Riding school Archives - Page 4 of 4

MM2020 Horse Adventure

MM2020 Horse Adventure is located in Putrajaya Equestrian Park. They have an active Facebook page, unfortunately they do not have a website. The following information is collected through my personal riding sessions with them in Putrajaya Equestrian Park.

This is a photo of the office. It is a little hard to notice if you do not intentionally look for it. Once you parked your car, walk through the entrance and turn left. You will find the office at the end of the walkway.

Upon reaching, you will likely find the friendly administrator, Athirah working at her desk:

I have been with another riding school prior to switching to MM2020 Horse Adventure. I have to give acknowledgement to Athirah that she has been pretty helpful and attentive to my needs. I’m happy to recommend anyone to ride with MM2020 Horse Adventure. I truly believe she has gone the extra miles to help me in many occasions. Thanks Athirah!

Athirah & Daniel - escorted hacking — A photo of Athirah and myself went out for escorted hacking accompanied by Wan

This is a trail ride video:

You can check out more of the videos here >> Canter in Putrajaya Equestrian Park (riding school)

Here is a beautiful photo of the facility:

MM2020 Horse Adventure - Putrajaya Equestrian Park — MM2020 Horse Adventure – Putrajaya Equestrian Park

You can book a session for your wedding photo shooting as well:

Wedding Photoshoot @ MM2020 Horse Adventure

MM2020 Horse Adventure Activities and Lessons:

MM2020HorseAdventure Riding / Lessons Packages — MM2020 Horse Adventure Riding / Lessons Packages

If you are new to riding, you are recommended to sign up the Combo package to practice to be reasonably comfortable in riding different horses.

Another impressive service provided by MM2020 Horse Adventure is they provide helmet for student to use, at no cost. This is really thoughtful because most new riders have yet to decide whether riding is really the sport for them. Spending RM200-RM300 for a helmet to “try out” a sport is obviously a little high up front cost. The free helmet provided by MM2020 Horse Adventure is really handy for students’ first few sessions. If the students have decided to be more serious with horse riding, the student can buy a personal helmet at the shop next door.

Wan, the instructor @ MM2020 Horse Adventure — Wan, the instructor

MM2020HorseAdventure instructor, Wan. He is an experienced horse riding instructor. He has been riding horses since young age. I have met several instructors throughout my riding lessons. I believe instructors who have high expectation of you and are hard on you are good instructors. It really is for your own good. They will pinpoint the smallest mistakes you are making while riding, again and again, to ensure you have the right posture and right habit while riding. Wan is definitely one of such instructors. He is a tough coach during lessons but he is also a really nice guy when you chat with him privately. While Wan is away, other guys (Sam and Anil) working at the saddle can also coach and watch you riding at the paddock and polo field.

Here are some details about the facilities available in Putrajaya Equestrian Park.

Riding School Paddocks

2 x Sand Paddock 20m x 60m
1 x Lunging Sand Paddock 15m in diameter

Practice/Grazing Paddocks

1 x Sand Paddock 40m x 60m
1 x Grass Paddock 40m x 90m

In other words, this venue is meant for serious business.

This is one of the paddocks available in Putrajaya Equestrian Park. Students learn to trot and canter within the compound during lessons. The lessons are done under instructor’s supervision. It is a good idea for student to practice in paddock to build up skill and confidence before heading to more challenging rides. In fact, the following paddock is the place where I spent a lot of my lesson sessions practicing trot and canter.

Last thought…

Don’t be surprise if you happen to meet Tun Mahathir in the facility because MM2020 Horse Adventure is founded by Tun Mahathir.

From left: Dato Mukhriz, Tun Mahathir and SM Hashim on horses

I have yet to meet any of them personally in the facility. But I would imagine it will be totally awesome if I get to ride with them one day!

Rayo MM2020 Horse Adventure — Rayo saying goodbye!

Overall, It has been a pleasant experience to ride with MM2020 Horse Adventure. Most horses are easy to ride. The lesson fee is affordable and reasonable. The staffs are friendly. I’m happy to recommend anyone who want to try out horse riding to give them a visit. Oh… and don’t forget to try out the Joyride for RM10 if you are visiting for the first time. You get to ride on a horse walking around the stable for few minutes guided by the staff. The last I heard from Athirah they are moving to Paya Indah Wetlands, Dengkil. However, I have yet to get any notification they have moved. Until next time!

