Worst Hack Ever And Riding School Numpties Rant!!

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Ziggy_

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Ok, so I decided to go on a hack last night with one friend from the yard, and a friend of hers who's ridden for years at various well-known, reputable riding schools, who I will refer to as Riding School Numpty. We go down a road, get to a locked gate, where one rider has to dismount, open the locked gate, we all go through, etc.

Well we voted that Riding School Numpty opens gate as she's on a 14hh cob, and we're both on 16hh+ flighty, bargy impatient TBs which makes it a bit tricky to get back on again! It was raining and she was struggling a bit with the gate, before I could get off and help she climbs over the gate, leaving her horse ON ITS OWN! Horse starts to wander a bit. I go ''Riding School Numpty, catch the bloody horse!!" Friend jumps off to help, catches horse, leaves Riding School Numpty to hold the horses while she does the gate. Next thing we Know Riding School Numpty has let go of the TB. Cue a thunderclap and TB was off, bolting towards the main road. Cue my horse rearing, plunging and broncing to get up the road after her friend. Cue Riding School Numpty still standing there looking clueless!!

I know the situation wasn't great but how on earth can you ride for 5 YEARS and STILL not realise that it's probably not a good idea to let go of a horse ON A ROAD?????!!!!!! it drives me mad how people have all this riding experience and not an ounce of common sense!!
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Ben and Jerrys ice cream for getting this far!

on the plus side the cob was only backed in January and absolutely didn't bat an eyelid to the 2 nutters, even when they both charged off and left him alone. what a sweetie!
 
Problem is that with all the health and safety crap that surrounds riding schools these days they never allow clients to get into a situation where they have to think for themselves or consider the consequences of their actions. We are raising a generation of riders who are only capable of getting on a ready tacked up patent safety horse, mounting in an enclosed arena to have a sedate, non challenging lesson. I have a friend who has ridden for many years and a reputable RS, came to ride my schoolmaster. Stood at the gate while I caught, groomed and tacked up, she rode for 1/2 and hour while he obliged but was obviously put out at her pathetic efforts, handed him back to me, got in her car and went home with a "I really enjoyed that can I come again next week"!
 
Sorry but I think your comments are a bit uncalled for. If RSN has only ever ridden at Riding Schools then she has probably had nothing to do with horses other than get on, ride, get off. You are obviously in the lucky position to have a) been born with some common sense and b) been round horses long enough to have gained some horse sense. RSN seems to be lacking in both of these, thus you should have been looking out for her and pointing her in the right direction, before you got in the position you found yourself in.
 
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Poor riding school girl.

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POOR RIDING SCHOOL GIRL!!
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more like poor sarahandautumn and friend
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No matter how little riding you have done outside a riding school (getting on, riding, getting off) I would hope that after much much less than five years that you would know not to let go of a horse on a road!! Its just bizarre. Especially after being told to hold horses.
 
Poor you and your friend! That sounds like it could have gotten quite dangerous!

I am very weary of hacking out with people I don't know as they do all sorts of weird things. I was out with a woman once who knew that my horse needed to be in front in a canter (not a problem for her horse and we had cantered quite a few times with no problems by allowing me to go first). We were walking on a hardcore track next to a forrest when suddenly she said 'Oh look jumps!', turned left and went off in a canter to jump some logs in the wood! Neither of us knew the ground, where it all led, what these 'jumps' were and she took off in front without warning! Cue major rear and panic to catch up and overtake through all the trees!
 
thats a bit uncalled for.

you stick a 'rsn' on a young horses and take them on a hack with two tb and expect them to do the gates.. then when it all goes wrong you blame them.. out of order...

the tb wouldhave probably been upset weatehr you were on their backs or not, so if yo want something to blame blame the weather. dont take the wet out of someone just because they are less exposed to this type of situation.

Lou x
 
Poor RNS - When I take out someone I don't know for a hack, it doesn't matter how much they tell me they have done, I would always assume to do all gates and look after them and although I am short I can still get on my 16hh mare without the aid of a gate or bank and she is well mannered enough to allow me to do so. Perhaps it would be safer to teach your horse the same.
 
Nobody to talk to but hacking on your own means you do exactly what you want to. Solves the problem of other people.
 
ravenwood you jsut hit the nail on the head there hunnie.

I'm quite annoyed at this post, to me it jsut seems that you and your friend left your common sense at home with you.

Lou x
 
oh also.. did you call her 'riding school numpty' or was that just emphasis in the story.. cause if you call me that i would of dragged you off your horse and deck you to be perfectly honest

Lou x
 
Oh dear SarahandAutum, I bet you didn't expect these replies that you got to your post.
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Well I can understand what you are trying to say but we all had to learn and if RSN had never ridden out with lets say private horses never expect them to know what to do as for health and safety reasons in a riding school or even equine colleges you are told if you can't hold it safely let go. Do not put yourself in danger! You yourself said the two TB won't stand and are flighty. I'm sorry to laugh but did you and your other friend end up walking back and the RSN had a horse to ride.
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A riding school rider, you put her on a baby horse, you rode out horses that weren't well behaved enough to escort her and you were reluctant to get off. You and your friend clubbed together and made her get off to do the gate, watched her struggle, and there was an incident, she did something silly.

Now who am I blaming here - the novice from the riding school? Or the two "experienced" horsewomen?
 
yet again linda.. expressed perfectly. sorry you have realygot my back up on this one.

i hope you walked home.

you came on here, expecting us all to go 'oh you poor sod, having such an awful hack' well the long and short of it is that it was your fault.

