Boost your child’s confidence, improve their concentration and give them a creative outlet to make new friends and have fun. Try a FREE class at Perform (4-8s), Perform Plus (8-12s) or Mini Ps (3 months – 3 years). 120 venues across London and the SE. www.perform.org.uk
dd1 ( nearly 7 ) has expressed an interest and there are liveries/stables near us. It is pricey but, cost aside, what would people say is good about it?
My son has been riding for 4 months now after begging us to let him. He absolutely LOVES it and has a picture of him on the horse by his bed and can't wait to go again! He's 4.5 and very confident.
Very expensive and gets more expensive if they enjoy it. Potentially dangerous and deadly boring to watch at least at the beginning stages. But good exercise, good for confidence, gives them something to do on a Saturday afternoon if the stables welcomes helpers (most do - who wouldn't welcome keen, willing unpaid workers!)
...dh does have visions of ds telling us that he 'needs his own pony...'
I also love horse riding, just very crap at it as I started at 21 when the adult fears have well and truly set in. I spent most of my time on the floor having gone the other way to the horse. Ds was so excited whenever he saw a horse I just wanted to give him the chance I never did. We thought taking him once would be kill or cure but he loved it. We're now thinking that if he can still be enthusiastic over the winter when it's cold, rainning and generally not very nice we'll actually get him his own hat but we'll get nothing till then. He rides in jeans and wellies!
1. Makes your buttocks permanently spread 2. Gets you in with the horsey set 3. You get to stroke long pink soft noses which is pleasant 4. You get across a field really quickly
Seriously, The only 'good' thing about it is if your dd gets a lot of enjoyment from it. Especially at that price.
if dd is really interested get her a "job" can be as little as couple of hours at weekend , to every morning before school
most stables will exchange free lessons for help with livery duties. i.e mucking out and feeding.
gives them some experience of what it would be like to actually own one. just incase they ask.
it's not all about riding. ig you want to own one relatively cheaply dc will not need full livery. they will have to get up every morning before school to feed and let out horse. and every evening after school
It's the best thing in the world. Yep, can be pricey but it depends really whether it's private lessons and holiday camps, or helping out at stables etc. When my sister was rolling in from the pubs and clubs, I was waking nice and early to get down the stables.
if op's dd gets really keen on it, it will give her an excellent hobby to keep her mind off boys in the teenage years.
when i was a teenage my friends were of these ponsey horse types. we were to busy buying horsey magazine and bridles and leads with our pocket money to even consider make up, boys or <shudder> "more" magazine that my school friends were into.
It's a good form of exercise, they get to work with and care for animals, it's lots of fun, it gets them integrated with a nice set of people (horsey people are generally very nice - I speak as an unhorsey person).
The downsides are the cost and the danger. Make sure you do get some insurance for him btw.
We pay £11 for 30mins, but nowhere near London and that is cheapish even for this area.
It is very good for balance and co-ordination.
She will gain a set of friends outside of school (always good, IMHO).
If she gets into it you will never be short of ideas for birthday/Christmas presents (sadly not the case for boys - boys' riding stuff is boring and rubbish).
It gets very expensive - DS is 5 and for now is happy with weekly lessons but I can see that won't last.
DD is mad about it - she's 11 and has been going for two years now.
Our lessons are £26 for one hour with a £5 discount if you have ridden the previous week. The school also offers a riding club where for an extra tenner per time you can take part in an event on most Saturdays - dressage, showjumping or working hunter.
DD would like to loan a pony - an additional £35 per week plus shoe fees, etc. We won't do this at the moment but I know other parents consider it a fantastic distraction/occupation for their teenage girls during weekends/school hols and cheap at the price.
DD has had a few trips for medical attention because of riding - clipped in the face causing black eye, swollen lip, lots of bruises and a new hat; squashed foot (doesn't have steel toe caps) and most recently aggravating a previous back injury. None of that puts her off though, any more than coming off and landing in a puddle did soon after she started.
We pay for extra private lessons in the holidays as the stables have special offers on - £25 for 40 mins but always lasts longer. She has one per week although due to other commitments, some weeks she may ride 4-5 times and other weeks not at all.
I am no rider but have finally reached the stage where I can watch most of what DD does!
I loved it and still do (at 24) it is expensive and I expect I cost my parents a fortune... BUT I think it taught me responsibility etc and I made ALOT of friends through that and I didn't really have that many in school as I was abit of a geek. lol
I was pony-mad as a kid and carried on riding regularly until fairly recently.
Pros - it really teaches you responsibility as horses need a lot of looking after. It keeps you fairly fit and it is completely exhilerating. It also gives you a cracking pelvic floor.
Cons - expensive, can be snobby and is statistically a very dangerous sport.
yes, the danger aspect is clearly a serious consideration, but dd is quite daring and athletic so i think we will go for it, at least for a while. Thanks, everyone.
