OP, I can’t speak for the current Watchung Stables and what it’s like to ride there as an adult. But if they offer leases, hacks, and lessons, it would definitely be worth checking out. I spent my childhood in NJ and learned to ride at Watchung Stables in the mid to late 60s (Gasp, I know!). At that time, you did not have to belong to a troop. My mother signed me up for two consecutive sets of beginner lessons. Like another poster mentioned, the school horses lived in straight stalls and came tacked up for your lesson. You rode the horse you were assigned that day. I rode a wide variety of horses… some were fabulous and some more challenging, but I learned from all of them. The instructors were excellent about teaching the basics.
What I distinctly remember is them having us do a lot of balance exercises like lying back on the horse’s back (at a walk), reaching back, forward, doing around the world, etc. Another wonderful thing about their program was that after we knew the basics of walk and trot, the instructor took our lesson group out on the trails, where we got to walk and trot as well. I even remember a riding ring off one of the trails that we went into to work sometimes
A funny memory: There was a policy that if you fell off your horse, you had to bring candy for everyone in your class in your next lesson. I did that a couple of times LOL.
The only negatives of the place that I remember were 1) the straight stalls for the school horses bothered me because I worried that they couldn’t lie down and turn around, and generally not have a lot of space to move. and 2) the horses were always tacked and untacked by grooms to I never learned that part of horsemanship (plus I would have loved to have time to groom the horse). A previous poster mentioned that more recently the older horses got box stalls, so that shows me that the staff care about the horses’ well being.
But overall I was impressed with the ponies and horses (they all had their unique personalities and I had my favorites) and they seemed well taken care of. And I did learn some good basics and had fun as well. I know my experience was ages ago and I was a child at the time, so it may not be helpful to you, but it seems like it still might be worth checking out. I don’t live in NJ anymore and so don’t know about other options in the area, so maybe other posters can help you in that area.
Another thought is that, even in my area (Boston MA ), there very few places that still offer lessons to the general public: people who just want to learn to ride or get back into riding but can’t afford or don’t want to own a horse or pay huge lease dollars at show barns. So a place like Watchung Stables, although not fancy, fills a huge gap for those people (kids and adults). I am so glad that this stable still exists. It gave me my start in the horse world and I am still grateful.
Good luck and let us know what you decide!
