Hi all,
Just some background before I begin to explain my situation here. I grew up learning to ride Western at the age of 4. Around 13 or 14, I decided to switch to English. I found a barn a few miles down the road from me and learned to ride English there. After about a year, they discontinued lessons and became solely a boarding barn, but they referred me to (literally) their next door neighbor.
I began taking lessons at said barn in 2008. It was a bigger show barn, with much more money, many more students, more horses, and a huge indoor and outdoor ring with a couple of miles of trails. The outdoor ring looked like Heaven to me the first time I laid eyes on it - jumps everywhere. I fell in love with jumping the second I learned how to, and I couldn't wait to continue advancing at a bigger, better place for years to come.
The BO, who is the only trainer there, owns the land with her older parents and her sister. She's in her early forties, and she's always been nothing but nice to me, even to this day.
Fast forward 7 years and I'm still here. In between, I took about a year or two off of riding for college. When I came back about a year ago, it took a very long time to get my muscle and my equitation back, but once it was back, it was 100%. Slowly but surely, we advanced our jumping up to 2'6 and we've been sitting there for quite some time now.
So, here's where I'm questioning things. I've been riding the same horse there for 7 years. I learned almost everything related to English on him. He's a school master, will take you around every which way, with no arguments. He's 19 now, but he does have his bad habits that he's learned over his years of schooling from different riders. He's a beginner - advanced horse. Anyone from a 4 year old to someone my level, which is I guess intermediate, can ride him. He only jumps up to 2'6, because he's getting older and stiffer as the days go on and that's where my trainer wants to keep him.
I've tried out the different horses at my barn, hoping for a change from my old school horse, as I'm ready to advance my height and can't do so on him. Every other horse she owns for lessons is between 20-25 and really can't jump above 2'6, either. They're still good school horses, but not the type you'd take around a 3' course. So I've been sticking with my old schoolmaster, as I know him best.
My other big issue, probably more so than the horses, is...at this point...I feel like I might be wasting money. Why? Well, my trainer. She's a very nice woman, but I don't feel like I receive positive feedback in my lessons. What I mean by that is, I often watch videos on the Internet of people riding, I've seen different trainers at shows, and the big difference is that when I do something right, I don't get the enthusiasm and the positivity other trainers give. Example: "good! That's right! There you go!" How do I know I did something right with my current trainer? Silence. I've learned that the less she talks during a lesson, the better. If she needs me to correct something - i.e "quieter hands, hands forward, heels down," etc, she'll tell me. But if I'm struggling with something and it improves, I won't know it...only by silence. If she doesn't correct me, it means I'm correct. I guess the reason it's bothering me is because I don't really know where I'm at with my equitation, my riding in general, because I just don't get positive feedback. It's not only me, either - it's just how she teaches everyone that rides with her. I guess I'm just looking for someone more enthusiastic towards things that don't come easy to me and things that do. I need more verbal interaction, so I can really know exactly where I stand.
Another reason I feel I'm wasting money is because every lesson is exactly. the. same. Warm up on flat for 15-20, then jump a course 4-5 times. We've been at the same height for about 6 months now. (Obviously this is because I don't have many options as far as more advanced horses go, but I feel like my riding is just not improving in general due to doing the same things every time.) I really don't have much money at all to spend on my hobbies, so I do like to feel that every lesson is worth it.
My hopes of switching barns would be to hopefully find a new trainer that is more interactive with me and in doing so, able to help me advance in my riding. I would hope to find a barn with a different selection of horses that can help me move up, as well. Eventually, I'd like to get out there and try cross country. I know there are some barns around here that offer that type of training.
The good thing about my current barn is that lessons are offered at $40/hour, and that's pretty freaking cheap for around here, and affordable for me. Everywhere goes for about $50-75 an hour. Another thing is, I've been here for so long, that most of me doesn't want to leave the place I know so well, nor my schoolmaster. I do like my trainer as a person and we have a pretty good relationship. But I do know that eventually, I need to ride different horses, or I won't grow much as a rider.
Thoughts? Thank you so much.
