Is this true about college horses?

Palomino

The Palomino Girl!
Apr 28, 2000
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Derbyshire England
www.expage.com
Upto a few weeks ago I was really enjoying the fact I was going to college and could ride different horses and meet new people.:D
Uptil the point I was riding a highly strung, nappy and bolting mare who was causing me to lose even more confidence of which I have very little and the instructer (who was new) told me I'd better get used to horses like these couse she's like the horses they have at college.:(
If this is true I don't really want to go as I know I wouldn't be able to cope.:(
Palomino.
 
Deciding which college to attend is an important decision. Could you not visit your intended college and check out what sort of horses they have there? If you're intending to make a career out of horses then you will have to get used to coping with all sorts of different horses and their problems, so in one way it is a good thing if not all of the horses are completely 100%. On the other hand you need to be taught how to deal with them in an enviroment which doesn't make you lose your confidence but rather works on and improves your existing abilities. If you are in any doubt that the college you have chosen is right for you, I suggest that you go into other alternatives. Good luck!
 
I think it is irresponsible to put folk on such difficult horses. Okay it's a college and you have to be prepared to learn how to ride more animated animals than the local riding school. But what will you actually learn from such bad mannered animals if you are scared to death and just trying to stay on?

The college you go to should have a wide range of personalities for you to learn on!
 
Our local college has it's own but also uses working liveries for it's students. I know nothing about it's own horses but it vets it's working liveries very closely indeed. I said No as I did not like their terms and conditions of livery, but that is from an owner's perspective not a user's.
 
Thanks everybody.

I know it's a good college because my old instructor recomended it to me and said I'd do really well there.
I turned down the other college because firstly it doesn't have livery facilities and secondly because they do their lessons at the same riding school i've just stopped going to. Because I wanted to ride new horses.
As for the number of horses there is about 60! They consist of ones owned by the college, working liveries and one that are only ridden by their owners.
Palomino.
 
I was at College for 2 years and took both of my competition horses with me. The horses at this college were made up of 3 types - 1, the steady, safe ones which were mostly owned by the college (the college did some RDA sessions so these were used by the RDA aswell, 2 - a lot of students like me took their horses with them and these horses were used by other students and 3 - the others!!!! The college offered free livery in return for using the horses in the lessons so for some people this was a good idea if they had a horse that needed bringing on or schooling. We had a real range of horses, one of mine was pretty popular but was not suitable for the more novice/nervous types and was therefore only used for the more experienced riders, others were pretty safe (some might say boring!) and were used to give the nervous and less experienced riders confidence. Mine was a big college and now has I think over 100 horses. The main point I am trying to make is that no matter what horses are at the college, the main thing is that you are allocated suitable horses and if this doesnt happen then you must complain. At my college this very rarely happened and is unlikely at any other decent college. Hope you enjoy college as much as I did - I rate it as the best two years of my life so far...
 
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