is your training safe?
Is your training safe?
For any rider, the choice of where to find knowledgeable, safe and value-for-money help to improve their own riding, the training of their horse or both isn’t always straightforward. Whether you prefer the camaraderie of group lessons, enjoy the experience of a schoolmaster or choose more intense one-on-one training sessions on your own horse, how do you know that your chosen instructor is qualified and competent at what they do, properly insured and that the venue at which the training takes place is both safe and managed in accordance with relevant legal and other requirements?
Freelance Instructor Frances Murray (see separate panel) confirms; “Accidents do happen and then there can be huge problems with insurance for the clients, instructors and even the venues. In my experience, accidents can result from a broad range of issues, with venues, facilities and sometimes because an instructor’s level of knowledge and teaching style is ‘inappropriate’. “Some venues are really good and they ‘vet’ visiting instructors, which I think is a good idea, but not all of them do. I can go and hire one particular local venue and know that they wouldn’t care who I was! This attitude is too widespread.
There are two organisations that set standards for riding schools in the UK, the British Horse Society (BHS) and the Association of British Riding Schools (ABRS). A riding school approved by one or both of these organisations ensures that they meet a certain standard. Riding schools are also formally inspected every year, so any approval should be current and require these businesses to have relevant insurance in place, along with a robust health and safety policy. Approved riding schools invariably employ formally qualified instructors of different grades, so you know that these individuals have proved they know how to teach others.
Riding schools offer different types of lessons, from private, where one rider is taught by an instructor, to semi-private where two or three people are taught in the same lesson, or group lessons where larger groups of riders are taught by one instructor at the same time. As you would expect, prices vary, with private being more expensive and group lessons being cheapest.
In the case of freelance instructors, who hire a venue to work with you and your horse, you should always be equally certain that they are genuinely qualified. In addition to the BHS and ABRS, the governing bodies of the main competition disciplines maintain registers of qualified instructors who
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