Just echoing what @BigMama1 says about the distinct difference between the two. In my area, lessons on an FEI schoolmaster range from $100-$175 per hour, and there’s a pretty careful vetting process to see if you are capable of riding the horse in the first place. The very few that I have met are incredibly well cared for, and their schedules are carefully managed. Of course, a good facility does the same with their school horses.
7 Likes
I agree with BigMama1, at least based on my personal experience. I haul out to lessons. The barn where I go has a horse that I owned from the time he was 2 until he was 15. I trained and showed him through PSG, earning my silver along the way. I was forced to sell him (long story) and sold him for a song to someone I knew who had been working on obtaining her medals, no longer had a sound horse to compete on and who had experience not just with the breed but as I did, she showed this horse’s dam for her owner. She dotes on this horse like no other. He is so happy. During my lesson I saw her teaching another adult (re-rider) on lateral work at the trot and canter and the flying changes. She was using my former horse for the lesson. He is 23 and perfectly sound. He loves attention and I am absolutely sure he’s sound because his owner provides him not only with great care but keeps him in shape. The rider after finishing her lesson was gushing on and on about what a wonderful experience it was and how grateful she was that this horse’s owner was willing to share ‘the ride’. I hauled away from there after my lesson with absolutely no regrets with who I sold that horse to or how his life has turned out. This barn has a couple of schoolmasters of similar ilk.
My children learned how to ride on such schoolmasters and now as adults have some very well educated seats 
Each of their schoolmasters were dressage horses trained to higher levels that needed to scale back on the difficulty of their work due to their age (late teens, early 20s) but they taught valuable lessons to my children and lived long happy lives in total comfort. Their decline in overall health accelerated when they were forced to retire but they were not allowed to suffer AT ALL.
8 Likes
I was never in a position to ride schoolhorses (it would have been as a child, and I didn’t get lessons like that as a child), but have had multiple “schoolmasters” at various levels through my riding career. They live like kings and queens!
I’ve also been witness to a situation where a young woman was coming to take a lesson on an acquaintance’s 4th/PSG schoolmaster mare. The girl got out of the truck in hot pink rainboots, jeggings, and a hoodie with bling. She did not have a helmet. The conversation went like this:
“Are you going to change?”
“No.”
“Oh, then I think we’re done here.”
The moral being, 1. Schoolmaster owners are for sure picky about who gets to sit upon them, and 2. Dress for the job you want.
6 Likes
I consider myself immensely privileged to have been given the opportunity to own my upper level schoolmaster. He’s an exacting ride, but that’s kind of the point at this stage in my riding career.
He doesn’t do too badly out of it, either. If only a team of people paid as much attention to my nutrition and medical needs and fussed over my general wellbeing and happiness!
And the only people who get to ride him are me and my trainer, however broad the hints are that are dropped in my direction.
6 Likes
since losing my horse and going from riding 4-5 times a week to 2-3 times on my lease horse I’ve added weight lifting and upped my yoga. But what has really helped is figuring out my own limitations in my body and focusing on those issues outside of the saddle - for me that was hips and hamstrings. Stretching my hamstrings and hips and then building strength in hip flexors has really helped my canter work but it took figuring out where I was limited to know what to do. I know hips and hamstrings is really common if you have a desk job!
4 Likes
Thank you all for your thoughtful responses. I’m putting some of your suggestions into action. Thank you!
I’ve got a slightly out-of-the-box suggestion. Riding is all conditioning (in the psychology sense of the word), and getting a better understanding of both operant and classical conditioning will help you understand how to better get the horse to understand what you’re asking and psychologically make you a better rider. There’s a reason we call riding training.
Riding a former upper level horse who has stepped down really helped me learn the feel that that you’re trying to achieve as you advance your riding. But riding different horses in general has also helped me continue to improve.
2 Likes
I mean, how well exactly do you think you ride???
If your horse were to compare his ridden experience with that of horses ridden by Charlotte DuJardin or Bertram Allen, would he feel like he was on the school horse of the spectrum??
6 Likes
This is a biggie. Dressage is strength-training for horses, you need to be fit and in full control of your own body before you can be effective at the very difficult process of training another creature (who doesn’t understand the WHY of it).
And having more “puff” than my horse was invaluable for a while! When he got tired, we didn’t have to lean our tired selves against each other.
4 Likes
This is so, so true. And the farther up the levels you go, the fitter you need to be. Not just cardio stamina but muscle strength, ab strength, body control, and hip flexibility. The struggle is real!!! I feel like my fitness never quite keeps up because as I get stronger and ride better, the difficulty of the work increases. And I’m only working at Third! I can’t imagine what it would take to ride an FEI level horse really well.
3 Likes
i get that you guys feel offended.
i suppose i could feign humility, but to what end? I think i am a very good rider.
I’m guessing my horses would feel confused being ridden by most anyone else. Pretty much the same way as one of my working dogs would feel being worked by another handler. They’d DO it, but would they be in bliss?
That’s why not every trained horse is a schoolmaster. It takes a certain personality to tolerate less than correct riding. It doesn’t mean they accept it - mine have both been exceptionally clear when I’m doing something wrong. But they don’t get upset, frazzled, or naughty because of it, the way a more sensitive horse would. When I ask the questions right, they reward me with the right answer. When I’m wrong, they tell me quite clearly what I’m doing wrong.
Would they like being schooled by 4 or 5 different people every week? No, and that’s why they aren’t school horses.
The schoolmaster personality means they are happy being teachers and they enjoy their work, as long as it’s consistent, appropriate for their age, and they aren’t ridden unkindly or unfairly. Most people I know with upper level schoolmasters also invest in regular training rides with a professional to keep the horses sound, straight, correct and happy in their work. That’s a key ingredient.
3 Likes
My older mare responds to whatever she feels the rider doing, and the reaction they get is what they requested, whether they meant to or not! She holds no stress over this, so it doesn’t matter to her how good a rider is… but it may matter to the rider as they care that they’re not getting anything resembling what they want 
My younger mare finds it stressful to give lessons. You can see her VERY focused as she tries to understand things and make sense of it. She helped a young rider figure out some issues with her canter transition requests one day, and the next it felt as if she were too mentally exhausted to work when I got on her. As I rode I could feel her brighten up and she was her normal ears forward happy go lucky self by the end of our ride. It’s funny, because she’s the one with the fabulous and gentle temperament, but she internalizes trying to do things right - not a school horse!
5 Likes
