Anyone feel like they've just not got anywhere??

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Sologirl

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(Long post alert - sorry!)

I learnt to ride at the age of 6 with the usual weekly riding lesson, and am now almost 30 (gulp). I have owned 2 horses, one of which was too much for me, the other a proper ex-riding school neddy, who wouldn't have put a foot out of line for all the carrots in the country.

I have ALWAYS preferred hacking, right from the start. My sister was always the braver one who liked to jump etc and I was happier to keep four feet on the ground. I hated lessons - the embarrassment of getting things wrong, coupled with an inability to hear what the instructor was saying (I have a mod/severe hearing loss, at its worst in an echoey indoor or windy outdoor school!) and this has come with me all through my life, to the point where I just didn't take lessons, just hacked everywhere and popped the odd log whilst out.

The trouble is - now I feel extremely under-skilled having ridden (albeit on-and-off) for 24 years! I see people with less than a year's experience competing and riding extremely well, and I feel like my deliberate avoidance of schooling/jumping/training has come back to bite me! Now I would give anything to be able to get on a horse and take it round XC, showjumping (at low levels!!) and generally be a more confident rider, but it means biting the bullet and going back to lessons - only this time I will be honest with the instructor, tell them about my hearing problem and have one-to-one instruction rather than a big group.

Sorry, just a bit of a moan really - although I have LOVED hacking (and still do, it'll always be my favourite thing), I just want to be more of a "do a bit of everything" rider! Anyone else in the same boat, or have you made much more use of your riding time? LOL :D
 
huge hugs!! And well done you! you have decided you want something and are willing to do what it takes to get there :D

You will have loads of fun on the way too

All I will say is that even with lessons it can be a slow progress, I have had loads of lessons with different instructors over the years and still a crap rider. HOWEVER before the problems with the horse I have just lost I had recently found a new instructor and wow I have come on in leaps and bounds

Go for it and enjoy!!
 
I know just how you feel - I have always been a happy hacker, but watching my youngest daughter bomb around on her pony, then progress to her new horse, doing amazing flatwork and eventing .... I feel I am missing out, and want to do more. The idea of having lessons just makes me squirm, as I am a less than average rider and have terrible joint problems. Last week, I was very brave ( :rolleyes: ) and had a lesson on an equine simulator, which was hysterical, but I did also learn a lot too, and the lady was lovely, so I shall go back and have some more lessons on either my horse or one of hers.

I know that some riding teachers use headsets and microphones on themselves/clients to over come the problems of people not being able to hear in a big school - would that be an option for you?

Go for it, you will have lots of fun, its never too late to learn a bit more. :D x
 
Sprout said:
I know that some riding teachers use headsets and microphones on themselves/clients to over come the problems of people not being able to hear in a big school - would that be an option for you?
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I've looked into that, even contacted local Riding for the Disabled but nobody seems to have anything like that so far - will keep looking though! I do have hearing aids which I could wear but they are so expensive I'm terrified of one falling out whilst riding LOL :D

Glad I'm not alone! I'm already taking the next step - attempting to buy someone's Groupon voucher for a discounted private lesson, fingers crossed they get back to me before it expires! :D I'm far better at giving advice than taking it - whenever someone comes to me with a dilemma I ask them "Which would you regret more - if you did it, or if you didn't do it?" - so why can't I apply that to myself?? lol
 
Please don't compare yourself with others! The most important thing is for you to enjoy your ride.. If competition and jumping is not your thing, you can learn them slowly if you feel that you need it.

Just enjoy the ride please~!
 
Me too!!!!!

I rode as a child, but with hindsight my lessons were not that great. Big group, lots of point and kick. I got my first horse when i was a teen and just spent most of my time yeehahing about the countryside.

I got back into riding for about 2 years in 2006-2008 and did my Stage 1 pt at an equestrian college in the evening and really enjoyed it, went on to share a happy hacker who liked to jump- log popping etc and had a great time.... but didn't actually improve my riding.

A few months ago I came on here and asked for recomendations for ridng schools locally to me, with good horses i could improve my riding on. I have been having lessons now since march, half hour private and i have come on leaps and bounds (if i do say so myself!!!) more than several years of group lessons ever taught me! (If you live in Herts/Bucks, I cannot recomend Rosehall Farm highly enough!)

