Returning to Lessons--Is arena etiquette dead?

[CelticAire]

Hello All! I’m new here but have lurked the forums before.

So anyway, my question revolves around this: I’m coming back to riding after having been away 7 years. The place I’ve been going to is really nice and I really like it expect for two things and I wanted help to calibrate if this is just me being opinionated and I need to let it go or what…

1. They don’t pass left hand to left hand when traveling opposite directions. They go with whomever is going faster goes to the inside. I’ve also noticed they don’t tend to leave a horse sized space between each horse (ie they ride up right up your butt) and also pass way to close. At my last lesson there were three of us all traveling the same direction. One girl was already passing me with the right amount of space. The third girl then blasted her horse right between us knocking stirrups and knees. The trainer said nothing and from what I can gather this is normal for them b/c “all the horses are friends.”

I’m sorry, but that might be all fine and dandy when you’re at home but I still find it very inappropriate.

2. When the trainer gives lessons, other people who own or lease are allowed to ride around the ring during the lesson, even though they are not taking one. While flatting this doesn’t really bother me, but when we jump I find it’s mass chaos. Students are trying to have a lesson and get feedback while various others are calling out fences and running all around the arena and just generally IMO being in the way.

I can remember back when I first started riding all the way up until I had stopped, when it comes to the jumping part of the lesson, everyone stops and stands out of the way while each of us jumped the course one at a time and got feedback from the coach and our friends. If others who were just riding around didn’t want to stop they left the arena and rode elsewhere (or got asked to leave).

And also, I think the distinction here for me is this is a LESSON that I’m paying money for. If it was just a bunch of us out riding around this one wouldn’t bother me at all. But I’m not getting the trainers full attention when she’s also critiquing the girls who aren’t taking a lesson and this irritates me.

Just for info I’m in my early 30’s and the place I’m riding has only a few adults and the rest are children up through college aged.

Thanks!

[Sparrowette]

This is a good question. When I was taking lessons, usually my instructor and I had the arena to ourselves, but a couple of times others came in and I didn’t know what to do, and when I asked - Do we each move to the right or left??? (I was trotting one way and some others were cantering towards me), I didn’t really get an answer that helped. “Don’t worry, we’ll take care of you!” from one of the other riders.

It would really have helped me to know right or left.

I believe it was Bob Baffert’s son who went one way to avoid an oncoming horse, and the horse thought the same direction would be good… it wasn’t.

[heelsdown03]

I always ride left to left UNLESS someone is actively jumping a course. In my experience, the person jumping a course always stays on the inside as it is easier to get to jumps without zig zagging in and out of other horses.

Also, I would never board at a place that didn’t allow me to ride while lessons were being taught. I work a regular 9-5 job and can only make it out to the barn at certain times. If you are in a lesson, you get priority in the ring but be prepared to share the ring with other riders. If I am not lessoning, I appreciate when the rider or instructor calls the course out loud so that everyone in the ring can hear it. If I know your course, I will plan my route ahead of time. A simple inside/outside or “heads up going to outside line” (or whatever jump) works really well too.

[541hunter]

[QUOTE=Sparrowette;8762790]
This is a good question. When I was taking lessons, usually my instructor and I had the arena to ourselves, but a couple of times others came in and I didn’t know what to do, and when I asked - Do we each move to the right or left??? (I was trotting one way and some others were cantering towards me), I didn’t really get an answer that helped. “Don’t worry, we’ll take care of you!” from one of the other riders.[/QUOTE]

At my barn, the rule is those in a lesson get right of way – if you’re hacking, it’s your job to stay out of the way. Lesson riders are just supposed to continue with whatever exercise, whether that’s on the rail, quarterline, across the middle, etc. If the lesson is O/F, anyone who’s hacking is expected to either pause and stand out of the way or plan their route around the course. If you get in the way, you will get berated by the trainer.

OP, if the prevailing barn theory is it’s ok for horses to get too close because “all the horses are friends,” I would be very wary. That to me sounds like a questionable program. Arena rules aren’t just etiquette, they’re important for safety reasons and the trainer needs to lay down the law.

[CelticAire]

I totally understand we need to share the arena. That doesn’t really bother me until it comes to the jumping portion of the lessons.

The instructor does call out the course and we call fences as we go as well, but still = mass chaos. In my mind I never get the chance to just do the course. I feel like I’m constantly zigzagging, screaming my fence and even then they still stop right in front of it, or having one of them take the same fences I am from the opposite direction.

Do other people really see it as a huge imposition to stop or walk on the rail for a few minutes while those taking lessons jump? I ask honestly, because this was never a huge imposition in my mind. For me it is something you do out of common courtesy to your fellow riders and respect for your trainer.

