Getting DD started with riding

[DobbysLeftSock]

I'm hoping for a bit lot of advice about starting my dd riding. I had lessons as a kid but was a painfully shy child and lived in comstant fear of getting things wrong so I gave up after about a year. Happily dd is made of sterner stuff!

Dd is 5 next month. She's been on a couple of half hour pony treks (most recent at centre parcs a couple of months ago) which she loved so I think it's a good time for her to start lessons, especially now the weather is getting warmer. She's tall for her age and strong, and a fairly robust kid so should cope well with the physical aspect of it. Does 5 seem like a good age to get started? I think I was 8 or 9 and I remember feeling like I was a bit late to the party, but that could just have been me!

There's a stable near by that does Saturday morning group lessons, £16 for half an hour. That seems about right to me? I was thinking of doing every other Sat to begin with and gauge her interest level, but will she find it hard to make progress at that rate? Also, what sort of stuff should I be on the lookout for? What makes a good or a bad stables? What should they be doing in lessons as a total beginner at 5?

Really would appreciate any insight or top tips! Thanks, horsey mumsnetters!

With regards to stables, check they are approved by the BHS. I’d want to walk round. I’d not go near stables where the horses had no access to turnout.

Maybe go and watch a lesson and see what you think? Are they actually being taught or is it trotting from front to rear of the ride adnauseam?

Following this as my two are keen to start. They’re older than your DD and I fear I’ve maybe left it a bit late now! I’m being told the same price as you - which is pretty brutal when it’s two going. We will need to go for fortnightly.

Do they need all the riding gear to begin with do you know?

My dd started at 4 with private half hours personally I don’t think you will see much progress in a 1/2 hr group EOW . Once she had started cantering she joined in a few group lessons as extras on top of her private 1/2 hour . Ds started at 2 on our Shetland but he had died ( the pony not ds) by the time dd was riding and ds pony was unsuitable for a beginner or as it turned out any child . Fortunately they had both given up by the time they were 6/7 although 20 yrs on we still have the unsuitable pony .

With regards to price £16 is extremely reasonable , dsis and I are having a shared 1/2 hr this week and it’s £33 each at our local equestrian centre , and that’s the off peak daytime price

Going to watch a lesson is a great idea, thanks. I know a girl in dd's class goes to the group lessons so I will ask her mum if she minds me tagging along.

Sorry for being stupid but what does access to turnout mean? Is that being able to wander outside?

I was thinking that the group lessons could be a starting point and if she really likes it I could look at moving her to 1:1 lessons. (Maybe! So much money!)

Access to turnout means that there are fields available for the horses to graze in.

I'm always so grateful dd1's lessons are 1 1/2 hours long to include horse care and cleaning the bit and mucking out when needed. Half an hour doesn't sound long enough to me for anything to be taught.

I know what you mean, m0ther, I am thinking if she takes to it I will look at a different way of doing it so she gets more time and a more rounded experience with care, mucking out etc, but I'm hoping starting with just half an hour will be enough to get her going while she's still little. She will have rainbows and swimming lessons during the week as well so I don't want to overload her!

DD1 started lessons at 5, she had maybe 4 private lessons then joined a hour long weekly group lesson (£20, so £16 sounds v reasonable). She 'got' trotting etc very quickly and is a natural on a horse. DD2 joined DD1s group lesson about 6 months ago when she had just turned 5. She has a lead rein on the horse and an assistant jogs round with her. She has not picked it up anywhere near as quickly as DD1 and after 6 months has only just figured out how to rise in time when trotting. But it is the same for some of the other kids in the lesson. Everyone's different I suppose. Hopefully she will be able to ride without a lead rein soon, though we do sometimes wonder are we wasting our money!!

If you have Pony Rangers near you you could look to switch to that when she is old enough. I think they have waiting lists, so might be worth researching now.

I know it's more expense OP but you'll get more of an idea if she likes it if she has a few weekly half hour private lessons first- it's hard to get your muscles into it and remember stuff if you go fortnightly and she'll pick things up very quickly if she has a few lessons on her own (I mean two or three, not 20).
As PP said look for BHS or ABRS approval, that will mean you don't need to look separately into safeguarding and first aid etc. You want sensible horses that know their job but not ones that look like robots as they'll be hard if she enjoys it and wants to progress, although most places will have a good mix. Are the kids enjoying themselves, are the teaching staff engaging, do the kids help with making the ponies comfortable at the end of the lesson, that kind of thing.
I started at 5, was too shy so didn't enjoy it then begged to go back about 10 years old and never looked back!

This is all really helpful, thanks all! I think I will go have a look at the stables and ask about the cost of 1:1 lessons to get going- hopefully not too many but I am thinking it might be better value in the long term.

She’s very little still - my dd didn’t start having proper lessons until she was 9 but because she was a bit older, used to taking instructions from the other sports/activities she’d done and also really motivated because she’d had to wait she made incredibly rapid progress. Fast forward 7 years and she now has her own horse and is at the stables every spare minute she has!

It’s a very expensive pastime so I wouldn’t be in too much of a rush to get her started. £16 for half an hour group lessons sounds very reasonable, but I do wonder how much instruction there can be in 30 minutes with a group of beginners. When dd started I was paying £25 for a 45 minute group lesson and when she moved to a bigger riding school it was £40 for an hour. We now pay £35 for private hour long lessons with her instructor (but obviously we don’t have to pay for the horse or arena which makes up quite a bit of the expense at a riding school).

DD started at 6 with 1/2 hour private lesson just to get into the hang of it in general.

A year later she moved to monthly group lessons, we clubbed together as a group of friends and some of us couldn’t afford more. From this group only two managed to get to weekly lessons now.

