Brave riders

Wagtail

Wagtail

Horse servant
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I was reading another thread where someone else was expressing concern about riding someone else's 'oated up' horse. There was a reply by someone suggesting the livery ought to move to somewhere that has a braver rider to ride their horse. That got me thinking, apart from the reply being rather rude IMO, when does 'brave' become foolish? Which ones of you would just get on anything? What age are you? I admit that I am no longer a 'brave' rider. I have a livery yard to run with full liveries and no staff. If I were to get hurt, I would face all kinds of physical, mental and financial problems. For that reason, I never get on a horse that I haven't seen ridden first, always wear a hat and usually a body protector too, and always wear a hat when handling horses on the ground if I have to move them anywhere further than the stable yard. I think these precautions are sensible, but I admit, I do sometimes wish I still felt the same way as when I was a teenager or in my twenties, when I would literally ride 'anything'.
 
sheep said:
I was a brave rider in my teens- would've got on anything and done anything. Now I'm more cautious; maybe it's an age thing?
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I think it also has to do with having children. My confidence took quite a downfall after having mine. It took years to get it back, though I did, and continued to compete show jumping and one day eventing. But since I got the yard, I have changed and become super cautious. Yeah, maybe it is age.
 
I will tend to get on anything, except a known bolter or a horse which has reared over backwards. I don't consider it "brave" but I think that if I can help the horse overcome it's issues then I can help it find a good home. Also I love backing and bringing on babies which requires some stickability at times!

ETA: sadly though I think these days may be over depending on what is going on with my back :(
 
Im 21 and i would pretty much get on anything. BUT i would want to see it ridden first if it was backed and i would also wear my skull cap and my body protector.

Having said that, i wouldnt jump just any horse
 
broke_but_happy said:
I will tend to get on anything, except a known bolter or a horse which has reared over backwards. I don't consider it "brave" but I think that if I can help the horse overcome it's issues then I can help it find a good home. Also I love backing and bringing on babies which requires some stickability at times!

ETA: sadly though I think these days may be over depending on what is going on with my back :(
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Back problems seem to be a horse rider's curse. I hardly know anyone with horses that doesn't suffer to some extent. I always have to wear a back support else I'll be crippled after riding several horses a day.
 
I was speaking to a friend of mine the other day who has lessons with my old trainer. Apparently, her horse reared over backwards with her during a lesson. My friend was very miffed that the trainer refused to get on her horse and sort it out. Apparently said 'No, you will have to get on yourself. I don't want to get hurt.' So is that a reasonable respnse from a professional trainer? I think so. Though I expect quite a few people would expect that it is part of their job?
 
broke_but_happy said:
Problem is Wagtail is that I am crippled without going near a saddle!
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Oh no! That is terrible. Must be very frustrating and exhausting. I have had very bad flare ups in the past where I can hardly walk, but thankfully I am mostly all right. I hope it's not a permanent thing for you. I have been so bad I couldn't put my socks on and thought I'd never get back to how I am now. I hope you get better too.
 
Thanks hun, and no I wouldn't have got on the pupils horse either. If I make a living out of riding other peoples horses then I wouldn't get on something that would be likely to put me out of action for a long period of time or even kill me!
 
Wagtail said:
I was speaking to a friend of mine the other day who has lessons with my old trainer. Apparently, her horse reared over backwards with her during a lesson. My friend was very miffed that the trainer refused to get on her horse and sort it out. Apparently said 'No, you will have to get on yourself. I don't want to get hurt.' So is that a reasonable respnse from a professional trainer? I think so. Though I expect quite a few people would expect that it is part of their job?
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I agree, I think it's a perfectly good responce, as a RI it's their job to teach riders to ride, it's not their job to get on and straighten other peoples quriky/dangerous horses out, by all means I do think a RI should ride a client's horse if they wish and it serves a purpose in showing a client how to improve their riding or educate the horse, but there is a difference in that and getting on a stupid horse that is acting about.
 
I'm a complete wuss and won't get on any horse I don't know well.
I have two young horses though, one is only 2 and I will back her, the other I bought just backed and I can cope with his nonsense, the bucking, rearing, napping. So I'm not a wuss with my own, but that's because I know what I've got. The unknown is what I'd be feared off.

