Rachel Philpott, proprietor of Little Margate Equestrian chats to EquiTeam about changing perceptions and how a riding school can help to develop you and your horse.
Removing the stigma from riding schools… Why is this statement so close to my heart?
I started riding at the age of six at a local riding school. I carried on riding there until I was 12 years old when I was lucky enough to get my own pony. Those days are by far some of very best childhood memories I have.
I spent every spare minute there helping and just immersing myself in anything and everything to do with horses and ponies, no worries and not a care in the world. The ladies there who taught me, shaped who I am today and for that I will always be eternally grateful.
I announced at the tender age of six that I wanted to be a Riding Instructor and that is what I have become. I am the founder and proprietor of a thriving Equestrian Centre in Cornwall called Little Margate Equestrian. I lived and breathed horses and ponies back then and I feel so incredibly grateful to still be able to do that now!
What upsets me is the stigma that STILL surrounds riding schools. Why in this day and age is this still the case?
Yes there are some riding schools who I am sure give all of us a bad name, but isn’t that the case in any industry?
SO many people still assume riding schools have old, lame ponies who trot one behind the other with all the character and life oozed out of them over the years.
For us and for so many others this could not be further from the case. We have 30 horses under our riding school licence and we go through a strict inspection every year where every horse and pony is examined by a vet and trotted up to ensure they are sound, the tack is checked to ensure it is safe and fits, our paperwork and record keeping is examined and looked through with a fine tooth comb but unlike some, we actually welcome this.
We have nothing to hide and pride ourselves in achieving the highest star rating you can get each time.
We have THE most amazing team of horses and ponies that we fondly call our unicorns! We have everything from the tiniest of Shetlands to teach our youngest riders up to the competition horses who are out competing at affiliated events in between their lesson days.
We have horses that can teach our riders flying changes, shoulder in, half pass and pirouettes. We also have horses that have jumped internationally and can teach our riders to jump as big as they dare. We have horses and ponies who teach riders their first trot strides, their first ever canter, their first jump and their first hack.
We specialise in building confidence and making dreams come true no matter what that dream may be. Perhaps it is to hack out with their daughter/son for the first time, to gallop along the beach, to compete or perhaps there are no dreams at all, just to enjoy their time with these magnificent animals.
We don’t just cater for people who don’t own their own horses either. We teach lots of people who have their own horses, both on their own horses and on our own. There are such huge benefits to riding different horses as they all have so much to teach us. Some of our very best riders are those who ride so many different horses or ponies and can adapt their mindset and their riding to suit their new mount. We also have lots of people who come to have a lesson on our ‘schoolmasters’ to learn a movement that they can then take back and help their own horse with.
Our horses are also perfect for anyone having a confidence crisis on their own horses. Our coaches specialise in building confidence and our team of unicorns are so fantastic at helping with that. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t well up at something one of them has done for somebody. We do a lot of happy tears here!
We are a Pony Club Centre, an Equine Therapy Centre and hopefully soon to be an RDA Centre too. We regularly go out to compete and we actually have two Pony Club mounted games heading to the zone finals this weekend. We also have a musical ride team heading to our local county show to perform in the main ring the following weekend. We have PC area dressage and showjumping teams heading out to compete later on in the month. We have visiting coaches come in to teach our clients, one of those being an international Showjumper.
Yet still we come across those who run riding schools down and even worse those who now teach ‘illegally’ using their own ponies to teach with no riding school licence or the expense that goes with it.
It has been a seriously tough and worrying few years with Covid for all of us, but especially those who have a lot of hungry mouths relying on them when there is no money coming in, but we are coming out the other side fighting.
I won’t ever give up on my dream of making people happy and giving them the opportunities they may not ever experience without us and one day I hope we can eradicate the stigma surrounding riding schools altogether.
Rachel
Find out more about Little Margate Equestrian here
Photos by Julia Powney Photography
