What do you get out of your riding club?

[skewby]

My membership expires end of year, and I really can't think of any reason to renew it, other than "Rider" magazine, reduced entry to the (very) odd HT and 10% discount at local saddlery!

I did go to stuff when I joined, but then stopped. As my lad is a heavy, the instructors would shove us at the back and do their best to pretend we weren't there

also, even when we did get tuition, I got fed up waiting around with horse switching off, while the rest of the group jumped.

Am I missing something? What do you get out of your RC? I have weekly one to one lessons with a fab instructor, and have really found these to be a much better investment. I also have a huge bunch of mates to do things with, but also a horse who's happy to box up and go anywhere on his own with me. Would I really be missing out?

 

[MochaDun]

Mine's lovely! Very relaxed, very supportive and friendly group of people. I don't have transport but manage to hack to some local rallies probably 3-4 a year and have been to camp twice in previous years which was great.

The rallies always have excellent instructors (many of whom are part of the riding club too) and I always learn something new, we usually only have max of 4 people at a rally so you do get your share of the instruction. I haven't been able to go to many of their shows in last couple of years due to no transport but the ones I did go to a few years ago were good shows/events where it's all about the taking part not the winning.

Even for just the 3-4 rallies I can get to a year and the occasional very useful talk I still think the membership fee is worth it (about £17 a year or something like that). The rallies are usually no more than £12-15 for an hour's group lesson. Bargain!

 

[hadfos]

tbh nothing

I joined thinking it would help us alot,however went to a jumping practice night and if you were on anything bigger than 15hh you were screwed with the practice jumps etc

(plus they do alot of dressage that i cant be assed with,and jumpcross,sadly my horse will not go x-country

he clearly stated that when we took him schooling 2 wks before the jumpcross

aww well,lol),so the reduced entrance fees etc were worthless to me,am sure they are helpful to alot of people though!

decided just to go to the venues round us with novice classes and we came on alot more for it!
Have you tried another club?

If it really not for you sounds like you have a great circle of friends etc and wouldnt lose out without it!

 

[monkeybum13]

Having just joined I hope to get some decent training (my PC training is fairly poor) and a discount on entry fees as I compete in their comps anyway. You never know if Lacey does well maybe even teams.
Just the other day I was wondering if I should renew my PC membership or not.

 

[ester]

stress

too many years on committee.

From that point of view I would like to say it is really disappointing when you run stuff and not many attend which starts to make it non viable and when you dont get much feedback from members for what they would actually like to do.

 

[hadfos]

[ QUOTE ]
stress

too many years on committee.

From that point of view I would like to say it is really disappointing when you run stuff and not many attend which starts to make it non viable and when you dont get much feedback from members for what they would actually like to do.

[/ QUOTE ]
And i can feel your frustration..our club suffers the same,however i did email mine and let them know why i wouldnt attend very often,and they are working on things

as you say feedback is like gold and can help them improve and appeal to everybody

 

[Rudey]

I've been with my local club since I was 14...eeeeek 12 years ago! Feeling old now lol!

They hold several open shows a year including sj, showing and gymkhana games. Being a member awards me reduced entry fees which is worth while as I go to every show (5 minutes down theroad),very local and handy!

It has practice days the day before the show for a small fee, great if you have a youngster, something that doesn't like fillers or lack of facilities at home.

We go team jumping and the club pay for the full entry fees if you are a child, or if you are an adult, you only have to pay half towards the fees. I jump for our team, paid £5 to go in two classes, got placed, and came home with massive trophies (to be returned the next year) and decent prizes that would cost more then my fiver for the day!

Get trophies and points added up, and at the end of the year awarded trophy for most points in each class! I was grumpy as I had to hand over my open trophies from last year but I still managed to get the open runner up trophey this year even though I missed half a season from a broken ankle! Cheered me up no end! Get in! xx

 

[millitiger]

nothing... if you want to jump over 3ft they look at you like you have 2 heads.

 

[*hic*]

I've been a member for a couple of years but personally have so far had only plenty of opportunities to help shift jumps around, or horses around and pay for lots of entries.

However, my daughter joined and qualified for the Indoor SJ Team finals within a matter of days, she's also represented them at dressage and Horse Trials. My little mare has represented them with her rider in SJ, dressage (got to the finals) and Horse Trials.

Hopefully this year I might do something myself.

Isn't there a useful insurance element of being a riding club member?

 

[Lollii]

[ QUOTE ]
stress

too many years on committee

[/ QUOTE ]

Me too! although I love being involved with our RC, I don't understand why people who are disappointed with their RC don't go onto the committee? we are always looking for new people to join with new ideas.

