Boring lesson..........

[nikkilab]

I rode when younger for 10 years and have now just started back, had 2 lessons now, today I had an hours private lesson which cost me £46 and felt I have learned nothing. I did some trotting and some work over poles, no cantering or jumping and it was boring. Does there get a point where you get to where you just don't learn anything else when riding? What more can there be to learn?

[Gruntfuttock]

Oh, I hope you have your flameproof knickers on, Nikki !

Maybe your instructor thought you needed a consolidation lesson, to work on your position, your balance, your seat, etc. Maybe you need to improve your trotting before you progress with your cantering? Are your sitting and rising trots absolutely perfect? I do think that the instructor ought to tell you why you are spending a lesson working on basics, and its pretty poor if she doesn't, since you are the paying customer, but it is valuable to do so from time to time.

Incidentally, I spent 30 minutes in the school on my share horse last night doing virtually nothing but walk-trot-walk-halt transitions. It was NOT the most exciting 30 minutes I've ever spent, but it got her moving very nicely off my leg, which was the object of the exercise.

Sometimes you have to go back over the boring basics again, before you can go on to the exciting cantery-jumpy stuff. Maybe next time, ask your instructor why you are spending your precious hour lesson just doing basics, and ask her if perhaps you could spend the first part of the lesson on basics and the second part doing something a bit more challenging.

Does there get a point where you get to where you just don't learn anything else when riding?

No. Not for me, and i don't expect to EVER get to a point where there's nothing else to learn.

[rubysurfer]

Totally agree with the above, whats the point in moving on to new things when you havent perfected the basics!

[nikkilab]

Hi. I understand what you are saying. Last week though I was doing cantering and alot of other things but this week RI concentrated more on the poles which I found really boring and the horse I was on was ploddy! Also last week she refreshed my memory on diagonals which was fine but this week she kept going over it when I knew what I was doing (think she had forgotton what she taught me last week tbh!) I just felt like I spent alot of money on the lesson and came away feeling as though I hadn't learnt anything.

[KateWooten]

You can take anyt aspect of it as far as you like though. For example, I'm still learning about diagonals ... and I ride a lot. But only the other day I learnt something new about the trot diagonal. Riding is a bit like one of those fractal patterns, you know ? Where you can look more and more closely at it, and the pattern just keeps on getting more and more detailed without end. perhaps she was trying to tell you something more subtle about the movement of the horse in trot on a bend and how your weight subtley influences that hind leg ...

OTOH, if you're really not getting anything out of it, for whatever reason, then of course you need to seek out a different instructor - some people just don't gel !

ETA : plus, that's a flippin expensive lesson !

[Dooley]

"ETA : plus, that's a flippin expensive lesson !"

Afraid it isn't KateWooten... don't know where Nikkilab is based but if she's anywhere near London then £46 for an hour's private lesson isn't actually all that expensive! I've been paying a bit more than that for private lessons when down South.

Nikkilab, if you feel like that maybe you should try group lessons where your instructor isn't going to be focussing so much on getting every little thing perfect before you move on to something more fun. I used to find we had more "fun" in group lessons (but it wasn't what I was after from my lessons, I wanted my RI to help me become a better rider so I absolutely loved my private lessons - but I understand they're not for everyone!)

And if you have group lessons you may also be able to ride more often as it's bound to be cheaper :D

[xloopylozzax]

I dont have lessons (never have, learnt by riding out with my mum)
but i would have to say that there is never a point where there is nothing to learn, because you work to perfect things and let them become second nature, rather than them been something you have learnt and can do.

riding is the tip of the iceberg- horseman/womanship is far more important, just because you can do X on one horse doesnt mean you can do it on all horses if you get what i mean.
even though you might not be aiming for PSG at dressage or puissance (*sp) at showjumping doesnt mean you cant learn the stuff ;)

good luck for your next lesson, hope you feel like you have acheived more :)

[KateWooten]

Holy Moly - how do you poor folks manage :( I'm a little spoilt over here !

I agree about trying group lessons - that can sometimes work wonderfully. I've just joined up with a little group (of mostly 12 year olds :o ) and the group spirit gets us all going and I end up jumping way bigger than I would on my own, and we get to do other fun stuff that you need more than one rider for - like last week we rode as a team in a quadrille formation, which it turns out is a great exercise as you have to think constantly how to adjust your own horse's stride - even round the simplest of patterns - so as to keep in step with your neighbour, and in place with the horse ahead.

[nikkilab]

The problem with group lessons is the riding school I am at don't have group lessons until after 4pm and most of those are for kids and then they do group lessons at weekends. I live quite a way from this place as DD goes to school nearby (17 miles away from home) and I don't really want to drive out there at weekends. I do think however that I might find a group lesson abit more fun but I do also want to improve my riding. I am also finding the riding school horses ploddy and not very forward going. Maybe I need to find somewhere else as at the moment I am paying £46 a week for my lessons which is quite alot.

[nikkilab]

Oh and forgot to say I live in essex.

