Ride your horse or a lesson horse?

Anybody else have thoughts on this? Thanks for all the responded, I think I am going to def check in to the other barn for the winter and perhaps there may be an option to have the instructor work with her and her horse at some point too.

I would suggest maybe trying different horses. When I go for lessons, I still go on different horses. It gives you more experience. Of course I always still ride my own horses though.

Before I owned a horse I rode so many different horses and ponies and it helped me become the rider I am today. With the horse I've had for the last several years I take lessons on him and lessons on a lot of the greenie babies.

I always took lessons on good 'ole school horses before I got Vic. It's great to get experience with different horses because you have to adjust to each personality and every horse feels different to ride. However, most lesson horses are so tolerant and dead broke that it gives a lot of riders a false sense of security.

It was a slap in the face when I bought Victor. He was the first horse that ever bucked, spooked, and bolted on me, and the first horse I ever fell off of. He got away with it for a long time too, because he knew I was timid and I had no idea how to handle a spirited/clever/temperamental horse. It was a long time before I earned his respect, but now it's finally paying off and I think I'm a better all-around horseman because of it. That's why I prefer riding my own horse. School horses are good for building confidence, but you need to step it up eventually and ride/lease a horse that isn't perfectly trained.

I can agree with you on that one. Although alot of lesson horses I have ridden are challenges. The place I am currently riding at has some very difficult horses that they put me on. I suppose it varies in some areas.

That is what I find fun about lessons. It is the time I can experiment on different horses, and learn about different ways to react with different horses.

I totally agree!

Thanks everyone..it is good to know others thoughts.

Just an update: I spoke to the instructor/trainer yesterday about my daughters lesson in more depth . She invited us out to her barn to look at the barn and the horses and watch a lesson that she is actually going to be teaching. She said that she can give my daughter the opportunity to work on both English and Western exercises and she teaches using the secure seat program.
My daughter and I are both excited to see the barn and the horses and the times that she isnt taking lessons she will continue to ride her horse while the weather permits. I also will ride her horse this winter as well : )

My daughter took her first lesson tonight with a new instructor and she did very well. She got to ride in the indoor with lights (something we dont have at our barn) The instructor expalined a lot of things to her and helped her to understand all the exercises she was doing. I like the fact that she asked my daughter "why?" when she showed her something , she asked her why would you want to do that? And lots of positive remarks when she did it correctly. The instructor had her work on the 7 -7-7 exercise which is sitting the trot for seven strides , posting the trot for seven strides and standing in the stirrups for seven strides. She even let her walk her horse around bareback to cool her off .....My daughter was grinning from ear to ear..:)

My husband and I were very pleased with how well this instructor taught. She is excited for next week. She loves her instructor at our barn too, so now she has 2 instructors she can learn from.

i have my pony at a barn that doesnt teach lessons and not many people go there so i can ride him in the winter but i am going to be taking lessons on a bigger horse at a different barn so that i can get used to ridding a bigger horse and so i can continue to develop my skills and learn things.