riding school in North London

[sg2a]

I am a nervous beginner aged 40+. Can anyone suggest a good riding place for someone like me? I don't want to be shouted at or made to look a fool in a class full of teenagers as has happened to me before.

Sal

[ajhainey]

Lee Valley Riding Centre Ltd seems to have a good reputation. Several riders I know have come from/gone to it & my instructor teaches there 2 days a week. I haven't been there myself.
Lea Bridge Rd, London
E10 7QL 020 85562629

Aldersbrook Riding School is North East (Empress Av, London E12 5HW) and had at least a couple of nice schoolmastery horses - I had 3 or 4 private lessons there when I first started riding (18months ago) and found it to be very laidback and calming - ideal for settling my "I've not ridden for 15 years" nerves!. Bit too far for me to keep going to - and I wanted a group lesson and couldn't get a convienient time so changed to my current school.

I now go to mudchute in docklands (Pier St, London E14 3HP 020 75150749) - its a bit far east for you probably, and I know they have a waiting list at the moment. Plus although several of the instructors are good, I find many of the horses to be a bit of a handful if not ridden confidently so wouldn't recommend it for anyone particularly nervous. They do have a few real sweetie starter horses (4 in fact) though and everyone on the yard is very friendly so especially if you want private lessons (where you can pick who you want to ride more easily) bear it in mind.

I'm the youngest in my class at 26 btw - so don't worry there are some 'proper adult' lessons out there :o

Good Luck with your search - and if you do end up at Mudchute let me know!

aj xx

[white_fire]

I've heard of Trent Park Equestrian Centre which is meant to be quite good and it is in North London.

Trent Park Equestrian Centre
Bramley Road
Southgate
London
N14 4XG

Tel: 020 8363 9005

I have never been there so don't have first hand experience of the instructors or lessons.

[notpoodle]

my pony lives at the london equestrian centre in mill hill east (up the road from finchley, north london). their website is www.thelondonec.co.uk

they cater for adults and adult beginners and its a nice yard :)

julia
x

ps: lee valley is very good, too!

[alwaysfallingof]

Trent park has always seemed quite a scary place to me, it seemed very expensive and full of posh 'proper riders' the sort you could imagine taking their strings of show ponies out, playing polo etc. No offense to anyone who rides there, was just my first impression :p
Frith Manor Equestrian centre is very nice,
Lullington Garth
Woodside Park
Finchley
N12 7BP

I don't know whereabouts in North London would be convenient, but in very suburbany places there is South Medburn on Watling St which is good, in sort of Borehamwood, Edgeware area.

If you want to know any more in this kind of area, PM me, I know loads and can give you phone no's etc. Don't really know whereabouts you would be looking, North London's very big :p

[Cheko]

This stables wouldn't have been called Frith Manor in the mid sixties? It it was, a friend and I used to go there occasionally. I rode a pony called Bess (she was 14.2hh and black). My friend rode a bay pony - cant remember the name. But then they had an indoor school. Pls reply to this thread, it would be interesting to know. Many thanx.

[notpoodle]

frith manor is bang right next to where we are :) i sometimes find escaped ponies from frith on the path between the fields :D

julia
x

PS: lessonswise i hear that frith is cheaper than the LEC and the LEC is a bit more dressage-ey ...

@ cheko: if i heard that rightly, frith and the lec used to be one and the same yard, once upon a time and i guess it was probably all called frith manor then (it being on frith lane and all)

[Cheko]

I think the actual address was Frith Lane, Lullington (or Lulling) Garth. I know they had a large indoor school with a sizeable spectators' gallery. It was all rather grand, (or it seemed so at the time, around 1966/67). I know they had quite a lot of land to ride round. London, of course was nowhere near as busy as it is now.

[Cheko]

PS: for Notpoodle

Frith Manor, as far as I can recall, had a separate livery yard to the school's yard (which I think was for use by full liveries). Have u still got indoor school? They used to have fields as well.

[notpoodle]

aha maybe thats what happened and they split the livery yard from the rest of it! my horse it at the lec, but ive been over to the now Frith Manor yard. they have a tiny little indoor school (which looks like a haybarn from the outside!) and two outdoor ones i think, along with fields and direct access to a little bridlepath.

frith does lessons and DIY only livery at the moment.

as i said, the two yards used to be one yard, but at some point got split into frith on one side and the LEC on the other side.

julia
x

[sg2a]

Thanks.

I did have q lesson at Trent Park but found it very scary because so many lessons were going on in the arena at the same time, including advanced riders working on a couple of jumps. I spent a whole hour doing nothing because the pony I was on refused to budge. Looking around afterwards, most of the riders seemed to really kicking their mounts very hard. When i had a few lessons years ago up north, I was taught never to kick but squeeze gently and only use a whip as a last resort.

I will loook into London Equestrian Centre and Lee Valley

Cheers

Sal

[notpoodle]

i used to ride at leevalley (and CT used to keep her horse there!) and can only recommend them!!! the lessons are brilliant, they do adult lessons (so people like me embarrass themselves in front of adults and not kids!), the horses are great, transport links are fantastic (bus stop right outside!), instructors are patient and the facilities are lovely!

i keep my horse at the LEC, but only had a couple of lessons there (money is a little tight at the moment ...), but they're good, too and have horses of literally all shapes and sizes (ponies, cobs, warmbloods ... even a very funky looking leopard spot!!).

if you decide to go with the LEC, PM me before you go and i shall say hello :D

julia
x

ps: never been to trent park but have heard some not-so-good things from people who went hacking there.