To me their is a very thin line between brave and stupid where horses are concerned ;)
 
I think it depends if it's my own horse or someone elses. My own I'm brave but then I know my horse is not dangerous and I know his limits.
Someone elses horse I won't ride if there's a chance I will fall off, no way. I don't want to get injured so I can't ride my own horse!
Saying that I'm happy to ride other horses if I know they are OK. My mum got bucked off jumping her last horse, she didn't want to get back on him so I did. I got on him and jumped the fence he bucked her off over as I could see why he did it and I knew he wouldn't do it with me. He tried to but I stopped him and then he was fine. It was good because my mum could then see that he wasn't bad, he just needed her to pull his head up on landing if he was feeling bouncy ;).
My friend rides difficult horses for a living, rearers mainly. She's not stupid though, she gets them checked out physically and then goes back to basics long-reining ect, when it is time to ride she has her back protector on and generally takes as much risk as she can out of it. She's ridden so many rearers now that she knows how to ride them and stop them from doing it. Buckers however she tells me are a different matter, she won't ride those ;).

Sometimes 'brave' riders are those that are just experienced in dealing with certain problems.
 
I don't class it as brave to get on something that will spook at a leaf blowing across its path (or similar) due to the fact that it has had its feed upped. If I noticed a change like that in a horse I was riding I'd want to know why (if not YM as in case you stated).

I will get on a variety of horses as long as I see them ridden first. Its not being "scared" its being clever in my opinion if no one else will ride it then there's normally a good reason for it. I learned such when I got on a horse that proceeded to buck me continuously around the short & long side of a large SJ arena (app. 60X40m) with no qualms from the dealer until it reared vertically with me in the corner. Apparently it "had never done that before" right & a pig just flew past! I was lucky that horse didn't go over & riding it again wouldn't have been brave it would have just been stupid in my opinion.
 
I am brave. But I have a healthy respect for what a horse can do.
Issues with schooling and napping (Running backwards, the odd buck, bunnyhop rear) and I will get on it. Full blown rodeo displays, known rearers and bolters I will not get on. I am not going to be injured by someone elses horse! And if my own horse reared, bucked, napped etc I would not expect someone else to get on it and sort it out. I just wouldn't be able to live with myself if the horse injured someone else. Would rather it was me that was injured.
I am 20 btw.
 
For me the definition of bravery is being scared but doing something anyway. I have never felt scared on or around horses and will ride 'anything' but don't think that makes me brave... or stupid really... It's odd because I am not normally a confident person and can suffer fairly bad anxiety in other situations, NEVER around horses though. :)

ETA and when riding problem horses I would rather not know too much history - it's amazing how many confirmed 'rearers' or 'nappers' have never even tried..
 
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I wouldn't get on just anything. I would say I wouldn't get on known bolters or rearers but my current horse is a bolter and my loan horse last year had been known to rear and go over, and reared vertically once with me, I'm not sure what happened!

But I wouldn't get on anyone else's known bolter or rearer. Or any horse that I knew really wanted it's rider OFF!

I wouldn't get on a horse that was lairy because it's owner was overfeeding it for the same reasons I wouldn't get on a horse that was misbehaving because it had badly fitted tack!!
 
rhino said:
For me the definition of bravery is being scared but doing something anyway. I have never felt scared on or around horses and will ride 'anything' but don't think that makes me brave... or stupid really... It's odd because I am not normally a confident person and can suffer fairly bad anxiety in other situations, NEVER around horses though. :)

ETA and when riding problem horses I would rather not know too much history - it's amazing how many confirmed 'rearers' or 'nappers' have never even tried..
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Rhino you are so spot on here! I will tell you a little story about my bravery lol

I was at Woodlands which is a theme park for kids and they persuaded me to go across a little rope bridge, I am VERY VERY scared of heights, I go clammy, heart pounds and my legs stop working and I get dizzy, anyway I went across this bridge that was on an incline and was too scared to come back down, trouble was it got higher and higher, and I did it bit by bit, was soo scared, in the end I was about 30 feet up and it was wobbly on the nets, and my husband said do it for your kids they are looking scared because mummy had gone tearful.. anyway I did it and that was true bravery!

Now husband will literally get on all headcases and will boot them on if they are doing big bucks, this doesn't make him brave or gutsy because hes not scared in the first place, show him a feather and hes a gibbering mess haha
 
It depends on your definition of brave I suppose....theres no way I would be brave enough to go on a 'proper' XC course or team chasing....and I haven't been hunting since I was a kid.......but my current horse has required a lot of bringing-on:rolleyes:....slight understatement- we've gone through bucking/rearing and spinning.....buggering off when being mounted.... and him being far too unconfident to hack out alone.....and come through the other side.
On paper- if I'd known then what I was going to have to do to get him sorted....I would have said no way- too much for me. But we've got there. Small steps and all that. Don't get me wrong- there were days when I had to force myself to ride him and literally felt sick before getting on. God knows why I did it actually, must be mad rather than brave.....but now I know him and we have a great bond and theres trust there from both sides its been worth it.

