Worst lesson or instructor or school whats happened to you?

Whats wrong with a 12.2? Your obviously not to big for it and it was capable of what you were doing in the lesson.

But yes had horrific lessons from a college mainly and have another local rs that I wouldnt give any of my money but each to their own.
 
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Unfortunately just because someone says they have ridden TB's, young and excitable horses doesn't always mean you CAN ride them well. This is no judgement on you but working as an instructor I have seen plenty of people who have ridden TB's and youngsters and I would not have classed them as capable of riding them. Also everyone has a different opinion as to how excitable horses are, for instance one may class something rather quiet who barley brought his bum off the ground to buck, as difficult and excitable. RS's will always use a reliable horse for the first lesson especially in this day and age of sueing they cannot risk taking what a client says as the truth, from experience 9 times out of 10 their have claimed to be more experienced/capable than they actually are.

How qualified were the instructors that taught you? I do not believe qualifications make good instructors but if they were younger instructors did you speak to anyone higher up to get their opinions or speak to your instructors as to why they feel you aren't ready to move on to more advanced horses?
 
Luckily I have never been bothered by what people may think about me riding ponies I am too tall for, never rode one I have unbalanced or that I'm even close to being too heavy for. I suppose that's something that comes with confidence though.
 
If you don't mind me asking, where are you based?

Because I am at a livery yard in Cheshire however it is also a very large riding school, the reason why I promote them is because I am 'behind the scenes' so to speak and they really do take great care of the horses. Despite there being almost 50 horses they are all treated as individuals and they all have their own (properly fitted by a saddler!) tack as well as any special medications/rugs they might need. They are frequently shod as well as having back checks, health checks etc. They don't work long hours, they get frequent turnout and all have their own rugs. Really they are as well taken care of as any other privately owned horse, the only reason why I am suggesting this school is because they really do take fantastic care of their horses which I believe is of the upmost importance!
Also they are a fantastic riding school with lovely/experienced instructors and great facilities, including a huge farm ride ;)
 
Ha - bad experiences? You want bad experiences?

Ok - try this. Seven year old child, severely asthmatic and very slight build (no muscles), never been near a horse before. Is placed atop a large (to them at least; actually about 15hh) two year old colt. Yes, as in not gelded. No hard hat, or body protector, btw.

"Don't worry," the child is told; "He's only a baby horse still, so you just hang on to the saddle and he will follow his mummy!"

The people in charge then proceeded to ride off with the rest of the group. It was a group outing from a summer scheme, and the participants had each paid £10 for a short pony trek.

Child clung on to saddle and colt plodded along for a bit. Then, at a fork in the road, it turned left instead of right, leaving the group behind. No one noticed as child clung to saddle in silent terror.

Colt then took off into trot and carted the hapless child through a small patch of woodland, before cantering down a field and back into the yard. It then plodded into the barn and dumped the child in a pile of mucky shavings.

Rest of group got back half an hour later to find child curled up in a ball and sobbing incoherently. People in charge just shrugged and reckoned that the colt must have been missing his stable...



And that was my OH's first ever ride!
 
Arizahn said:
Ha - bad experiences? You want bad experiences?

Ok - try this. Seven year old child, severely asthmatic and very slight build (no muscles), never been near a horse before. Is placed atop a large (to them at least; actually about 15hh) two year old colt. Yes, as in not gelded. No hard hat, or body protector, btw.

"Don't worry," the child is told; "He's only a baby horse still, so you just hang on to the saddle and he will follow his mummy!"

The people in charge then proceeded to ride off with the rest of the group. It was a group outing from a summer scheme, and the participants had each paid £10 for a short pony trek.

Child clung on to saddle and colt plodded along for a bit. Then, at a fork in the road, it turned left instead of right, leaving the group behind. No one noticed as child clung to saddle in silent terror.

Colt then took off into trot and carted the hapless child through a small patch of woodland, before cantering down a field and back into the yard. It then plodded into the barn and dumped the child in a pile of mucky shavings.

Rest of group got back half an hour later to find child curled up in a ball and sobbing incoherently. People in charge just shrugged and reckoned that the colt must have been missing his stable...



And that was my OH's first ever ride!
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:eek::eek::eek::eek:
 
I was once the only livery at a very fancy riding school (tiny however, with only 7 horses + ponies).

