I don't know whether its an english thing or a modern thing but no one seems to go out on hacks anymore...
Back home, one week you'd be in the school and the next out a hack, and if you couldn't stop/steer you were buggered!

Although my experience as a helper/leader at a RS here showed me that many of the parents dont actually want little tiffany to learn to ride, theyre just happy for the kids to be led around for an hour and have the kid think its great and then the parent starts squeaking if trot is involved or the lead ropes come off... I wish they had beggard off back home instead of standing around and watching, it seemed to hamper many of the kids who spent the time either trying to stay with mummy and crying if they had to do something strenuous or showing off, acting like a muppet and nearly falling off...
 
I have ridden at the same RS for the last 12 and a half years. When I was 10 I suffered a major lose of confidence and they were brillant, took me right back to basics, and gave me the confidence in my ability to carry on riding, if they haven't I wouldn't be riding now. They have lovely well schooled ponies & horses, from the complete novice to more forward lively horses.

At the start of each year, you get asked what you to achieve in the year and you set yourself a target and then you work towards it in your lessons, if your in a group lesson then we work on everyone's goals, so basically you achieve more in the year. We are currently working on shoulder-in and perfecting our simple changes. You are grouped, by your standards and there are competitions through out the year, based on age groups from everyone who have lessons. This year, they have done barrel racing and dressage. The kids loved the barrel racing and they do mounted games and work without stirrups.

I've been helping there and they have taught me how to lunge, and the correct fitting of tack, I've watched the farrier, I've learnt so much in 5 months!

Yet I was on another course at a larger RS doing a NVQ Level 2 in horse management, this yard has been in H&H and has a reputation of being very good. Yet behind the scenes it was awful! The horses were awful most of them needed schooling, I rode one pony for 2 months on my lessons there, it napped and bucked like there was no tomorrow. It reared twice with two different people, both beginners, as they considered this pony ok for a novice child :O Another one, was a rearer, there idea of a cure was "beat it til it goes forward" it never had it back or teeth checked, I imagine the horse was in pain. They also thought it was a good idea to use a very green 5 year old, 12hh pony to teach children to jump :rolleyes: I rode it once, it woud jump in a very novicey young way and would fire you into orbit. The amount of kids that came off him was stupid but they still used him.

So basically it depends where you go, but both were BHS approved!
 
^ as it won't let me edit my other reply

The good RS I have been with, they aren't taught to KICK, it very much squeeze with your legs and to use their voice, lots of bending poles.

They also hack out, go in the fields. Lessons are once you have basics, flat & jumping (or trotting poles!) alternated every week :)
 
Totally agree - I WAS one of those children!!!! Rode at an RS for 4 years - I could do rising trot, attempt sitting trot, canter, we had hacked, and I could jump a nice little course. I never knew about working horses on the bit, or what exercises to do to improve what in horse and rider. I regularly rode 15hh+ and regularly rode the youngsters who were new to the RS being one of the more advanced in my class. However, our progress was being dragged backwards by children joining the lessons who said they could ride and pretty obviously couldn't. So my mum decided to get me a share - a 12.2hh bay gelding exmoor X who was bloody fantastic and SO cheeky - THEN I started learning to ride.

Nowadays I'm riding Kelly, who isn't the easiest of horses to handle and regularly having jumping lessons on YOs horses upto 1m (for now!) getting my confidence back.
The best thing I ever did was leaving the RS to get a share.
K x
 
What I've noticed in my observation of the lessons at my yard is that virtually no work is done without stirrups. When I began taking lessons (so long ago that we had to dodge dinosaurs on the way to the stable), we did tons of work without stirrups. We also did a lot of hacking out - not just on our own but for our lessons. I worked at a stable so I had a lesson every day and about once a week, our instructor would take us out on a hack. For her regular lessons who were mostly weekly, she took them out about once a month. I'm not seeing any of that anymore.

