Getting back into it

[meecrowahvay]

I was brought up around horses, was a very light weight and bendy teen so was the yard's resident backer. Lots of experience with youngsters. Rode a lot of dressage; was pretty good - rode at medium and managed a couple of advanced medium on my boy.
Moved to the other side of the country for uni and stayed - retired my horse with my mum. It's been almost 20 years and I'm now able to come back to it, but where to start?

I've had a few lessons, I can still ride, not forgotten anything so there's not much point in continuing lessons on school horses. I'd like my own - happy to loan (would rather not share) or would buy but it's been such a long time and I have no horsey pals in my current area.

Is putting a wanted ad in horse and hound classifieds still a thing? Should I contact local yards? I have a habit of escalating quickly - already looked at equestrian properties, a £50k dressage youngster that hasn't even competed and a wagon so thought I'd take a step back and ask you lovely lot for some practical first steps.
Any advice would be appreciated!

Love the looking at equestrian properties and at £50K youngsters - you sound like me 😂

We hot ours through our local riding school. They found the horse, arranged transport, try outs etc. I would start by asking the yard manager at the school where you take lessons.

got*

I know you said you’d rather not share, but loans are like hen’s teeth (at least loans of horses you’d be able to compete are, there are plenty of people trying to offload problem ponies or retirees ).

When we were looking for my daughter’s competition horse this time last year, it took us three months to find the right one, so sharing would be a good option while you’re looking for your own.

Even though you’re an experienced rider, I should imagine it will still be quite a steep learning curve. Lots of things about horse management will be different - the essentials won’t have changed but sharing would be a good way of getting your horse-owning/caring mojo back and you’d be able to start making horsey connections. You’re the kind of sharer people would love!

If you really don’t want to share, then getting some lessons on advanced schoolmasters at somewhere like Talland or Ingestre would be really useful and the instructors might be able to point you in the right direction of suitable horses.

If you’re on Facebook, then join the various horsey groups - Eventing UK and BSJA plus various local ones would be a good place to start and you can see what kinds of horses are around (there will be pure dressage ones too if that’s your bag). We found HorseQuest to be the best source of ads for the kind of horse we were looking for.

People often put wanted ads up on Facebook but be prepared to be inundated with completely unsuitable horses that are nothing like the kind of horse you specified.

And depending where you live, it would be a good idea to go and see some possible yards before you get a horse. Many good ones have waiting lists, others might be tricky to get to or not have the amount of turnout you’d be looking for.

Loans are so so hard to come by these days. I think a spate of people selling horses on loan a few years ago has put a lot of people off.
Personally I’d share for a bit even just a few months, get confidence back hacking alone, doing stable management etc and then look to buy

Hi, excellent advice thank you. I was thinking about diet - I believe that's advanced loads since I was last feeding horses (bog standard alfa a, sugarbeet, oats, bran, top line cubes were a new-ish thing) and honestly wouldn't have the first clue where to start with that. I'll have a look at the schools you mention as I'd really be looking to get back into dressage. I've joined BD and signed up for the local BD group too.
I'll take a look at the schools you mention. Could be worth a trip away for a lesson.
Thank you

I'd have a look on the local Facebook groups as well. As someone else has mentioned though, decent loan horses don't really come up that often. Could you join a local riding club to try and meet some local horsey people, they are always looking for volunteers at events and then hopefully you could compete on your own eventually.