Riding School Lessons

[Vegemitemum]

Does anyone know if there is a legal age for being responsible for a pony in a lead rein lesson for a beginner rider (as in the leader, not the instructor)? DD keen to volunteer for this at her riding school but she is only 11 which i feel is possibly too young.

No, no legal requirement/minimum that I'm aware of, and the BHS criteria (which are not compulsory) just say that leaders/assistants have to be assessed as competent. But all schools that I'm aware of have a minimum age to 'volunteer'/help out (possibly connected to their insurance, or maybe that's just an excuse to turn down well meant offers of 'help' from younger kids who wouldn't be able to do much if anything useful), it's usually around 12-14. At the school I ride/livery at they have to be of secondary school age so 11 year olds would be allowed from September of the relevant year, but I don't think they let the younger/smaller kids lead, I think they'd be doing more grooming, sweeping the yard, poo picking etc. And TBH I don't think very much hard work gets done, they spend most of their time messing around from what I can see 😁
but the simplest thing to do is ask her school, it's a very common question from parents so don't worry about being thought of badly or anything? Or are you worried the school will say yes but you want to say no?

Ok, that's good to know, thanks. I'm a little worried that she is so young and it could be dangerous for her, there are some big ponies/horses there and only 2 other leaders so i think she has been slightly pressured into leading so the lessons can go ahead.

They are not going to have large horses in a lead rein class though are they as it will in the main be small children on smaller ponies . Adults learning don’t generally go on a lead rein.

Is the riding school BHS/ABRS approved? They will have to follow their guidance anyway so I’d not worry too much if they are. I’d be a bit more wary if not, there are some that seem totallly lawless

No, I've seen 9 year olds leading. As long as they are confident handling the horses and ponies, they're fine.

They're really only there to keep the horse on track as most new riders aren't great with their steering so in the absence of input from the rider, the horse will just go straight to the instructor or wander off to eat a tree or something.

Most of them will also be fairly well behaved as school horses but having someone leading can make the new rider feel safer. If they really needed control, they would be on the lunge line.

Yes leading is pretty safe really, the horses know their job for the most part and the leader is just there to keep them going/in a straight line. And usually the bigger ones are the better behaved, the little ones you might have to watch them for nipping! But I've never even seen a near miss of a helper getting hurt in a lead rein lesson (I myself have fallen flat on my face/tripped over my feet while attempting to run sideways while holding a child's leg, but no harm done! That's about the worst of it).

TBH I'd be a bit more worried about her being 'pressured' into helping and whether the owner is a bit exploitative - most good riding schools have a queue of enthusiastic teenage helpers because it's a pretty good deal for them, getting to hang out all day with their friends around the ponies, bit of light work and usually some kind of free or discounted riding or voucher towards lessons in exchange. I know at my place the owner has a long waiting list for new helpers as it's so popular. But there's somewhere else locally where the owner is known as a slave driver, expects her helpers to do a full days proper work, mucking out etc, equivalent or even more than what a proper paid groom would do, and doesn't give them very much at all in return (occasionally being allowed to act as crash test dummy on a green or naughty one is about it), plus is known as a right moody cow who'll sometimes be nice as pie then sometimes shout and strop at people for minor offences which is really not fair when they're only young and learning- funnily enough she can't keep employed staff for long and doesn't have many takers to work for free either, and yet she's always on social media complaining about being let down and 'timewasters'! I would absolutely let my 11yo lead or help out at my place, not a chance at the latter, no matter how much she wanted to...

Thanks for all the replies. I let her give it a try tonight as she was so desperate to do it. She led a 15.2hh Cob in a lesson with a 17 year old beginner rider! Totally out of her depth, she said she had no idea what any of the teachers instructions meant and got shouted at for going the wrong way across the arena. Live and learn, she wont be doing it again.

I think I was 9 …

@Vegemitemum , at 17 and a beginner they should be having a few private lessons or lunge lessons . Is this riding school BHS/ ABRS approved as it sounds totally unsafe . How experienced is your daughter ?

That's really bizarre. What was she saying to a beginner rider that a more experienced rider (your daughter) didn't understand?

She certainly shouldn't have been shouting at her! This school sounds pants and unsafe if the instructor has so little control and patience over the lessons.

Size of the horse wouldn't bother me as long as he's quite chilled, we've got a 17hh horse, built like a tank who is so gentle and biddable he can be safely handled by 6 year olds but I'd honestly find somewhere else. Instructor sounds absolutely shit, she should never be yelling at her students.

I agree it's unusual now in the UK for adult or older teen beginners to be on a lead rein at all - when my DDs were helping out 15 years or so ago now they did lead adults as well as kids but these days the preference seems to be for private or semi private lessons where the instructor will do the leading, or use a lunge line, or in some cases the horses are well behaved enough not to need a leader at all particularly if they can follow another. That does seem a better way to learn and less humiliating than being led around by a teenager too.

Also weekday evenings most schools don't use leaders as after-school is not really a suitable time for young kids to be 'working' - group beginner classes are usually saved for weekends. The whole setup really doesn't sound good. But like others have said either way the instructor really shouldn't have been shouting at her and telling her off. Your choice to use an inexperienced 11 year old, your look out if she's clueless and goes wrong IMO. I think you're right to say she shouldn't do it anymore OP. There's plenty of years left for that when she's a bit bigger and more confident.

Thanks everyone, I've said she won't be doing it again and I'm looking into other options for her. The school is licenced and insured but not BHS so we are thinking a née BHS school would be better.

Also the instruction was 3 loop serpentine on the quartering, or something similar. Dd isn't sure 😕

Yeah see further evidence this teacher is a bit mad and not very good at what they do. A 3 loop serpentine is a basic exercise you can do with beginners/novices to practice their steering (and as a more advanced movement to improve the horse's flexibility, balance and straightness). The quarter line or 3 quarter line just indicates the point of the school to start the movement- but the point with a beginner is that they do the steering. There's no point whatsoever in a leader just leading the horse around a 3 loop serpentine while the rider sits there doing nothing.

If the rider didn't understand where they were meant to be going or they had a steering malfunction and went wrong then it's them the teacher should be shouting at correcting not your DD. As the client it's both massively unprofessional/uncomfortable to see the teacher shouting at a young helper for a minor infringement but it also doesn't help you learn anything about what you were supposed to do as the rider. 💯look for a proper BHS establishment, I think you'll see a huge improvement in quality of teaching and likely leading/helping will be totally off the cards for a few years yet so that can cease to be a concern/debate. If you can, find somewhere that offers pony club and stable management lessons, that can really help the younger kids learn the basics of handling and caring for horses safely which sets them up if they do want to help out further down the line.

I’d look for a riding school with a pony club centre as that way your daughter can get involved and start doing her PC badges / levels . If you don’t mind saying what area you are in someone may be able to point you in the right direction.

Being licenced and insured means nothing really. it just means the council know they exist.
Look for a school accredited by the BHS or the ABRS.

Thank you for all the messages, you've definitely helped me make up my mind. I am (obviously) not horsey, apart from a few rides as a kid in Australia, so have nothing to compare this school with. It turns out we have a Pony Club Centre close to us and dd is thrilled with this idea :-) We are checking it out tomorrow