# Anyone had a lesson at Oldencraig EC?



## Perfect_Pirouette (6 November 2014)

Im going to be in London at the weekend, quite near Oldencraig EC and last minute decided to ring and see if they had any space for a lesson, I was in luck, they did!! 

SO, I have a lesson on Sunday, eeeek. Pretty excited! 

Anyone been before, what is it like/can I expect?

Many thanks


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## MS123 (6 November 2014)

Perfect_Pirouette said:



			I&#8217;m going to be in London at the weekend, quite near Oldencraig EC and last minute decided to ring and see if they had any space for a lesson, I was in luck, they did!! 

SO, I have a lesson on Sunday, eeeek. Pretty excited! 

Anyone been before, what is it like/can I expect?

Many thanks
		
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Who's the lesson with? A friend of mine had a lesson with Vicky Thompson (I think that was her name) and really wasn't impressed.


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## Mamamia (6 November 2014)

Facilities are great, horses are nice but how fulfilling your lesson is will depend upon who's teaching you.  I have found that some of the instructors really aren't that interested, certainly Vicki Thompson acts likes she's doing you a favour. Hope you enjoy it.


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## Farma (6 November 2014)

I have heard very mixed and some very poor reviews but a friend went a few times and said she enjoyed the lessons although the horses she rode were in side reins the whole time!


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## Perfect_Pirouette (7 November 2014)

Eeek! Looks like I'll just have to wait and see then! My lesson isn't with Vicki, as it's so short notice, it was just whoever had a free slot! I will report back after my lesson!


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## wren123 (23 November 2014)

How did the lesson go?


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## viola (24 November 2014)

I did almost 10 years ago, saved up for weeks for that lesson, cost me my then weeks of wages. All to have an Olympic rider/trainer sat in the corner with a fag having less than zero interest. Taught me very quickly to never again seek lessons with 'names' but instead research the method and learn from people who want to teach. 

How did your lesson go?


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## SallyBatty (25 November 2014)

I went there for a lesson just over a year ago.  Not impressed at all.  Instructor (can't remember name) took very little interest in me and seemed to prefer watching someone else riding in the arena rather than me.  At the end of the lesson she told me I would need to come back for lots more lessons if I wanted to get anywhere.  I'd only gone there as a one off as got a voucher of Groupon thinking it would be a good experience and would give me pointers on how to get the best out of my own horse.  Instead I came out of the lesson having gained absolutely nothing and in fact feeling like a totally useless beginner.  Would never go there again.

How did your lesson go, OP?


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## puppystitch (25 November 2014)

Same as all the others - had a few lessons, all in side reins. The horses and facilities are really lovely, the trainers are a mixed bag though. I had a great one first, then she left and I had an average one, then a really nice, but average one. I also broke a bone jumping one of their lesson horses - they couldn't have cared less and I never went back. Such a shame when it has the potential to be brilliant.  

I'd be interested to hear how your lesson went too!


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## LynH (26 November 2014)

My friend and I went to see about going for an intensive course of lessons on our own horses and on their schoolmasters. We were told it would only be worth taking our own horses if we dropped them there two weeks before we arrived so they could be schooled properly ready for us to get on. I couldn't believe how patronising they were having not even seen the horses or us ride before deciding they needed re schooling first. I assume it was to get more money from us but with taking two horses each and having schoolmaster lessons we were already prepared to spend a reasonable amount without two weeks of schooling livery before riding our own horses. So no we didn't go.


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## foxy1 (26 November 2014)

Went with a friend, they were rude and disinterested- friend never went back.


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## OwnedbyJoe (26 November 2014)

I know nothing about 'em (I'm in Oz) but I had a google and the first quote on their website was this: 
"THE FINANCIAL TIMES VOTES OLDENCRAIG IN THE TOP 5 EQUESTRIAN CENTRES IN THE WORLD"
Since when does the FT have an equestrian sport journalist??!


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## Perfect_Pirouette (26 November 2014)

Hello everyone,

Well, an honest review. Place, horses and facilities were amazing, definitely an experience. 