It's dangerous and expensive - but i've ridden for 40 years, I ride every day and I love it, adore it, am not human without it and am permanently broke. My parents always hoped it would be a passing phase
We sent DD on a 'kill or cure' pony trekking PGL holiday when she was 9. She'd never really ridden but had insisted for months she wanted to go on this particular holiday, even though she wouldn't know anyone there. I thought that much quiet, firm insistence in a 9yo was quite impressive so we agreed she could go.
Very expensive it's turned out to be too. But we've met some lovely families and she has a lot of fun. She plans to be an equine vet. Whatever her future holds, I've suggested she pick a career option that will mean she can afford her own horse and stables
Dd1 is also planning to try for a well-paid job so she can afford a horse. She was 12 last week and one of her fave presetns is a stable with schleich model horses.
LOL at how many non-horsey parents have kids that love horses.
Does anyone know why there seem to be so many more girls attracted to horse riding than boys. It doesn't seem a particularly girly thing to me? Am I missing something?
My dd has been to pony club quite a few times this summer. Cost is £30 from 10am to 4pm and includes a ride at 11am, horse grooming and tack cleaning, lunch, another ride at 2.30 then some more cleaning and grooming.
She absolutely loves it and is teaching me everything a townie doesn't know about horseys
Haven't noticed any snobbery where we are - maybe that comes when you start going to events and stuff.
I have heard that it is very very competitive though, with your archtypical "pushy parent".
It's good exercise, fresh air and ....erm.... don't know. Oh yes it's fun! Also a very convenient way of getring rid of those pesky left over tenners that are such a nuisance.
Thankfully we have a lovely stables nearby with the most down-to-earth owner. Takes no sh*t from posh horsey people. Sent one packing the other week because she complained her dd didn't get the horse she wanted.
I know quite a few horsey polo chaps, they are yummy. I loved riding when I was younger and would love to take it up again, it can be an excellent distraction from boys/binge drinking etc.
Pros- good exercise, teaches balance and coordination. an element of risk- a pro imo, kids are too swaddled up! a bit of dirt- also a pro! can be expensive though Try equestrian vaulting, less pricy, can make rapid progress ie cantering within a couple of sessions for some kids, is a fast devolopping sport in this country so opportunity to get onto teams and get to national level possible after not as many years as some sports. See british equestrian vaulting website (just google)
A friend of mine once said she hopes her daughter's obsession with horses lasts into her teens - if she's at the stables, then she's not hanging around street corners/shopping centres/god knows where else/spending hours on the phone or on bebo .
I think you get some pushy parents in every sport.
I rode (and still do when I can) and so do my dds.
It is a good form of exercise (not just the actual riding, but also the walking up to the field, mucking out, etc etc.). I like the fact that you don't have to be sporty in the conventional sense to be good at it. I'm a pretty decent rider, but have poor coordination and have never knowingly caught or hit a ball in my life. I like that it encourages children to be out in all weathers (this may be seen as a con if you're the sort of parent who doesn't like her children to get wet/muddy!) and that it teaches them about caring for living things. There are all sorts of different things you can do once you've mastered the basics... from just hacking out and enjoying the countryside, to the exciting (but slightly scarty) stuff like cross-country/jumping/[drag-]hunting, to the discipline of dressage, etc etc etc.
It can be dangerous. Ensure that you go to an approved yard (BHS or ABRS or both). Get a hat and back protector to the latest British safety standard, wear proper footwear (not wellies) and tie long hair back (I used to be made to wear a very attractive hair net... haven't noticed people doing this any more these days!). None of these precautions will make it 100% safe. Horses are big and strong and can be unpredictable. There's an element of risk in just being alive, though, isn't there?
scarty??? That was meant to be 'scary', obviously.
Agree that it's expensive, btw. But imo it's worth it. I'd rather have an old 2nd-hand car (e.g.) and allow my dds to ride. But each family has to do those sorts of calculations for itself.
My oldest daughter used to horse ride until it got to the pint where she wanted to compete and we can't afford a horse and she didn't want to lend one form teh stables so she quit.Its a very very expensive hobby! But I think you either lovce horse or hate them.She loves them and vows to return when she is older and can afford to pay herself!
I can't contribute to this thread. The "horsey" riding is totally different from what it is here in the states. In Texas many children follow the western horse history with rodeo training. The danger element is there and dismounting is taught off a bronc, not a competition horse. I grew up around horses, learned to ride (western style, not English saddle) so I'm sure the view of a horse as a hobby isn't the same. Is the permanent spreading typical of the saddle? Western saddles don't do that but we aren't taught to bounce in the saddle either.
I loved it too, since I was 4. My two daughters though don't share the same interests. They tend to follow their father and have taken to martial arts. I can't get him on a horse now. He has never been and thinks I'm crazy to want to get so close to a large animal let alone mount and ride it.
Boost your child’s confidence, improve their concentration and give them a creative outlet to make new friends and have fun. Try a FREE class at Perform (4-8s), Perform Plus (8-12s) or Mini Ps (3 months – 3 years). 120 venues across London and the SE. www.perform.org.uk
- dd1 rides. But like any hobby, it's only good if the child enjoys it. 
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