What is a riding school horse?

JenJ

JenJ

Well-Known Member
Joined
11 January 2010
Messages
3,462
Location
Surrey
Visit site
Given that it is frequently said on here that you can't learn to ride on a RS horse, I just wondered what exactly a RS horse is.

For example, at my yard, probably half of the horses that are used in the school are working liveries, including mine. Many compete to reasonable levels, some are typical schoolmaster types (in that they need very correct aids) and many are regular hunters.

Many of the school horses hunt throughout winter too. Some of the school horses (and many of the working liveries) are suitable only for experienced riders.

So is a RS horse literally a horse that is owned by a riding school? Used by a riding school? Or anything that is suitable for beginners to sit on and kick and pull?

Most of RS horses I know only fit into one or two of the above.

Thoughts?
 
Correct. Its impossible to generalise, but everyone does! Most people think of a RS horse as a complete plod.

I would describe a RS horse as something suitable for the RS's type of teaching, that knows its job and is tolerant to its rider's mistakes.

I've taught and ridden in centres that had ex Badminton horses in their school. I learned loads from them, and I'm an instructor!
 
I work at a RS twice a week and stabled my horse there for years. They own all the RS ponys and horses, about 50 maybe more. Basically most of them dont no what a proper aid is and just respond to big pony club boots. They sometimes do wee shows in the summer and winter but only up to 65cm
 
To me a RS horse or pony are normally the most tolerant lovable 4 legged friend on 4 legs. Not highly strung, demented TB's or Arabs or whatever that just wants to kill you:p
 
to me a 'riding school horse' would be a ploddy type that would put up with pretty much any rider- you would be able to kick and pull to your heart's content and he/she would put up with it patiently... then you might get riding school horses that are a bit more forwards thinking but only in comparisson to their plod-cousins. Really GOOD riding schools (i'm thinking like Talland or somewhere) they would have what i would call schoolmasters- horses where you need to get the aids right/ nearly right to get a response... the first two types are brilliant at their jobs but after a point you CAN'T possibly progress on them...its not fair on you or the horse- thats when you either need your own horse or a school that has horses of the second type :)
 
diggerbez said:
to me a 'riding school horse' would be a ploddy type that would put up with pretty much any rider- you would be able to kick and pull to your heart's content and he/she would put up with it patiently... then you might get riding school horses that are a bit more forwards thinking but only in comparisson to their plod-cousins. Really GOOD riding schools (i'm thinking like Talland or somewhere) they would have what i would call schoolmasters- horses where you need to get the aids right/ nearly right to get a response... the first two types are brilliant at their jobs but after a point you CAN'T possibly progress on them...its not fair on you or the horse- thats when you either need your own horse or a school that has horses of the second type :)
Click to expand...

Yes I would agree with this (I was joking about the killing bit):p Although I have read a few on here and seen a few that fit that description:eek::p
 
in no way were the horses i rode at the riding school i used for years in my teens when learning to ride were complete plods! they were often thoroughbreds with a bit about them and I was lucky to be offered rides on liverys horses for training sessions ie dressage etc.

I learnt to jump on a fab school master cob who knew his job and never put a foot wrong.
 
CalllyH said:
in no way were the horses i rode at the riding school i used for years in my teens when learning to ride were complete plods! they were often thoroughbreds with a bit about them and I was lucky to be offered rides on liverys horses for training sessions ie dressage etc.

I learnt to jump on a fab school master cob who knew his job and never put a foot wrong.
Click to expand...

Where was that then??
 
I think it's not so much the horses but the riding school environment that is the limiting factor. Any horse (unless there is a physical issue) can be trained to be a pleasant, responsive ride.

Some riding schools are poorly run, and have badly trained horses or ones that have become sour about their work. These horses are difficult to learn on, because they are what the rs has made them.

A good rs should be as you describe OP, with a range of happy well trained horses to suit all abilities. There us a lot to be learned from a good riding school and I am not having a dig at rs riders. I would expect a good school to to be able to teach the basic aids, to help a rider find their balance and to develop an independent seat at all three paces, to show them how to jump coloured and xc fences. A really good school can help a rider develop that all important feel for when a horse is going correctly, and supply them with a toolbox of techniques for improving a horse's way of going in the context of a lesson.

What they can't teach, really, is how to educate a horse. A good instructor can tell you about the theory, but you can't normally get the hands on experience of training a horse from an rs. Think about it: you might ride the horse once or maybe twice a week (assuming you ride the same horse every lesson!). In between several other people of differing abilities will have ridden the horse - with the best will in the world you cannot give an rs horse consistent, step by step training in these circumstances.

When you are the sole (or main) rider of a horse you can pick up where you left off the day before. You reap the rewards of having ridden well and have to live with your mistakes if you have ridden poorly. You learn how to influence the horse's way of going through your riding, and over time hopefully train the horse to be respondive, balanced, supple and a joy to ride. I think this training is where artistry comes into horsemanship.
 
My ISH Adrian is now a RS horse as he's on loan to a Western/trekking centre. He was competing BS/BD & doing fairly nicely, & I'd jumped him to 1 m 25 in lessons, but he started having issues & it turned out to be EPSM. He needs lots of slow, steady work which = plodding about with beginners rather than me haring about jumping.

So, he's nicely schooled (got as far as full-on counter-canter, lateral work established etc) but he's now better suited to pootling about.
 
