what would you expect from lessons?

[ThatVikRinA22]

just wondered really as i had my first lesson tonight, i used to ride as a child but ive not ridden for over 30 years.

the first school i had booked with were very lax and when i showed up for my lesson tonight they claimed they had tried to phone me to say the instructor hadnt made it in - they had not tried to phone me and i told them that - then they changed their story and the man said he couldnt ring as had locked himself out of the house, and said they would be in touch. Still no call from them, not even an apology.

so at short notice i booked at another school and went for my lesson tonight.

i told them id not ridden for a very very long time and would need to be treated like a total novice.

it was an arena, a very placid horse and i really had a wonderful time, but i just wondered how lessons normally go?

i found i couldnt concentrate on technique because i was trying to keep my horse going, he was lovely and an old hand but in trot he wanted to stop....is it a good idea to learn to control the horse and learn technique at the same time?

im pleased i was let loose to some extent and i think i will learn quickly - alot of it came back to me tonight though i will need tons of practice and im sure alot of this cant be "taught" and has to be learnt on the job as it were.....but i know my balance is awful and though i was told id done really well, it all felt a bit clumsy and i dread to think what i looked like!

how do first lessons normally go?

i was trying to say what maggie said but couldnt find a way to say it like i was getting at you vicar!

thanks - i appreciate the opinions. will have a think about what to do.

can't you find somewhere that runs actual courses? I know the shifts make it difficult but you may be able to make up the missed sessions in your own time or by arrangement with the provider

just remembered there was a police officer on my stage one course and various people working odd hours and we all passed eventually

keep studying the PC/BHS manuals too, or sign up for the correspondence course?

I would take on a sharer like you too, it's really not that difficult to tack up or pick out feet or change/adjust a rug. You can't go too life threateningly wrong once you've been shown how, it's practice that makes perfect if perfection is even possible?

sorry, I know technique is important but you acquire it by making mistakes and falling off as much as by careful instruction

I think?

i dont think its so much learning by making mistakes, its more that while youre just on the lunge focusing on getting what are actually very minor things right, youre not gaining any experience. the horse is always under someone elses control and you dont havd to deal with it if things go wrong. if you go off lunge and are riding for yourself, yeah your position might fall apart for a couple of lessons but it will bring itself back together while you focus on moving the horse round the school. correct me if im wrong but you dont get yo ride that many horses either and thats not good for your confidence.

what would your instructor say if you downed tools and joined the pc kids while shes teaching stable management? or if you asked to be taken off the lunge?

Oh Vicar, I hope my post hasn't upset you

I think you're right Saintmerryweather I've got a tendency to be a bit of a perfectionist too and I think if I had your RI Vicar I'd still be on the lunge working on my seat 10 years from now

You know that someone gives you advice they are giving advice to themselves, so here goes. Vicar do you have a job to go to or are you looking? well a lot of yards like staff that are unqualified so they can train them to do it their way. And pls don't think you don't know enough to start sharing. Yes alot of peeps look for a free trainer by putting there horses up for share. But also peeps with semi retire just looking for a hand.

Sorry Vicar that should be a
I was posting on my phone and the smileys on the app are a bit odd aren't the same

no problem maggie and not offended or upset at all - i appreciate other peoples take on this.

i do work full time normally but not in anything horsey - normally i work shifts but ive been off work due to ill health for a couple of months - but will be going back soonish i think if i can hold it all together for long enough....

Whereabouts exactly on the north/east yorks boundary are you? Anywhere near the coast? I can't offer you any riding, but do have a horse (not been ridden for ages, and unsuitable for novice) but if you wanted to come round for a couple of hours you could do some rugs, grooming, feet picking etc, and practice putting a bridle on/together or whatever, you would be welcome (he is, however, likely to bugger off at the sight of the saddle so couldn't do that bit).

shashep thank you - not near enough to the coast -wish i was! its fine - im extracting my unpaid help and i realise that i can learn all this - i will just have to pay for it within lesson time.

well - what a difference today was. I think having a break yesterday did good. Today i did little mucking out and much more grooming, was shown how to tack up, picked feet, rugged the horses and went out to catch them and bring them in. learnt more on feeds/hay and laminitis - one horse was just getting it so saw how to turn that around - it worked within hours. felt the laminitic hoof and felt the difference a few hours later after swift treatment.

