university riding clubs

debsflo

debsflo

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do most unis have them.?

Daughter is off to uni next september so is looking now but would be keen to continue riding if possible.

We have found out uea her favourite so far does but they dont seem to include it in all prospectuses.

Anyone know who definatley does...
 
My daughter has just left Durham Uni and was president of the Equestrian Club for the last year. The club was for those who just wanted to ride regularly--from total beginners to very experienced riders. There was also the equestrian team, competing at different events. The team rode at one venue and the others used another centre, having lessons--flatwork and jumping, and hacking. They also arranged things such as beach rides and mini-competitions and had an active social calendar too!!

Have you been looking on websites to see if the unis she's applied to have clubs?
 
Probably quicker to try listing a few to start, does she have any favourites? There are a LOT of unis out there! Ones I know about that had good clubs are:

Bath - Yep - definatley good there!
UWE
Exter
Oxford Brookes
Reading

I cant remember any more now! - Mind Blank!
But Mosssst large unis have a club now. - Check their Sports Union webpages
 
as far as i know, lots do. i go to southampton which has one (good teams and loads of stuff going on), and southampton solent, reading (VERY good teams), brighton, guildford, uwe and exeter. these are just the ones i know of who have been in the same bucs and friendly team leagues as us.
i would be surprised if most if not all unis didn't have a riding club to some extent, even if they didn't have teams. don't expect it to be included in the prospectus, i know southampton has a booklet about our athletic union and it mentions there is a rc but other than that you wouldn't have known until you got there. you will have to do a bit more investigation into the university's sports clubs to be sure.
 
Chester does as my daughter is captain and loves it - find the face book page of uni wou looking at and you will fond loads info and people to ask - where you tthinking of going - liverpool mancerster and bangor all do to :)
 
Nearly all Uni's have them but will never be in the prospectus. Look on the sudent union website instead or alternatively the BUSA website to see if the Uni you are interested in has a team that competes in the BUSA league.

ETA Its BUCS now not BUSA...showing my age, finished uni rather a long time ago!
 
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Hi :)

Reading do!!

Im President of our Riding Club here! Its great fun, if your daughter is competetive, we just came second in our National BUCS competition, making us the second best Riding Club in the Country!! Newcastle came first....

We also do riding holidays, dressage comps, pony games, lots of socials etc etc.

I highly recommend it. It has been the best part of my uni life so far by a mile and i most certainly wouldnt go to a uni without a riding club.

If youd like more details please PM me :) We ride weekly in one of the best centres in the country for bargain lessons at £22 p hour, even if its a private lesson!!!

Our centre look at height, weight and experience and then decide. We have lessons at different levels. We have complete beginners, through to some 3* eventers. Our centre have horses to suit each level. :)
 
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thanks all so far uea, Reading, York and Nottingham are on short list.

Still have lots of open days to go.

She will be leaving her horse at home but is keen to ride, poss teams if possible.
sounds more likekly than not,,
 
UEA definitely does (my local uni!) and they're pretty good. Norfolk also has an active riding scene with loads going on all over the place :)
 
im at warwick and we have one, i know that birmingham, southampton, cardiff, leicester, oxford, oxford brookes, manchester, RVC, also do
 
ngrace said:
Anyone who has been in them can you give an idea of costs and things? I know they will vary but a general idea would be good.. And how do they work out what horses to put you on?
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for my club, sheffield, it's around £35 to join for the year and then if you get onto the teams then the competitions and stuff are free

if you don't make it onto the teams then you can do the friendlies which you pay for yourself, but i know sheffield subsidise some of it... think it's like £20 or £30 for a SJing and Dressage entry and horse hire.

you ride the school horses that your club is associated with, some unis have good horses others really dont! I'd say sheffield are probably in the middle with a few good horses

it's luck which horse you're put on, mainly though they are just riding school horses so won't be schooled as well as your own probably. the shows are also pretty low level, around 2ft6 to 2ft9 for the jumping and dressage tests a mix of prelim and novice standard. not sure about the regionals and finals as i've not had any experience with them myself i think they might be a bit bigger.

can your daughter not take her own horse to uni?
i've got mine at uni as well as being part of the club which works best for me because although the team side is fun, if you're competitive it's no comparison to BS/BD/BE
 
I was on my uni BUCS team last year, we were in the same league as Newcastle so we hadnt got a cats chance in hell of winning but it was so much fun :D

York RC was in our league and are a really nice bunch of girls.

