To have said this at the riding school?

[TigeToo]

I’ve been doing horse riding lessons for around 6 months now (after on and off lessons when I was younger). I was paired up with a lovely but very sedate cob called Frank. It’s a mission to get Frank to do anything other than a very slow half hearted trot. It was ok at first as I needed a slow steady horse to build my confidence up but now it’s just frustrating. I’m meant to be learning how to canter but I can’t get Frank to canter. The instructor shouts “give him a kick” which I do but he doesn’t give a shit. The instructor will then laugh and call him a lazy bones or something. Occasionally she’ll run up behind him doing a weird noise which might make him canter for 3 steps but then he’ll stop again.
Last week I arrived at the stables and was told “Frank isn’t available so I’ve got Toby out for you, he’s a bit more forward, are you ok with that?”

Well Toby was amazing! Still slow and steady but up for a slow canter when requested. He was perfect!! I had an amazing lesson and finally felt like I was getting somewhere (with lots of cantering!!)

At the end of the lesson I asked if I could have Toby again on my next lesson. She said that was fine and wrote his name next to mine in the booking book.

So imagine my horror when I turn up today and see Frank stood waiting for me. I said “I’m meant to be on Toby today” and she said “oh, sorry he’s not available this week”. So I said “As lovely as Frank is I really want to learn to canter now, is there any other horse available?” And she got pissed off and said “no, I’ve got Frank ready now”.

So I took Frank into the school. Absolutely pointless, walking around so slow that he literally stopped a few times. Managed a slow trot, no chance I was getting anything else out of him.

So when it came to booking next weeks lesson I said “can you put me down for a horse I can learn to canter with” and she said “I can try but Frank is the best horse for you really due to your height, weight and ability” (I’m 5ft 10in, 10.7stone). They have a massive yard full of horses. I have another friend who goes and has said she won’t ride Frank or Toby as they’re too difficult to work with.

I didn’t book at the time but after speaking to friend I rang them just now and asked if I could book in with Blaze, Pepsi or Toby next week. They said “yes, I’ll put them on as well as Frank”. I said “No, not Frank”. She got very defensive and said there were no guarantees that it won’t be Frank if he’s the only one available so I said I won’t bother then.

The lessons are expensive and I feel like the’re taking the piss out of me.

DS2 has just given up his riding lessons after nearly a year of being put on 'Frank' and no progression whatsoever. It's boring and expensive. I'm bitterly disappointed as I used to be a riding instructor and he was so keen. He won't even try a different riding school now as he's so disheartened.

This

You need to be clear. You will not be paying to ride a horse that won't canter for you. You will not spend your hard-earned money to sit on Frank who won't do anything. If it were that easy, everyone else wouldn't be refusing to ride Frank as well.

One of my horses is a Frank.

He is absolutely lovely for friends' kids to sit on or if you just want a leisurely plod in the woods. He loves doing both of those things as he can just amble around at his own sedentary pace. He loves the kids visiting most of course as they always fill him with carrots 😁

He would make an absolutely awful horse to learn to canter on. In fact, he'd be a terrible riding school horse all together because he just wants to live his life at a walk. He doesn't even bother to break into a trot when his carrot givers arrive!

I would try a new school OP. You won't learn anything there.

No it isn't. And horses are so sensitive that they can sense a fly landing anywhere on their body ( and independently twitch a muscle to get it off!) - the last thing they need is a boot in the ribs. They can be encouraged to move forward or change direction with a squeeze against their ribs/sides, the position of the rider's leg asking for different movements, and in conjunction with the seat, hands and voice.
An "instructor" telling their pupil to "kick" is in the wrong job!

I know nothing about horse riding but Frank sound like my spirit animal

I love this comment!

I’ve often thought I would like to be reincarnated as a sloth.

This is the whole point, the op isn’t yet a good rider, she’s learning.

Sounds like the school i took my daughter too, her horse liked to bite adults but loved children, wouldn't have been a problem other than the fact they asked parents to walk alongside and guide the horses, I spent half my time dodging bites and headbutts, if I mentioned it they was either funny with me or laughed it off, like been assaulted by a horse every week was top laughs for me (i can laugh about it now lol, but that the time I was annoyed)

We ended up stopping going in the end, but for a different matter similar to yours, she just never progressed more than walking around a yard, week after week just walking around in circles, it felt like they was happy to take the money and do the bare minimum in return, easy cash but the kids got bored quick.

He COULD make progress at the right place. I cannot believe the Riding School thinks that it's reputation doesn't get damaged by no-one getting far at all.
After a year, he could be jumping and even going to little shows - IF he was being taught properly and safely, and his confidence encouraged.
It really does make me cross.