Instructress/owner would basically beat the living daylights out of any riding school pony who placed a hair out of line, or tell her students to. I remember once she literally dragged a client off the horse, then got on the horse herself and galloped it around the arena beating him. I also caught her laying into one of the horses with a shavings fork. Ah, she was a ray of sunshine.

Needless to say we moved!
 
I don't think the OP is snobby for feeling out of place on a 12.2 - She might only be 5ft4 but it doesn't mean she is automatically right for a smaller pony - Her build and pony's build will make a big difference - My other half is an inch taller than me, Yet i have longer legs.

I'm quite fine on a 12.2 pony if it is stocky. I used to ride one and not look tall at all (I'm 5ft6). However, Someone who is my height but with a longer body than me would not be as comfortable because of the difference it makes to your balance.
 
Is anyone else still stuck on the idea of hour-long lunge lessons? Is that just me and JFTD?

*toddles off to bed to dream of brooms*
 
In keeping with the question posted :)
My worst experience was in Abu dhabi. It took me a lot of phone calls to finally arrange a lesson and as I wanted to get some practice in while I was away I settled for a shared lesson. I was presented with a very nice horse and then myself and five other pupils commenced our 'lesson'. Although I was very much a novice I'd gone past the learning to do rising trot stage and I ended up with a beginner class. The arena was too small for so many horses. Only one other rider had any control over his horse the remainder of the time was taken up with trying to stay in line when the person in front could not get their horse moving but not being allowed to go past. One woman's horse took off into canter and I sat and watched as she bombed towards me wondering if he'd stop. He did luckily. No surprise that I never went back.
I've since found a lovely place to have lessons while in in AD where the horses are well cared for and happy and a lovely RI. Am looking forward to going back when they restart lessons in October.
 
LollyDolly said:
If you don't mind me asking, where are you based?

Because I am at a livery yard in Cheshire however it is also a very large riding school, the reason why I promote them is because I am 'behind the scenes' so to speak and they really do take great care of the horses. Despite there being almost 50 horses they are all treated as individuals and they all have their own (properly fitted by a saddler!) tack as well as any special medications/rugs they might need. They are frequently shod as well as having back checks, health checks etc. They don't work long hours, they get frequent turnout and all have their own rugs. Really they are as well taken care of as any other privately owned horse, the only reason why I am suggesting this school is because they really do take fantastic care of their horses which I believe is of the upmost importance!
Also they are a fantastic riding school with lovely/experienced instructors and great facilities, including a huge farm ride ;)
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Without being rude, just about every riding school that I have ever worked at treated their horses like this.

Most of the worst examples of riding schools that I have seen were abroad. I work for an airline as cabin crew, and will rarely ride anywhere abroad! They scare me to death, letting just anyone get on anything without any instruction and canter off on a hack, hanging on to the horse's mouth!
 
MissChaos said:
Is anyone else still stuck on the idea of hour-long lunge lessons? Is that just me and JFTD?

*toddles off to bed to dream of brooms*
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Personally I wouldnt expect a lunge lesson to last longer than 30 mins.
The OP however was told she'd be given an hours lesson, mabe shes unaware that would be unusual, the fault lies with the person who told her it would last an hour.
 
Not disputing that particular point, just a 'Blimey'. Tho I hate to say it but from how OP described their experience, I think I raised an eyebrow that they still may have thought that's not a problem in itself.
 
My worst experience was as a spectator. My daughter and her friend had a lesson last summer. Nice RS, good selection of horses, some real quality. I, had even been an instructor there myself a few years previously.
Firstly, not very friendly welcome. Secondly, a horse tied on the yard - too long, was caught up in his rope. Luckily he wasn't panicing, but I had my heart in my mouth. Was going to free him, but told not to touch - we were the clients after all, and I can understand this... but no-one helped the poor horse for some time!
Anyway, the lesson before ran over a bit, so we were left waiting. Both young children were told to keep hold of the ponies - who wanted to make a bee-line for the hay barn. I think they did well to hold on!!
During (the good lesson) all I could hear outside the arena was the RS owner/manager yelling VERY rude words. Now, we can all have bad days, but to swear at such a volume when not only clients are there, but also young children, I thought wasn't acceptable. It spoilt what the teacher was trying to tell the children - she did her best to raise her voice above it! Lesson finished early, and we went out... to see YO lady person continuing to let rip at 2 children who were about 12.... they looked frozen in fear at whatever they had done. My daughter led her pony back to the yard, and then we were left... felt like we were lost sheep!! Anyway, it didn't have a friendly atmosphere, and that is a shame.
As a former instructor, I do think that is important, especially with children.

