This can't be right

Lambkins

Lambkins

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My sister just send me
a photo of my nephew .. Going on his first hack :) He is 9 and been riding every Saturday in a group lesson since end aug ..1/2 hour lesson ..they hacked out today as the school was flooded .. I was shocked that he was off the lead rein / nobody even walking with him..just a lead horse (he can only just about do rising trot) and that none of the kids or ponies had hi viz on ?? Is this normal for a riding school ? I have been riding 28 years and owned horses for 17 years and never hack without hi viz ..
when my friends daughter ( who can just about canter .. )Comes for a walk down the road on my boy .. I always lead / walk with her and we both and pony has hi viz .. I was so shocked to see that photo :/
 
Congrats to your nephew for his first hack, bet he loved it :)
IMO though it's disgraceful that a riding school wouldn't insist on Hi-viz. The one i used to work at would not even allow liveries to hack out without hi viz as an example for the RS kids. Also, all kids had to be able to walk trot and canter off the lead rein in the school and walk and trot in the field before they were allowed to hack out off the lead rein. Disaster waiting to happen i think.
 
Depends on the hack.

If its half an hour round the RS' fields I think its OK not to have high viz. Was the anyone on foot? Again if the are no roads I think a couple of people on foot just in case rather than one per pony is fine. I assume the ponys used were old trustys who know each other and will follow the leader.

Different if they are going down an A road, obviously. I'd expect front and back in high viz and leaders for anyone unable to canter independently to be on lead reins as a minimum and think any less was irresponsible.
 
Well .. He does have learning differculties .. Also in 4 months he would have ridden only 7-8 hours in a group lesson .. So I don't have a problem with the rising trot .. As long as he is having a good time doesn't matter how long it takes ;) but safety is a different thing altogether ! ;)
 
In my old RS the kids didn't wear hi-vis but it was basically all off road. Plus, off lead rein hacks were for the kids out of privates (walk, trot and canter established)

I was taught rising trot in my first riding lesson and thought that was pretty standard? If he has learning difficulties 100% understand them taking it at his pace but then why would he be hacking out without a lead? Does your friends daughter go to the same place, and is she being taught slowly and inconsistently too?

TBH sounds to me like the RS is a bit lacking and I would suggest to you sister to find a better one!:)
 
Depends on where and how steady the ponies are a lot of RDA ponies would be more than safe to hack around the lanes without a lead rein. As to high viz I would have expected them to be wearing this as you never know when an aircraft will appear and even in fields they can see it for miles We were given free hi viz because we are surrounded by airfields
 
The instructor front the yard I had one of the RS ponies on loan from often didn't bother with hi viz if she was going out for a private hack but did at least always put it on for RS hacks with clients and they were all given hi viz too.
 
Lambkins said:
They were on the road
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But the are roads and then the are roads. I wouldn't object to Steady Eddies going round lanes that don't really go anywhere off lead rain.

Still, the overall impression your giving isn't great. Is your nephew the weakest rider in the group? I'd feel differently about one person barely able to trot in a group of fairly competent riders than a group of kids who'd all only been riding for 4 months all over the place.
 
If your nephew needs special lessons, I would suggest that your sister takes him to an RDA group, which may be better suited to his needs.
 
In my view for any road work they should at the very least have the front and rear rider wearing Hi-viz. Preferably, there should be a bit on everyone, just in case they are in an unexpected place on the road. I think it's only really ok to hack without hi-viz on private land. On off road hacks where there may be members of the public walking/cycling I think Hi-viz still helps warn them of your presence which is good for everyone's safety.

At the riding schools I have known, if he is unable to trot securely and independantly, then he would at the very least have someone walking with him at all times. I can understand how, if they are steady ponies which can be trusted this is not 100% essential but any pony can be spooked. On hacks it is also useful to have some support for novice riders struggling to pull their pony out of the hedge!

How many riders were on the ride? Was there any support on foot? Did a more experience "back marker" also go out with the hack?
 