I am so pleased i bit the bullet. I was so embarrased when i started. I felt awkward, generally useless and like the instructor would be secretly thinking WTF??? This woman has apparently been riding for 20yrs!?? But it has been brilliant. I now drop my youngest son off at nursery on a thursday morning and have 45min of pure fun. Today was a brilliant day and I am generally thrilled with life (can you tell??)
 
Thank you all so much for your fab advice and replies! I'm definitely going to look into the headset thing - and am moments away from clicking "book" on my private lesson! Yay!! Thanks so much again!!
 
You sound like me!!

Grew up with the weekly riding school lessons, ponies knew their job. It was more a chance to ride than to actually learn anything!

Started sharing horses when i left school at 16 (so been riding ten years by this point but still none the wiser on how to school a horse!) Had fun with the horses i shared, had a few lessons but i wasn't overly interested.

Then got my own horse 6 years ago, decided i wanted to ride 'properly' but took ages to find myself an instructor i could get on with (i get confused easily with riding! lol) mixed with swapping between instructors ponies health issues. We didn't progress very quickly, although I was so excited when we won our 1st prelim class! Unfortunately my horse has had to be retired due to his medical issues.

Have only ridden on and off for the past couple of years and now have bought myself a 5 year old, have a great instructor and now feel like i am getting somewhere (on a good day ;) ... 19 years later from when i first sat on a horse! :rolleyes:
 
I have a couple of friends who are para riders who use either headset microphone thingummies or hearing aids and a communicator. Definitely worth looking in to. Kathryn Wheelock has her own website and may be able to offer advice.
Now you're a grown up hopefully you will find it easier to explain to your instructor how you feel, your difficulties and what you want to achieve. A good instructor will work with you.
 
Sprout said:
Have you "booked" it yet .... go on press the button, you know you want to. :D x
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Lesson is booked! A week today :D

Abbijay, thanks, I will check out that website and you're right, I need to be brutally honest with the instructor and tell her exactly what I can/can't do - a lot easier now than when I was a very shy 10 year old LOL

Thanks again all :)
 
Sologirl said:
Thank you all so much for your fab advice and replies! I'm definitely going to look into the headset thing - and am moments away from clicking "book" on my private lesson! Yay!! Thanks so much again!!
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Perhaps also video bits of the lesson or ask a friend to sit on the sidelines or set one up but stay out the way. For bits where you can't hear what they're saying or don't understand, it's brilliant seeing where you went wrong :)

Pan
 
I am 100% with you on this! I've been in the same boat, though I've got my own horse, I started when I was 7, and just mucked about as a child, gradually worked my way along to ending up with Saf. I've spent the last 8 years or so as a happy hacker, but realised last year that I will have been riding 20 years this year, and what have I achieved? Not very much at all really. I booked myself in for a riding lesson (on a school horse) which I loved (haven't has a lesson since I was 11) and that alone really motivated me to push on and learn more. I am now planning on having lessons on Saffron, and have already had a couple of goes at Interdressage (brilliant for motivation and great if like me, you're a bit scared of 'real' showing).

We of course will require a full write up of your lesson - go girl!!
 
I know exactly how you feel. I'm completely deaf in my left ear and my right ear has only about 60% hearing. I used to dread riding lessons as I'd just follow everyone else around without a clue what I was supposed to do.

In the end I found an instructor I really liked and made a point of telling her I was nearly completely deaf. She now walks around the school with me, pretty much shouting at me as she knows I can't understand her otherwise. If anything she can be too loud sometimes but I'm not telling her! ;)

Don't hold yourself back because of this, you have every right to access the same lessons everyone else can. I'd suggest exaggerating your deafness though so you don't have to keep saying pardon? Couldn't hear you! I hate having to ask people to repeat themselves but unless I can lip read them it's pretty hopeless if they don't shout!

Good luck and don't be shy, the end results are well worth it :) x
 
Yes I've not got anywhere. Over the years I've had way more set backs than progressive steps forward and I think I'm probably at a point now where I'm more rubbish than when I started because back then at least I had obliviousness-to-danger and an un-worn-out body on my side. :p
 
Where are you based as I know an instructor that uses one of those sets (because I hated the damn thing!).
 
Thank you all so much for your replies, I feel way more positive now! I just hope that my lesson is good, I've read not-so-great things about the riding centre since booking it!! :confused:

Broke But Happy - unfortunately I'm all the way up in Edinburgh!
 
A walkie talkie in your jacket would help you hear he instructor. My OH does this so he can stay in the warm and give me feedback on how my pony is going when we school at home
 
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