Would you loan your horse to a riding school?

No. If I could not ride him, I would sell him
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Depends on the riding school - but yes! When I broke my ankle there was no one to look after my horse so he went to my friends riding school till I was back on my feet so to speak. He has settled really well and is staying on on working livery. I'd get a contract drawn up though if you are contributing towards costs so say often he should be shod, how often he can be used etc.
 
umm....for me personally NO!
I work at a riding school and yes they are very well looked after - it's part of my job and i'm the biggest softie going when it comes to horses and animals in general, but to be honest, so long as your horse would adapt to life in a riding school and being ridden by complete novices, and you know he/she are going to be well looked after and fed then can;t see why not...I just wouldn't but thats just me.
The ones at work - some are privately owned on working livery, they all have nice clean fresh bedding fresh water, good grooming every day...and well fed...even though they all have huge bellies on them, they are occasionally turned out, but to be honest they are used to this way of life and I wouldnt say any of them are unhappy....they all know when 4o'clock arrives - every single head is hanging over door...waiting for dinner...quite funny really...then they know it's haynet time...rug up and freshen water.

Seriously though if you think he/she will be OK then go for it..can you inspect the place first, and do checks both announced and not...just incase they are doing something you dont want.

Best of luck with your descision
 
I don't know. I work in a riding school and although the horses are really well cared for, I wouldn't be able to stand the thought of my horse being bumbled about by novices. (Hypocritical, since I am a novice, but at least I'm a kind novice who doesn't yank horses around!) Although some of the people with working liveries like to have some input into who rides their horse, so they can make sure it's being treated well. If I could do that, then I might.
 
I have done. Nice local riding school and the horse I loaned was the type that novices couldn't ride him, so he was for the 'better' pupils. We had a contract drawn up, and it worked for us, it worked for the RS, so all was happy. He didn't have to be very fit, like he was with us, 'cos with more work his feet let him down, but on a soft arena and gentle hacks it suited him.
After 18 months and a bad muddy winter, he lost too many shoes and got sore - so we had him back in retirement for 5 years before his feet let him down big time and he was pts, but he was a very happy horse and the best ever to look after.
 
Depends on riding school. I would absolutely loan both my horses to my current riding school (where I have ridden for about 3.5 years). I know that they do not let anyone get away with crap riding, are insistent on proper aids being applied, never use gadgets and would only put people they considered right for the horse on it.
I would not ever advertise my horses for loan to individuals nor to any other riding school that I hadn't been at myself for a good while though.
 
I had this arrangement for the best part of 15 years with my homebred 14.2 mare. She was a quiet, novice ride & so suitable for use in a riding school. She was actually kept free for me & I would come home fortnightly from London to ride & hunt her at weekends. I even bred from her while she was there. Like any livery yard there were some ups & downs, but on the whole the arrangement worked for us.
 
Me too, on working livery, but he was only used for one to one flatwork/dressage lessons and I trusted the owner of the school. It was a way for me to be able to afford, both in time and money, a dressage schoolmaster of my own, who I could also have lessons on without having to trailer him somewhere or someone coming out to me. If you'll excuse the pun, it's really horses for courses.

I wouldn't loan to some half -baked outfit where they just have large classes of total beginners going round in endless circles "to the back of the ride". Do such schools still exist, or are people's expectations now so much higher that they don't survive?
 
Personally no, I wouldn't even let my daughter take our little mare to college with her, much to the annoyance of daughter, but after she has now been at college for a few weeks she can understand why I said no, just the fact it wouldn't suit all horses or ponies.
 
My mum's horse is on permanent loan to a riding school and it was the best choice we could have made for her.
She's extremely well looked after, ridden once a day in the school or out on a hack and has one day off a week. We can visit her whenever we want, and they give us updates. I've ridden her out a couple of times and she was almost as good as I left her.
She is ridden by novices as she's so bomb-proof, but they don't kick her or pull on her mouth - the instructors don't allow mistreatment of horses and she's only ridden with supervision (apart from by me!).

We put her out on loan because my mum had a hip-replacement and is no longer able to ride, and I've got another horse, and a baby so wasn't able to take her on. She's 15, has arthritis in her hocks which is taken into account by the riding school, and she has a guaranteed home for life with them. Selling her would have meant an uncertain future which at her age and condition we weren't willing to put her through.

She is so happy there that I would very happily loan my horse to them if I'm ever in the position where I can't keep her myself.
 
I used to go to a wonderful riding school. The horses had 2 weeks off during the summer at grass, the horses did not hack unless they had knee boots on. It was brilliant.

That would be the only place I would let have my boy.

My horse came out of a riding school and he did not enjoy it.
 
hmm some differnt replies here, shes a very keen wee pony but shes 19 so gettin on a bit. just want her kept active as im too heavy for her now. she likes getting out and bout, maybe go and see my old riding school they were nice.
 
