The Veryan Riding Centre

Wishing all our lovely clients a peaceful and enjoyable Christmas 🎄 I would like to say a huge ‘thank you’ to Mac for all the maintenance, haylage procuring, fencing, turning muddy paddocks back to green pasture and all the other invaluable things he does ( to many to list ! ) Also thanks to our amazing daughter Ruth who brings in mud monsters and cleans them for lessons, sorts out the farrier, dentist, worming, tack checks , feeding , mucking out, turn out , again the list is endless. All in a day, week, month , year of keeping our horses happy and healthy. Thank you both ! Even at Christmas the work must be done however wet, cold and windy the weather and however tired they both are the horses come first. Have a good time everyone 😊

Due to a switch round we can now offer some morning lessons for beginners or improvers during the week. Maybe some home schooled children would enjoy some horse time. Horse care can be included and can be fun too ! Please phone for a chat in the first instance 01872 501574 😊

Our lovely Bert had a very exciting trip out for a fun ride today!! He behaved very well and really enjoyed himself 😊As did lovely Rose and Willow who had a fab time taking him 💖Well done girls and of course Bert 💖 I imagine he will sleep very well tonight 😴😴

Wishing all our amazing clients a happy, peaceful Christmas. Thank you for your loyalty and friendship, just so you all know not sending cards but a donation to Cornwall Air Ambulance, which will be matched so a brilliant time to help! Looking forward to seeing you all soon ! 😊🎄

Things your riding instructor wants you to know:
1. This sport is hard. You don't get to bypass the hard…..every good rider has gone through it. You make progress, then you don't, and then you make progress again. Your riding instructor can coach you through it, but they cannot make it easy.

2. You're going to ride horses you don't want to ride. If you're teachable, you will learn from every horse you ride. Each horse in the barn can teach you if you let them. IF YOU LET THEM. Which leads me to…

3. You MUST be teachable to succeed in this sport. You must be teachable to succeed at anything, but that is another conversation. Being teachable often means going back to basics time and time and time again. If you find basics boring, then your not looking at them as an opportunity to learn. Which brings me to…..

4. This sport is a COMMITMENT. Read that, then read it again. Every sport is a commitment, but in this sport your teammate weighs 1200 lbs and speaks a different language. Good riders don't get good by riding every once in awhile….they improve because they make riding a priority and give themsevles opportunity to practice.

5. EVERY RIDE IS AN OPPORTUNITY. Even the walk ones. Even the hard ones. Every. Single. Ride. Remember when you just wished someone would lead you around on a horse? Find the happiness in just being able to RIDE. If you make every ride about what your AREN'T doing, you take the fun out of the experience for yourself, your horse, and your instructor. Just enjoy the process. Which brings me to...

6. Riding should be fun. It is work. and work isn't always fun.....but if you (or your rider) are consistently choosing other activities or find yourself not looking forward to lessons, it's time to take a break. The horses already know you don't want to be here, and you set yourself up for failure if you are already dreading the lesson before you get here.

7. You'll learn more about horses from the ground than you ever will while riding. That's why ground lessons are important, too. If you're skipping ground lessons (or the part of your lesson that takes place on the ground), you're missing out on the most important parts of the lesson. You spend far more time on the ground with horses than you do in the saddle.

8. Ask questions and communicate. If you're wondering why your coach is having you ride a particular horse or do an exercise, ask them. Then listen to their answer and refer to #3 above.

9. We are human beings. We make decisions (some of them life and death ones) every day. We balance learning for students with workloads for horses and carry the bulk of this business on our shoulders. A little courtesy goes a long way.

Of all the sports your child will try through their school years, riding is one of 3 that they may continue regularly as adults (golf and skiing are the others). People who coach riding spend the better part of their free time and much of their disposable income trying to improve their own riding and caring for the horses who help teach your child. They love this sport and teaching others…..but they all have their limits. Not all good riders are good coaches, but all good coaches will tell you that the process to get good is not an easy one.

*thank you to whoever wrote this! Not my words, but certainly a shared sentiment!