Start with the kind of riding your child wants to continue
For a family already considering education abroad, the question is often continuity: will a move interrupt a much-loved activity or an established training routine? A photograph of a riding arena does not answer that question. Define the intended routine before choosing the school.
| Family’s aim | What needs to be agreed |
|---|---|
| Enjoyment and exploration | Suitable lessons, horses and supervision within boarding life. |
| Regular development | A coach, a repeatable weekly schedule, transport and a sustainable budget. |
| Competitive progression | An assessment by the coach, horse suitability, an event plan, supervision and arrangements for academic conflicts. |
These are different needs, not a ranking of children. A beginner does not need a competitive programme simply because it sounds impressive; an established competitor may need more than an occasional activity.
How do our two partner schools compare?
| Decision | Eerde, Ommen, Netherlands | Saint-Charles, Porrentruy, Switzerland |
|---|---|---|
| Academic starting point | English-language pathways including Pre-IB and the IB Diploma. | English-language IB and a separate Swiss curriculum route. |
| Published riding provision | Its current brochure describes academic and training coordination and names Galaxy International Stables and H&H Stables. | Its current activities page includes horse riding; LEP visited an indoor arena during the school visit. Intensive training requires individual confirmation. |
| Living arrangements | Full boarding, with school holiday arrangements to check separately. | Seven-day boarding, with course and boarding needs assessed together. |
| Where to start the conversation | For families seeking an explicit connection between English-language schooling and continued training. | For families attracted to Swiss schooling and boarding life who also want to continue riding. |
This is a comparison of confirmed information and family needs, not a ranking of coaching results. Read the Eerde guide and Saint-Charles guide for the next questions to resolve.
When parents live abroad, plan the whole week
Check the journey from the last lesson to the stable, the return for dinner and study, permission for weekend trips and who accompanies the child to events. A boarding team and an external coach have different responsibilities. Their arrangements need to connect.
Ask for a realistic ordinary school week and an event week. A training plan that only works during holidays is not a term-time solution.
Which families should explore this route?
It is most useful when the child wants to keep riding, an international education already makes sense, and the family can sustain both school and equestrian expenditure. Close to graduation, protecting course continuity becomes especially important. For a new rider also adjusting to an English-speaking classroom, a gradual start may be more workable.
Do not build the budget around assumed special admissions treatment or a future sports scholarship. Academic planning alongside riding should preserve options even if sporting ambitions later change.
What does LEP add?
James Liu has visited both schools, and LEP has direct working relationships with them. We help turn a family’s academic, language, boarding and riding needs into a coherent school enquiry, then bring the responses together so parents can compare an actual arrangement.
The school decides admission and academic suitability; coaches assess riding and training fit. LEP coordinates the educational decision. Start by sharing your child’s age, current grade, language skills, training and competition experience, whether a horse is involved, and a sustainable annual budget.
Discuss your child’s school and riding plans with LEP
Tell us the age, grade, languages, riding experience, horse arrangements and annual budget. LEP begins with school and course fit, then coordinates the specific questions with the school.
Sources and verification
Eerde equestrian brochure and current Equestrian page; Saint-Charles Co-Curricular Activities, IB Programme and boarding information; James Liu’s visit observations and photographs. Checked 6 October 2026. Comparisons are LEP’s educational judgments.