 

[stencilface]

Lots of volunteering experience

Joined for the first time this year, did the horse trials and qualified for the champs. But thats just about all we did! Volunteered at the horse trials, and a combined training comp, and a dressage comp. Then we entered for the next dressage comp (over the phone then sent entry in on the day they closed) then got asked on the thurs if we would volunteer on the day (sunday!). They seem to do this everytime. When they organise a comp, why don't they organise volunteers for it at the same time? You need the same amount for dressage whether there's 15 or 50competitors

I don't have sj lessons as don't like the instructor either

Think I'll be joining a different one next year thats is a bit more professional and have more 'celebrity' guest instructors

 

[SpottedCat]

[ QUOTE ]
nothing... if you want to jump over 3ft they look at you like you have 2 heads.

[/ QUOTE ]

Which is why the notion that RC is a good step up to affiliated is barmy!

That said, ours used to be like that and I have joined the committee to organise competitive people to do competitive things. Last year we sent a couple of individuals to our area winter dressage competition. This year I have entered 4 teams. So it can be done, but usually if you are the person who'd like your RC to provide you with more, you have to step up to the plate and sort it out.

It's logical really - if the people running it only want to do lower level stuff (which in and of itself is no bad thing), how can they know how to cater for the more ambitious riders? I am hoping that by getting the ball rolling I can step aside at some point and reap the rewards!

 

[kick_On]

I'm a member of two local ones and i find that it's a great place to have great tution at cheap prices. Most RC have a wide range of instuctors so if you don't like one you more on to another one. One of my RC arranges indivdual lessons aswell
I'm very much focused on what i need for my horses so RCs are great for training as they do offer fun rides, camps and socials. And if you're competetive you can always try out for their teams, so I think are a value resource and have defo help with all my horses.

 

[ihatework]

Sounds like you are with a bad club.

With my club they arrange regular clinics with fairly good instructors. £15 for a group of 4. These are mostly aimed at prelim/novice dressage and poles-2'9" sj/xc.

They also have slightly less frequent clinics with better known instructors who are aimed more at the competetive rider and cater for the 2'6-3'3/3'6 candidates. For example my horse is getting a lesson with Dickie Waygood this month for £25, and there are plans for Nick Turner in the new year sometime. This year they also had Lucinda Green teach.

My club also arranges a long weekend camp at Milton Keynes Equestrian which caters for the more competative. Or alternatively a week long less competetive camp in the summer too.

For those that aren't interested in the above there are normally a couple of club TREC sessions a year, plus pleasure rides.

Not to mention the Area competitions, social evenings, mechanical horse lessons, polo lessons

shall I go on? Not bad for £25 a year or thereabouts

 

[Lolo]

I sort out the league so lots of stress for not much praise, and my Mum is secretary and organises massive amounts of stuff so our family are fairly core members.

We get regular shows with dressage from Walk/Trot to Medium with listed judges only, showing classes including a crosspole working hunter, lots of different types classes and then a 2'9 WH (and a 2'3 somewhere in the middle!), and SJ from 60cm clear round to 1.05m. We run a hunter trial at Burnahm round the affiliated classes (and a 60cm and a 80cm) just before the eventing season kicks off as a good XC practise run, and then finish the season with a ODE running round the same courses as the affiliated the week before.

My sister and I get lots of rosettes (deadly competitive SJers, lol) and trophies from the end of year show and next year someone has taken over the training properly and hopefully there'll be loads!

Love my club (although its easy for junior mebers to get to big for their boots- this year I came 10th in the overall senior league, yet if I were a junior I'd have narrowly missed winning, because we lack junior members).

 

[SO1]

My RC is really excellent but then they do a questionaire asking members what they want so they can cater towards the membership. I imagine the membership fluctuates and you get different people joining each year with different interests, requirements.

I and quite a lot of the other members do not have transport so the Committee does try to put on events that are hackable from quite a few yards in our area.

We have dressage 4/5 times a year from intro up to elementary level - everyone is welcome and if the classes are oversubscribed as they are popular then members get priority entry. There are also 2 shows which again cater for everyone from grassroots riders upwards and you can gets points for entering the competitions even if you don't get placed you still get one point for entering. At the end of the year they have lots of trophies you can win - for the highest placed member in the classes.

We have rallies with a grade A show jumper and a grand prix dressage rider - £12-18 an hour and with the show jumping they will put the jumps up or down as well so everyone can join in. There are also teams for the more experienced/competitive riders.

I am an adult on a pony but have never felt unwelcome. I had never done any dressage and neither had my young pony before I joined the club and I went from being so nervous about doing the dressage I would almost pass out to coming 2nd in the intro dressage challenge. Even on days when I am not very successful everyone has been encouraging.

I think however it does depend on the club some are going to be better than others or more suitable for a certain level of rider.

If your club is not suitable for you and you don't enjoy it then there are two options try and get on the committee to change things or leave.