Just some background before I begin to explain my situation here. I grew up learning to ride Western at the age of 4. Around 13 or 14, I decided to switch to English. I found a barn a few miles down the road from me and learned to ride English there. After about a year, they discontinued lessons and became solely a boarding barn, but they referred me to (literally) their next door neighbor.
I began taking lessons at said barn in 2008. It was a bigger show barn, with much more money, many more students, more horses, and a huge indoor and outdoor ring with a couple of miles of trails. The outdoor ring looked like Heaven to me the first time I laid eyes on it - jumps everywhere. I fell in love with jumping the second I learned how to, and I couldn't wait to continue advancing at a bigger, better place for years to come.
The BO, who is the only trainer there, owns the land with her older parents and her sister. She's in her early forties, and she's always been nothing but nice to me, even to this day.
Fast forward 7 years and I'm still here. In between, I took about a year or two off of riding for college. When I came back about a year ago, it took a very long time to get my muscle and my equitation back, but once it was back, it was 100%. Slowly but surely, we advanced our jumping up to 2'6 and we've been sitting there for quite some time now.
So, here's where I'm questioning things. I've been riding the same horse there for 7 years. I learned almost everything related to English on him. He's a school master, will take you around every which way, with no arguments. He's 19 now, but he does have his bad habits that he's learned over his years of schooling from different riders. He's a beginner - advanced horse. Anyone from a 4 year old to someone my level, which is I guess intermediate, can ride him. He only jumps up to 2'6, because he's getting older and stiffer as the days go on and that's where my trainer wants to keep him.
I've tried out the different horses at my barn, hoping for a change from my old school horse, as I'm ready to advance my height and can't do so on him. Every other horse she owns for lessons is between 20-25 and really can't jump above 2'6, either. They're still good school horses, but not the type you'd take around a 3' course. So I've been sticking with my old schoolmaster, as I know him best.
My other big issue, probably more so than the horses, is...at this point...I feel like I might be wasting money. Why? Well, my trainer. She's a very nice woman, but I don't feel like I receive positive feedback in my lessons. What I mean by that is, I often watch videos on the Internet of people riding, I've seen different trainers at shows, and the big difference is that when I do something right, I don't get the enthusiasm and the positivity other trainers give. Example: "good! That's right! There you go!" How do I know I did something right with my current trainer? Silence. I've learned that the less she talks during a lesson, the better. If she needs me to correct something - i.e "quieter hands, hands forward, heels down," etc, she'll tell me. But if I'm struggling with something and it improves, I won't know it...only by silence. If she doesn't correct me, it means I'm correct. I guess the reason it's bothering me is because I don't really know where I'm at with my equitation, my riding in general, because I just don't get positive feedback. It's not only me, either - it's just how she teaches everyone that rides with her. I guess I'm just looking for someone more enthusiastic towards things that don't come easy to me and things that do. I need more verbal interaction, so I can really know exactly where I stand.
Another reason I feel I'm wasting money is because every lesson is exactly. the. same. Warm up on flat for 15-20, then jump a course 4-5 times. We've been at the same height for about 6 months now. (Obviously this is because I don't have many options as far as more advanced horses go, but I feel like my riding is just not improving in general due to doing the same things every time.) I really don't have much money at all to spend on my hobbies, so I do like to feel that every lesson is worth it.
My hopes of switching barns would be to hopefully find a new trainer that is more interactive with me and in doing so, able to help me advance in my riding. I would hope to find a barn with a different selection of horses that can help me move up, as well. Eventually, I'd like to get out there and try cross country. I know there are some barns around here that offer that type of training.
The good thing about my current barn is that lessons are offered at $40/hour, and that's pretty freaking cheap for around here, and affordable for me. Everywhere goes for about $50-75 an hour. Another thing is, I've been here for so long, that most of me doesn't want to leave the place I know so well, nor my schoolmaster. I do like my trainer as a person and we have a pretty good relationship. But I do know that eventually, I need to ride different horses, or I won't grow much as a rider.
Thoughts? Thank you so much.