are YOU a novice?!

E

EquestrianFairy

Well-Known Member
Joined
28 October 2006
Messages
6,502
Visit site
Using the post further down regarding novices, its interesting to note what we think of each other...

So am i a novice?

So, i can do all horse care basics, (this includes bandaging!)
I can canter, trot, walk and jump small jumps but dont think i could cope with a course without more tuition.

I know when a horse falls out on a shoulder, and when they take the wrong lead (thats purely on a *feeling* its wrong)
I cannot school a horse without help, quite frankly i dont know what im supposed to do!
I can canter/gallop through fields- will take out fresh horses hacking but NOT renowned naughty horses. If its known to bolt i will not ride it. I dont mind some jogging but im not happy with bucking broncos etc.

I have a good seat, so ive been told, and light hands.
I have a good balance, but take away my stirrups and im abit wonky!

I have lessons twice a week.

I have only ever been to a proper show once and entered some fun classes, would love to go ahain but i have no transport so im limited.
Never done a pleasure ride before (although conquering that one this weekend)
Never done a XC course, never been apart of a RC (again, really want to but no transport)
Have done a grass roots dressage test and failed miserably.
CAN be nervous but i overcome it alot, i have a lack of self belife which hinders me at times.

Am i a novice?!
grin.gif
 
EF - I would say you are a competent novice
smile.gif


I would say I'm not a novice but I have definitely still got a lot to learn.

I think that those who say they are 'experienced enough' and close their mind to other opinions and further development are heading for a fall!
blush.gif
 
Im a competent novice as well I think.
Have done BSJA BN and Disco, loads of riding club stuff and end up on most of the RC teams, been riding 20 years, but I am still a novice as riding has never come naturally to me and I struggle to learn new things and need a lot of tuition!
Have owned 4 horses and had 3 loans but only 2 of these horses were actually competitive horses, including the current one, rest were hacks really.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Im a competent novice as well I think.
Have done BSJA BN and Disco, loads of riding club stuff and end up on most of the RC teams, been riding 20 years, but I am still a novice as riding has never come naturally to me and I struggle to learn new things and need a lot of tuition!
Have owned 4 horses and had 3 loans but only 2 of these horses were actually competitive horses, including the current one, rest were hacks really.

[/ QUOTE ]

See, now compare you to me and your nowhere near a 'novice' IMO
smile.gif
 
Very difficult to classify yourself - where do you draw the line? Competition? Professional workplace experience? Academic qualifications? Age? Personally, I have competed to Newcomers level, have worked for two years as a show jumping groom, have no equine academic qualifications other than Pony Club tests but have owned horses all my life (20 years)
smile.gif
I wouldnt describe myself as a novice....I would say I am experienced, but certainly no expert!
smile.gif
 
You can be a novice at riding but very experienced at caring for horses.

I am the opposite - I am an experienced ex-competition rider, but I have absolutely no skills when it comes to plaiting a mane (competed in SJ you see - we don't do that!)
wink.gif
or naming all the different parts of the skeleton.
 
ok - this taken from Webster's dictionary

NOVICE: 1. One who is new in any business, profession, or calling; one unacquainted or unskilled; one yet in the rudiments; a beginner.

In an earlier post someone mentioned something about who we compare ourselves to - I think this has a lot to do with what we all class as a novice.
 
i think we are all novices one way or another.

i certanly would say i was a "novice" regarding BE/BD/SJ

I know the "mechanics" of said disaplines but i dont do it on a regular basis to be able to say i was proficient..
 
I really don't know Was kind of talking about this with a friend the other day.

I have schooled my horse to medium (although still haven't Q Novice regionals due to vet issues - working on it). She didn't jump before I had her and will now jump 1m tracks - but fillers have become an issue??? She can be prone to broncoing and last horse was dreadful for this, she hasn't had me off for about 3 years (touch wood).

I've some how always manged to have fizzy horses (arab, TB Dutch WB x TB) and am not always the most confident but force myself to seem to the horse asthough I am.