My lesson- Overall&#8230;..wasn&#8217;t overly impressed. Horse was nice but instructor put him in side reins which I wasn&#8217;t particularly keen on. In all honesty, horse was pretty stuffy and dead to the leg, improved towards the end but really could&#8217;ve done with some transitions and transitions within the pace (IMO) to get him more reactive earlier on as at times I felt like I was dragging him around. 

My stirrups were ridiculously long, I was almost constantly reaching for them (and I ride fairly long anyway!) The instructor wouldn&#8217;t let me shorten them, despite me stopping and saying I needed to. 

Instructor taught in a way that was pretty unfamiliar to me. No emphasis on the outside rein, in fact the opposite. I didn&#8217;t feel that the horse was straight (as well as not being forward) but he didn&#8217;t seem to notice/agree/care? In the lateral work, again there was no emphasis on the outside rein and he kept telling me to give my outside rein away, which, in the LY&#8217;s certainly meant he was just falling out through the shoulder?? He kept shouting &#8216;good, good&#8217; when he did this?? 

BUT, I did get some nice work at the end (when I kept the outside rein without him noticing: D) and rode my first changes.

I would probably go again if I was ever down that neck of the woods BUT I wouldn&#8217;t have that instructor again, his English was very bad which meant he struggled to get across what he was trying to get me to do. He didn&#8217;t &#8216;teach&#8217; me, just literally barked lateral movements at me for an hour and overall, he didn&#8217;t seem too interested. 

There were 2 other lessons going on in the school when I was there, you could tell they were regular clients and the horses they were on were fabulous and actually, they were being taught (from what I could see and hear) quite a lot. So you obviously CAN get a good lesson there.

My lesson wasn&#8217;t disastrous but I found the horse very hard work in terms of forwardness and the instructor hard to understand and didn&#8217;t understand his methods.


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## j1ffy (26 November 2014)

Where was the instructor from out of interest?  

If you are down that neck of the woods again, I can really recommend Alex Gache at Lomond Classical Riding Centre (if you're happy to ride an Iberian instead of a warmblood).  I've had a couple of lessons there are really rated them, a couple of friends have been since and also had good experiences.


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## Tiddlypom (26 November 2014)

What's this with the side reins? Are you expected have the whole lesson, including walk, with the horse in side reins?

If so, double :eek3:.


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## puppystitch (26 November 2014)

I had a few lessons and all were in side reins, for the whole lesson. Apart from when I went jumping, fortunately!


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## Woody26 (28 November 2014)

I had a very similar experience... I got a lesson with the top trainer there as a present and then another time won a voucher for a lesson with a lower instructor. Both lessons I came out crying. They ripped me to pieces and were not constructive at all. Even criticised my wintec dressage saddle I had at the time because it was not leather. And I didn't understand that when they have so many different schools there were always five lessons going on at one time in one school?! Spent the whole lesson dodging people. I only go back to beat their riders in their dressage comps now.


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## eggs (28 November 2014)

Woody26 said:



			I only go back to beat their riders in their dressage comps now. 

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like (I would put a smiley face here if I could figure out how to do it!).

I was at the BD Nationals a couple of years ago when their top trainer/rider/former Olympian was riding two different horses who both blew up in the arena


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## Hackie (28 November 2014)

Yep, same experience as everyone else (glad it wasn't just me).

Loved the facilities etc, but yep, side reins and a stuffy horse that wouldn't move off the leg.  I've always ridden off the track thoroughbreds so thought maybe it was just that I was used to a horse that is sharp off the leg and also I don't ride very much anymore so I'm not as strong as I used to be, but to be honest I spent the whole lesson trying to get the bloody thing forward (not helped by the side reins - I'm not adverse to gadgets as I have used draw reins a lot in the past, but they really wedge the horses heads down).  I gave it three lessons to see if I could work through it, but I like a really forward horse so it wasn't fun so I stopped going.


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## 9tails (28 November 2014)

Why are they all ridden in side reins?  To give the horse a consistent contact so the trainer can work on the rider?  I've never ridden in side reins so can only make a guess.


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## Perfect_Pirouette (28 November 2014)

No, I really don&#8217;t think that is the reason 9tails as my instructor definitely didn&#8217;t pay any attention to me!! I think the regular clients don&#8217;t get put in draw/side reins, they are au natural, but new clients are and I can only assume it&#8217;s for safety reasons!


