I know I'm not the only one here who doesn't own or loan her own horse, but who instead rides a lesson horse at her stables. I often get a little frustrated that I can't ride as often as I'd like, and I was considering the pros and cons of being in this situation. What are yours?
Pros
I know us guys might be a minority on this forum, but I do think it's an interesting thing to discuss For me, this is the only situation I can be in right now - I've asked about loaning, worked hard to get to a point where I could for the last few weeks of my holiday, and now all the big horses are already out on loan. And soon my riding will be even more restricted when I go to uni. But, for all the frustrations, this probably is the best situation for me apart from a working livery loan: it's not too expensive for me, I get a couple of lessons a week at the moment, and at least I am getting to do something I love! Riding like this is infinitely better than not riding at all.
Pros
- No mucking out! I don't have to do the dirty work all day every day.
- It's a safe horse and I can switch around for one suited to my current abilities. There's no danger of being committed to a horse that isn't at your level, and you get the opportunity to ride different horses and so learn more about them and your own riding.
- It's less expensive than owning a horse ... well, that bit's debatable when you consider that you do a lot less riding.
- You only get to ride once or twice a week! My lessons are half an hour long, and waiting for the next one gets unbearable at times The horsey itch is difficult to scratch!
- Lazy old lesson horses who know every trick in the book. The horses we ride are often used for beginner lessons too. They're used to riders who are just learning how to sit on a horse and trot. They also know how to get away with being as lazy as possible. You have to try and wake them up and get them behaving from the moment you get on - and that can be really tough at times!
- No consistency. Because they have many different riders each week, of varying abilities, you can't build up a consistent response to your aids or do that much 'training'. While the horses are well-trained enough to understand what's being asked of them, you can't build up a sensitivity to the way you ride. As a sort of corrollary from that, they're typically not as well-muscled for more advanced things such as lateral work, and because of that and not getting much practice at it, they do find it harder.
- Bonding. The horse isn't yours, you don't get that special bond owners talk about.
- Grooming and taking care of them. At my stables, at least, you can't have any old volunteer dropping by to help. Anyone who does any work at the stables has to be trained by them to ensure the horses are getting the best of care. This means I can't really drop by and groom a lesson horse and spend some time with them.
- Money! I have to pay £25 a time to ride right now!
- Practice. Because we don't get to ride so often, and when we do it's in a lesson and we want to get our money's worth and do something interesting, we don't often get the opportunity to just spend an hour working on the basics or plain old enjoying our riding.
I know us guys might be a minority on this forum, but I do think it's an interesting thing to discuss For me, this is the only situation I can be in right now - I've asked about loaning, worked hard to get to a point where I could for the last few weeks of my holiday, and now all the big horses are already out on loan. And soon my riding will be even more restricted when I go to uni. But, for all the frustrations, this probably is the best situation for me apart from a working livery loan: it's not too expensive for me, I get a couple of lessons a week at the moment, and at least I am getting to do something I love! Riding like this is infinitely better than not riding at all.