Tips for Type and Frequency of Lessons for Beginner

[Deer243]

So, I got into hunting on foot whipping in for beagles a couple of years ago and hugely enjoy it but would like to learn to ride and hopefully in the long term get on a horse for foxhounds.

My riding experience is almost non-existent and I would be interested to get some opinions on how often I should have lessons, group vs private lessons and how long it would take before I might be competent enough to ride on a hunting day (I'm guessing 18-24 months maybe?).

Would a lesson on a fortnightly basis be sufficient, I'm sure the more frequent the lesson the better but fortnightly is more realistic budget wise.

Thanks in advance.

 

[AdorableAlice]

If you could find a really good school that would be a starting point, tell them exactly what you have detailed above and they will mount you accordingly. A big help would be for you to be a fit as you possibly can be, and I would think you if you are whipping in to beagles. Core strength will help you greatly with balance on a horse. If you tell us which County you are in someone will know the right school for you.

Private lessons first and in between lessons, which need to be as frequent as you can manage, you could try to find a friendly horsey person who would let you handle a quiet type and get to know how horses behave. So much can be learnt on the ground with horses that will make understanding and getting confident on board so much easier for you. Once you are able to control all 3 paces in the school you need to get out hacking across country in groups of horses.

I wouldn't put a time on how quickly you will achieve your goal. The right teacher and the right horse will get you there more quickly than you think - (I am not suggesting hedge thrusting and gate jumping country !!)

I taught an x husband who was 45 ish, to ride from scratch in a Summer and he was safely cubbing in the Autumn, but this was on 2 horses that he knew and helped look after. He was extremely fit and sat very well naturally. So many people said to him ' I didn't know you rode'. Actually he couldn't but took to it like a natural, not that I was miffed of course ! He really enjoyed it and only had 2 mishaps, one where the tack broke and he plopped off the side but the horse waited and another when he rode the less experienced horse who managed to hang my husband in a tree.

Good luck and have lots of fun.

 

[Shay]

Some of it will depend on natural ability / balance. And some just learn faster than others. Depending on where you are it might help to make contact with whatever riding school offers hirelings for your local hunt. That way you can start off with the clear goal of riding one of their horses to hounds. Your local hunt secretary will know both which businesses offer hirelings and which are well thought of in the field. Not necessarily the same thing!

How frequently? As often as your body and your bank balance will support. Riding uses muscles you can't really fitten up any other way and you are going to ache. Plus it is expensive. But the more hours you get in the quicker you will learn. If you are reasonably fit and have a natural aptitude there is no reason you could not be out this season. If you can afford it - all private to begin with and introduce group rides when you are ready to look at hacking out and cantering in a group in the open. There is little benefit to group riding until then - but it is cheaper.

 

[Deer243]

Thanks for the great replies.

I'm up in Aberdeenshire now...so not exactly stuffed with packs, once I'm hopefully competent enough I'd have to travel south a bit for some mounted hunting.

Would a half hour private lesson once a fortnight be worthwhile, it's not that frequent and so I appreciate that it would take longer. Or is just once a fortnight going to result in me wasting a lot of time each lesson having to recap what I did a fortnight ago?

These are the options I'm looking at:

1/2 hr private lesson £27.00
1/2 hr semi-private lesson £22.50
45 min private lesson £37.00
45 min semi-private lesson £27 to £32
Adult 1 hr lesson/hack £26.00
Adult 1/2 lesson or 1/2 hr hack £18.00

There is apparently some discount for block booking

 

[cootuk]

How long is a piece of string?
You would learn to trot fairly quickly assuming your balance is ok.
If you're off with hounds/horses then your horse will want to canter with the others. That can take a lot longer, just transitioning from trot into canter, and finding how to control the horse when everything appears to be rushing past you.
Would you be jumping hedges too? That's yet another completely different skill set.
Even given all these, there's the general control required when in a large group with many distracting/scary things for a horse like crowds, horns, passing lots of scary farm stuff. Plus the eventual potential encounter with a sabby.

I would do private lessons to gauge your natural balance and at least learn to trot.
Then you could join groups who are learning to canter and the finer points of steering a horse in walk/trot.
Hacks out should give you access to longer canter tracks in the rough where you really learn how good your seat is, and how the horse moves over rough ground, which is completely different to in the school.
Jumping would start long after canter...trotting up to crossed poles and jumping them. Then gaining height and control, then cantering to jump and getting the canter spacing right leading up to the jump, and landing correctly for the horse.

I'm just learning to jump after 18 months of one lesson a week. Canter took me ages to get the confidence to sit and request. A lot of riding a horse is psychological and the fight with your brain about all the horrible ways your horse could injure you if it wanted.
Hopefully you'll find one of the school horses that you just bond with and trust with your life.

 

[Deer243]

Thanks for the reply cootuk, that's all useful information.

Would I be jumping hedges too? Not for quite a while but hopefully in the distant future! I'm hoping to maybe (probably rather optimistically) be competent enough to follow hounds next season with a non-jumping field.

What you mentioned about hacks out certainly sounds like a good idea and definitely more fun than just going around an arena!

 

[FestiveFuzz]

As others have said, a lot of it would depend on natural ability and how good a teacher you had, but I suspect half an hour once a fortnight would be the long route.

It's much like anything in life, the more you practice the more proficient you'll be. I've been riding for over 20 years, yet this year is the first time I've commited to twice weekly lessons and I've been amazed at the progress my horse and I have made in that time. In your shoes and in an ideal world I'd be looking to have an hour private lesson once a week, at least whilst you master the basics before transitioning into weekly group lessons.

 

[ihatework]

I would probably focus initially on weekly (minimum) half hour lunge lessons (this is where someone will have you on a long line and control the horse for you). This will be the quickest way for you to find your balance on horseback.
Then a few private lessons on learning to go, stop, steer etc and as soon as allowed I'd get out on the hacks.
It's an expensive sport and people have different levels of aptitude for it, but I would say the more frequently you go, the quicker you will reach a level of basic competence. I think if you want to be hunting next season you would want to plan for 2 lessons a week until you are allowed to hack and then weekly hour hacks thereafter (plus maybe a fortnightly school lesson)

 

[Misso]

Hi Deer243

I was interested to see your posts! I want to start hunting, have just (re)started riding, and have recently moved to Aberdeenshire!

I've been riding for just over a year now (having stopped when I was 13). I ride twice a week - a 1h group lesson and a 30min private. I'd like to start going hacking, and spending more time 'thinking for myself'. The group lessons are useful as you don't get as much attention from the instructor so you have to think for yourself in how to respond to and guide the horse. Especially in the chaos of warm up with a group of inexperienced riders. Its really useful for me and something I want to do more of. I think it would be important when out hunting. In lessons in the arena you also don't spend a particularly long time in canter at any one time - I don't actually know but in my head hunting would require durations of canter 5 - 10 minutes.

I wonder if having lessons more frequently would be of benefit for you to gain in confidence, experience a range of possible horsey reactions, also to get your leg muscles used to it. Riding lazy horses, or napping horses, or ones who are very strong and like to chase. I find I can get tense/nervous, then my riding goes totally pear shaped.

I have good natural balance and core strength, but I loose my stirrups a lot - I then get tense and fish for them which is extremely annoying and unbalances me. I also have a habit of getting tense and squeezing, rather than keeping the leg quiet and giving little kicks when needed. I would want to fix this definitely before being out going fast.

Have you heard of the Kincardineshire hunt? Thats Aberdeenshire. I'd like to contact them with a view to join next year

Keen to follow this feed and find out what info you learn - am very interested too!