Awful Riding School!

[teddypony]

Yesterday i went on a hack with our university horse riding society (i say we, it was me having a hack and another girl in a lesson) Anyway, i couldnt believe the riding school, it was chosen by the head of our society who is a beginner (nothing wrong there) but clearly lacks experience and picked a riding school with no certification of any kind. I was less than impressed with this riding school. It was run down- which on its own isnt a problem BUT it was disorganised and not particulary friendly. Some of the horses were underweight, i could see all of their ribs and their hip bones sticking out. I was put on a horse, not told its name, it was ungroomed and its tack was filthly! Off we went on the hack, the horse wasa lovely gentle giant BUT the owner of the yard didnt check to see if could ride, just believed that i could do what i said i could. We walked and galloped on this hack, no trotting, not even a canter, although i held my horse back and asked for a bit of trot in between. The worse thing was, one of the other horses had a hugely swollen leg, from mud fever and they expected him to go out galloping. Now he wasnt lame, however if it was my horse i would have only been doing a little inhand work, maybe light hacking at most! Now i think why didnt i just walk away? I wish i did rather than pay for that but nevermind, i will not go back there again and i have emailed the horse riding society requesting another riding school.
If we cant find a good one i may see if i can share a couple of days in the week (as i miss my horsey)
It made me very angry, whats more the other girl was a complete beginner, hadnt ridden since she was 5, and was plonked on a horse, trot, canter and a jump! Without being told how to do it really, thats dangerous and it would have been entirely their fault had she of fallen off.




Ok, rant over, cookies for all!

ETS: I am not disapproving that it was not certified, i understand that you can have good riding schools who are not certified! But this one was not one of those

[solomansbandit]

thats nuts!!
Id report them 2 rspca for the horses leg and weight condition
Have 2admit im a softie2 and would probably hav offered my services so i could help sort the horses out and jst b there for them. Bloody shame dont understand why any1 wouldnt look after there horses properly
Did the owner even speak 2u? xx

[sancho]

Sounds like horse hell - poor little mites

Have a quiet word with the RSPCA as schools are checked once a year by an independant body but I cant think who!

[HashRouge]

That sounds pretty awful. Definitely see if you can get them to change the riding school.
My uni doesn't have a Horse Riding Society, and I'm in London so lessons are insanely expensive. I think I'll just have to wait *grrrr* never thought I miss riding this much!

[~*sugarlump*~]

sounds awful.

i may get shouted at but IMO a head if a riding society should have abit of riding experience. the should know whats good, whats bad, what groups to put people in etc.
now im not saying that they should be john whitaker or Carl Hester standard, but i do think to run a riding society you should have at leaat a basic/intermediate understanding of riding just so things should run as smoothly as possible

[teddypony]

Originally Posted by ~*sugarlump*~

sounds awful.

i may get shouted at but IMO a head if a riding society should have abit of riding experience. the should know whats good, whats bad, what groups to put people in etc.
now im not saying that they should be john whitaker or Carl Hester standard, but i do think to run a riding society you should have at leaat a basic/intermediate understanding of riding just so things should run as smoothly as possible

Thats what i think, i dont mind she is a fairly beginnger in terms of riding, but she really needs to be able to make things run smoothly! I joined this year, and i am autmatically the most experienced person in the society.
I think i may have a quiet word with the RSPCA, i dont know if would do anything but its worth a try, not all the horses were underweight just a few but i still didnt think a few is acceptable.

[beanz's mum]

just because a RS isnt approved by a riding society doesnt mean the instructors arent qualified and dont know what they are doing.

its like viewing a horse and thinking "oh hes not registered i dont want him"

each riding school is unique and do different things, which might not be everyones cup of tea.

ive been to 12 different riding schools during the 8 years i have been riding and i prefered riding schools that vary their activities i.e let me pop a x-pole on the lead and canter a few strides on the lead rather than trot in circles and serpentines until im perfect.

this school is obviously not aquired to your taste and each to their own but i really dont agree with you critisising this school when you have only been there once, okay the school may be run down but at the end of the day your are their to learn and enjoy yourself... does it really matter about the appearance of the place? its their decision to impress new customers and if they dont bother then thats their loss isnt it?