Canter in Putrajaya Equestrian Park (riding school)

This is a video of riding inside the riding school field. My instructor (Wan) get me to canter for a round in school before heading out to the park located next to the riding school. We used the sandy track to head out, which is a much smoother ride when horse canter on sandy track.

This is a video of us riding in the park next to Putrajaya Equestrian Park. The whole track is about 3KM (a rough estimation). It takes about 20-30 minutes if you canter all the way. It will be 40-50 minutes if you trot or walk occasionally. You can see from the following video, the track is pretty clear so it’s possible for you to canter all the way in the track. There will be some 90° degree sharp corner (like the one in the beginning of the video) so it might be a good idea to trot over instead of cantering.

There is a playground (accessible by public) right next to this park. The following is a video of us walking through the playground

Riding Lessons

For many Malaysians who live in city (like I am), it is not common to have horses as pet. Therefore most of us do not have experience in riding horses. It become really important to take up proper riding lessons before going for more advanced activities with horses.

Riding lessons in Malaysia are offered in packages. You will often see riding schools offer different riding packages with different pricing and different number of session. However, generally you will find the packages as following:

Beginner Level

beginner-level

Beginner Level package is usually short sessions from 20-30 minutes for each session. Reason why it is designed to be short session is to allow the student to get used to using specified part of their muscle to ride a horse. In Beginner Level, instructor will pay 1 to 1 attention to the student to ensure the student’s safety. The fee for this package range from RM350 to RM450. The number of session range from 5 sessions to 8 sessions – depending on package offered by different riding school. In this level, student will learn

the correct posture to sit on horse
different types of horse movements (walk, trot, canter)
different aids to communicate with horse (leg, hand, sound)
different terms for the gears on the horse (stirrup, rein, etc)

At the end of your Beginner Level, you should be able to comfortably ask your horse to move forward, bend left / right, and stop. If you are a quick learner, you will be able to trot comfortably as well.

Intermediate Level

intermediate

Intermediate Level package is usually longer sessions around 45 minutes each session. In Intermediate Level, the instructor will pay 1 to 1 attention OR the instructor will coach a group of Intermediate Level student together. The fee for this package range from RM450 to RM500. The number of session range from 5 sessions to 8 sessions – depending on package offered by different riding school. In this level, student will practice

consistently displaying correct posture to ride on horses
riding on different horse movements (walk, trot, canter) and the transitions
riding horses using different aids to communicate with horse (leg, hand, sound, whip)

At the end of your Intermediate Level, you should be able to comfortably ride your posing trot and sitting trot. If you are a quick learner, you will be able to canter steadily on different horses. Some student might need to take up more than one Intermediate Level package to be more solid on the riding skills. A good benchmark is when the student can confidently and effortlessly trot and canter on different type of horses.

Instructor

How to spot a good instructor? I have taken up lessons with couple of instructors, some are harsher, some are friendlier and some just don’t really care. For me, a good instructor is someone who gives me constant feedback by telling me what is my problem and how to fix it. A good instructor should also have strict standard on his students. In other words, do expect a good instructor to shout to you across the paddock “YOUR LEG IS TOO INSIDE!”, “LEAN BACK!”, “OPEN YOUR SHOULDER!”. It might get embarrassing at times but this is the cost to being a good rider.

Other matters…

The number of sessions in the packages offered by riding schools could be a little too short for someone totally new. Do not be discouraged that you have finished up all the session yet you are not good with riding. It takes at least 6 months (which is 20-30 sessions) for someone totally new to be fairly comfortable with riding different horses.

Should you ride the same horse all the time or should you ride different horses? Unless you own a horse yourself, generally it is a good idea to ride different horses to learn the different rhythm in horse movement. It help you to develop your adaptability to quickly adjust your tempo for different horses, so that you can ride on any horses in the future.

One thing to take note is while riding ex-racer (horses which are retired from racing). They are often being bought and retrained to be used in riding school. Please be careful while riding an ex-racer. Although they have been retrained, they could still get pretty excited while cantering. If you are new to cantering or you are learning to canter, it is best to avoid ex-racer.