They are 11 now and I think they could be further if we had moved them to weekly faster but I think at 5 I doubt a child is ready to do more than walk and a bit of trot with a leader. They don’t have the balance, stamina, muscle tone and Motorik skills yet. But in order to learn to love horses it is ideal.

My DD started at 5yrs as asked to go, loved it and went weekly. Mixture of 1:1 and hacks. She had a fall at 7yrs, not serious but wanted to focus on gymnastics instead and didn't go back until around 10yr. Now at 13yr attends a club once a fortnight and can stay to muck-out and help so there for most of the day. She is horse crazy.

I have never ridden and no interest. My DS feels the same. It has not put my DD off, I think you should take your DD and see how she feels.

Agree with everyone else, she probably would learn quicker in private lessons but group sessions are fine to start out with and see if she likes it. For that price/in that time I expect there's probably a certain amount of 'follow the leader' going on and each child won't get that much individual attention, but so long as they enjoy themselves, that is the main thing. Things to look out for in a 'good' stable...

-Ponies should look healthy and well cared for, not scrawny or underweight, bit of mud or scruffiness totally fine but tack/equipment should be clean and well looked after and they should always have access to hay and clean drinking water. If you go at a suitable time (e.g. not in the middle of a busy weekend's teaching!) someone from the stables should be willing to show you around, see where the ponies live and explain how they are cared for etc).

-Are there good safety systems in place and being followed, everyone (staff and children) should wear hats and sensible footwear around the ponies, children should be well supervised and taught the 'rules' of being around horses e.g. never walking around the back of the horses, not running or shouting etc. Beginners should always be assisted by an adult (or teenager!) leading their pony and walking beside them until they are confident/capable of riding alone.

-The teachers should interact well with the children and make the lessons engaging and fun within safety/good horsemanship boundaries (e.g. playing gymkhana games and having little races is fine and can teach them good skills, but I personally dislike the children being allowed/encouraged to shout, bounce around, pull on the ponies mouths etc in excitement as I've seen at some schools).

Good luck and let us know how she gets on!

That's a really helpful list max, thank you!

Honestly, at five, I think 30 minutes every other week is fine to start with. You won't see much progress- but you may not see much progress at that age anyway. It's more about building confidence on a horse as well as getting some idea about the skills. It obviously depends on the five year old, but in my experience of teaching children, many don't have the balance/co-ordination to progress quickly until they are about 7/8- and a whole hour on a horse is pretty tiring for them too when they are very small!

If she looks to be doing well, it may be better to start investing in private lessons then.

She may not be allowed to help with horse care until she is a bit older, but if the stables offer this, it is good!

Others have given you a good list of things to look for but on my list would also be:

-Have they got enough ponies of appropriate size and temperament for everyone in the group. It's not helpful for small riders to be "overhorsed", and can damage their hips if the pony is too wide.

-Are the stables generally well organised, well maintained and well kept?

-Is all the equipment well organised and well maintained?

-If you are going to be borrowing a hat, do they have one in a small enough size for your DD?

-Do they offer boots to borrow, or else have cages on the stirrups to stop feet slipping through?

-BHS/ABRS etc is good and guarantees minimum standards of welfare and safety.

-Are they able to offer hacks/trail rides? (this isn't essential, but is very much a nice to have in my opinion).

-And most of all, do the riders in the lesson look like they are having fun in a safe environment?

If you are able to go to the stables at a quieter time, then someone will almost definitely be able to have a chat about what they think the best thing to do is, and show you around. A good riding school knows that supporting "non-horsey" parents is part of the job!

Personally I wouldn't send her for 1:1 lessons initially, which is what some posters have recommended.

There is something reassuring about being in a group lesson the first few times you ride a horse - you feel part of a group, the school doesn't seem too daunting when you're at the back or middle of a line of riders, and you can take it easy, waiting for your turn, and observe what's going on while you do.

If your DD loves it, then at the earliest opportunity, I would pay for 1:1 lessons, as progress in a riding school group lesson is often very limited.

Interesting the different opionions about 1:1. DD didn't like a group at all in the beginning, she felt insecure waiting for her turn and preferred having the teacher just for her. I think it very much depends on the child.

I think I'll call next week (still school holidays here) and ask about coming to have a look round and a chat. Will probably start with group lessons and work from there - if she loves it I will spring for some 1:1 lessons when she's a bit older and physically able to make progress quite quickly.

This has been a really helpful thread, thanks so much everyone.

I think at 5 I doubt a child is ready to do more than walk and a bit of trot with a leader. They don’t have the balance, stamina, muscle tone and Motorik skills yet.

As someone else said, it depends on the child.

My DD was 5 when she started, and after a few group lessons, she had one lunge lesson a week and coped well with the intensity of those lessons. She also had hacks about once or twice a week to balance it out.

At 5 I would have hated lunge lessons and it would have put me off for life, I think.

How did you get on, OP, if you went?

Im going to go next week once dd is back at school (late easter holidays here) so I will update then!

I also think 1:1 lessons aren’t needed provided the teaching is good and the groups aren’t huge. I learnt to ride at 4 starting 1/2 hour every week in a group lesson. Starting off on a Lead reign then without. I’m not sure how long it took (I would say about a year) but I then moved to an hour lesson once a week where I learned to canter and jump and eventually loaned/owned my own. I’m sure 1:1 lessons would’ve helped me progress faster but my parents where not horsey and provided I was having fun didn’t mind if I just doddled around for the first 6 months. Seems to have been fine in the long run as an adult I’m a perfectly able rider and still ride regularly.
If you’re expecting your daughter to be off to shows and owning a horse ASAP then 1:1 if it’s just for some fun progress can be made in a group.
I would also ask if the school has a centre pony club as then she can learn about care etc through that