I really don't know
 
im a novice definately. im capable enough, but all the confidence i had when i was younger and doin mounted games and stuff has disappeared!

i can walk/trot/canter/jump (bareback as well) im not the most confident jumper but I was doing up to 3' on Roo (13.1hh pony) and am happy at that height on a horse I trust.

i bought a green giraffe of a horse a year ago, and did a lot of re-schooling with him, including teaching him to canter under saddle (he gets the right leads everytime and his transitions from all paces are fab) and i'm teaching him to jump at the moment under instruction. so yeah, a novice, but i can cope with caring and looking after a horse by myself..
 
Novice - wouldn't pass a BHS stage one and I've been riding for over 15 years haha. Can't bandage, plait..know enough to keep a horse healthy and happy but that's it!
 
I think I am a novice but my friend tells me otherwise. If I'm entirely honest I over-horsed myself when I bought Bobby Bobster and it was a steep learning curve and I couldn't have done it without Kate.

Buying a 16.3 WB who had basically stood in a field for 4 years as your first horse (when I hadn't ridden for 16 years!) is not a move I would generally recommend!
shocked.gif
crazy.gif
But I love him and I wouldn't swap him for the world.
grin.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Im a competent novice as well I think.
Have done BSJA BN and Disco, loads of riding club stuff and end up on most of the RC teams, been riding 20 years, but I am still a novice as riding has never come naturally to me and I struggle to learn new things and need a lot of tuition!
Have owned 4 horses and had 3 loans but only 2 of these horses were actually competitive horses, including the current one, rest were hacks really.

[/ QUOTE ]

See, now compare you to me and your nowhere near a 'novice' IMO
smile.gif


[/ QUOTE ]

I see what youre saying and thank you
smile.gif
but I really dont see myself as anything more than that.
OTOH, Having said that Im currently competing a friends 5 year old (upon request, and hes never competed before, and we're doing rather well) and another friend has gone away all Summer and left me with her horse to play with.... so they must think Im better than novice!! Maybe Im an experienced novice??
 
I'd happily try out a horse advertised as "Not Novice Ride", feeling there's a good chance I could get on with it. If someone offered me a novice level eventer (AS IF!!) and said pop that round a novice track, I couldn't, I haven't the skill or experience. It's all relative and people have different strengths and weaknesses. I consider myself reasonably good with sharp and quirky horses because I grew up riding cheap/mad/lame ones but competitively I'm definitely a novice.
 
a novice to me means a beginer, then progress to advanced , followed by profesional and expert. but i lack confidence so that brings me back to a novice i suppose.
grin.gif
 
Nearly talked myself out of a job with this question a few years ago.

I applied to teach at a Summer Camp in America (at the time I had PC B test and had evented at Novice although it was easier back then!).

Telephone interview and the woman asked 'would I consider myself an advanced rider' - I replied 'no' - as a result I nearly didn't get the job.

When I got there I discovered that 'advanced' in her mind was able to walk / trot / canter on a school horse and pop a little fence.
 
I would class myself and novice,been riding 30 years, was professional groom, have small stud now and still doing every course that comes on the market, as each one teaches me something new.
I am vey glad this came up as we were at a riding club festival the other weekend and there was a class for complete novices. 12 in class 6 were totally novices on slow steady horses, 6 were no where near novice and though it really unfair when the judge pulled the obviously not novice riders in the first 6 as it must of really knocked the confidence of the riders who were proper novices
 
Hmm I would probably consider myself to be a relativly competent novice but I am not really sure.
I have ridden for around 16 years (almost 20yro now), I have had horses on loan to me but also had one owned by me or my father. Have only commpeted unafiliated in all disipline.
Currently re-schooling an ex racehorse, can work horses correctly and improve them or at least understand how to improve them and try and work on this but it doesn't always happen there and then. Can perform standard lateral movements.
However I do have major confidence issues with jumping, although I am currently trying to work out if it is the actual jumping or the lesson situation which is more more off putting.
Have my BHS 1 + 2 riding and care and a national diploma in horse management, currently at uni on an equine science degree.

I wouldn't class myself as being an experienced rider, unsure if anyone else would agree or disagree with me though.
 
I think I might be a novice but I'm not sure, I can even do rising trot and had a canter the other day.
Next week we're going to do some jumping!
I'm going to buy my own horse soon, so I'll be an experienced horsewoman before too long.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top