One thing that amazes me is that virtually no one knows how to use double reins anymore - even people who have been having lessons for years with private trainers. Anyone who rides with a pelham uses a strap (whatever they're called) so they can use a single rein (which totally destroys the purpose of a pelham to me). I learned to ride with double reins in my first lesson as the horse I used went in a pelham.

I have a friend who rides show jumpers and competes at 3'3" and 3'9" regularly. I have never known anyone who fell off more. She has a good position when she manages to stay on but there is obviously no security to her seat (which to me says she's top-heavy) and every time the horse does anything unexpected, she's off it. To me, that would indicate more work was needed but her trainer pops her right back up and sends her out again. I'm waiting for her to break her neck.
 
It makes me sad to read posts like these ones bashing riding schools - sometimes it is not the instructor, the RS or the RS horses that means someone is not a very good rider, some people just do not have the athleticism capacity and ability to learn a sport (any sport!) to a reasonable level. Go to any place where any type of sports coaching is going on, after all that is what is happening in a riding lesson, and you will see people who, despite years of the best coaching and tuition are *hushed whisper* not very good! This is not to say that all RS are brilliant, but the majority just cannot be as bad as many people here are making out.

I bought my own horse last year after the best part of 15 years riding at various riding schools. If you don't own a horse (or don't have a share) and want to ride, you don't have a choice in this matter! Despite this terrible start to my riding life ( ;) ) I can jump a course of fences up to 1m (sadly, I have never had the good fortune to ride a horse that is capable of doing more in a riding school), ride in a double bridle, teach a horse lateral movements and flying changes. Oh yes, and I can also ride most of these school movements and jump without stirrups and bareback. Which I did initially in my riding lessons..!

RS are like anything - some are good, some are less so. Maybe I am just lucky, either in that I have been to good RS or perhaps I am a total riding numpty and don't realise it :D
Nonetheless, RS clients can vote with their feet if their RS isn't very good!
 
fadedV, agree about ability of riders. I learnt many many years ago, and actually have never really progressed far beyond my lessons! One reason is lack of confidence, other actually dont really have much ability, gone as far as I can do I think. Found it a real shock when getting my own first horse after riding school horses. I think if you have one to one lessons rather than group it is much better.
 
never had a lesson...self taught riding 30 years now anyway sent daughter for lessons for 2 years and she still couldnt ride her pony on her own...packed in lessons worked her myself at home for 6 months......she mite nt be perfect but shes jumping intermediate level and loves to canter and gallop and now rides my horse!! brought her friend from school over whos been having lessons for 5 years and she couldnt put bridle on herself !!
 
Yeap i see this all the time as i work at a RS part time and am also a livery. Tbh i also think a group lesson is a waste of money as if theres like 6 people in it you just trot round in circles then everyone has one canter on each rein then stand and wait for ages till ots your turn to be yelled at whilst jumping!! There was a lesson the other day with three wee kids which had been riding years and they looked so unbalanced, got no instructions apart from "BLOODY KICK" and "OMG WHY CAN U NOT REMEMBER THE JUMPS" then the instructor sayed to me as the kids were dismounting about how bloody annoying they were as they couldnt remember the course of jumps!! and im pretty sure they could hear her she was that loud!! There was another instructor who left and apparently she was stoned once whilst teaching!!! Dont no how true that is but i wouldnt put it past her put it that way!!
 
I learnt in a non BHS approved riding school who hacked in the winter and schooled and jumped in the summer. Thanks to the hacking, you very quickly were able to steer properly and walk, trot and canter independently on verges or in fields. When I was about 12, in my group lessons we progressed to learning about working a horse properly on the bit. For many years I used the same instructor when I got my own horse but I had one to one lessons and this is IMO the key. A brilliant instructor is very limited in what he/she can do when he/she has several children to keep an eye on and keep safe etc. I didn't really progress until I got my own pony when I was 12. Although my early equestrian education wasn't ideal and many people would turn their noses up at a riding school without an allweather arena, I don't feel any worse for having gone through that. In fact, although the instructor terrified me, she was very good and taught us well.