I loved being part of my uni club - we rode once a week (occasionally extra for team) for £14.50 and a donation towards petrol (no minibus so we took turns driving). Also had sessions on a mechanical horse, club dressage and jumping comps, polo lesson, lots of fun :)
 
CurlyWurlyRach said:
I was on my uni BUCS team last year, we were in the same league as Newcastle so we hadnt got a cats chance in hell of winning but it was so much fun :D

York RC was in our league and are a really nice bunch of girls.

I loved being part of my uni club - we rode once a week (occasionally extra for team) for £14.50 and a donation towards petrol (no minibus so we took turns driving). Also had sessions on a mechanical horse, club dressage and jumping comps, polo lesson, lots of fun :)
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The York RC girls, are great :D soem of them keep there horses on our yard which is very close to York Uni.
 
debsflo said:
do most unis have them.?

Daughter is off to uni next september so is looking now but would be keen to continue riding if possible.

We have found out uea her favourite so far does but they dont seem to include it in all prospectuses.

Anyone know who definatley does...
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I just finished at UEA - they definitely do have one as I joined it in first year. They used to do weekly lessons for about £20 a week and it was £25 to join the society itself. They compete at the University riding competitions against Cambridge and a few other places but I only went a few times as I brought my own pony up and decided to save my money. They're a nice bunch of people though!
 
Samantha008 said:
Hi :)

Reading do!!

Im President of our Riding Club here! Its great fun, if your daughter is competetive, we just came second in our National BUCS competition, making us the second best Riding Club in the Country!! Newcastle came first....

We also do riding holidays, dressage comps, pony games, lots of socials etc etc.

I highly recommend it. It has been the best part of my uni life so far by a mile and i most certainly wouldnt go to a uni without a riding club.

If youd like more details please PM me :) We ride weekly in one of the best centres in the country for bargain lessons at £22 p hour, even if its a private lesson!!!

Our centre look at height, weight and experience and then decide. We have lessons at different levels. We have complete beginners, through to some 3* eventers. Our centre have horses to suit each level. :)
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That's great to hear - I used to ride for Reading back in the 80s - do you still ride at Wellington?
 
Yeah we do ride at Wellington :)

We were at Hall Place for a few years, but they cut back on their more experienced horses, and our riders just seemed to be getting better so we moved to wellington, with all their 8 schools and 50 riding school horses. Its a crazy place. I had a lesson there a few weeks ago and it was one of tghe best lessons ive had :)

The clubs still going strong lol!! What was welly like back then?!?!
 
Samantha008 said:
Yeah we do ride at Wellington :)

We were at Hall Place for a few years, but they cut back on their more experienced horses, and our riders just seemed to be getting better so we moved to wellington, with all their 8 schools and 50 riding school horses. Its a crazy place. I had a lesson there a few weeks ago and it was one of tghe best lessons ive had :)

The clubs still going strong lol!! What was welly like back then?!?!
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Not quite as smart as it is now! They had just finished the International Arena when I left and we used it as out warm up ring for the last competition we did there. We were lucky with instructors though - both Robert Pickles and Jeremy Michaels were there at the time and taught us regularly. Some great horses too. Really pleased to hear that you are still riding there :)
 
If it is important check at the open days etc. I was gutted to go to the sports union open event during freshers week and go all around it looking for the riding club only to find that it had been disbanded that year as they were struggling to find a riding school to work with. It had been on my list of things to look for and was the only sporting club I was interested in. :-(
 
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