Welcome to High Standard Stables

Riding is not an easy sport.  But the pleasure a rider can get while being on a horse is priceless!  Whether you want to ride for pleasure or to compete, HSS can help you accomplish your goals. As with most sports, riding requires riders to work on the same things and it can seem redundant at times.  But to help riders stay as safe as possible, it is very important to make sure that the foundation is built correctly and that riders do not advance to harder things until they are ready for them.  Some riders improve quicker than others so don’t get discouraged if it seems to take you longer to accomplish something than you were hoping to.

Thank you for choosing to ride at High Standard Stables and we look forward to having you join the HSS family.

    Come pull in the driveway and enjoy a lesson in a quiet and relaxed country setting. Safety is huge at High Standard Stables!  We will take the best possible care of the rider and make sure that you have a solid foundation built before asking you to do something more challenging. We make sure to build a lesson program that best suits your needs to help you improve as much as possible in each lesson. We will encourage you and push you to work hard and achieve great things. You will not only learn about riding and how to correct your position but also horse care and responsibility. 

     Here at High Standard Stables we emphasize effective communication between horse and rider to help them excel at everything they do.  Riders will be taught how to communicate with their horse using effective horsemanship.  No matter what the discipline, perfect communication with the horse is irreplaceable.  Horses are big animals and we still want to make sure that we are gentle with them.  

    The younger beginning students will learn to ride in a fun and encouraging atmosphere.  These first experiences for the beginner riders will determine whether they want to continue riding, so it is very important to make sure that the experience is a positive one.  High Standard Stables will ensure that your rider gets the best possible experience and instruction.  For young beginner students we will not always do ring work - while we work on the basics, we will keep it fun by going on trail rides and playing games.  This is a great way to get them comfortable and teach them the basics without losing their interest.

    For the more advanced riders the lessons will be action packed with intense learning.  Whether your interest is dressage, hunters, eventing, or jumpers, you can get high quality instruction from High Standard Stables allowing you to take your riding to the next level.  Make sure to bring lots of energy because you will work hard in your lesson to get as much as you can out of it!

Long jeans, or riding pants

Boots with a heel (we do offer a selection of kid sized boots that you can borrow)

SEI/ASTM certified riding helmet (bring your own or use one of our helmets) Everyone taking a lesson is required to wear a helmet.

High Standard Stables has a lesson horse for every level of rider from beginner to advanced.  You may bring your own horse to ride or ride a HSS lesson horse. There is no haul in fee for bringing your own horse. But the horse must be up to date on shots and have a current coggins.

For the 20 minute starter lesson, the horse will already be tacked up and ready to go. The rider will ride for the full 20min. Rider may choose to ride for the 20min or learn to brush for the 20 min if they want time to get comfortable around the horse for their first lesson. Please let Amy know prior to the lesson which one you want to do. 

The full lessons an hour total with around 45min of riding (when students are first learning to brush and tack up they might take longer than the usual 10 min, so the ride time may be closer to 35min. The first 10 minutes will be learning to get the horse ready and then you will ride for 45 min. After the lesson you will brush the horse down and put it back in the pasture/stall.  

Remember, if you are late, the lesson will still end at the normal time since there will be lessons after. 

 Anyone who does not show up for their lesson without notifying Amy (903)717-9928 will be charged the full lesson, or if they are on a package, they will lose one lesson from the package. If you need to cancel/reschedule your lesson, please be sure to notify Amy of the cancellation/rescheduling 24hours prior to the scheduled lesson. If you cancel/reschedule less than 24hours prior to your lesson you will be charged a $15 cancellation fee. If you are sick, please cancel within 6 hours of your lesson to avoid $15 cancellation fee. All cancellation fees must be paid at the next lesson. Thank you for your understanding, as this will allow time to fill the lesson slot and rearrange the day’s schedule.

If you are on a package and the weather is bad or too cold, we will do a ground lesson in the renovated barn. This will include learning about horse care, show prep/braiding, vet care, parts of horse/colors/breeds, etc (specialized towards age/level of rider). There is a lot more to learn about horses than just riding and now that we have a spacious barn we can continue the learning even in bad weather. 

If you are doing an individual lesson or are hauling in a horse for your lesson Amy will contact you and give you the option of rescheduling or doing a ground lesson. If you choose to reschedule there is no cancellation fee. 

• If multiple students are sharing a lesson those that are not in the arena riding must stay with parents during the lesson until it is their turn to ride. It is the parents’ responsibility to supervise the kids that are not riding so Amy can give undivided attention to whomever is currently riding in the private lesson.  
• No petting or feeding horses unless you have permission from Amy
• No going in the pasture or stall unless you have permission from Amy
• No Smoking on Premise
• Please drive slowly into the driveway to avoid silly dogs