Sorry to have rambled! In short, I don't think a rider can truly progress unless they have one to one or possibly one to two lessons.
 
almost all riding schools are there to cover their expenses and make enough to keep their heads above water. I learned to ride riding my Grandads sellers and then joined a PC. I had the honour of riding the little shits who stopped, baulked, ran out etc that I found myself capable of everything but master of nowt! My real education arrived when I started to ride hunters. The hunting field is the most wonderful maestro. Riding Schools do what they can but the majority of the pupils will never be anything else than 'week end riders'. The important thing is that the people enjoy their weekly ride.
 
I'm thinking of taking up riding again after a break of several years and I went to a riding school near me yesterday to watch a lesson.

It was just depressing. The instructor did a lot of talking but didn't offer much in the way of instruction. All the horses bar one were charging round with their heads in the clouds, two with their tongues over the bit. I hoped that after a while they'd settle and start to work properly or at least go a bit more steadily, but alas this continued for the whole hour. When they cantered it was like watching the wall of death.

The perplexing thing was that the instructor didn't say a single thing to any of them about their riding - one girl's reins were too long, another really needed to use her stick on the pony to stop him napping towards the gate rather than carrying it like an ornament. She just issued a set of directions, like a driving instructor - turn left across the school at K, pick up trot at A etc.

She noted that they weren't using the corners (I'll say) but didn't suggest that they might like to use their legs as well as their hands while riding!
 
I used to keep my ponies at a local RS many moons ago. I remember being of school and at the yard.... a known dealer from ayrshire (you know who I mean) :) pulled up with a lorry loaded with ponies and horses. I was then thrown on to them all and told to have a quick run around the out-door school to see if they were safe! They took the word of a 12 year old kid! Frieghtening now I think more about.
 
:eek: am not very impressed, my o/h decided to learn to ride (after years of me wittering on about horses!!) I went along to watch .. and was appalled to see the instructor climb onto his horse (when the horse had decided to plant herself in the middle of the school!!) yelling for a whip, and when that didn't come fast enough she litterally pulled herself up on horses neck with the reins, and kind of slid backwards into the saddle, kicking the poor horse in her ribs with her entire body weight ..muttering about the stubborn b!tch of a horse :( ...we went to a different school after that .. maybe we are just too fussy, because we have been to all the r/s in our area.. and i haven't found a single instructor that I would actually like to learn off, I am not a brilliant or even good rider, but i know the kind of rider I would like to be ... and its not like any of the instructors I have seen :(
 
Up till a limit, I can do better myself than some of the teaching at the local riding schools! I managed to teach my friend well enough that they though she had been riding for years and not months (but that was also her skill). I can't ride worth a toss any more though.

I learnt at a riding school.........it was ok, but I really learnt to ride on other folks horses locally. I was lucky enough to get a job at a local stud and be taught by the German dressage staff :) (I was 13 and had to pretend to be 16!)

I have known in the last 6 years quite a few who have progressed from years at RS, to a horse or pony and they have absolutely no concept of equine care. Like soaking sugar beet. How to make a bed and how to plait and groom properly.

I do however, think it has a lot to do with H&S, as now they are funny about 'helpers' and what they do. I used to ride private owners horses in my lessons - as I was a 5ft6 11yr old and so the young horses wouldn't be doing much in a beginners lesson. I rode some of the livery horses after lessons as well until I was told I wasn't allowed to as I wasn't good enough (by my instructor - owner was MORE than happy!)

I also have issues with some of the instructors now................a few learnt to ride when I did - in the same class. They are good enough riders, but not teachers (I have been told this by past students). I had a lesson off of one about 6 years ago and OMG, we didn't know if we were coming or going. She was just randomly shouting out instructions and seemed more concerned with what her mates were doing. She doesn't teach any more thankfully!
 
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