What do you/did you do to ride whilst at uni?

[Mythen]

I have just started at Southampton and discovered that the riding club is £50 joining, £21/week for lessons and then more money for training if you are on the team. I understand that it is expensive to ride etc and they have to charge this amount but I cannot afford that! Ideally I would share a horse like I have been for a while but all the livery yards in the area seem to only be accessible by car. So how do you get to yards and find people in the area who are looking to share (have looked on horsemart/ google but nowhere accessible enough)?

 

[dafthoss]

I have just brought my horse down to uni so I will ride him. Sorry that's not much help but it is an advantage of not being at a city uni. Could you go to the nearest tack shop and put an advert up? Your riding club sounds really expensive ours was only £5 to join.

 

[AprilBlossom]

You'll love the riding club if you do join - Southampton has a particularly good club from my experience (competed against them a few years back) and you'll find the more involved in the local horsey community you are through the riding club, the more likely you are to hear of sharing type opportunities.

At the end of the day, you've got a student loan to blow - spend it on stuff you enjoy lol!!

 

[duckling]

Agree with AprilBlossom - I was in the riding club at Soton for 3 years and on teams and the committee, it's a fantastic club. The £50 joining fee unfortunately mostly goes on insurance and then subsidising the lessons/training and transport costs.

When I was there it was no more cost to be on the team than to just do weekly lessons so wonder if they've changed that? The cost actually hasn't gone up in 4 years which is quite surprising! If you're good and confident enough to be on the teams I'd go for it - the competitions are completely different to what you'd do outside uni, and its good to be able to ride so many different horses Great for the CV too. It really is a good club to be involved in - the committee work hard and the socials are legendary

If you are set on sharing you are pretty much scuppered in Soton until you get a car! Which halls are you in? From some halls you may be able to get two buses to either West End or Chilworth where there are yards. Try www.nfed.co.uk for shares/loans in the area.

Give me a shout if you need any more info - I graduated 2 years ago and still miss the riding club!

 

[Flicker]

I shared a horse with the local riding school. On afternoons that I didn't have lectures, I would spend all afternoon from 2pm until whenever we had finished putting them all in bed for the night. In addition to riding 'my' horse, I also helped with lessons, stable duties, stewarding and time-keeping at shows etc (basically an unpaid pair of hands). I got a lift with the YO there and back.

 

[Lolo]

Same uni, and in my second year- don't ride there as the cost is so high. I occasionally go home and ride at weekends and I ride in my holidays. It sucks, but hopefully my degree will enable me to afford to ride and own horses when I'm older!

 

[JenTaz]

just go for the riding club even if you have a lesson a fortnight, its a great way to meet new people, i will be joining the riding club when i go to uni at aberystwyth next year, but i will also be taking my own horse with me so will get to ride everyday regardless, i know its expensive to join the riding club but in the long run it will be worth it

 

[Spyda]

I joined the Polo Club at Reading University. Can't remember how much it cost now but it cannot have been totally unaffordable or I wouldn't have been able to afford it!