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## ossy (28 November 2014)

I've had a lesson, not at oldencraig but at home, where my instructure put the horse in side rains,  but he watched me 5 mins first and had the side rains on for about 20mins max.  It was also specifically to show how my hands were moving too much I didn't have a constant contact and moving off the leg from behind into a soft hand.  Totally opened my eyes was explained really well so can see the purpose of using them sometimes but dosent even sound like they are used for those reasons.  I've never been to oldencraig but my friend sent her horse there to be sold and dosent have a good word to say about them, she had to have the horse back and sell it herself.


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## AdorableAlice (28 November 2014)

Ten years ago I bought one their schoolmasters.  I had a lesson on him and was impressed with his manners and education but he was the most switched off, uninterested and soul less horse I have ever seen.  An automated animal.  It took 18 months of tlc to turn him into the most fabulous and successful horse I have ever had.  The vet I instructed told me the horse needed out of there badly.

Turned him into this.........


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## Skib (28 November 2014)

OH and I had some weekly lessons there when we had to be in that area for family reasons. We learned from students (OH was a beginner still) and the quality of the teaching depended on the teacher. I was lucky, as I had a young woman who parents owned a yard in Canada and she was very interesting. The horse was in side reins throughout and that made sense as I was on the lunge and riding in  a snaffle - RI did not realise (she said) that I had been riding for years and I blithely assumed one stayed on the lunge for a year at a classical yard.

When this lady left, her replacement was arrogant, opinionated and useless. He had just come from Talland, so Oldencraig not responsible for that. 

I got what I wanted from Oldencraig, the chance to ride big warm blood dressage horses and feel how they moved. Over 17 hands, I needed a stepladder to mount.  But the horses performed the movements just on a thought. Piaffe, and shoulder in - So it was an education. I was still hacking at home every week and in the end decided against switching to dressage in my old age.
The pics show the side reins were quite long but not long enough to prevent the horse's head coming behind the vertical when its head dropped low. I didnt know enough at the time to question that. And anyway we RS riders cannot question stuff ever.
In Surrey our RS staff go to Oldencraig for advanced dressage lessons when taking the higher BHS exams.


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## cremedemonthe (28 November 2014)

Have fitted saddles there in the past, seen some sights, some good,some not 
Was Katie Price's old haunt too.
Oz


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## TPO (29 November 2014)

cremedemonthe said:



			Have fitted saddles there in the past, seen some sights, some good,some not 
Was Katie Price's old haunt too.
Oz
		
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I have absolutely nothing constructive to add at all but I think it was John Terry's cheated on wife that got in tow with Oldencraig. She got bought a friesian stallion iirc and rode a "display" the year after Katie Price at HOYS (I think) with the name from OE.

I think all KP's dressage was with Andrew Gould.

Happy to be wrong. In fact hope I am, embarrassed that my head is full of such useless guff!!


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## AdorableAlice (29 November 2014)

TPO said:



			I have absolutely nothing constructive to add at all but I think it was John Terry's cheated on wife that got in tow with Oldencraig. She got bought a friesian stallion iirc and rode a "display" the year after Katie Price at HOYS (I think) with the name from OE.

I think all KP's dressage was with Andrew Gould.

Happy to be wrong. In fact hope I am, embarrassed that my head is full of such useless guff!!
		
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You are right, I saw Mr and Mrs Terry at the regionals with the Winfield-Thompsons.  Mrs Terry looked like was sucking a wasp.


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## humblepie (29 November 2014)

I am sure (allowing for the fact it was best part of 30 years ago) when I did my BHSAI we were told that side reins were for lunging and a H & S no no for riding......maybe wrong as I say a very long time ago.


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## khalswitz (29 November 2014)

humblepie said:



			I am sure (allowing for the fact it was best part of 30 years ago) when I did my BHSAI we were told that side reins were for lunging and a H & S no no for riding......maybe wrong as I say a very long time ago.
		
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Got to the end of the thread to see you'd beaten me to saying this. I AGREE.


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