One barn that I rode at had been offered good money, by a lot of people, for one of their best lesson horses. And while it was tempting to have someone offer $15-20K+ for a middle-aged grade horse, they never accepted. That horse was worth his weight in gold.
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Doing beginner lessons is very hard on a horse mentally. Only some horses can do it, and all beginner horses need a break from the beginners–I make sure that my beginner horses get rides by better riders as well. Not only that, they need to do more interesting stuff occasionally. It takes work to keep a beginner horse sweet and working well. Sometimes they even need a break for a couple of weeks–just a steady diet of beginners is very hard on them.
Might be a reason why Morgan horses are (where?) used in riding programs as at least ours would take care of beginner rider, challenge an up and comer then do a complicated ride for an advance rider. Then go watch TV or something as it was not any big deal.
My daughter used our Morgans in her schooling program, it was interesting to watch the horse adapt to the rider’s needs and abilities.
But none of our horses were used Only in a riding program and not many of the riders were beginners.
We did find that our horses could/would become bored doing whatever discipline as a sole discipline and repeatedly …they would if asked but you could see the light in their eyes go to autopilot
Originally posted by x View Post
Doing beginner lessons is very hard on a horse mentally.
Might be a reason why Morgan horses are (where?) used in riding programs as at least ours would take care of beginner rider, challenge an up and comer then do a complicated ride for an advance rider. Then go watch TV or something as it was not any big deal.
My daughter used our Morgans in her schooling program, it was interesting to watch the horse adapt to the rider’s needs and abilities.
But none of our horses were used Only in a riding program and not many of the riders were beginners.
We did find that our horses could/would become bored doing whatever discipline as a sole discipline and repeatedly …they would if asked but you could see the light in their eyes go to autopilot
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Some horses (and especially some ponies) seem to feel that someone needs to be in charge of the ride. If the rider takes that position from moment one of the ride, and is worthy of being a leader, the horse is a saint, but if the rider can’t or won’t, the horse is happy to set his own agenda.
I don’t own a horse, and I’ve ridden many lesson horses. When I began riding, I was very ignorant, and in retrospect, I’m rather surprised at some of the horses I was put on as a rank beginner, including very young and green horses, with the justification that they simply needed to walk and trot, and only became strong at the canter or over jumps. I still know many barns that advertise themselves as beginner lesson barns that have only one horse, often one which is really too large for children to ride comfortably.
Good lesson horses aren’t just difficult to find, but take work to maintain, if you’re truly giving lessons (versus just pony rides). In addition to what everyone else has said about the horse’s perspective, it’s not a great lesson to teach students that the instructor has to hop on when things get tough. It’s one thing to have a mount that’s not push-button, but another thing to use a horse that needs reminders from an adult mid-lesson to be safe.
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The mare I just got for my daughter, I use for beginner lessons, but I get on and ride her as well. I also use a hackamore or halter with the beginners, including my daughter, to protect her mouth. She tends to like to test my daughter, but after a quick ride from me, she reverts back to her saintly ways. I think it’s important for lesson horses to have regular rides from good riders, so they don’t get sour.
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