AS a rider, I once booked a 3 hour clinic with a pro. He was an hour late, and refused to teach us on the flat, insisting we went straight to jumping as we were clearly 'warmed up' by then... Annoyingly, the flatwork is the part of us that needs more work! Still had to pay full price!!!
 
Worst experience was with a freelance 'instructor' who came to my yard to give me and 2 other friends a lesson on our own horses. Mine was on my cob who, at the time, was 5 years old and had only been out of shafts for about 6 months. He was exceptionally green and had no concept of going into an outline and we were working on going forwards into a contact. Anyway 'instructor' jumps on, shortens the reins ridiculously short and starts booting cobby in the ribs whilst jabbing him hard in the mouth to get him to put his head down. Cobby starts getting very upset to the point where he is starting to do mini-rears (she was on him 5 mins max whilst I stood in shock before being able to react) - I then dragged her off him and trotted him round for a few mins on a very loose rein before turning him out. I was unable to pick up any contact for 3 days because it upset him - he's a bit of a delicate flower :rolleyes: Thankfully he has retained a lovely soft mouth, but I'm still seething about this 5 years later!
 
Broke_But_Happy said:
Worst experience was with a freelance 'instructor' who came to my yard to give me and 2 other friends a lesson on our own horses. Mine was on my cob who, at the time, was 5 years old and had only been out of shafts for about 6 months. He was exceptionally green and had no concept of going into an outline and we were working on going forwards into a contact. Anyway 'instructor' jumps on, shortens the reins ridiculously short and starts booting cobby in the ribs whilst jabbing him hard in the mouth to get him to put his head down. Cobby starts getting very upset to the point where he is starting to do mini-rears (she was on him 5 mins max whilst I stood in shock before being able to react) - I then dragged her off him and trotted him round for a few mins on a very loose rein before turning him out. I was unable to pick up any contact for 3 days because it upset him - he's a bit of a delicate flower :rolleyes: Thankfully he has retained a lovely soft mouth, but I'm still seething about this 5 years later!
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Poor cob! I trust you buried that "instructor" up to her chin in the muck heap?
 
Had a similar experience with a riding school that advertises they had advance horses for riders. Had regular lessons with a lovely instructor and one lesson we even did flying changes! Sadly she left and I had a few months off to concentrate on work, had a lesson again with another instructor who asked what sort of things I'd been working on and mentioned I had great fun doing flying changes in my lesson but I'm not means an expert. However she seemed very snooty with me, especially as the horse I'd been given to ride was very old and stiff and I couldn't get him to canter! She then said in a condescending way "Are you sure you even know what a flying change is?"! Didn't go back again for a lesson and been sharing a wonderful schoolmistress who's sadly injured and decided if I want to get more from my riding it's time to get my own!
 
The first 'riding' school I ever went to as a kid. I say that as most of the time was spent waiting for your group to be called. Horses were grumpy and known to bite and kick, although it's not surprising. Oh and did I mention that it turned out one of the instructors was a paedophile and sexually abused several of the young girls there?! Horrible place. Funny thing is they're still running now, dont know how much it's changed in 15 years.
 
MissChaos said:
Is anyone else still stuck on the idea of hour-long lunge lessons? Is that just me and JFTD?

*toddles off to bed to dream of brooms*
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:confused: I don't see a problem with a hour long lunge lesson? ..I think lunge lessons are fab and the very best way to improve position! .. i think i might be on my own with that opinion by the sounds of it! :)
 
The horse might though, being lunged for an hour!

Plus it would be so boring, and from an instructors point of view I'd struggle to fill an hour on the lunge without a fair bit of padding.

Plus I'd get dizzy.
 
gracey said:
:confused: I don't see a problem with a hour long lunge lesson? ..I think lunge lessons are fab and the very best way to improve position! .. i think i might be on my own with that opinion by the sounds of it! :)
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Not in the least - I completely agree with regards to the benefits of work on the lunge for the rider. However, no horse should be worked on the lunge for a full hour, with or without a rider. It's too physically stressful.

eta, I'd get dizzy too, Patterdale :o
 
gracey said:
:confused: I don't see a problem with a hour long lunge lesson? ..I think lunge lessons are fab and the very best way to improve position! .. i think i might be on my own with that opinion by the sounds of it! :)
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Lunge lessons are fab when run properly - an hour is too long for the horse.

