Taking BHS exams as an "oldie"!

[Est]

Hi
I only started riding "properly" last year, so I know there's a lot to improve on (my horse knows it too :D ) but I have started thinking about taking my Stage 1 exam. I'm 28, but at Stage 1 you can bet all the other candidates would be 16 and I think I might feel a bit out of place on a training course where everyone else would probably be younger and taking the exam in order to work with horses. I want to take it out of interest more than anything. I enjoy my work (really!) and probably couldn't afford to switch careers anyway, but I still keep returning to the idea of taking the exam and maybe working my way through them. Has anyone else taken their Stage exams a bit later in life? And if so, how did you find the experience? Did it feel worthwhile even if you were already in an established career and didn't want to use the qualification to find work with horses? I would really appreciate any opinions on this as it's something I keep coming back to and never making a decision on!
Thanks
Est

[yph]

Hi

Started my stage one last year at the grand old age of 28! Hello that is not old! I had been riding for around 2 years. I was the third youngest on the course- there were about 15 people so the age thing was no probs. But the course is HARD! I thought I was an ok rider but doing the training really made me feel pretty useless, I was pretty clued up on stable management so that not an issue but the riding is unreal. Riding school horses very different to your own, and your level of fitness must be good. Try sitting trot with no stirrups for 3 hours!!! On unschooled youngsters too, I got to the mock exam which I passed but ended up being badly bucked off 3 times in a row the week before my mock, that was in a trot to canter transition. I ended up in hospital and by the time the exam came around I was a nervous wreck and never showed up. I have only just started riding again because of the confidence issues.

It's your call but I wouldn't do it again.!

[pippadee]

Hi,
I am the grand old age of 36!! and I started riding a few years ago. After a year I felt this great need to learn more about the welfare of horses an so I went on a course doing my NVQ 1 AND 2 IN Horse Management. I learned a great deal and my confidence grew but as for the BHS Stages, I did Stage 1 and did not think it was worth the expense or putting myself through that pressure because I wasn't doing it for a career change, just pleasure.
If you really feel a need to do it then go for it!! Bit of advise though, get some good riding lessons on several different horses from an instructor who knows the examination system.

[Trixie]

Sadly, I beat you all in age (41 :( ) and I'm thinking about it. I've been riding since I was in my late twenties, with a five year break for anthrax, small child and total loss of confidence (not necessarily connected :D ) I'm now just getting back into it and thought that it might help my confidence a bit. Was going to do the stable management bit, then thought I might try for the ridden bit too. Won't make a decision til late summer, but its definitely a possibility. If you want to do it, go for it! You're never too old (I hope!)

[nutkin]

I took my stage one at the age of 30 and my friend from the same yard who took hers at the same time was well in her 40's. Neither of us took it as a career changing option but just to improve our riding and give us a worthwhile qualification. We were the oldest on our course as like you say all the others were in their teens but we didn't feel old as all the youngsters made us more than welcome and as we had lots of experience of horses they often looked to us for help. A couple of the girls hadn't ridden much when they started the course and had to have lunge lessons in order to help them catch up with the rest of us. Unfortunately most of the youngsters dropped out as the time went on and by the time we took our exam there was only 5 of us left and only 3 went on to do their stage 2.

[Est]

Thankyou all so much for sharing these thoughts with me. It's certainly given me a lot to think about... Trixie, I think my reasons might also be to do with boosting my confidence (and maybe proving something to myself as, coming late to horses and riding, I have always struggled with nerves - having a bit of paper to show I'm "okay" would mean a lot to me!). YPH - I agree that 28 isn't THAT old!! But I still feel fragile and a lot more breakable than I did ten years ago :D And your comments about unsuitable horses (aren't they meant to be "quiet and well-mannered"?!?!) really struck home, especially as I have friends who have had similar horror stories from their training. Being 16-18 and fairly bouncy, they normally laugh it off but I think you and Pippadee are absolutely right about picking a course/instructor with care. Pippadee - I will think a lot more about an NVQ route - I hadn't considered that before.
Thankyou all once again - maybe I'll be posting on the exam forum in a few months!! :eek:

[sidesaddlelady1]

There's a lady of 60+ on the Stage 1 course at the yard the Wonder Horse lives on. She decided to do it when she retired. I'm planning to take my Side Saddle Association Instructors' Certificates when I retire in 4 years time so as to be able to supplement my pension with something I enjoy doing.

