What's your BHS Stages experience?

i did my stages upto stage 3 and grooms certificate and my PTT.
Found it ok, but they are not real world training. Lots of lil annoying things that are seen as "correct" but dont happen in real yards
 
Thanks Dianchi. I know they aren't 'real-life' but I would like to teach sometime in the future. Plus, I thought having something to aim at whilst I'm getting back into it all would be positive. Where did you do yours at?
 
I did my stage 1 at oaklands college and all my training there, as thats where i was a student and the others at wellington (i think, i was driven to all of tehm by the college and slept most of the journies!)
Looking back i would have wanted to go onto a BHS yard and do them and be trained. The biggest problem is the hours you have to teach, its something ridiculous like 500!!!!
Lots of horsey colleges do them as evening classes so check on a local one to you
 
I have my PTT and now working freelance. I did the stages because I wanted well recognised qualifications, insurance and have 'steps' to aim for. So far I have about 120 hours logged in so still a long way to the required 500
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I am not too bothered though, am aiming for Stage IV next year and just enjoying the teaching in the meantime.
I have never trained for any of the stages or PTT exam and just went to take them. I found the days quite interesting, exams fairly easy, horses not too good or rather bad, examiners mainly supportive.
All the best with yours
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I agree with the above poster. You could also go on the BHS website, buy books by Hazel Reed (and maybe some Companion books but I personally didn't bother with them) and Stage I, II, III and PTT DVDs, read through and watch the videos. That is what I have done and it was more than enough.
However, I have been teaching abroad without any qualification for about 10 years prior to taking the BHS exams.

It's going to cost you a bit but still much less than hours and weeks of training which not always is worth the hassle.

When it comes to riding - ride regularly on as many different horses as you can.
 
I've just this minute ordered the stage 1 book and dvd,so hopefully that will give me a bit more info. Have got the syllabus from the web too. Is it worth doing one of these 10 week courses at a local RS or just having regular lessons?
 
Hmm, I would think it depends on how confident you feel with your riding. I think the theory you just learn from the books and Stage 1 is very basic anyway.
I would say, have lessons for Stage 1 and 2 but do a course for Stage 3.
 
I loved my stage 2. I did my prigressive riding tests as an equiv' of stage 1 when i was younger at a RS but the exam day was so much fun! I got to ride lovely horses (well, one was rather hardwork but a lovely soul, I just humoured him) in lovely facilities and talk horses non-stop both in the exam and with the other candidates at lunchtime.
I hope to do my stage 3 and PTT in the next couple of years whilst at uni so that I have an extra job option at the end of it.
Good luck.
 
I have done my stage 1 and 2.
My stage 1 I had no problems with, did it at Myerscough. The horses were brilliantly turned out and good quality, and I found it was examined quite well. Apart from when we trotted up and we were asked to name 3 points of the horse the examiner was very vague as to what she was pointing at, it could have been one of a few things (happened with a number of people who also complained about it). Other than that it was very good.

Stage 2 was done at Longfield in Todmorden. The horses weren't as good there, both I rode needed my leg backing up with the whip evey other step it took, I felt I was going to be put down for over useage of a whip but when I stopped and tried with just my leg aids they said 'if you feel the need to use a whip then do so' - speaking generly not just to me. But they would not go forward at all and i struggled to get any bend out of them at all (so did the other people who rode them) in the jumping they brought out a horse from the stable who I rode first and he was quite buzzy, and I struggled to bring him back to walk after a canter so was trotted for seveal strides when other people were in walk (got marked down for that) and this horse also took off after each fence (head down, tried to buck and take off). Also we had to tack up and the horse I was tacking up had no tack, had to wait until it was brought to me which took ages so I took 15 mins more than everyone else, who had moved on and had to wait for me
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Both centres were in good condition and the examiners weren't too bad, not all the horses were ideal for the stage 2 IMO but I don't feel there was anything very bad/wrong about anything.
 
I hated my Stage 1 at Askham Bryan college at York. I was picked up for things which simply didn't matter in the real world. I am all for a common sense approach and safety is, indeed, paramount but doing silly little things the BHS way just for the sake of it annoyed me.

I didn't bother doing the exam because the trainer told me (and everyone else on the course bar one) that we would either fail or she didn't know which way it would go. My main fault was not having my feet rammed home through my stirrups but I point blank refused to comply because it aggravated my arthritic hips so that was that really.

Oh, and another thing, the teacher made most people cry at some point. She was quick to criticise, praise was virtually non existent and I just don't think that most adults, or children for that matter, respond to that kind of "teaching". I never saw her ride but if she was as good at riding as she was at teaching then I think she would have been a danger to herself.
 
Some interesting comments! Keep them coming!

What is the actual day like?

Looking through the syllabus, some criteria are compulsory and some are supporting. If it's supporting does that mean they just ask you questions on it rather than you demonstrating you can do it?
 
I did my course 3 years ago and I've now moved nearer to Bishop Burton so never been back to Ashkam Bryan and not sure if she is still there. She is a BHS examiner so you may come into contact with her anyway! She was an older lady so you might be lucky and find that she has retired or maybe you will like her. No-one else did though - lol. I'd be interested to hear how you get on so please PM me if you want. Annie
 
Mixed feelings on the whole lot to be honest

I've done my one, meant to have done my 2 but never got round to it.

I personally wouldn't go back to where I took my stage 1 - just really didn't like the step-up, the feel of the place, the equipment I had to work with etc etc.

Day itself went very quickly as for stage 1, it's only half a day anyway. I rode last which was horrible as you're waiting around and getting little bits of feedback back about the horses etc. Really really enjoyed the stable management side, being asked questions about stuff you know.

The examiners were really nice and chatty, one of the ones I had is/was in the Stage 1 video so I was like ooo know you from somewhere.

Horses - stage 1, well nothing special at all. You've GOT to be able to ride dead to the leg cobs, think out of the 16 exam horses or whatever it was, there were only 2 speedy ones as such. I came from/still do from a yard where even the cobs are very very well schooled so you have to make that effort in the exam to ride them forward.

Stage 1 is about doing it safely and compently, that's all - it's basic horsemanship stuff. My mixed feelings start appearing regarding the jumping in stage 2 plus and the teaching parts of the PTT.

Regarding the syllabus - compulsory means you have to pass that element (think if you fail 3 compulsory parts, you fail the exam) where as supporting isn't as tough, you can fail more of those.

Feel free to pm me as spent 3 yrs working on a where to train yard, riding for BHS students, getting trained myself and helping others - know quite a bit about the system now
 
I did my stage 1 at Huntley. Had a lovely day, examiners were really friendly and helpful and the horses were absolutely lush. The first one I rode walked, trotted and cantered in a perfect outline with just a squeeze of the outside rein - bliss to ride! The care part with good too, the examiners seemed to really want you to pass... they were encouraging and gave you time to think about your answers.

Stage 2 I did at Hartpury, it was much more formal and there was a lot of pressure to do things quickly. Although the examiners were pleasant, there was less 'encouragement'.

The horses I rode at Hartpury were much more 'riding school' types than Huntley although they were nice and well behaved, they were less supple and needed riding forward a lot. Unfortunately I didn't pass the riding - I got really nervous, tensed up and rode like a fool - but I'm retaking it at Summerhouse in a couple of weeks. Fingers crossed.
 
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