No No No. If child cannot walk trot and canter then the only way they would be on a road is with a lead rein.

I cannot comment on the specific child's aptitude to learn riding, but if it is such a problem not to be trotting off the lead yet then the fact that they were on the road off a lead rein would be so BAD to me that I would never take them back to that school again. Sorry if that is not what you want to hear.

I am sure that there are other schools you could contact? Maybe some private lessons to get him going, before re-joining a group lesson. Or just stick with the group lessons if you are just wanting a healthy social outing. But not on the road......
 
Where I used to work all the kids would definitely have been on lead reins and would definitely have been wearing hi-viz. Clients weren't allowed to hack without a leader until they had moved up into the "proper" 1hr lessons, up to that point hacking was off-road around local bridleways (walk, trot and even the odd canter if the leaders were fit enough and it was felt all the kids were competent enough). If it had just been maybe a walk around the fields or something I can see why they wouldn't maybe use hi-viz but if they're on roads then def should be using it and if the child isn't trotting without a lead in school definitely shouldn't be without a leader on the road
 
Well, back in the dark ages when I learnt to ride in the 80s (1980s :p ) my first ride was on the road without a lead rein. My second ride was on the roads then a bridle path off lead the lead rein and we also had a canter.

Only thing I have an issue with is the hi vis in this day and age. School ponies should be well behaved enough IMHO.
 
We hack out with small children on the road all the time and didn't have anyone on foot when they were starting out. With ponies that are very accustomed to traffic, it's lots easier to take a novice hack along a road than a field because there's nothing to make them put their head down!

My little ones always prefer to hack on the road at first, because they know the ponies always behave...
 
My sister is not horsey at all .. And they live an hour away ..so I'm not involved with his lessons .. She sent me the photo as she often does after his lesson ;) I was just shocked he was on a hack on a cloudy rainy day ( cos the school was to flooded) with no hi viz , no leader .. Dark clothes on .. He looks like a sack of potatoes bless him .. One spook / trip and he would be straight off on the road ( and that would be the end of the lessons :( ) but as it was he was fine .. But I can't believe that this is common practice ? His learning differculties are not really rda standard but he struggles to concentrate ..and communicate ;)
 
Lambkins said:
My sister is not horsey at all .. And they live an hour away ..so I'm not involved with his lessons .. She sent me the photo as she often does after his lesson ;) I was just shocked he was on a hack on a cloudy rainy day ( cos the school was to flooded) with no hi viz , no leader .. Dark clothes on .. He looks like a sack of potatoes bless him .. One spook / trip and he would be straight off on the road ( and that would be the end of the lessons :( ) but as it was he was fine .. But I can't believe that this is common practice ? His learning differculties are not really rda standard but he struggles to concentrate ..and communicate ;)
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If he has problems with communication would he be able to tell the lead rider that he is having problems? Obviously they should be paying attention to the ride, but they do sometimes have to look where they are going! It is different in a lesson where an instructor would be able to see very quickly if he was having an issue. For this reason alone if I were in charge of the ride, I would want someone walking with him, or at least someone on foot as back up. I am sure they have him on a very well behaved pony, but even the most trusted of ponies will usually put their head down to eat if they get a chance, and this can unbalance novice children.

As it was a one off, if the riding school is otherwise ok, I would probably just maybe advise your sister to maybe not let him go on any more hacks for a while. If you have any other worries, perhaps you could give your sister a list of safety "red flags" or go and have a look around yourself?
 
Yeah I'm gonna make the time to go and watch his lesson ;) but being round the horses/ ponies is really helping him ..with life skills :) he hated to be dirty / muddy .. But is now ok if he a little muddy / wet/ dirty ..and he always rides the same pony ..he had a panic when he was asked to ride a different one a few weeks back .. He talks about the pony he rides and calls him 'his friend' :) and he has the biggest grin ..I just don't want him to loose that ..:)
 
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