I am a novice rider and a minor, and I have been riding for about 4 years at the same riding school. I didn’t really question anything to begin with as I was a lot younger and didn’t know much about horses (obviously, I’m still no expert) but recently, things (red flags??) have really been adding up.
Today, the pony I was on was being a little slow and unresponsive, so my instructor was getting me to hit him harder and harder with the whip, saying it wouldn’t hurt him. I just assumed she knew better, but when the pony was still being slow, she held onto his bridle and took the whip and before she even tapped him, he did a small rear and tried to get out of her grip. She didn’t seem that bothered, saying that he knew that she was actually going to hit him hard, and I wasn’t getting angry enough. I wasn’t so sure, as he looked really scared: the whites of his eyes were showing and his ears pinned. This seemed dodgy to me, and raised questions about how she treats the horses when clients aren’t around, but I may be wrong of course.
Also, there is this one pony at the yard who has bitten several people (including me, bruised but skin not broken), but she always does it when her girth is being tightened. I would have thought that it would be some indicator of pain, or internal problems, but the people running the yard just say she’s being naughty, and they don’t seem to have investigated any possible medical causes with a vet.
They also tend to allow relatively large kids to ride tiny ponies—I know that the main limiting factor is weight, but the other day I saw a 5’4’’ girl riding a pony which looked barely 11 hands, and she was jumping it.
I don’t know if any of this is actually a problem, or if I’m overreacting, but I’d like to get some advice from people who know a lot more about horses than I do. As I am a minor, I don’t get much choice, and may have to quit entirely (as the other accessible riding school is too expensive, and I can’t afford to lease/share or buy), but I’d rather quit than continue to support a business which doesn’t treat its horses well. Please tell me if my concerns are valid, or if I’m seeing issues where there are none.