Hooray I can ride again! +BHS Stage1!

[Wobblydeb]

Well, after a few weeks of financial destitution, my finances are all sorted (actually better than before). I am one happy girl! :D

So....... I can go back to my weekly private lesson with my great instructor. PLUS start having another group lesson on a Sunday at a nice school really near me :)

And boy I am going to need it! I've decided to do a BHS Stage 1 course which starts in September at a local college. I've just been reading what is required for the ridden section, and I know I've got some work to do on my canter! :p Cannot wait though - I'm actually really looking forward to doing the stable management side of things.

:D la la la la :D skippety doo dah :D

[MadMumInKent]

Well done Deb! You sound really pleased with yourself :) Good luck for the start of the course!

[Trewsers]

Sounds great - bet you're lookin forward to it all! Good luck, let us know how the college thing goes :D

[kedwards]

Happy news! Enjoy the lessons and the course. It sounds like you'll have lots fun riding and education ahead.

[yph]

I took my stage 1 course last year after 2 and a half years of intensive riding and training. I considered myself to be an above average novice and thought the st 1 would be great .
Turnedout very difficult- theory fine, riding v hard, 2 hours of sitting trot and canter withough stirrups- on young unschooled horses.

I got bucked off the week before my exam making a canter transition, the instructor made me get back on , despite me being injured, the same thing happened 3 times until I refused. I am 5ft 2 and was riding a 16.3 Irish sport horse.

I never got to take my exam and havent ridden much since because it really knocked my confidence, plus I have a back injury from the fall.

Some places are good, but work only within your limits as I wouldn't wantanyone to go through the same as me

[Trewsers]

yph, that sounds awful :( what on earth were they doing putting you on young / unschooled horses like that???? it would have put me off too. How iresponsible of the tutor making you get back on when you were injured. Oh dear. Surely they are supposed to be registered / regulated places where you learn the BHS course / exams???

[*toHorse&Away*]

So glad for you
Does that mean getting a horse is a possibility again or are you going to do your stage 1 first?

I hear it is quite demanding but would hope yph's experience is the exception rather than the norm - ouch!

Good luck if you go for it - you will have to keep us posted - would make a really interesting topic on progress through it - what's good/ bad/ easy/ hard - and whether you get what you want/ expect out of it! :)

[Skib]

I am so sorry you got hurt preparing for your BHS Stage 1. That is the opposite of what the BHS intend.
I think we should distinguish between the BHS Part 1 tests, in Riding and Stable Management, and the various riding schools and colleges offering a course leading to the exam. The BHS Stage 1 tests are designed to be a constructive and encouraging test for young people just beginning their careers. Preparing to take them shouldn't be frightening or dangerous.
I used to have a BHS Video of a group of people taking their Stage 1 Examination and the riding required is not at all risky. The people taking the exam did not have to canter without stirrups. They had to canter large on the correct lead. There are a number of BHS books which explain clearly what you have to do in the test.
I think it is great you are planning to do the course Wobbly Deb. I took the BHS Stable Management Stage 1 Course at an evening class at a local riding stable and would recommend it to anyone who is learning to ride. There were 16 x 2 hr sessions of which 4 evenings were practical. I didnt take the exam because I'm too old to heave bales of straw about, and I dont think the other people did either. To take the examination, you really need to build up your skills by doing regular mucking out, grooming and tacking up etc. and most of us had full time jobs.
If a stable near here ever offers a Stage 2 Stable Management course, I'd like to go on and do that too. So I hope you have an excellent time Wobbly Deb and are as well taught as we were.

[cazrider]

Great news Deb :) Good luck with the course :)

[Skib]

yph - just another thought. I dont know where you live or whether the place you did the riding course for Stage 1 was recognised by the BHS?
But did you complain to the BHS - or let them know what had happened to you?
If not, do consider writing to them. What you describe raises safety issues as well as the standard of training, and the BHS take these things very seriously indeed. But the BHS cant know what goes on unless people like you write and tell them.
My view is that a person who has ridden three years, is doing well and can canter large round a school would be able to take Stage 1. The riding itself is basic stuff -the sort of test riders are sometimes asked to take if they go to a new yard and want to hack out. And the BHS say they dont expect perfection. The real difficulty for some people is that you take the Stage 1 test on riding school horses which you dont know, some of whom may not be very forward going and this can be a culture shock for riders who own their own horses.

[Wobblydeb]

yph - really sorry to hear what happened to you, and I shall be keeping my wits about me before I climb aboard! Because I am doing this for my own enjoyment, rather than a future career, I'll quite happily not attend the ridden sessions if I think they are too much for me.

I'm really looking forward to the stable care and management side of things :) The course is training only, and does not include the exam at the end of it - which hopefully takes some of the pressure of being perfect away ;)

The place I am going to is a specialist agricultural college, which does full time BHS courses as well as the evenings/weekends one I am going to do (Kirkley Hall for all the locals, in case you hadn't guessed!). Obviously they are BHS accredited, as well as being part of the government 16-19 college system so I am hoping for a reasonably high standard :)

So fingers crossed!

Oooooooo and I've booked my first lesson at local school for Sunday. This is where I find out whether the last year has improved my riding! I am going to be riding the same horse I was assessed on last year (to establish what level you are riding at). I had a nightmare this time last year - she was really safe, but as a result really hard to get going and totally took me for a ride so to speak! I've got a funny feeling I am going to be terrible again, because I've only ridden forward going horses since then :p