PE Gsce - Horseriding. Any advice/experience/general info?

[bellinisurge]

I am utterly out of my depth on this one. Any advice welcome.
My dd is Y7 and loans a horse. She started riding about a year ago. We live in a northern suburb but on the edge of the countryside and there is a stables near her school. It's caught her interest and we are encouraging riding. Someone at the stables is currently doing PE GCSE - horse riding. They go to a different school in a neighbouring slightly more rural area. I don't know if it's a possibility at /via DD's school (don't think so) but it makes sense to do whatever research I can before make direct enquiries at her secondary school.
Dd is pretty academic and so this has come out of the blue. Neither DH nor I have any knowledge or experience in PE GCSE. Dd is not sporty generally which is one of the reasons I have been encouraging her riding.
Any ideas?

I did it.
Pe is a great gcse to do. I loved the freedom to decide the 4 sports (15yrs ago)
I had horses so chose to do horse riding.

I was given a spec on practical test beforehand. I did a ridden display showing my communication with the horse. Bit like an equitation show.
Submitted that as video.
The second was on a different horse and i did a round of showjumping. The teacher came to my yard for that as it was more simple for a none horsey person to assess a simple clear round no refusals.

Was something that positively effected my grade as was awarded an A

The only reason the school really would say no is the ability to assess. So suggest video submission if needs be. I found it really motivated me in this subject.

Sounds excellent. Thank you.

Check the exam spec.

The theory component has increased (it's essentially human biology, nutrition and sports psychology) and you need to show three sports for the practical - one team, one individual and a third which can be either.

There is a list of sports approved for the practical , and equestrianism remains on it. Candidates frequently offer a sport that is not coached in school as at least one of their choices, but that can be more damanding of parents, as you will be more involved (gathering video evidence, finding a coach who understands levels needed for GCSE and how to display them best etc)

My sister did it and she had to submit videos as they had no one to assess in person.

She then went on to do equine studies in university.

Great stuff @GlacindaTheTroll . She's generally very academic and I quite like the idea of this for balance. I assume that we would incur costs and that there would be a bit more self arrangements to do as well as a more rounded aspect. Handy info. Really appreciate it.

Thank you @LongtimeLurker29

My DSS is doing GCSE Pe and he has to chose a number of sports specialisms not just one.... so your DD needs to keep that in mind that she needs to be able to do other sports too as well as horse riding

Thank you @Tiredeyes21 . That will be part of our discussion on this.

As others say, if you do PE GCSE you need to offer three sports, one of which could for sure be riding, one of which needs to be a team sport. DS2 for example is doing athletics, football and badminton. But the other sports can be ones you do at school - hockey, netball, football? Ask the school what they suggest. For ds, he does athletics and plays footy out of school, but a mate if his only dies athletics out of school, so his other two choices are in-school sports, which is fine.

Thank you @clary and everyone. I have discussed it with dd and she feels more confident to look into it with the info given, particularly about doing a team sport as well. I have stressed the importance of developing good relationships with her PE department and taking personal nutrition and health stuff seriously. She has shown an unexpectedly keen interest in all that.

Ds is in y9 and just started or gcse. As others have said they do the 3 sports - I think the practical element of each sport contributes 20% to the final mark which is something else to consider if it takes up an inordinate amount of time out of school...

Ds’s school also offers a single sport option which is a gcse equivalent that I can’t remember the name of that might also be worth considering if she doesn’t fancy doing 2 other sports.

Thank you.

Just to add that I often help assess riding videos for my PE department and unless you are going to buy her a pony it might be very difficult to get to a good enough standard just going to a riding school.
It might sound really harsh but the gap in skill levels between an advanced riding school pupil and just an average pony club rider is huge.

Oops sorry, just reread your post and realised she is loaning a pony which is much more likely to move her up the skills levels.

Thank you @Rosieposy4 . Helpful observation and clarification.

I've helped a few riding students with this under the old A*-G system and I agree the expected standard is quite high- similar to a BHS stage 2 exam to get the top grades. You also need a horse /pony capable of the work. I agree it's generally pupils with their own horse who do well but if the horse/pony is green/old then it may not be suitable.

This can lead to having to pay for an expensive series of lessons at a stables with a horse that is capable.

If she is in year, I wouldn't worry about it now. The syllabus may change by the time she comes to pick GCSEs!

Thank you @LadyLance .

@bellinisurge I've just had a quick look at the new specs for AQA and Edexcel, and to get top marks (if offering showjumping/XC ) she would need to be jumping about 75-90cm, or in dressage able to produce movements such as leg yield and shoulder in.

Unfortunately, it's assessed on technical competency- so rhythm/balance, getting good strides etc- rather than taking into account the horse ridden. So e.g. if your horse is younger and less balanced, you will get lower marks even if they take more skill to ride. Or that's my understanding anyway.

But like I say, I would have expected things to have changed slightly (or lots) by the time your daughter comes to do this, so I wouldn't worry too much now!

Thanks @LadyLance , I looked at AQA website too and showed it to DD to give her a feel for it. It's really not something I know much about and so your comments and others on here is much appreciated.

@bellinisurge It's not a problem at all. In the past I've had people e.g. want to film their normal group riding lessons and thinking that would get them good grades. It can be hard to know what to do, and schools aren't always able to give good guidance.

IMO, when the time comes, the best thing to do is to find an instructor who has experience teaching students for GCSE PE, or at least is willing to learn. If you can't find this, then second best is finding someone with experience of the BHS exams, as the riding content is fairly similar to the old Stage 2 exam- I know the BHS have changed their exams a bit too now though!

Unless you're very experienced yourself, I think it's hard to get a good grade without some outside help- a good instructor will be able to lay out a course of jumps to show all the required skills but also give horse and rider the best chance of being successful, for example.

At the moment (depending on your DD's standard) I wouldn't worry about things like the height of the jumps- that will come with time. However, if she can tackle a course of small jumps with balance and control, and do similar work on the flat (especially transitions, circles and serpentines) then this will give her a good grounding for whatever she wants to do in the future.

Yes I would definitely look at having an appropriate and accredited trainer/teacher.