[DMK]

it just takes some common sense (always in short supply). If you are hacking, great - go left to left, but if someone is jumping or having a lesson, the have priority over left to left - get out of their way.

And you know what? if I’ walking along on the rail and I see someone working at a canter on the rail, if I can safely clear the rail for them in time, I will.

[enjoytheride]

The problem is the barn and trainer and not that arena etiquette has died.

[mvp]

The “Left to left” rule isn’t universal… in time or space. I say this as someone who has been riding consistently for 30+ years, and on both coasts and in more than one discipline. Ask for “left to left” if you want, but don’t get your panties in a wad. Best strategy ever is to learn how the riders in that arena do it and go along with their square dance. What always works (and is well-learned in an unruled schooling ring) is to look up and where you are going. Folks will keep out of your path if you make it clear where that is. A soft “On your left” or “Outside” to tell another rider where you are when you guys are close is polite, I think.

What has changed, and which is making your jumping lessons chaos, is perhaps economics: There’s often not enough people left in barns taking lessons for a trainer to be able to monopolize the ring for a lesson. And since every man, woman and child now has a job, their “off time” is the same, too. So we all have to learn to share.

I don’t see a way to jump a course with others cruising around unless those riders are pretty good and also polite. Usually, the protocol is for the trainer teaching a lesson to let everyone in the ring know you’ll be jumping a course and where you’ll go. IME, that means everyone stops and gathers in group somewhere out of your way. But I suppose it can also mean that folks walk around, keeping out of your way as needed.

Hope this helps, and welcome back!

[AmmyByNature]

Usually lesson has priority within reason. As far as always left-to-left that’s often not the best way. Jumping to the inside, usually. If you call your side (inside or outside) clearly before you get to the other horse you should be fine.

I’d never ridden anywhere that closed the rind during lessons. I certainly never would.

Sounds like you have either an abnormally small ring or an abnormally high number of people riding at the same time.

How many people are in the ring? How many are lessoning versus how many hacking? How large is the ring.

It’s hard to tell if this is a real problem or you’re just riding with people who lack ring savvy.

[AmmyByNature]

[QUOTE=mvp;8762840]
Usually, the protocol is for the trainer teaching a lesson to let everyone in the ring know you’ll be jumping a course and where you’ll go. IME, that means everyone stops and gathers in group somewhere out of your way. But I suppose it can also mean that folks walk around, keeping out of your way as needed.[/QUOTE]

This. People can usually keep hacking out of the way of the person jumping and the trainer keep everyone abreast of where the rider is jumping next.

[heelsdown03]

I don’t find it an imposition to wait when there is only one or two riders in the lesson but I’ve boarded at places with 5+ horses in the lesson and if their courses don’t go well, you can definitely be waiting quite a while.

You mentioned that the people who are riding with you are mostly kids. When I boarded at a very kid oriented lesson barn, I learned to be on my toes at all times. Unfortunately, young beginner lesson kids can be very spacey and not understand etiquette or how to fully control their horses yet. I found that learning the kids’ names and calling to them directly when they were in my way seemed to help.

[trubandloki]

I can not imagine boarding at a facility where I had to stand and do nothing (or was simply not allowed to ride) while people are jumping during a lesson. (Unless the facility had more than one available riding area and one was always available to people not in a lesson.)
Like others have said, when you work you have limited time to ride so you fit it in.
When the trainer tells the rider the course they are going to jump the people hacking have a job to listen and be aware of where the rider is going so they are simply not in the way. A person hacking across the far end of the ring is not going to interfere with a rider going into a line at this end of the ring.

There have been many threads here about passing and who gets the rail. It has made it obvious that there is no universal standard.

If this barn is too busy during lesson times for your to learn then maybe this barn is not the right fit for you as a rider.

[QUOTE=CelticAire;8762830]

Do other people really see it as a huge imposition to stop or walk on the rail for a few minutes while those taking lessons jump?[/QUOTE]
But it is not just a few minutes. It is probably more like half an hour.

[silver_charm]

@heelsdown03;8762853

I don’t find it an imposition to wait when there is only one or two riders in the lesson but I’ve boarded at places with 5+ horses in the lesson and if their courses don’t go well, you can definitely be waiting quite a while.

Agreed. When I was at a super busy lesson mill I took it upon myself to learn their courses, and figure out a location where I would be out of the way and/or make sure I was always on the opposite end of the arena as the person jumping around. This was also difficult when it was an extremely small arena, and it was extra important that everyone be paying attention.