(im shocked and really dont approve about the thin horses! )

it sounds like im defending this school when i have no idea about it but the thing is i go to a RS (with livery) at a place sort of like this -- not registered and run down due to different things (it was amazing about 5 years ago !! ive seen pics and vids of the place) but i love it, the people there are great once you get to know them and it has an enthusiastic atmosphere! but thats just my opinion.

dont judge a book by its cover

good luck with your next RS, hope you like it more

[teddypony]

Sorry, i am not disapproving that it is not certified, or in fact run down, that didnt bother me (if it did i wouldnt have gone at all in the first place as i knew it wasnt certified) I was upset about how disorganised the riding school was, how it treated its clients and how some of the horses appeared to be underweight. Also, i dont think it matters i have been there only once to see that the horses were underweight, or that they allowed a horse with a very swollen and puffy leg out on a hack, that is clearly not acceptable in any circumstance! Neither did i say the instructors were not qualified, simply that they seem lax on safety and were not overly friendly!

[Mimi + Me]

Was it a BHS approved establishment? If it was then it would be worth making a phone call to the BHS expressing your concerns.

Poor ponies, the way some of them are so tolerant about being overworked/underfed

[joosie]

I see what you're saying beanz mum, but can I point out that run-down and unsafe are not the same thing. I've ridden at a number of stables that were not particularly nice to look at but the horses were healthy, management was good and the staff followed safe sensible practises. Not all stables have money to burn! But if a riding school lacks money, IMO they should forget about the look of the place for a while and spend the money they do have on the health and wellbeing of the horses and the safety of their clients.
University riding clubs do mostly cater for riders but they are also supposed to be there to encourage people to take up the sport. If beginners joining the society go to an unsuitable stable thinking it must be acceptable because the club has taken them there, that's not a very good introduction and could lead them to believe certain things are okay when actually they're not.

[beanz's mum]

Originally Posted by teddypony

Sorry, i am not disapproving that it is not certified, or in fact run down, that didnt bother me (if it did i wouldnt have gone at all in the first place as i knew it wasnt certified) I was upset about how disorganised the riding school was, how it treated its clients and how some of the horses appeared to be underweight. Also, i dont think it matters i have been there only once to see that the horses were underweight, or that they allowed a horse with a very swollen and puffy leg out on a hack, that is clearly not acceptable in any circumstance! Neither did i say the instructors were not qualified, simply that they seem lax on safety and were not overly friendly!

sorry, i got the impression that you wernt happy that its wasnt an approved RS and that you didnt like the fact that it was run down - my bad

about the how it treats its clients part - if the staff wernt friendly its probably because either 1-they are just generally brash and 2 its disorganised thus they are in a rush to get people on the right horses? stressed?

like i said , its appauling about the underweight horses! its just not acceptable!

no you didnt say the instructors wernt qualified i know that! i actually read your post, i said just because the school is not approved it doesnt mean the instuctors arent - i said this again because i got the impression that you wernt happy with an unapproved school - which is fair play.

i understand where you are coming from with the safety aspect however you are just an observer, did you watch the whole lesson? a novice can become competent enough to jump in a lesson, however unlikely it might seem. and it might not se as safe as youre are comfortable with ?

if you really are that concerned and think its unaaceptable from what you have witnessed... then no-one is stopping you from putting in a formal complaint, ringing the bhs and rspca.

[beanz's mum]

Originally Posted by joosie

I see what you're saying beanz mum, but can I point out that run-down and unsafe are not the same thing. I've ridden at a number of stables that were not particularly nice to look at but the horses were healthy, management was good and the staff followed safe sensible practises. Not all stables have money to burn! But if a riding school lacks money, IMO they should forget about the look of the place for a while and spend the money they do have on the health and wellbeing of the horses and the safety of their clients.

this is what i was getting at....