There is also a riding school in the south ot England run by the lady who established it in the late '30s and the last I heard she was still teaching. She must be pushing 90!

If you want it go for it. I don't think you'll be up against 16 yr olds as I don't think you can do Stage 1 until you are 19 (unless they've changed the rules.

[pippadee]

I think you can take your stage 1 from the age of 16 now. A young lad on my NVQ training was 17. At the BHS exam there was a wide variety of ages and on my exam day there were quite a few males as well as females. When I did my NVQ's it was 2 days a week and the ages ranged from as young as 16 to people over 40. It was good because the older ones helped the younger ones in certain areas of training and the youngs ones vice versa.

[horse mad nat]

hey hun,
omg you wont b the oldest there or anything. i was goin to be doing mine(i became ill t ridin in 6months) and my aunites friend was lik omg i no people in there 30 n 40s just doing it now ! so you will be fine.i think your riding has 2 b a bit above average xxx

[fayetaylor]

where do you go to take the exams??? how would i go about it?? im 21 and thought i was too old!!!!!

[Est]

Thanks everyone, I'm definitely going to start lurking in the exam forum now I know my great age isn't an issue :rolleyes:
Fayetaylor, the BHS website has loads of info on how to go about taking the exams - let me know if you do decide to go ahead :)

[Wobblydeb]

Hi Est :) Thought I'd share with you a chat I had with my instructor recently - when she had just finished teaching one of the local college's BHS students before my lesson. Apparently, they are expected to ride to a good standard before they go, and don't necessarily get the time/horses/instruction to work on issues in their own riding. My instructor has quite a few of them coming to her so that they can learn on well-schooled horses with a good dressage instructor.

What other people have said about green horses fits with what she was telling me about her own BHS training. Especially at the higher levels you are expected to get on a horse without knowing anything about it, and figure out what level of training it has had. It could be a completely green youngster - which would certainly add to the ermmmm "excitement" factor ;)

So...... I guess the riding you get will largely depend upon the horses your chosen college has. Being a nervous nellie, I would be wary. I cannot see anyone sending their schoolmaster to be used by a college unless they were semi-retired....

[Wobblydeb]

p.s. I hate guessing people's ages, but the student I saw taking the lesson was definitely no skinny-hipped teenager, if that helps :p

[sidesaddlelady1]

Contact BHS about centres doing training for their qualifications.

There is a govt scheme (which may be closing soon so get in quick) under which riding schools can offer a scheme where you do 15 hours on the yard divided into riding lessons, stable management and theory leading to BHS Stages 1 and 2. The course and the exam fees are paid for by the scheme therefore free to participants. Ask around. There is at least one equestrian centre that I know of in North Derbyshire that participates in this scheme but I don't have any info about others.

[sidesaddlelady1]

The point about the BHS exam system is that it it geared towards (although not specific to) a career qualification so you had better be able to ride anything that gets thrown at you. If you're working professionally on a yard you can't start say ing you don't want to ride a particular horse because it isn't suitable for you - that way lies the sack!

Friends who have done it say you are just as likely to get a slug to do your ridden exam on as a flighty filly.

To do Stage 1 on the local 15 hours course you have to be confident and competant at walk, trot and canter

[Wobblydeb]

If you're working professionally on a yard you can't start saying you don't want to ride a particular horse because it isn't suitable for you - that way lies the sack!
I couldn't agree more. However Est said this was not training for a future career.

As my instructor pointed out - the ability to jump onto any horse without any prior history and ride it to the best of it's current level is not something she finds herself using. Where she is (re)training she works with a history, and with the horse on the ground, before she ever gets on. Even when she is assessing horses to purchase on behalf of clients, they see the horse ridden by the owner/seller before she gets on.

As I said....
Being a nervous nellie, I would be wary. I cannot see anyone sending their schoolmaster to be used by a college unless they were semi-retired.... ..... which doesn't mean that Est is a nervous nellie (like me!), or wouldn't relish the possibility of riding slugs or young green horses. Only she can decide if the possibility of riding horses like that is a positive or a negative :)

[hApPiNeSs]

28 is not old! im 16 and i dont think 28 is old! :)

and if you were the oldest person on your course - is doesnt matter! im going to do my stage 1 soon and i bet im just as nervous as you! ;)