Making the transition from riding lessons to ownership.

[winnietheguinea]

Can anyone recommend any good online beginner stable management/horse care resources please? Courses/you tube/podcasts, anything! Im taking regular riding lessons after a long break. I've never owned/loaned my own but I'm hoping to head in this direction eventually. However, I'm finding it really hard to find any experience outside of my riding lesson, which doesn't teach me anything other than how to ride. I can't find any stable management courses near me and have had no luck with any local yards for volunteering to get some experience. How do you make that transition from riding school lessons to loaning/owning when you don't come from an equestrian background/family? Any advice welcome thank you.

A lot of the curriculum content for BHS stage 1 (care) is online, you can look at that, or you could find where your nearest exam centre is, most of them run prep courses, you don't actually have to then go on to take the exam itself if you don't want to? Or there's lots of YouTube content on the basics you'd need to know such as how to tack up, how to groom, how to take a rug on and off. I'd recommend starting with a part loan or share arrangement, maybe even a loan/lease of a riding school horse, the benefit of this is that you wouldn't be fully responsible for the care of the horse, things like deciding feed regime, how often the horse is shod or sees the vet and so on is still with the owner, but you often do some chores such as mucking out or poo-picking or tack cleaning on 'your days' as well as preparing the horse to ride, grooming and so on. Usually the owner in these arrangements will show you how they want the jobs done and TBH things like mucking out are not rocket science, it's literally shovelling shit, there's a slight knack to doing it quickly and without wasting too much bedding but honestly a child can learn so you can too. You can then pick up from the owner and the other people on the yard or just from research things like how they decide what to feed, what rugs to put on, when they call the vet etc. if you then progress to a full loan or your own have the horse on full livery for at least the first year which will secure you a lot of help and support.

What it might be worth doing right now is rather than a stable management course which is probably a little more indepth than you need straight away, you could just ask your instructor to spend one of your lessons (or part of your time in your lesson) running over basics like tacking/untacking, grooming, leading, tieing up with you - it's a bit annoying to have to spend the same money on this rather than actually riding but they should be willing to do it if you're paying for their time? Or if you can spare more time, how about a riding holiday that includes care/stable management elements?

Undergo BHS training for Stage 1, most BHS yards will offer at least that. Stage 1 would be the minimum though as it really does just cover the absolute basics.
However you also need practical hands on so ask your instructor for stable management lessons + practising correct techniques for: leading, picking feet, rugging, tacking up, bandaging, mucking out, filling hay nets etc.
Buy the BHS manuals for Stage 1 + 2.

If you can, I would go down the share route. We did this, first time horse owners. Shared a pony 3 days a week for 6 months until the owner asked if we would take her on full loan. We now have her and one of our own so twice the work but love them both to bits!!

If there’s a RDA centre near you, I’d recommend volunteering. This is especially good for hands on experience if it’s a dedicated centre, rather than a riding school that does RDA. The dedicated centres have professional staff but also relay on volunteers. Good luck and well done for taking a sensible approach. Many of us find ourselves in a similar position!

I was like you and have now had a couple of part loans and will own my own soon. Part loans are a huge learning curve. Make sure you have to do jobs on your days so that you're properly getting experience. I used to YouTube stuff I didn't know even basics like how to tie a Haynet and how to muck out. And googled stuff like what rugs to use. Then make sure you have a really good instructor who you trust. And build up a bit of a network. And be nice to everyone you meet in the horsey world and don't be afraid to ask questions. Touch wood I've never met any of the bitchy women in the horse world that it's renowned for. Most owners I've found just want to enjoy their hobby, love their animals and are more than happy ro advise/help when needed.

Oh and join the local equestrian horse groups on Facebook

Hi everyone. Sorry about the delayed reply, I am really grateful for all of your responses and they have been really helpful!

I've made a bit of progress in finding a BHS approved centre who run stage 2 and 3, they also do stable management/care sessions multiple times a week. I'm the only adult with a bunch of pre teens but that's fine 😄. I volunteered as a child at my riding school for years so know the very basics - tacking up, grooming, mucking out etc but it's good to brush up on all of that too. What's even better is that I've managed to find a great opportunity with an owner on a private yard who has a handful of horses he needs help with coming into winter and he's more than happy to teach me in exchange for me helping out with general yard duties (thanks @ifyoulikealotofchocolateonyourfor the suggestion of joining all my local horsey FB groups!).

Well done OP and enjoy 😊