ETA x-posted with JFTD!
 
Agree 1 hour for the horse on a lunge lesson is far to much and if it is a decent lunge lesson ie no stirrups and lots of exercises then that is also a lot for the rider.
OP am not commenting on your riding because I don't know you but I really believe that a rs instructor that has the balls to say to a client they are not ready for a certain type of horse can only be a good thing.
We had a couple of clients when I used to teach that had come from other schools and thought they were so much better than they were because the instructor did not want to say to much either scared to upset them or maybe trying to keep them i dont know it was crazy.
 
Broke_But_Happy said:
Worst experience was with a freelance 'instructor' who came to my yard to give me and 2 other friends a lesson on our own horses. Mine was on my cob who, at the time, was 5 years old and had only been out of shafts for about 6 months. He was exceptionally green and had no concept of going into an outline and we were working on going forwards into a contact. Anyway 'instructor' jumps on, shortens the reins ridiculously short and starts booting cobby in the ribs whilst jabbing him hard in the mouth to get him to put his head down. Cobby starts getting very upset to the point where he is starting to do mini-rears (she was on him 5 mins max whilst I stood in shock before being able to react) - I then dragged her off him and trotted him round for a few mins on a very loose rein before turning him out. I was unable to pick up any contact for 3 days because it upset him - he's a bit of a delicate flower :rolleyes: Thankfully he has retained a lovely soft mouth, but I'm still seething about this 5 years later!
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:eek: sometimes its astonishing what passes as professional advice and help
 
I have seen this very aggressive style of ridiing from a few freelancers, including one who has ridden at HOYs, and is usually a very sympathetic rider. I actually wouldn't have been that keen to get on having watched him ride it, and I will literally ride anything!
I once had an instructor go to smack my horse round the arse with a branch, miss and nearly take his eye out, she got him literally just under the eyeball, there was quite a slice in the soft pocket there.
One of my standout bad experiences from a level of teaching perspective was at a clinic.
My friend took her horse, who she had done quite a bit with, and I took my youngster, who had only jumped about a dozen times, but had been double clear out competing twice.
Her lesson was fab, and I was looking frward to a good session with smaller fences. Our session had 2 kids in spite of saying no children, and one hoeless adult, in spite of stating a miinimum capability. We jumped a few crosspoles, and the xc bit was just uselss, I've jumped more out hacking. My aim had been to use this as my session before going xc for the first time, which she knew, but then she had the audacity to say that maybe I had better take her schooling as we hadn't covered much.
Thankfully said horse popped round the xc when we went without drama, but then she is a star.
 
Re lunge lessons lasting an hour, I often taught riders on the lunge for half an hour and then gave half an hours 'normal' lesson afterwards, so making a 'lunge' lesson a whole hour. As other say an hour on the lunge would be far too long for a horse.


Most riding schools have to juggle their popular horses about, and often the smaller ponies can be little b's to ride, so although it appears it was a one off anyway with this school, it can be a great opportunity for learning new techniques riding something out of your comfort zone.

Also, to play devils advocate, it may be that it took a while for you to get the stiff horse working correctly, in which case it would be pointless to start more difficult movements unless the horses way of going was correct.

I agree with the others who say to loan/buy and have lessons from an individual instructor that you get along with, then there's no disappointment in being presented with the wrong horse.
 
Queenofdiamonds said:
I don't think the OP is snobby for feeling out of place on a 12.2 - She might only be 5ft4 but it doesn't mean she is automatically right for a smaller pony - Her build and pony's build will make a big difference - My other half is an inch taller than me, Yet i have longer legs.

I'm quite fine on a 12.2 pony if it is stocky. I used to ride one and not look tall at all (I'm 5ft6). However, Someone who is my height but with a longer body than me would not be as comfortable because of the difference it makes to your balance.
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I'm 5'10 and have ridden a 13.2 in dressage lessons in the past. As long as it's ok for the pony (weight and balanced rider) then there is still plenty to learn from a smaller mount. For example you get a lot more feedback on where your upper body is than on a 16.2 horse. All depends whether you put ego or willingness to learn first . .
 
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