That said, I’d blame the trainers for allowing this to continue. At small arena barn, my trainer was on us all the time to call our courses and made it clear that even when we were hacking, the other lessons had the right of way (and often were scary enough that you had to be extra vigilant). At giant barn, there were enough lesson horses that hated each other or ones without the best power steering/brakes that you learned quickly as well.

This goes with the riders squeezing into spaces they don’t belong. Your trainers are just asking for trouble, and all of my past trainers would have laid into someone for trying a stunt like that.

[OldLadyYoungOTTB]

In our barn you are allowed to ride during lessons, which is good, because there are a lot of lessons. Lessons, however, are almost always private lessons and not group. The trainer will limit how many can be in there during a lesson. I’ve only seen it happen once, but she was giving a lesson and had a couple of other people in the arena, and asked the next rider to wait a bit.

[Foxglove6]

At my barn, we have lessons (jumping lessons even) with other boarders hacking in the ring. We never have problems like this. Generally those not in the lesson do not jump if the lesson is jumping. Or they wait until everyone is cooling out from the lesson. I’ve never had a trainer coach someone outside of my lesson when I was still in the lesson itself. You should find a new barn.

[CelticAire]

[QUOTE=heelsdown03;8762853]
I don’t find it an imposition to wait when there is only one or two riders in the lesson but I’ve boarded at places with 5+ horses in the lesson and if their courses don’t go well, you can definitely be waiting quite a while.

You mentioned that the people who are riding with you are mostly kids. When I boarded at a very kid oriented lesson barn, I learned to be on my toes at all times. Unfortunately, young beginner lesson kids can be very spacey and not understand etiquette or how to fully control their horses yet. I found that learning the kids’ names and calling to them directly when they were in my way seemed to help.[/QUOTE]

Ah, I think learning their names and calling to them directly could be very helpful! I only know a few of them so far and it seems to me there’s always a new one! LOL This one was on vacation, this one is going on vacation, etc etc.

Anywho, the questions about the ring! I need to face palm myself–duh this adds info that would help! So they have essentially two outdoor spaces side by side. One is the arena with sand/slag and the jumps set up and the other is just mowed grass, a large field basically. I don’t know their exact size and I’m a terrible guesser, but I think the sand/slag arena is at least 120x80 and the grassy area is much larger. Neither space is fenced in. What gets me is why they don’t have the spare fences or those fence blocks they have, set up in the large grassy area too.

I understand if your horse has particular hoof concerns and you don’t want to or can’t ride on the grass part, but the majority of the girls I’m talking about lease lesson horses from the barn and those horses get ridden in the grassy area all the time.

[trubandloki]

[QUOTE=CelticAire;8762927]
What gets me is why they don’t have the spare fences or those fence blocks they have, set up in the large grassy area too.[/QUOTE]

Have you asked?

I would guess people do not ride there regularly so it remains a nice grassy area.

They save it for special lessons or horse shows.

[Pennywell_Bay]

When I boarded, lesson had the right of way and trainer would call out. Honestly free riders usually stopped and waited while the lesson finished the course (our ring wasn’t giant). Basically the same at home now. The line or course gets called out. It’s really up to the trainer to lay down the law, IMO. I’d expect free riders to be considerate and move or stay out of the way.

There are always exceptions to any rule (left to left) so I don’t bank on it.

[peedin]

I take lessons at a busy barn and as far as I’m concerned, lessons have the right of way. I also “open ride” which means I give priority to lessons and stay out of their way. The arena is big enough that it is divided–flatting on one end, jumping on the other. To me arena etiquette is not dead, but I still find myself calling “inside” or “rail” and changing direction when others do. This is on the flatting end.

I would expect any rules or etiquette to be posted in the arena, and if not, I expect the trainers to inform their students.

[Soaponarope]

[QUOTE=CelticAire;8762830]
I totally understand we need to share the arena. That doesn’t really bother me until it comes to the jumping portion of the lessons.

The instructor does call out the course and we call fences as we go as well, but still = mass chaos. In my mind I never get the chance to just do the course. I feel like I’m constantly zigzagging, screaming my fence and even then they still stop right in front of it, or having one of them take the same fences I am from the opposite direction.

Do other people really see it as a huge imposition to stop or walk on the rail for a few minutes while those taking lessons jump? I ask honestly, because this was never a huge imposition in my mind. For me it is something you do out of common courtesy to your fellow riders and respect for your trainer.[/QUOTE]

Well, you are answering your own question. The horses are friends? That’s insane. The instructor is commenting on the other rider who is jumping during your lesson? Bad. Move on and find someplace more professional.