It is high time I publish something about this fabulous riding school. The school is very…read moreconveniently located for anyone with access to a car and living in Brisbane or Ipswich. It's situated very near the major motorway network, with the Ipswich, Gateway and Logan Motorways, and Centenary Highway, all close by. Before I continue, I need anyone reading this to know that I am no spring chicken. I am more the old boiler of the students ... For some time, my then eleven-year-old daughter pestered me to take her to riding lessons, so, in March 2012, I let her attend the school holiday program at Forest Lake Riding School. After that, she attended fortnightly lessons. After a while, I began to think that I'd like to try it. So, for six months, I too had fortnightly lessons. In February of this year, I found I'd become so passionate about riding, that I began taking weekly lessons, and have continued since. My daughter has continued her fortnightly lessons.
If I'm to say anything about the quality of the school, I have to reveal my age and riding experience when I started. I was sixty when I began my equine journey in April/May last year. I had attended a riding ranch for one week fifty years before. In other words, I was basically a geriatric beginner. I've now had something like forty lessons. I can sit-trot and canter comfortably. If my style is not perfect, it is through no fault of the instruction I've received. Because of the quality of the instruction, I can handle small (40-centimetre) jumps and know a lot about the requirements of Dressage. I am afraid of no horse. I have gained a level of fitness that belies my years.
That should tell you that this is a wonderful riding school. If a green sixty-year-old can learn from scratch, because of the skill of the teachers, then anyone can. The school has an amiable atmosphere where everyone treats everyone else as part of one big family. Family get-togethers and barbeques are an integral part of the package.
A number of the adult students got together to form a trail-riding group. There are about fifteen in it and, so far, members of the group have been on four trail rides. When the school introduces trail riding, we will attend that as well. As part of the school's extra-curricular activity, many of us have attended several campdrafting school programs with one of Australia's foremost campdrafters. If you have no idea what campdrafting is, I suggest you google it. The school also has Fun Days in which the students compete in disciplines such as Dressage and Show Jumping. These are a hoot for students, teachers and families alike.
I love this school. I love the teachers. I love the horses. I love my fellow students. It's great.