Whatever their T&Cs are you don't have to take them lying down.

While you're prepared to walk away is exactly the time to insist. We got stung with some ridiculous terms at our first ballet school and when the second one did the same thing I just said no, I'm not agreeing to that particular condition. If you're happy to waive it in this instance then then please invoice me, otherwise no thank you. They invoiced and waived the ridiculous condition. Just keep it polite and friendly.

If you want to just take your money elsewhere, that's fine, but you might find that now you've made it their problem and cost them a booking, they are a bit more accommodating next time. Just don't get hung up on not being allowed to reserve a certain horse - asking for any horse except for one particular one they've been taking your money for for years is not unreasonable.

Every yard should have a Frank... they're worth their weight in gold for teaching newbies how to sit, hold reins, feel the horse beneath them etc etc.

However there comes a point where a rider needs to feel and experience something new, not yet good enough to get Frank going, but not going to progress if they stay on Frank.

Thats where you're at and I think if their answer to getting him to canter is 'give him a kick'... then that speaks volumes about how they teach.

I'd tell you to sit down firmly, shorten your reins, and on the next corner squeeze your inside rein and move your outside leg back behind the girth and kinda squeeze there...

Assuming the trot is active and swinging and well balanced to start with of course.

'Just give him a kick' doesn't explain canter aids and is likely to result in you tipping about and wobbling which is likely to tell Frank to slow down as the noob is about to fall off. Not useful!

Go elsewhere - your height may mean you wouldn't fit well on some of the shorter cobs (is it body height or leg height though, makes a big difference!) you're definitely not too heavy to ride a wide range, even a solid pony can carry that weight! Any decent riding school should have a horse to suit, I think the issue here is, this isn't a decent riding school or it caters more for kids and so doesn't have a good range of taller horses who are still beginner-friendly.

You generally can’t insist on a specific horse and the same horses will be the most popular and it’s not fair on them to do 6hrs a day just because people like them. They are animals not just an activity. However I think make it clear that you really don’t want to ride Frank so you can practice on another horse

But I’d find another school I can’t bear thee “boot them in the ribs” “smack them with the crop” until they do it method of teaching

Go elsewhere

Or find a private owner willing to
Give you lessons

Riding school ponies are often like
This

Aw poor Frankie boy, give us a pic of him he sounds a big lump of lazy love lol. ❤️
Change schools OP.

I am in love with Frank now, OP.

Let's get up a subscription so that he ends his days where people appreciate him.

My thoughts too. Some of these poor riding school horses have a pretty shit time being pulled about and kicked by novice riders. They can shut down.

Every yard should have a Frank

I agree, and I know fuck all about riding. Maybe every woman should have a Frank in her life. Slow, steady, reliable, kind.

You are getting good advice. Go to a different school with a greater variety of suitable horses and have some lunge lessons on a more forward going horse.

Every stables has a ‘Frank’. Useful plod for beginners’ hacks but actually requires a strong intermediate rider to get anything out of him on a private lesson.

I think you are ready to progress up from Frank (bless him). You need to either speak to the Riding School or find another one.
Toby sounds wonderful, however, I am biased my last horse, an Irish Draught, was named Toby: such wonderful happy memories (thank you for that).

This makes me so sad, isn’t there anything that can be done about people who teach people in that way?

Yes, it is bringing to mind the first RS I went to (from age about 10) and there was the most lovely patient horse - Natasha. She was in lessons almost back-to-back through the day, and then we (the little worker bee helpers) would ride her and her stable mates up through the village - about 2 miles - to the fields
where they were turned out for the night. It was a long day for them.

The fields were adjacent to vast moorlands. And one day we couldn't find Natasha in the morning - and she was found having fallen into a little gorge on the moors, and broken her back.

A very sad end for her after her hard-working life.

You need to find a new riding school. I spent years and loads of money learning to ride badly at a school that were full of Frank's and 'instructors' advising to kick/smack to go pull to stop! When I eventually went to another school, what revelation. Horses that weren't bored stiff, classical methods used and a whole new set of techniques taught to solve various problems etc. But one of the biggest things I had to improve on were all the really bad riding habits that I picked up! I'm horrified that I participated in what I now consider to be really bad treatment to those poor horses. It's an expensive hobby to learn to not get what you want out of it.

Why not horse riding?

Yeah I’d like to know this as well…

I used to ride a horse like Frank. Keeping him moving was exhausting.

Then one day on a hack, a train went past and he took off after it. I managed to stay on. But blimey. He did have it in him after all, just not in the school.