I have worked in several RS and yes there is a big difference and you can't generlise a RS pony/horse ... However a RS to me like mentioned is a safe as houses type of horse that stands all day long does what it's told when it's told and to be fair most of the horses I've seen like this have no charactors either ..... They were boring ! but then so would I have been if I was them as they didn't do anything different from day to day .. same old same old, day in day out ! nothing to look forward to or enjoy about life !

Then there were the 'liveries/working' horses that were used in the school but still went out and competed and have jollys with their owners , these ones still had half a brain left !! but only the older more advanced students rode these or we did, when escorting hacks - so how are these kids meant to learn .... when I went freelance the amount of teenagers that thought they could ride having done all the RS activites , gone out and got there own ..... MY GOD ! they were SOOO not ready for 'Proper' Ponies !!

Your yard sounds FAB x and sounds like allot can be learnt - Go visit an 'average' riding school book in for a lesson and you'll see the difference !

I learnt from the age of 12 when I helped ( Free ) on an event/livery yard worked my butt off, but man the instructors that came and the horses I rode - who can say that the very 1st horse riding lesson they had was on an Intermediate/advanced eventer - at the time I didn't realise what this meant but now I do I realise how honoured I was to have that opportunity ...

But are kids still as eager as I was then .. now ? I asked a 15 yr old friend of a friends daughter if she's mind bringing mine in and skipping out and turning out .. her reply was yeah for £25 .....
 
When I had a big confidence bash last year I took myself off to the UK for a week and booked 2 daily hours at the small riding school in the village where we were staying. This was the school suggested by the holiday cottage owners....and maybe I was lucky.

Owner was told upfront that I was in a previous life a BHSII with a love for hunting and young silly horses, who now had a 4 year old in training an was too scared to get on him following an accident.

Day 1 - George - 1 hour private lesson
22 Year old ex show cob who when I got on him felt safe as houses, very slow ploddy walk which got faster and smoother as he realized that I knew how to sit and was secure.

Very good instructor who explained that this horse had been in a riding school for all of his life but was also used by his now private owners for jumping and hunting. After 15 mins she checked I was feeling confident and gave me a short stick saying "no need to use you just carry it" immediately Mr Plod was far more forward going and we a really good lesson with trot and canters. George was by the end of the lesson 100% responsive to my leg we even did walk to canter transitions.

Day 2 -George for a 1 hour private lesson. Instructor said she had intended on putting me on something else but as I got on so well with George the previous day wanted to see how far we could go. Fantastic lesson George was going forward freely and we even did turns on the forehand and half passes. She said it was really nice for George to have a nice quiet strong rider on him

Day 3 - 1.5 hour hack on George fantastic fast hack by now if I could have I would have bought this horse!

Danny - 1 hour private lesson. Danny is a just 5 year old Polish Cob.
What an interesting lesson Danny was a delight but obviously you got all the young horse wobble round corners and you needed to ride him far more and be clear. Forward going little horse. We did however manage some half pass at walk bless him.

Day 4. 1.5 hour hack on Danny
1 hour private lesson on Jute - Instructors own ID sports horse - what can I say light , responsive not quite a schoolmaster as very unforgiving if you were in the slightest woolly with your aids the sort of horse who could make a real fool out of you by standing there going "sorry don't get it" if you are too far off but a total dream if you got it right.

Can you tell that by now it was a case of confidence issues what confidence issues lol

Day 5 2 hour hack on the glorious George including some jumps in the woods!


So yes I suppose George is the typical riding school horse, safe, honest, forgiving, tolerant, but the Riding school has been clever enough to make sure that he does not only get beginner riders and also gets the opportunity to go hunting, hacking and jumping so he does not sour. But he feels as safe as houses under you.

Danny is her George in training and has a way to go.

She has a selection there of other horses who are not plods but quiet and forward going (saw a lot of lessons) which I would say are the next step up from the total beginner horses.

Jute she uses for her pupils who are ready to move on to the next step of pupils needing a horse that can teach them.

So all in all I was impressed I got exactly what I asked for and although I know I am experienced I liked the way she took me up the levels of different horses as my confidence grew.

So in all this ramble maybe the answer is that George is your typical riding school horse but the big but is that he is not expected to spend all his time baby sitting the total beginners.
 
The best RS horses that I have ridden were not used for the beginners at all. They were well schooled but if you/the rider messed up they/the horse would sort it out for you.

I tried my mare on WL (advanced lessons) but it didn't work out at all because if her rider messed up she would get very worried, stressed and couldn't sort out the rider's mistakes.
 
The riding school where I work we have different horses suitable for different levels of rider. We have a few typical RS ponies but we also have more lively rides for the more advanced riders including an ex 3* eventer. We have 22 horses and none of them are working liveries.
I've been to some riding schools where they seem to be full of typical RS ponies but I don't know where they get them from! We have a policy of selling ours on after a couple of years as they get sick of school work so I suppose the typical RS ponies maybe the ones who have been there since the year dot and are bored to tears!
 
The horses i rode at my riding school had loads of different types, i was at a previous riding school that knocked my confidence so bad, i left, went to another one, i rode a cheeky little pony who was very well schooled, had done everything, but would happily plod around if you let him.

There was young horse that i progressed too to improve them etc. I had so much fun & leanrt so much, wennt to the Pony Club Champs twice with them etc. And now still regually take my nutty TB over for the rallys & dressage.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top