ycbm
Einstein would be proud of my Insanity...
You mean that isn't the definition of winning?!? ��
It is for me
Depends which of my two horses I'm on
You mean that isn't the definition of winning?!? ��
It is for me
totally agree, ester, but I thought PM had stated that those weren't really the people he had in mind when starting this thread. post #123
Cheiro1 - Thanks for the response. Can I ask if you had an instructor helping you and if so how often and how experienced were they?
A thought provoking thread... This could be long....
I have always been one to strive for progression & to achieve goals, particularly when riding. I'm competitive & could be considered a bold rider.... Probably just a nutter.
I always felt that to do my horse/pony justice I had to believe in them & put the hours & focus in...
This led to/ resulted in my most amazing homebred pony, just 13'2, we grew up together, I broke her in & produced her to PC championships & every jumping final/championship I knew of ( up to & including 1.10m). We hunted with the BV & Cattistock... And I'd be damned if my pride & joy was going to be outdone by those who turned their nose up at her ( on account of her size). We flew whatever was in front of us be it a a 6ft hedge, timber , SJ, XC etc. To this day I am convinced this confidence is because I believed unwaveringly in her & I guess or at least like to think she had some shred of belief in me.
A lot of new people I know (not all) either don't want to spend the money, buy something cheap, minimal if any instruction & think they know it all when they win the local 70 Or, they splash out big time on an inappropriate but flashy, proven bloodlines, guaranteed to win yaddayaddd yadda... & are therefore by rites an expert.
Just my musings as they popped in to my head
Get out there and have a go!
Lévrier;13353580 said:I honestly don't know what the answer is for me. I have been riding for 25 years and I have made sure I have had regular tuition from well qualified and experienced instructors during that time, but to my mind I really don't seem to improve hugely.
If you can suggest why this might be PM I would be very interested (seriously, not being funny or taking offence!) - it is something I really want to be good at, but even though I have great instructors it doesn't seem to work for me. I have been told I try too hard....perhaps in the past I haven't had the best horses.... but that shouldn't really be an excuse. I would hope I try hard enough, I really don't expect it to happen without some serious hard work!
If you are trying to teach a horse half pass, and you have never ridden half pass, how do you know when you have got it right? Or any other movement, that you haven't ridden before?
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If you are trying to teach a horse half pass, and you have never ridden half pass, how do you know when you have got it right? Or any other movement, that you haven't ridden before?..........
.......I think sometimes, people don't realise how attainable goals can be, because they have no idea of how to get there, from where they are.
I think the reason why people don't achieve things is because they are afraid to even try. Most people have never ridden or trained a piaffe, or a flying change: how many have tried to do one? If you don't ask, you don't get. Doesn't matter if you do it wrong, just ask and see what happens. I trained my first horse to piaffe when I was 12, because I had seen it in a film about the Spanish Riding School - never seen a real horse do it, had no clue. But I asked, and asked and did it wrong 100 times, and then one day it happened, the horse got it, I got it and I had a piaffing horse (which, I can tell you, was a really big deal in 1970's Ireland!).
Lévrier;13354254 said:I hear what you are all saying about not having to have experienced something to try to do it, and I do agree with you, but I think it was you Milliepops (and apologies if I have got this wrong!) who said that you persevered with one horse after you recognised that one moment of 'lift' or similar that you knew from experience gave promise of more to come? How would I recognise that feeling if I had never experienced it?
I really identitied with the suggestion about a lack of focus and clarity and I think that is where I go wrong sometimes (a lot of the time?) - I don't have a plan on how I'm going to move on to the next step. For example my baby sports cob came to me at the end of May totally unbalanced and totally unable to canter in the school. Now we achieve correct canter strike off on pretty much every occasion and can maintain the pace without excessive rushing (but without much balance or the correct bend!) What I hadn't mentally planned for was what I would do when I reached that point. Instead of sitting on the horse thinking 'wow canter on the correct lead again, awesome' I should have been thinking about improving the canter balance through transitions etc!
I've realised I have to go away and reflect now about what I really want out of this exorbitantly expensive hobby - and if I feel I have unfulfilled goals then I need to work out how to achieve them...