Definately not ever, my boy was at college with me and he got treated llike a donkey i'd be happier if he was a feild ornament if i couldnt ride him for a while couldnt face let him be ruined by a riding school again
 
Not my horse as she isn't suitable. The pony I would - I know of several fab riding schools round here. The level of care is fabulous and the owners knowledge is second to none
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Never!!! I've seen too many who plod round in circles until they reach the back of the next horse and too many lovely horses used far too much and knackered before their time. Not to say all riding schools are like this of course but particularly with a 19 year old i think they deserve to know who's looking after them and what there routine is, not 'when will I be dragged outand ragged round again today.' Why not advertise for a rider or someone to loan on your current yard. This is how i got my first horse who had been with his owner from being a 2 year old until 15. She was too big for him and had a few others. She gave him to me in the end and he's 22 now. I wouldnt dream of having more than one person look after my boy.
 
The horses at the riding school near me have a pretty good life! They're fit and healthy, spend every night turned out together in the schools or the fields, and on occasion go on "holiday" for a month or two, just living in a field. Attention definitely gets paid as to which horses are appropriate for which levels of riders.

I wouldn't lend my own pony to them, mainly because I'm selfish! He's my pony, and I want improvements in his way of going to be due to my work, and I want him to like me!
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Also, he worries very easily, so I suspect the life of being ridden by many different people wouldn't suit him very well.
 
NO NO NO and NO!

I've worked at riding schools and however well the horses are cared for and however good the level of instruction, all the horses will get kicked, yanked in the mouth and bumped about on to some extent. Imagine a learner driver - they know what they should do but aren't always able to apply to right level of footpower to the accelerator. This applies equally to "better" riders as beginners, everyone is always learning. I could catch my horse in the mouth over a jump sometimes, I've been riding for 40 years and can still make mistakes - whilst I expect my horse to be forgiving of me and my occasional cack handedness, I'd hate to think of her possibly subjected to it by every rider.

Plus the horses get completely institutionalised, stuck to a routine ("all the heads out at 4pm"), round and round the school, same routes hacking, etc etc. No amout of two week holidays or odd days out hunting can compensate them for their life of drudgery.

That'd be a no from me then
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Personally no, but I would never loan to start with. Also my horse would be as much use as a chocolate teapot especially if they have a resident scary monster like a . . . . . .CAT!
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I have had ponies on loan out to riding schools before, but not for Pip, ever as it wouldn't suit him. Tally is abit young to tell if he could cope yet.
 
Buzz is not suitable for the riding school, buut i would not hesitate to send one that was to the riding school i used to run, each horse has a routine mapped out for its indiviual needs and they are all looked after amazingly well, all the staff are very reliable and the owners of the yard have been in the horse business since the 50's.
 
No I wouldnt. Especially not to an equine college either. I would prefer to loan out to one person. My horse wouldnt like having loads of different people handling her and riding her. I dont think many horses would like that. I've seen many horses being loaned to the equine college I went to that were ruined being there. Just too busy an environment and too many bad riders on them. Riding schools may be a little better if only a certain amount of grooms handle the horses and tack up etc but I still wouldnt send my horse there at all.
 
Would always depend on the school but mine is to my current yard I am at. All the horses are well fed, most do an hour a day with fridays off as a minimum,do a variety of activities eg hacking ,jumping etc.we have two inspections a year and any horse that they are not happy with is signed out of the school as such as is not used until a further inspection has taken place. The instructors are careful to match horse to rider so there is no way my tb who can be a bit sprightly would end up with a total novice and our gorge 20 year old traditional cob would end up with someone wanted to jump 1.10m. Also has benefits for me as an owner - my shoes decreased from £65 to £48 as a result of going on working livery, I get two sessions of lights in the school during winter and I know my horse is exercised on my two long days at work. If it is the right school is can have real plus points
 
I did. Years ago I got my competition pony and while we were considering selling my old pony (got 2nd pony in Sept and sold 1st in January) I didnt have time to ride both after school. Plus he was very fat/unfit after 3 mths off following a serious bout of strangles which had left him very underweight. So gave him to my instructor to se as he wished. The place is like WeeBrown described. Pony was a 147cm dun Connemara and used almost entirely in adult lessons or leadrein lessons so no hawking him around with the bit. He jumped upto 90cm and competed in riding club dressage and was generally used for novice-intermediate riders. He was very quiet and a schoolmaster type (as long as you werent interested in affiliated competition) but could occasionally spook so not for beginner children.
It was the ideal situation for him and allowed me to keep my other pony on full livery and competing (which we otherwise couldnt afford).
Unless I had a bombproof cob type who was old enough and established enough not to be ruined by regular poor riding then I wouldnt loan to a riding school. Its unlikely Id own anything tha fits the bill anyway as Im interested in hunting and competition.
 
Never! Bombproof cobs may be safe but they are not necessarily suitable for Novices. As most of us know its easy to make a cob, dead to the leg and unresponsive to ride. My horse would be ruined in a riding school being kicked and kicked by uncontrolled novice legs and blocking hands.
I ve only got to let someone else ride my boy a couple of times and it takes me three rides to get him back again to being a light sensitive ride!
 
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