Lou x
 
How is the poor girl to know that your horses lack the basic manners to stand still when they're asked to without being held on to for dear life. Poor kid. And asking her to do the gate instead of you because your horse is bigger than hers, it beggars belief.
 
We all have our moments, I always do the gates when hacking with friends; because a) they are lazy b) they say they can't because they are on bigger horses and if they have to get off can't get back on! and c) my pony is so good at it, practically does them himself!

Just put it down to "one of those days" at least the cob was well behaved.
 
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A riding school rider, you put her on a baby horse, you rode out horses that weren't well behaved enough to escort her and you were reluctant to get off. You and your friend clubbed together and made her get off to do the gate, watched her struggle, and there was an incident, she did something silly.

Now who am I blaming here - the novice from the riding school? Or the two "experienced" horsewomen?

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Just what I wanted to say.
 
The thing is with RS, usually they have a leader and escort, these are the people that do gates and all things like this, so a rider may not have experience of gates.

A rider may also just go for the weekly hack, and still have no experience of basic horse/road sense.

Having owned a RS, I can say that riders of many years still lack knowledge,, because all they want to do is enjoy the ride and nothing more. Hardly their fault, although basic common sense should prevail.
However, to sit back and watch is irresponsible too. The riders *should have said, 'let me hold your horse while you do the gate' or at least have jumped off to help
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I would say everyone was numptyish over this (sorry!)
 
I understand where everyone is coming from...poor riding school girl...BUT in sarahandautumns defence, I too would expect someone who had ridden for 5 years (whether at a riding school or own horse) to know not to let go of a horse and climb over a gate...and javajane her friend did get off to help.
I dont however like her being referred to as riding school numpty - it is also not her fault if she has never been taught basic safety whilst out on a hack. Numpty riding school more like.
I expect she has learnt now anyway to keep hold of the horses at all times!
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actually feel sorry for the poor novice who's being blamed for everything, if you knew she was novicey why take her out at all in such a mismatched group
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has she ever actually been hacking before? if not how is she expected to know the unwritten 'rules' ?
before blaming her perhaps look at you and your friends actions and think how you could have handled the whole situation differently to prevent any of it happening.
 
I agree with a lot of the comments in defence of the Riding school lady. A lot of Riding School Clients ride once or twice a week on school horses in an arena. Some of them do this because they are nervous and stay nervous. Some Schools do a Riding and Road Safety test if this lady has never done this you are being very unfair.

Do you know if you managed to make her cry or put her off Riding for good ?
 
I agree that its common sense to know not to let go of a horse near a road but I think calling the poor woman a numpty is a little harsh.
You and your friend were the experienced riders so I think you should take more responsibility for what happened.
 
Well, I've taught in riding schools, and I've escorted thousands of hacks. As the 'experienced person' I have always taken great care of my clients....I have even developed the skill of cantering whilst looking backwards
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Being the better horseperson is about supporting your novice friends/clients, not belittling them.
And I would be ashamed to call anyone a 'Riding School Numpty' - or that I had directed/looked after them so badly.
And, as a horse owner, I have ridden out on many, many hacks with fellow liveries - only to find they were ruder, less safe, and worst of all, less easy to direct than riding school clients.
Sorry, but I think this hack was badly managed by the OP.
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Well the person that owns the TBs that are bargy and rude are the numpties for not training their horses better - and also the horse should have had the manners to stand quietly - so all I can see is two stupid TB riders taking the Pi$$ out of a less experienced rider and a fab little cob behaving really well.

Poor RSN!!
 
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Well the person that owns the TBs that are bargy and rude are the numpties for not training their horses better - and also the horse should have had the manners to stand quietly - so all I can see is two stupid TB riders taking the Pi$$ out of a less experienced rider and a fab little cob behaving really well.

Poor RSN!!

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taking "flight and bargy TB's" out onto the road is far more like the behaviour of a "numptee" in my book

poor girl.....i hope she finds herself som better mannered riding companions in the near future.
 
As someone who rode at a riding school for many years before I could afford my own horse, I find your attitude deplorable.
My old yard was also a riding school and I used to help them out regularly by taking hacks out. I would never have dreamed of asked a client to do a gate, even though I mainly used to take experienced riders so would not expect a person who had been riding at a school to know what to do. I think it was unfair to ask her to be honest.
Also, if doing gates is a regular part of your hacking I would've thought you would have taught your horses to behave while you opened and closed them.
 
I think that both parties are to blame slighly but maybe the riding school lady didn't hold the horses as asked because she got flustered, its very easy to loose common sense in pressured situations.

I think calling someone a numpty is belittling and if I were her I would be horrified to know that I was being posted about in this way.However I can appreciate that this was upsettinf for both sides.

Its easy to pass bad manners in a horse because of this and that but regardless of the fact that they are tb's they should be able to stand still when mounted and not move on until asked. Its sounds as though you need to go back to basics with your horses ladies and instill some manners.

I think the
 
I hope you didn't call her Riding School Numpty to her face!!!

Yes she was a div for letting go of horses on a hack, for not being able to open a gate and for climbing over it, what's that about??

It was mean of you not to do the gates yourselves and to dump the job on the least experienced person.

It sounds like this was not a very sensible group of people and horses to go hacking together.
 
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