Advice for junior

[onlyTBmares]

You’re getting excellent advice. I spent many many years in your position and when I finally had the money to afford something nice it was so easy to move up to bigger jumps because I always rode anything I could swing a leg over, I rode as much as possible without stirrups and in my 2 point, and I studied all information available to me.

There is such good information available online these days. A clipmyhorse.tv subscription is a little pricey but has endless hours of clinics and horse shows to watch. I believe you get access to a lot of it with just a USEF membership though, so look at the details because that would be cheaper. Watch the every horse mastership clinic on repeat, watch the Beezie Madden flatwork demonstrations from the last several years over and over. The big FEI classes are fun to watch but I find there’s more to learn from watching some lower level open classes, where you can watch, for example, a good pro take a spooky horse around the 1.0m ring. In the junior/ammy classes you can often hear the trainers yelling from the in gate. All free lessons!

[findeight]

@PNWjumper

But I will also add that I don’t want someone to “train” my horses. I want someone who can maintain how they go and not influence the horses in any direction. And that is a skill set unto itself.

Amen sistah.

Any readers looking to pick up rides need to make a sign and hang it where they will see it every day. THAT is the skill set that can get you extra rides. Working with the horse as the trainer/owner requests.

Watch as many horses as you can and develop an eye for their body language so you can assess what you have that day for that ride. Hang around the schooling rings at shows, watch lessons at your barn, LEARN and remember. LISTEN and remember. Everything and anything. File it away in your brain. Only costs your time and willingness to watch, listen and learn. Beware it takes a long time and you never stop learning.

And if asking about extra rides, stress your willingness to follow owner/trainers direction, be on time and leave that horse and tack showring ready when you are done. Stress your eagerness to learn and willingness to adapt your riding to that horse that day the way that owner/trainer wants it ridden. Do not brag about your ability to ride bad horses, owner/trainer with a good horse needs a rider to stay out of it’s way, not stick a buck and possibly light up a horse with no intention of misbehaving by overusing leg and hand.

And say thank you, often. And for gosh sakes keep your mouth shut about anything negative or there will be no more rides😉

Reputation is everything in this business and horse people never forget. You are young and can build a good reputation over time.

[Mcl1]

First, I still think it would be beneficial to sit down with your trainer and discuss your goals. If your lease horse can do 2’6 at local shows, you should ask for specific guidance and direction on how to get there from where you are at currently.

However, ultimately I think that @findeight gave you great advice in terms of doing whatever you can to ride at a better barn. Maybe that means that once you can drive you get a non-horse related job to pay for lessons, or, ideally - you could find a higher level barn that would let you work off lessons.

At your current level, I would not approach barns with any suggestion of trying to do extra rides or “training” rides, I would really focus on getting lesson opportunities, and once trainers are comfortable with you, the extra rides usually follow suit. Also, if you are interested in showing - going along to be a groom at shows is great experience.

At your level you will learn so much more from good quality instruction on a horse who knows what it is doing - even if that means riding 1x a week vs. riding a green/problem horse without instruction 3x a week.

[findeight]

Need to caution here that the working off lessons by doing barn chores is far less common then in years past. Many reasons, some liability questions that could cost the barn big time bucks. Some related to past experience with well meaning young people who underestimate the time requirements and physical demands.

Keep in mind, in most barns, group lessons are going to start anywhere from $35ish to $75ish with private lessons starting where groups leave off. That is NOT including use of a horse and any tack or equipment supplied by the barn.

Thats a lot of mucking stalls, sweeping aisles, scrubbing water buckets and such. How many hours of barn work can you regularly devote to barn chores for each lesson? What rate is the barn willing to credit to your lessons? $10-15 an hour? Or something like 5 hours of work equals one lesson on a barn horse? Don’t forget many, if not most, barn chores are morning and early afternoon 7 days a week which does interfere with school hours.

Have to weigh that against non horse gigs like dog walking/sitting, cleaning other peoples houses, good old baby sitting where you can make more for the same amount of your time. When you get a little older you can get a part time server with tips job as I did. Easier and much more then I could make mucking.

Anyway, working off lesson costs at the barn is not much of an option any more with barn operating costs so very high. Plus …you do tend to get what you pay for instructor and horse quality wise.

[Natty_s_Batty]

Hello!

Your situation sounds very familiar, I am also a junior and when I was a little younger I struggled with similar issues. Being able to drive makes a huge difference, you can get to the barn easier on week days and be more available for different opportunities (like schooling/exercising horses every now and then). I spent the past few years full leasing horses, which helped with getting time in the saddle- but due to the time constraints (and the fact that I couldn’t drive as a Freshman and Sophomore in HS), I don’t feel that I ultimately got the most out of the experience as possible. I also have recently realized that the barn I was at was not a good fit for a junior (I was the only junior among adult ammies - nothing wrong with adult ammies, just that a program with other juniors can be really beneficial for you as a junior IME). Now I look back on all the years that I leased and regret the fact that I didn’t get as much out of it as I could have, because I wasn’t really able to get to the barn as much as I could have.