had a great day today - just got home in fact and she wouldnt take money for my lesson today either (it was cut short due to hail) but even so.....and i was off the lunge again.

so going back tues for another lesson and to do some tacking and grooming.

very pleased and i think my presence was quite possibly missed yesterday....

i enjoyed today and she really appreciated the help - said she was going to text me on Weds night to say how much she had appreciated me last week. So i feel quite ok about it again now im getting some more learning in exchange for the work.

all good.

im very much a work in progress but today i was on the big old boy again who is over 16 hh - he is lovely but makes you ride - lesson was useful in leg aids and reins - instructor also said to forget completely what i look like, where my legs go, technique and everything else, just to concentrate on leg aids and keeping him going (he knows if he has an eejit on his back!! ) lesson was cut short due to snow and hail - so she wouldnt take my money today. We were going to try and ride again but it kept hailing and snowing, so re arranged for Tuesday, and RI says i can groom and tack up.

lesson today showed me how much i really do need to practice - my coordination is pants and ive got very used to being on the lunge so i can concentrate normally on position etc and not have to work to hard as she does the work for me - today meant i had more control (or lack of it!) but i think being off the lunge would do me good and make me work harder on the leg aids and control. My balance is still dreadful though....i would love to develop my seat more really, so i dont mind being on the lunge - plus i canter more on the lunge.
but am happy to try both ways - on and off lunge and on different horses - means i get to work on different things.

try and stay off the lunge if you can, you need to learn to balance yourself and your horse. best thing would be work without stirrups off lunge i reckon.

when i started riding again about 4 years ago i rode one horse to start with, although not on the lunge, and my confidence became very dependent on riding him, if i rode another horse i would regress, so try not to become stagnant with what youre doing. can you hack out to mix it up a bit?

i think you being unavailable for a day has made a big difference then, your RI obviously appreciates your help a bit more!

i would like to think so saint as i felt much more in the thick of things today and i was not just mucking out, did 2 stables but then did much more with the horses which was fab. i really dont mind hard graft at all, but it was getting where it was all hard graft and no learning - felt a bit different today and i didnt mind staying all day at all. i enjoyed it. i feel so much for my RI actually - its such a struggle for her. She really isnt making any thing, she loves her horses so much and just cant part with the ones that arent making money because she worries about what will happen to them....

she is very knowledgeable, its just the workload sometimes prevents her passing that knowledge on.
not today though. learnt loads. I do so hope she manages to stay in business - she is struggling a bit, but is honestly the best in the area.

right - im shattered. best be off to bed.

Glad you had such a great day, Vicar. I think you are possibly being a bit hard on yourself about your riding. It's good to do things properly, but once you've got the basics the more you ride the better you'll get. It would be nice if you could hack out sometimes and just enjoy the ride! Maybe something to work towards for the spring? (although a fair few schools don't hack out these days due to the cost of insurance). Worth having a word with your RI?

thanks 50 - i think she does still do hacks, im there tomorrow for another lesson. im under no illusion about how bad i am at it but im sure thats better than thinking i know it all! its going to take a while. really.

but i am really confident around all the horses, im fairly fearless, and im sure it will all start to come together sooner or later.

im really looking forward to tomorrow - it was my birthday today - i bought 2 pairs of riding gloves (one for yard work and one for riding!) and some new wellies.....will stay and help out.

i so wish i could win a bit of money - i would invest and enable poor dear RI to find her feet financially a bit more, and take on help (me!!)

well - todays lesson was pants. my fault entirely, but big boy isnt a novice ride and he makes you work your socks off - he just wants to follow RI about and i stuggle to keep him on track.
i was doing ok but then RI got on him to sort him out.....she is so bloody good - she was working him but so in such a subtle way i couldnt see it - she was showing me leg yield but it was as if he was reading her mind.....she was knackered and she said she really had to work him with her legs and body, but im just not at that standard.

