Wellington Riding School, Hampshire

My daughter has progressed so well at wellington. She loves going there and attends pony club there too. Loads of events on, great cafe, horses cared for extremely well, great instruction and a very friendly team. I think for the facilities available and the instruction given the prices are fair.

She attended junior camp there this summer and her riding excelled. She rode her own pony and they had an issue with Mini running out at jumps - the instructor was very robust in tackling this issue and even sought the help of a senior coach who devoted some time to my daughter anther pony to resolve the issue.

For parents it's a very comfortable environment with sofas, a cafe (with a bar!) so if you don't want to stand in the cold whilst the kids ride you can relax in comfort.

There is an equally good range of opportunities for adult riders who want to progress.

Many top events happen at wellington so if watching shows with some of the top, olympic riders is your thing you can do that here.

Well run and does what is says on the tin.

My daughter, a Pony Club D3 rider in the US was really looking forward to the Wellington camp, and we arranged for her to fly to the UK for this. She's 13, an avid rider, who virtually lives at her barn doing everything but drive. Her Wellington experience was unwelcoming and insincere greeting. Next to familiarization with the team or other campers. They used young girls for 'instruction' (not 'teachers'), terse dictatorial style, and then when they could have left an opening for discussion, were largely preoccupied with their mobile devices. My daughter was assigned an unathletic cobb, and when she asked if another might be available (she hoped to be jumping and competing at the end of the week..), got a displeased reaction. She had one other hostile reaction to something else, and called us after Day 1 saying she was unhappy. By Day 3 she wanted out and her grandparents came for. 2 other girls left the following day. Wellington's later response was defensive and that she should have advocated for herself more (and if I had to read more into it, perhaps escalated). I'll just say at 13, my daughter was in survival mode, far away from home and parents, and is also a polite and respectful girl.

My Daughter was taught riding in Canada at the age of 4. She has a natural talent and quickly excelled. We moved to the UK and I enrolled her at Wellington Riding. It is shocking to me how terrible the instruction was. She lost form, posture and the ability to focus. She was pushed to jump in a group class setting with no proper instruction on jumping and subsequently fell of the horse so many times that she is now fearful of riding. I had her reassessed by the same instructor that assessed her when we started out and her honest opinion was that her riding has deteriorated. Complaining to the school regarding the terrible state of the group lessons doesn't achieve anything as they do not respond to any negative feedback. Do not take your child here if you want them properly instructed.

My daughters have been working at a yard which they loved but this unfortunately closed. We decided to give Wellington a try and enrolled on their stable mates scheme on a Saturday. Unfortunately their experience at Wellington was appalling apart from a couple of nice workers. They were treated with such rudeness and we're made to feel so unwelcome. It is no surprise that they have hardly any helpers on a Saturday if this is how they treat new members.

We chose Wellington 2 years ago for it's great facilities, space and care for it's animals. The horses are really well housed.

Communication has always been poor, but that was always tolerable since instructors were pleasant and helpful.

Unfortunately this summer there has been a great turnover in staff ; my daughter had 6 different instructors in 6 consecutive lessons. She's never been moved up a group unless at my own request and I started this practice as I noticed that was what other parents did.

Last session someone was moved and after the session another parent asked if her daughter could be moved up to remain with her friend and was granted her request. Not very professional and highly demotivating to young riders, working hard to make real progress.

Staff in the office are helpful when you can get through, but I have never had a call returned and no-one really has much information beyond how to take money for bookings.

It's a big establishment, making plenty of money, that doesn't care about the individual.

I really hope they improve their management and begin to communicate with the people who pay them for lessons week in week out. As my daughter did used to love riding here in the past....

Just picked up our daughter from 1 weeks of camp - sadly and completely my omission, I did not first check the place in person. Had I done so, especially when a camp was in progress, would not have sent my daughter. Unsafe, unclean 'shacks' where the girls sleep. She lots so much weight due to the so called 'food' being (not) served. We arrived to see as parents (as we were advised at 2pm) no organisation, none of the instructors knew what was going on where and just generally incredibly badly run.

Sadly we have had such great experiences riding in Wimbledon - clearly no one has inspected these premises in very long time.

Grumpy, sad and slow to the bone horses, lack luster instructors. My daughters first words when we arrived was - I never want to come back here and if this is riding I will do something else!!

When I made my feelings know at the end I was to told to give my details (I just checked out my daughter so clearly they had no clue????) So this is my review.

expensive but great!!

best ponies are :

1. bold

2. bridgy

3. bella

My Daughter recently returned from a week's riding holiday at Wellington Riding school, she went with a group of Friends.

The week was enjoyable for the children BUT there were many things that as a parent I feel should be improved upon.

Firstly, communication between the holiday administrator and the parents, after being advised to arrive at 2pm for the show day, no staff in the office knew what the programme of events were or where the parents should go to watch, as it turned out we had missed the show jumping as they decided to run that activity in the morning!

Secondly, there seemed to be alot of horses lame, so when a horse proved unsuitable for some of the riders in a group it was just passed around the other riders rather than being removed.

When it came to meal times the children were only allowed one small plastic cup of squash with their meal, if they wanted a second drink it could only be water or they could pay for a drink from the Cafe, surely with 28 plus children paying around £700.00 Wellington could stretch to an extra bottle of squash!

I went on a Junior Holiday to Wellington Riding in May 2013 and had the best time ever. The instructors are all friendly and encouraging. They will push your riding without making you feel insecure, and the cabin supervisors will really try to make sure you have a good time. There is a great range of horses and ponies to suit everyone and they are all fit and well looked after. The junior helpers on the yard are all really helpful and the working pupils all know the horses and ponies characters. The food is not too bad and the cabins are clean and tidy. The lessons are all fun and the facilites are absolutely amazing, especially the Dukes Hall (a 70m by 30m indoor arena). In the evening there are lots of activites to keep you busy as well as a good amount of free time. A truly inspirational place that I would recommend to anyone! They told you the right amount of information before purchase thanks to the helpful website. In general, the whole yard was safe and tidy, and the fields were secure and the staff were knowledgeable and ensured a great time was had by all. They also made sure we felt safe when around the horses and ponies. Also, great value for money- the best place ever!!! A big thanks to all the staff, Rocky for being the BEST PONY EVER and the junior helpers on the yard for being really nice and always helpful. EVERYONE WHO IS LOOKING FOR A JUNIOR HOLIDAY GO TO WELLINGTON!!!!!!!!!!

No idea what the bad comments are for !!!

I ride there and have the time of my life! Ponies are great and NOT overworked! ***** recommend it!!