A very overexcited thread ?

[EternalVetBills]

I will preface this post with a warning. I am very excited, so please excuse what I'm sure will a copious amount of emojis! ?

For my birthday some of the girls at the yard have arranged for a horseball instructor to come out on Wednesday ?! It's something I've been banging on about wanting to try for ages, but with covid no one is running horseball sessions at the moment ?. So we're going to give it a go on our mishmash of very unsuitable horses ?. We've got a couple of 13ish handers (both very cantankerous), two 15.3/16 (one of which has done some polo), a 16.3, and an 18hh giant.

Myself and one of the girls have both played polo, so hopefully shouldn't be too out of our depth, but the others are total newbs to riding anything other than 'normally'. None of us have ever tried horseball before, so are all really looking forward to it and hoping that the ponies enjoy it too (we have tried to explain it to them but they didn't quite seem to understand ?).

Has anyone here done horseball before? If so, is there anything we need to know before hand? We've been told that we all need to have martingales on and preferably to have manes plaited out of the way.

No real point to this other than to say I'm very very excited and I'm sure there will be a picture overload on it's way ?

 

[Bernster]

Sounds like a fun thing to do and always good to try new things. Don’t think I’d be bendy enough these days for something like that!!

 

[EternalVetBills]

Sounds like a fun thing to do and always good to try new things. Don’t think I’d be bendy enough these days for something like that!!

? I'm not entirely sure I'll be bendy enough either as I've somehow drawn the short straw and been given the 18 hander; it will definitely be entertaining is all I can say ?

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

Sounds like great fun! Maybe not so much on an 18hh-er ?? my hips wouldn't be flexible enough for one that size! You need a Shetland for that ??

 

[Baywonder]

No experience of horseball whatsoever but it sounds like tremendous fun!

 

[MrsMozartleto]

That sounds an absolute hoot!

We will, of course, require pictures. And a video ???

 

[HashRouge]

My sister is a horsetail instructor - I've watched her do sessions before and it looks like great fun! I'd imagine as a first session you'll be doing a lot of passing the ball and getting the horses used to it, and maybe trying some pick ups from stand still/ walk (I'm trying to think back to the sessions I've seen my sister do!). Why not swap horses for things like learning pick ups? I think your 18hh won't be the best for that!

 

[holeymoley]

Haha sounds great fun! Maybe just bandage/boot up/offer some protection to the legs just incase.

ps. don't envy being on the 18hh

 

[SatansLittleHelper]

Sounds like a whole heap of fun ??
We will definitely need vids/pics of your attempt from the 18hh ?????

 

[PapaverFollis]

I did a horse ball lesson while I was at university. It was great fun. I had the opposite issue in that the horse they were going to give me had come up lamr so they had to rope in a 12.2hh ish pony for me. I was very skinny at that age but 5ft7! ? I don't think I learned all that much about picking up technique since I basically just leaned down. I was a useful asset to my team though!

 

[Chippers1]

I've done a lesson before on my old pony (13hh) and although I was good at throwing and catching I really struggled picking it up from the floor ? I think because you don't just lean, you have to proper throw yourself over the side of the saddle, it was very daunting! I managed it once. You'll have so much fun though!

 

[lookingforadvice]

Horseball is so much fun!

I’m unsure why it’s not more popukar

 

[fankino04]

That sounds like great fun, don't forget to post pics after x

 

[EternalVetBills]

What a blast! That was hands down the most fun lesson I have ever had. We loved it, the horses loved it. It was amazing!

If anyone is near to the Hurstpierpoint/Hassocks area and is interested in having a go, please consider contacting William Jono. He was absolutely amazing, so calm, kind and really created a super fun and relaxed atmosphere.

In the end we had a bit of change up horse-wise and it was decided that I would ride my mare rather than my friend as she wasn't quite confident about dealing with Grace's tantrums. So I rode mine and she stayed on her 18hh beastie instead (I was slightly relieved!).

Three of the five horses took to it like ducks to water! We all knew Chi (the giant) would be absolutely fine with it all, but myself (the chunky little bay) and another girl (the little chestnut) were worried about how ours would be as they're both quite highly strung, but all three loved it. The other two really didn't take to it, one hated the ball and left quite early on and the other just couldn't cope with the horses trotting/cantering around/up to him. Shame for those riders but we did let them swap onto ours near the end.

Grace absolutely loved it and got very unnecessary about the whole event ?‍. You can tell which ones we are as I'm wearing a stupid hat with two bobbles and Grace is the sort of medium, chunky sized one out of the three bays.

https://imgur.com/AeJBBTo

https://imgur.com/BsrhbaX

https://imgur.com/7RH7my2

https://imgur.com/8C57evy

https://imgur.com/kPvg64E

Such an incredible experience that we all loved to bits. We've booked another session for two weeks time! Think we might be hooked!

 

[EternalVetBills]

More pics and a video as they wouldn't all load...

https://imgur.com/a/yFkjltu

https://imgur.com/a/d3u3RdK

https://imgur.com/hLKfYvf

https://imgur.com/I1m6HpO

https://imgur.com/fx8rRO7

ETA: It's a shame that the videos haven't loaded fully, they're quite a bit longer than a minute. I'll pop them.on YouTube in the morning and hopefully that will be better.

 

[PapaverFollis]

Fantastic! Glad you enjoyed it!

 

[MrsMozartleto]

What fun!

Thank you for the update. Had been wondering how you'd got on and hoping you all enjoyed it.

 

[ycbm]

These alternative sports are great fun to read about, but i think I'm a bit too old to start that one. You have to be able to pick it up if you drop it, I think?
.

 

[EternalVetBills]

These alternative sports are great fun to read about, but i think I'm a bit too old to start that one. You have to be able to pick it up if you drop it, I think?
.

No you don't! I was really surprised to find this out but if you really can't/don't want to pick up you don't have to. It was great fun trying to have a go at bending down, but our instructor was saying even on some of the proper teams they have people that don't like picking up.

I really would recommend to anyone of any age to give a go. It's so inclusive and accessible, my (completely riddled with arthritis and she finds it hard to even canter) Mum is going to join in next time as she said it just looked so incredible!

 

[MarvelVillis]

That looks so fun! To be honest I had never even heard of horseball but would quite like to give it a go since watching your vids. I played polo for about 6 months and it was so much fun. Makes a change from day to day riding!