First lessons

[charlottlefish]

Hi, I'm a 15 year old and I've loved horses since I was 7. However, I've been unable to ride due to a multitude of reasons. Last summer, I went to one of those pony experience days and loved it and as well I completed my work experience at my local rs. My parents are worried that as I have my GCSE's in roughly a year and mocks next December, me starting taking lessons twice a month will mean I will for some reason fail all my exams. Does anyone have any tips for convincing my parents? And any tips for my first lesson(s) if they say yes? As well to get into my dream equine college I'll need to be doing WTC in roughly a year, do you think that's possible with riding twice a month and possibly more in school holidays?

Thank you so much if you can help me
Char

 

[carthorse]

You could try asking them if they'd agree to lessons on the basis that your grades don't drop and you continue to put in the same - or more - hours of homework. Is it possible they're using your exams as an excuse though? Lessons are expensive and will also take a fair bit of their time unless a good school s very close. They may also be concerned about you going to equine college since working with horses is notoriously badly paid as well as being physically demanding, sometimes dangerous and often dead end - I have to admitmy advice to most people would be to get a job that allows you to keep a horse of your own and keep them as a hobby. I thonk you need to sit down with them and talk it through properly, find out exactly what their concerns are and what yo can do to reassure them and maybe persuade them to let you start riding.

As to whether or not you'll be at the standard you need in a year's time, it's impossible to say because it depends on how quickly you learn as well as hhow good the instruction is.

 

[charlottlefish]

@carthorse Thank you for the reply and that's what I'm worried about with exams but I'm not sure what for as they've had previous excuses and I've managed to work through those. I even got to the point of convincing that they phoned up another riding school (I didn't ask them or anything they just did it) to ask about prices but that didn't go anywhere as it was too expensive. I'd do volunteering to get the lessons (do a full day volunteering the same day as my lesson) and the riding school I'd go to is roughly 15 mins away but they would just go home after dropping me off so I'm not sure that's too much of a worry. And as for equine college, I haven't really brought it up much. I've mentioned it once or twice a few years ago and they were a bit against the idea but the only other job I'd want to do requires mass amounts of studying and I wouldn't have much time to take riding lessons and I'm just not willing to put in that much effort for a job that I could only work at one company for so (realistically) I'm not going to get that job which leaves becoming a riding instructor as my only other option. Do you think I should still try to pursue it or just stop now?

 

[carthorse]

I'll try and work through this bit by bit so bear with me.

Riding lessons at good schools are expensive, and cheap ones are nearly always cheap for a reason. Cheap lessons, particularly for a beginner, are a waste of money as the chances are the instruction will be of a low standard on horses who may well be unsuitable or not really up to the workload. They may be operating in a way that invalidates their insurance, which while you hope never to need is still important.

Which brings me to the next point of working for your lessons. Good schools will have enough employed staff so don't need helpers, plus the chances are you wouldn't be covered by that all important insurance. So a school that would take you as an unpaid and uninsured helper is unlikely to be a good school. Also, and no offence intended, but you don't know enough to be helpful and from a school's point of view it would cost them more than it's worth to teach you and get you up to speed. If they're willing to take inexperienced helpers and have them work unsupervised then run for the hills!

If your parents are worried about riding taking away from your studying then they're almost certainly going to seeworking all day for a lesson as a waste of studying time.

What other job were you thinking of? At 15 I really would recommend keeping your options open, and equine college isn't going to do that. I don't know what you think a RI's job includes, what the qualifications involve and what the wages are but the reality is long hours that involve more than teaching for poor pay and often poor working conditions. Honestly you' do better to study for a bit longer to get a good job then learn to ride and get a nice horse of your own that you can enjoy. Talk to career staff at your school and look into other jobs, there must be more than one career that plays to your strengths and interests! Planning your whole working life on one pony xperience day feels rather foolish to me, it certainly isn't a realistic taste of working with horses or even of riding and owning one.

 

[Skib]

Good schools will have enough employed staff so don't need helpers,

That is not true here in the London and Surrey areas. Our largest riding school with lots of ponies, mostly stabled, does have teenage helpers at the weekends . Years ago they workerd in exchange for a lesson. Now I believe that due to minimum wage and insurance they receive pay but also take part in a free group lesson at the end of the day.

But the teenage helpers are not beginners. Most of them will have learned to ride at that RS, some will still be taking lessons, and may be joined the Pony Club there, So the parents have paid.

Some of my family grew up in a less wealthy part of London and there teenagers could help out with group lead rein lessons and so earn a group lesson themselves.

 

[charlottlefish]

I'll try and work through this bit by bit so bear with me.

Riding lessons at good schools are expensive, and cheap ones are nearly always cheap for a reason. Cheap lessons, particularly for a beginner, are a waste of money as the chances are the instruction will be of a low standard on horses who may well be unsuitable or not really up to the workload. They may be operating in a way that invalidates their insurance, which while you hope never to need is still important.

Which brings me to the next point of working for your lessons. Good schools will have enough employed staff so don't need helpers, plus the chances are you wouldn't be covered by that all important insurance. So a school that would take you as an unpaid and uninsured helper is unlikely to be a good school. Also, and no offence intended, but you don't know enough to be helpful and from a school's point of view it would cost them more than it's worth to teach you and get you up to speed. If they're willing to take inexperienced helpers and have them work unsupervised then run for the hills!

If your parents are worried about riding taking away from your studying then they're almost certainly going to seeworking all day for a lesson as a waste of studying time.

What other job were you thinking of? At 15 I really would recommend keeping your options open, and equine college isn't going to do that. I don't know what you think a RI's job includes, what the qualifications involve and what the wages are but the reality is long hours that involve more than teaching for poor pay and often poor working conditions. Honestly you' do better to study for a bit longer to get a good job then learn to ride and get a nice horse of your own that you can enjoy. Talk to career staff at your school and look into other jobs, there must be more than one career that plays to your strengths and interests! Planning your whole working life on one pony xperience day feels rather foolish to me, it certainly isn't a realistic taste of working with horses or even of riding and owning one.

Sorry if this didn't come across clear in my first post but I am not completely clueless. I have been studying horses for 8 years and have met people who own horses that know less about them than I do. I have been around horses recently too for 3 days so can now groom and tack up horses as well as bring them in and out from the field and lead them in beginner lessons. I can also muck out, make feeds, change water, etc.