Recently I have switched programs (in the foreseeable future I will only be able to take lessons, due to school and other obligations), and I have seen an incredible amount of improvement in my riding and my confidence (which is something that I really struggled with), and from this I have gained a somewhat fresh perspective on things - here is what I would say to you.

Essentially, my advice is to be skeptical of your situation. If I had never accepted the statement “that’s just how it is” from my previous trainer for so many years I would be in a much different place than I am now. Try out different places, meet different people, ride different horses. Different people are willing to give different opportunities, and if they see a hard working junior like you, they may be willing to give you a leg up (no pun intended). The horse business is a very interconnected world and to a certain extent it does pay to know people. And sometimes just getting to sit on the right horse can make a lot of things “click” or make you feel comfortable to learn and progress quicker (as has been the case for me in the past few weeks).

While it sucks that you can’t drive which makes getting places difficult (if not impossible, trust me that was me a little more than a year ago), I would make the best of your situation. If your current place/horse isn’t able to let you jump bigger at the moment, work on other stuff (half-pass, counter canter, shoulder in, haunches in, ect.), stuff that will come in handy at some point later down the road. While it might not be the experience that you want, it might be the experience that you need. I took like 8 months doing just ground pole exercises when I was busy with school, and when I went back to jumping I could all the sudden see distances really well. It wasn’t necessarily what I had envisioned spending 8 months of my lease doing, but it made me better for it.

And once you can drive/access more opportunities, make the most of it. Take lessons from different people, watch masterclasses online (I watched the Missy Clark masterclass on Noelle Floyd + and it helped a TON with my jumping), and maybe some of the different people you meet and places you go will help you later down the road. I literally went on the internet and emailed every trainer I could find asking if I could have a lesson with them sometime to get a fresh perspective, and ended up finding a program that has been amazing for me so far.

I know this is a VERY long response, but your post reminded me so much of me a couple years ago that I had to go on and on about it. For me, I am not sure how I will continue in this sport, or in what capacity, I am also limited financially in what I can do- but I intend to just keep going and see where it takes me, and I hope that you do the same. If you want to go pro, just keep taking the next right step to try and get there, that’s what I’m up to these days.

I don’t know if you’ll see this - I’m a little late to the discussion, but from one junior to another I wish you the absolute best of luck and hope you get where you want to go. Also someone could really make a show about trying to make it as a rider without tons of money, I would totally watch

[dogsbody1]

@Amelia.643

Right now I am struggling with my goals in this sport. I am so in love with this sport, I’m happiest when I’m at the barn all day every day. I think if I could, my aspirations might be to “go pro” in the h/j world. But given my ability’s and financial constraints, I do not think that is realistic.

So my question is, what can someone like me to do further my riding ability? Would my best shot be to wait until I can drive, then look for a summer working student position? I am absolutely willing to put work in, and I understand that putting work in does not always mean getting to ride nice horses and jump bigger.

I say this in hopes that it alleviates some pressure you may be feeling: For other sports, your skill level may be main factor in prolonging your career as a competitive athlete—from high school, to college, to pro. But with horses, your finances play a bigger role in dictating the level of your participation.

That’s annoying, but in some ways, it’s a relief. It frees you to define your own version of success. It’s not like soccer or basketball where there’s one path to being an elite athlete, and if you aren’t on it, you have to hang up your cleats after graduation and never be part of that high-stakes competition again. High stakes can be taking a green horse through its first trot poles class at a schooling show (or even just loading it on the trailer to get there), or retraining an OTTB to be a solid w/t/c lesson horse, or rehabbing a horse from the ground up.

There are so many different variables and skills to focus on with horses, you don’t have to force it into the paradigm of other sports where success=jump height. And you don’t have to “earn” your right to stay involved with horses long-term by being competitively successful, either. You can be mediocre and have a blast at rated shows; no one would throw you out of WEF for chipping every jump and posting on the wrong diagonal. Or you can be an amazing rider and never jump higher than 2 ft, trotting all your lead changes, on your cheap project horse.

[Baybear]

Question about your “big lesson” barn. Is it a big lesson barn in terms of the volume of riders and lessons or does it have good show reputation that goes along with it? Not sure what you do to work off lessons but if you can’t compete at every show, offer to help (maybe they’ll pay you) as it’s incredible the amount of knowledge you can soak in by just watching shows - watching the schooling area, absorb what your trainer and other trainers are teaching their clients. The year I was horseless but went along to shows, I think I learned more that year than I had learned in 2-3 years.

Will also reiterate the others who said don’t put this before your education and don’t sacrifice being with non-horse friends and non-horse activities. Yes, go to homecoming dances, go to prom, all those things are important too.

[pony_grandma]

It always galls me -the number of kids who don’t watch good riding.

Or bad for that matter… you will very soon learn the difference.

[Amelia.643]

Thank you so much for your response. While I love my trainer and the horse I lease now, I know that in order to get close to where I want to be I will need to look at other programs. I’m really just waiting until I can drive (hopefully September) and then I’ll see what might be the best fit!

But even though I can’t drive this summer, I plan to spend it soaking up whatever information I can from the barns I work/ride at currently. I’ve also really wanted to start working on my flatwork/lateral movements more, so hopefully I can work on that this summer as well.

