Schoolmaster

[carthorse]

What does that description mean to you when it has a discipline attached to it?

I'm asking because it came up in discussion with a friend about a horse she'd gone to look at with a client that was described as a SJ schoolmaster. Her client had assumed this meant it would be an easy going "I'll do it all for you" horse that would be fine for someone who'd had a year in a riding school. The seller had apparently had a lot of people looking with that view. My friend and I were of the opinion that a competition schoolmaster is usually anything but a novice, let alone beginner, ride and instead see it as a horse that knows enough to teach you and take you up a level or two but you may well have some "interesting" lessons and you want to learn quickly!

Luckily the client had the sense to see it ridden and say it wasn't for her.

 

[Jessey]

I’d agree schoolmasters aren’t generally going to do it for you, they’re going to expect you to know where the buttons are and how to use them, but I’d expect them to be civil about it. I think there’s a lot of experienced horses that people refer to as schoolmasters, that aren’t, a schoolmaster should have the ability to teach and tolerate a few mistakes along the way not just be able to do whatever it is they do, with a great rider or one who can just manage what’s thrown at them.

 

[newforest]

A do it for you horse is a push button.
A schoolmaster knows the ropes and expects you to know most of them as they are able to teach you the feel but you need to have the ability to manage them.
If you've spent a year in a riding school you want an ideal first/confidence giving type. See how you progress as a rider from that. I wouldn't even be looking at a competition horse

 

[carthorse]

I think the trouble is a year at a riding school meant she thought only in terms of school horses and so read the ad wrong, at least she realised her mistake very quickly without getting on. I think many people don't realise the difference between a competition horse and a riding club one nowadays, the term seems to be used by people who have something that's gone to a few local shows and then they wonder why they coe unstuck if they buy a true competition horse.

 

[Tir]

A schoolmaster to me is a horse who knows its job so well that it can teach someone who isnt perfect without trying to kill them.

Now inside that you have a lot of variation of how that horse actually operates. Ive ridden 2 genuine high level schoolmasters, both dressage horses and they couldnt have been more different. One really, really wanted to please and tried his very best to figure out what i wanted and volunteered it. This meant all kinds of funky moves whilst i tried to figure out the buttons. Piaffe, counter canter, flying changes...had it all when i wasnt intending to ask for it!

The other horse was also a school master, but just wouldnt do something if you didnt ask right. Get it right and have a fantastic ride.

Both very good for teaching, but both someone could have found equally frustrating. Both were very forgiving in that they didnt object to things being incorrect.

 

[carthorse]

@Tir and the first one is where things can go so wrong because if the rider can't sit the attempts to figure out what the rider wants they come off. Or possibly even worse they get scared/frustrated and punish the horse for their shortcomings and soon you have a partnership where both parties are scared and frustrated and all because a term is misunderstood. At least the second one, while frustrating, is safe if the rider is out of their depth.

 

[Skib]

I would say that jumping and cross country due to the risks attached come into a different category from dressage.
OH and I years ago had to visit an elderly relative living near a well known dressage yard. They had big warm blood horses and one reason for riding them was to decide whether I wanted to buy a similar dressage horse of my own and aim for competing.
The horse I rode was a Belgian warm blood called Leo. He knew the moves better than I did. No cues were required. You just thought the shape of the horse that you wanted for e.g. shoulder in, and he gave it.
I needed the handyman's steps to mount him and I decided that I would stick with hacking the Connie I loved.

 

[carthorse]

That's really not answering the question @Skib

 

[Skib]

Well nice to see it still makes you happy to tell me I shouldnt write what I write.

 

[newforest]

I also think with a schoolmaster someone else needs to be schooling them to stay at the level you are riding if you are the ones learning from them. One of you needs to know what you are doing.

 

[Bodshi]

Our Jack was described as a schoolmaster but he was probably more the type that the client was expecting, especially given that OH was a complete novice and the reason we bought a horse for him was because local RS didnt cater for adult male sized customers.

Jack was not a plod but he was easy and uncomplicated for a beginner - in the school at least - but would up his game for anyone who asked more of him. At the time Raf was young and uneducated and I was very novice so I used to have lessons on Jack. The RI taught me the aids and Jack showed me what should happen if I used them correctly.

Out hacking Jack taught OH all about napping and a few other little tricks he'd picked up over the years!

 

[Silvia]

To me "schoolmaster" implies that a horse will be save to ride. Well schooled, will do what he is told, if asked correctly. Not necessarily a novice ride, but will not panic if you accidentially touch the wrong button. I have not come across the term schoolmaster as a description for "interesting" behaviour.

 

[Tir]

@Tir and the first one is where things can go so wrong because if the rider can't sit the attempts to figure out what the rider wants they come off. Or possibly even worse they get scared/frustrated and punish the horse for their shortcomings and soon you have a partnership where both parties are scared and frustrated and all because a term is misunderstood. At least the second one, while frustrating, is safe if the rider is out of their depth.

I totally agree. Though i also think the 2nd horse in my example would be the one who potentialy would get frustrated and end up downing tools.

Ive been thinking about this with the jumping side of horses and again, I think there are different types of schoolmasters. Now Ive ridden one for a friend once (and tried to blank the experience as jumpings not my most fun avtivity on a horse). They bought their young team daughter an older, experienced ex 130 horse to teach her. This horse never ever stopped at a fence until they day he picked up an injury. He would jump anything you pointed him at. Now i didnt have a bad experience with him, but he was strong, forward and loved his job. He scared his teenage owner witless as at the heights he was now doing it was super easy for him so he would take over and jump from anywhere at 100mph if you didnt ride him. He was a schoolmaster though. One show she fell off in the warmup and another random competitor jumped him clear around the 2 classes he was entered in. If you rode him how he liked he was super, but not for everyone! He was a SJing schoolmaster.

Now if it was a RC schoolmaster being advertised, Id expect it to be nicely schooled in the basics (decent prelim test) and pop around a course of anything up to 90 sweetly with the rider steering, but not with too much exhuberence and be a pretty non spooky hack. And to keep that attitude with a new rider!