[Tonto]

hi nikki

i don't know if this might help but i've found since i bought Enlightened Equitation that it doesn't matter if i'm not cantering or jumping at the rs because i'm constantly trying to get the hang of moving with the horse whether it's in sitting trot or canter, or trying to use subtle aids with rs horses:rolleyes:. basically when i arrive at the rs i have a couple of things i want to try out/practice as well as what the ri is teaching me.

[Skib]

Yes, my view is that it is possible to be bored in riding lessons, to learn nothing and just potter about at considerable financial expense.

I keep a diary of what I learn in my lessons - otherwise I forget - and over the last year there was very little to note. I do a lot of hacking and I gain experience every time I am riding any horse, anywhere. But that is not the same as receiving tuition on a well trained, responsive horse and increasing my skills, with input from another person's knowledge.

Charles Harris says the number of lessons in a year when the student learns nothing should not exceed the fingers on one hand - if they do, both student and teacher need to take note and reassess the situation.

[Em 1]

I am also finding the riding school horses ploddy and not very forward going. Maybe I need to find somewhere else as at the moment I am paying £46 a week for my lessons which is quite alot.

£46pw is a lot of money to be paying for a hobby if you are not enjoying it! Have you tried talking to your instructor about your feelings? Maybe they could teach you to motivate the ploddy horses and give them a bit of variety by doing more complicated work e.g. leg yield, rein back, shoulder in etc? Also, I think you sometimes have to spend some lessons working on less exciting stuff just to give you a solid foundation on which to base your future riding. You don't want to rush through the early stages and then lose your confidence in the future (like I did:o:rolleyes:)!

............felt I have learned nothing. I did some trotting and some work over poles, no cantering or jumping and it was boring. Does there get a point where you get to where you just don't learn anything else when riding? What more can there be to learn?

I don't think there is ever a point where there is nothing else to learn. However, sometimes I do think you reach a point where what you need are hours in the saddle. Once you've grasped the idea of how to ride an exercise or use a particular technique, you sometimes need time to practice it until it becomes as perfect and instinctive as possible. This makes riding lessons feel pointless as you can't come away and say 'Today I learnt to do X'. If I were you, I'd have a chat with the instructor. You never know, there may be other adult riders who want a group lesson or maybe there are other horses at the RS that better suit your needs that the instructor hasn't considered.

Good luck anyway:)

[Nimbus65]

I feel like I just have to say . . . learning how to get a tune out of a ploddy riding school horse is a skill and can be just as challenging as learning how to do flying changes on a more responsive ride. As a RS client, I ride a variety of horses . . . some more hard work than others . . . and they all have something to teach me. Now that I've been riding for a while, I won't lie, I much prefer the more responsive horses . . . I'd rather have energy I can contain than having to constantly create the energy . . . but I have had to learn how to figure out how to get a ploddy (or obstreperous or bolshy) RS horse on side and working for me. Some RS plods are that way b/c they are bored . . . so figure out how to make work interesting for them. Some are ploddy b/c they are stiff . . . so use your riding brain to figure out how to supple them up. Have some sympathy for the RS plods and use your far more intelligent human brain to figure out how to make their lives more interesting/get them going forward for you . . . their steady nature may still provide a lesson for you.

N

[Bay Mare]

If you're bored in a lesson then the RI is at fault. They should be able to make a lesson at walk interesting and challenging. If they're not then they're not doing their job. There's more to learning to ride than cantering and jumping, you can learn a lot from a 'trot' or 'poles' lesson.

I wouldn't be paying £46 for a lesson from someone who didn't know how to challenge me I'm afraid.

[jane & william]

I must admit I got bored of lessons as a kid, I learnt to walk trot canter and jump, Im not saying I was brilliant at it, but I was at a basic riding school and you didnt really learn about working the ponies correctly, so i gave up at 15 as mum and dad just wouldnt buy me my own :(

But since loaning my boy William I've been having a lesson every week for the last 3 years up until this year and I have one every other week for financial reasons. It broke my heart to only have them every other week, but it was killing my bank account.

Im still learning, and learn something new in every lesson, even if its something about me and my position or something I can do with William.

Im a swott when it comes to my home work to!



Jane & William

[Shire Monster]

To be honest all I could suggest (which some people already have) is talk to your RI. She/he's only human and probably doesn't know you were bored, also you are only human and would have probably appreciated reasons why you were only doing what you did that lesson, as well as explainations as to how these exercises will help you and the horse.
My RI always explains things e.g. lots of transistions at the beginning I now know wakes the mare I ride up and gets her listening to the leg (as does windy weather :D), my RI explained this fully to me during about 3-5 minutes of walk. Those few minutes in just walk weren't boring because she was telling me the why's and wherefores of what she was asking me to do. I found I understood better the reasoning etc and was probably more precise myself in asking the horse to do something because I knew exactly what I was asking.
I think there is always something to learn with horses, whether it be about what we ask them or what they give us, every horse and rider is different and therefore a new lesson learnt

[jinglejoys]

Ever thought of trying something differant like Western?