[findeight]

Good to hear that. Keep at it.

[Natty_s_Batty]

@Amelia.643, good luck on your drivers test! Also the more you practice the easier it is, everytime my mom could come with me to the barn I drove with my permit, and oh my gosh it helped so much. I was a complete nervous wreck the day of my test and somehow still passed so, don’t let the nerves get to you! If you can ride a horse, you can drive a car, is what I kept telling myself lol. Don’t know if you are nervous about it but seeing as it is so important to you (as it was for me) I can only guess it must be a little nerve wracking lol. Flatting helps so much with everything as well, I also really liked some of the Boyd Martin masterclasses that discussed how you can use your balance and body position on the flat to change pace and the balance of your horse- so fascinating. Also, based on your post I think you might enjoy some of the horse care related masterclasses too, when I couldn’t ride very often because of school I watched a lot of the biting ones and saddle fitting ones and they were supper educational and, I’m sure would be helpful for a future professional. Also, when it comes time for you to look around, I found that a lot of trainers aren’t amazingly responsive to email, so maybe give calling them a try if they don’t respond, but maybe your experience with email will be better

[MHM]

@Natty_s_Batty

If you can ride a horse, you can drive a car, is what I kept telling myself lol.

I actually have a theory that young people who ride horses are likely to be better drivers, since they are already familiar with steering something large and working into existing traffic patterns as they ride with groups of other people on horses.

[axl]

I would just like to say, @Natty_s_Batty, welcome to COTH, and I really appreciate your very thoughtful approach as such a young person.

You are sincere, you write very well, and you are giving excellent advice. I hope to hear more from you in the future, and I wish you well!

[kaya842]

What does “going pro” mean to you? Does it mean showing other peoples horses? Showing more than you do now? Running a boarding farm? Getting paid to train other peoples horses? Teaching lessons?

If you are considering getting your license soon I am assuming you are a sophomore in high school. In that case, I would echo someone else who recommended trying to work out a working student role at your current/ main barn (vs juggling multiple facilities). I’d recommend “full time” working student in the summers and then seeing if you can set specific days to work during the school year (likely both Saturday and Sunday and 2-3 nights per week) and using the off days to keep up on your studies.

Anytime anyone asks you “hey do you want to ride X?” The answer should always be yes. 1. It improves your riding to ride everything but 2. There are plenty of kids who will ride the fancy or well trained ones, but less who will get on anything and your trainer (and others) will take note of who will get on anything and those kids (typically) end up getting offered more rides.

This may seem off the wall but I’d look into joining your local pony club. Some clubs do not require horse ownership (you can “rent” a horse for mounted meetings) and pony club is a nationally known org so if you work up the certifications you can move across the country and people in your new location will be able to say oh you’re a C1 pony clubber? We can start at this level or I can throw you on a more advanced horse because they know (roughly) your level of knowledge. The curriculum is pretty thorough between mounted and unmounted stuff all of which is relevant if you ever want to run your own program.

There are a lot of good free or cheap ways to expand your knowledge from home which I highly recommend as well. Trainers want WS who have a well rounded education not just someone who can ride. COTH is a great starting point.

Look and see what grants or scholarships may be available to you - there are opportunities to help pay for a college education but there are also opportunities to help defray the costs of attending a clinic (such as USHJA’s EAP clinic which I attended on a scholarship years ago) or taking lessons or competing.

As someone else mentioned be vocal about your gratefulness for any opportunities thrown your way. A hand written thank you note goes a very long way. Similarly, keep any negative thoughts or comments to yourself. Do not vocalize them to your barn buddies, horse’s owner, no one. If you had a bad ride, it was a learning opportunity. Do not post videos of horses you don’t own without permission. Don’t be that person that posts a video of their lease horse dumping them at the horse show as the first/ only media from the show

[Natty_s_Batty]

Thanks @axl, I’m just happy to give my two cents since becoming more serious about this sport, there is such a plethora of information, and guidance from others has been so useful to me. It’s so nice to see other juniors like @Amelia.643 who are trying to figure out how they are going to keep going with horses (like I am) in what is seemingly a sea of kids with infinite resources.

[Orbit_Orange]

@Natty_s_Batty where is the Boyd Martin masterclass that you referred to available?

[MHM]

This is not the master class in question, but it’s a pretty darn interesting chat with Boyd Martin from a couple of years ago. I just came across it the other day.

It should be an interesting conversation for anyone who is thinking of going into the horse business, because he gives a pretty good rundown of the nuts and bolts aspects, and the challenges involved in trying to get there in the first place, and then trying to maintain things, even when you’ve been to the Olympics multiple times.

Food for thought, anyway.

https://youtu.be/EXVGCVafi6A

[Natty_s_Batty]

@Orbit_Orange Its on Noelle Floyd +, which you do have to have a subscription for, but you could always do the free trial to watch it, there are a few different ones from Boyd on there, and also lots of other great stuff to watch. Here’s the link the Noelle Floyd+ https://noellefloydplus.com/catalog