then i got back on and he really knew he had a novice on him then - he played up something chronic. kept stopping, wanted to turn in to her all the time, was tugging at the reins all the time, (she can ride him without reins at all) but i cant. RI was working her legs completely independently, she admits he is hard work but she can do it - i cant and felt completely useless today. Trouble is she has a distinct lack of horses who can cater for adult learners - my usual ride is getting over laminitis. All her other working ponies are too small for me. (im not huge btw! im same size at RI....but she has lots of little ponies for the kids....not many novice rides for adults)

i stayed and helped out - im way better with them on the ground! i part tacked up today - got saddle in right place but big lad is so huge i just couldnt master bridle - need to try on a smaller horse first i think (and as soon as he realised i was a numpty he decided to mess about and not take the bit anyway!) so need another go at bridle....but did groom and do rugs etc.

i do love being there and being around them, and RI really is brill - she is just so limited in what she is working with. im starting to think ill never get better - i rise to high for trot, and i cant keep a horse going in trot though i get the principle now....im really not very good at this at all....im starting to get anxious that ill never get it and im a lost cause. i wont give up - but it must be frustrating for RI. She hops on and makes it look so flipping easy even with a difficult horse....

i do wonder if i will ever be good enough at my age to get my own.....its been my dream since i was a child. i know that as a child i could trot! i cant even do that now!

Vicar it is a case of one step forward and the odd one back. Glad you are happier

im sorry you had a rubbish lesson. youve just got to stick with it and you will get there. i dont know if its correct or not but i always used to find i was rising too high so my bum would slap back into the saddle because i was too slow for the horse. now instead of rising straight up and down i kind of tilt my pelvis forward as i go up so its more of a forward motion rather than up and down. im not leaning forward or tipping but i am more in time with the horse.

dont worry about what your instructor can do on the horse she has been doibg it for years and you will get there too.

Vicar, I know you think the world of your RI, but it doesn't sound like she's got a suitable horse for you to learn on, which is why you're getting so frutrated. You need a kind well schooled schoolmaster who, if you give the aid somewhere near correctly he'll do as you've asked so that you can feel what it's like when it goes right. It's good to ride difficult horses, but not when you're trying to get the basics in place. You're having to think about too much at once

Her set up sounds just like the small riding school where we kept first pony when we first got him. She's a very good instructor but a one woman business and struggles for time, so can't teach enough to have the funds to take someone on or expand the business, so has to do everything, so doesn't make enough to buy new horses, so keeps them when they're fed up and need to move on (or retire) then people get fed up slogging away on unsuitable horses, so go elsewhere, and so it goes on, with her head just above water all the time!

I think there are two options for you: find a new riding school that has more suitable horses, or bring forward geting your own and learn on that. If you go down the second route I do think that it could work out.

Vicar don't be disheartened, we've all had riding lessons that went slightly pear shaped for whatever reason, but try not to let it eat away at your confidence and try and see the positives. I agree with what 50 said about suitable horses for you to learn on and think you should give it a bit of thought.

I also just wanted to ask if you've been doing some reading about riding? I know you've got really into horse care which is great, but I've found reading a load of books about riding between lessons/rides has really helped (am a returner myself) as sometimes in a lesson you have so much to think about it's difficult for your brain to process all the information at the same time! Sometimes I find it's just easier to see the "technique" written down in black and white, or just having a different explanation to the way the RI put it for things to "click!"

No offence to your RI but frankly if she's that good she should be well able to employ at least one member of staff.

I'm really cross on your behalf actually.

I used to work at my mate's yard and despite having no website, or any advertising really we were always chockablock. We had a bloody good rep and frequently had to turn people away. We had a fabulous team of volunteer yard girls at weekends but crucially they got loads of training and riding.

You're being taken for the wrong sort of ride. You need to have a word. You sound lovely and keen and you'd have been very welcome on our yard, with plenty of free rides.

Like I said before ,and in agreement with other posters , I think you need to find yourself a better riding school. For the amount of time and effort you appear to be putting in you should be way further on than you are . I appreciate you like this RI and her methods but there is a reason why she's not that successful as outlined by 50bales. I would be interested in her quick cure for laminitis though if you could share it with us as I've spent years and thousands of pounds on this debilitating condition .