[teddypony]

beanz mum- im not trying to start an argument. The girl in the lesson, specifically told them she was scared, and inexperienced. She did not feel comfortable doing those things, but didnt have a lot of control, followed the horse infront of her.
If i choose to put in a complaint that is my choice, however, if you saw this riding school then perhaps you would understand what i am trying to say about it. The people seemed brash, i believe that is just how they were i could be wrong, but i would tend to want to welcome new clients, in the hope they may return.

ets, yes safe and run down are not the same thing, i keep my own horse at a run down farm but i do not consider it unsafe

[beanz's mum]

Originally Posted by teddypony

beanz mum- im not trying to start an argument. The girl in the lesson, specifically told them she was scared, and inexperienced. She did not feel comfortable doing those things, but didnt have a lot of control, followed the horse infront of her.
If i choose to put in a complaint that is my choice, however, if you saw this riding school then perhaps you would understand what i am trying to say about it. The people seemed brash, i believe that is just how they were i could be wrong, but i would tend to want to welcome new clients, in the hope they may return.

ets, yes safe and run down are not the same thing, i keep my own horse at a run down farm but i do not consider it unsafe

ahh i see, cor i seem like a right beast now , im not honest, just opinionated perhaps

yes i work in a riding school (the one i described in fact) and sometimes when people fill in etc other workers are just too slow for me so i tend to get all unorganised boss people about and arent very talkative to the customers although i do always smile and tell them to have a good lesson etc - thats where my idea of the staff came from , how being rushed puts you in a bad mood.

[eml]

Just going to put another point of view.

University Riding Clubs often are looking for bargain prices and the ability to accomodate vastly different abilities of people. As such they may have chosen a place where the facilities reflect the price.

Were the thin ponies working?. One of the most common complaints received about RS by the BHS Inspectors is about thin ponies, often turns out to be those who are retired and having a last year in the field. There is also often a level of misunderstanding over what constitutes a thin pony, most vets will tell you they are more concerned about the overweight ones they more often see.

How do you know the horse had a swollen leg from mudfever? If it was sound it may have been a horse that needed exercise to relieve the swelling.

Not excusing places that are badly run or horses not cared for, just reflecting what may have been the yards viewpoint.

If you have serious concerns about welfare and any RS the best person is the Environmental Health Officer who issues RS licences, they will have a local vet out to inspect the horses, accomodation and tack very quickly or withdraw the licence.

[teddypony]

The leg- because i asked what was wrong with it, initially i thought it could of been an injury so i thought i would check before i made a snap judgement.
There were two retired horses who were thin (again i asked), but we had one underweight horse on the hack with us, so yes they were working

Oh and i completely agree with your first point, the uni was shopping for a cheap deal!

[sancho]

Beanz Mum - I think you have the wrong end of the stick with the OP.

I read the post as the Op being unhappy with the state of the horses and the fact that they werent asked many questions before riding and that the hack consisted of walk and gallop with a beginner!

The fact that the place and the tack was a bit of a state is secondary IMO and wasnt the important issue.

I dont care what the place looks like but the horses have to be well cared for and happy to be doing their job.

[teddypony]

Originally Posted by sancho

Beanz Mum - I think you have the wrong end of the stick with the OP.

I read the post as the Op being unhappy with the state of the horses and the fact that they werent asked many questions before riding and that the hack consisted of walk and gallop with a beginner!

The fact that the place and the tack was a bit of a state is secondary IMO and wasnt the important issue.

I dont care what the place looks like but the horses have to be well cared for and happy to be doing their job.

yes, that was my point id like to add, it wasnt all the horses, some did seem happy in their work and not underweight.

[sancho]

Originally Posted by teddypony

yes, that was my point

Cool!

However, I have to add that I always check the tack (secretly) if Im riding at the school just to know that the leathers good and doesnt have any splits in the reins for instance! Is that just me??

[teddypony]

No, i do it too it may not be the riding schools fault but i always like to check to make sure