If he didn't belong to me....I most likely wouldn't have though. And I wouldn't have expected anyone else to get on and sort him out- pro or no. Not fair to ask anyone else to risk their neck.
 
poppymoo said:
It depends on your definition of brave I suppose....theres no way I would be brave enough to go on a 'proper' XC course or team chasing....and I haven't been hunting since I was a kid.......but my current horse has required a lot of bringing-on:rolleyes:....slight understatement- we've gone through bucking/rearing and spinning.....buggering off when being mounted.... and him being far too unconfident to hack out alone.....and come through the other side.
On paper- if I'd known then what I was going to have to do to get him sorted....I would have said no way- too much for me. But we've got there. Small steps and all that. Don't get me wrong- there were days when I had to force myself to ride him and literally felt sick before getting on. God knows why I did it actually, must be mad rather than brave.....but now I know him and we have a great bond and theres trust there from both sides its been worth it.

If he didn't belong to me....I most likely wouldn't have though. And I wouldn't have expected anyone else to get on and sort him out- pro or no. Not fair to ask anyone else to risk their neck.
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^^^this was exactly the kind of experiences I was asking for in my other thread (How much is too much??). Well done for persevering!
 
Having worked with racehorses for many years and being a jockey for a number of them too. I am brave on a TB, I rode all of the quirky horses at work and could settle them. A couple who were complete lunatics I made myself ride because if I didn't then that was the end of the line. I schooled all of the bad jumpers and would like to think that I helped them learn something. I also would rather not know anything about a horse before I got on it as I would rather not be worrying about the "if's" all the time and just get on with it. Sometimes it was just mind over matter.

Having said all that give me a sharp or piece of work TB over any other breed any day of the week. I have broken ID's all be it 4yo never handled in their life ID's. Some of them have been plain nasty. I still had to get on them though as that was what I was being payed to do and I got the job done and turned them around into half decent hunters. Again mind over matter.

I'm 30 and don't think I'm losing my bottle just yet. I have had knocks to my confidence in the past but then you have a good day and it all comes back. I think you just gotta grit your teeth some days. If you let your demons take over then you may as well call it a day.

P.S one of the things I want to do before I die is ride a bull in a rodeo. Maybe I'm not brave, just mad :D
 
Devonshire dumpling said:
Rhino you are so spot on here! I will tell you a little story about my bravery lol
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I'm sorry but your story really made me laugh. I also felt a bit guilty too as I did something similar to my dad when I was really little - we were at the swimming pool and I wanted to jump off the high diving board, but I wanted him to go first; now my dad absolutely HATES heights but (knees shaking) he climbed up and jumped off. I made it halfway up the ladder and decided I didn't fancy doing it after all so climbed back down :o Don't think he has ever forgiven me!

I'm fine with all the traditional 'scary' things like spiders, heights and take part in quite a few risk sports, just find social situations really really scary at times :confused:
 
I think I'd get on anything once unless they were visibly dangerous to ride/ have a very bad track record. But then again I'm still a teenager who thinks I'm invincible :o
Not a fan of bolters though, they really shake me up. Once famously switched off a bit of a bolter on to KP (killer pony- who was actually a 16hh horse but was a right so and so) when I was about 11 cause I refused to do the gymkhana games on this bolting pony. Some horses I just don't click with and they know it!
 
I don't think anyone is less 'brave' to take a moment later on in life to consider how much damage a particular horse can do to you- we learn from all the previous whoopsies how wrong things can go in a very short space of time!

I used to work for someone who was brilliant with the very naughty ones, but every single one was checked for physical problems, then taken back to basics eg long reining, lunging before they got on. The philosophy was 'how am I supposed to have control riding it before I have manners on the floor'

I certainly wouldnt get on something I saw once a week, or only rode infrequently if I genuinely thought it would bury me regularly. And never on anything that had no self preservation, because if they don't give a monkeys about themselves, they absolutely wont mind squishing you at the first opportunity.

'Spose this makes me a wimpy old codger ;)
 
rhino said:
I'm sorry but your story really made me laugh. I also felt a bit guilty too as I did something similar to my dad when I was really little - we were at the swimming pool and I wanted to jump off the high diving board, but I wanted him to go first; now my dad absolutely HATES heights but (knees shaking) he climbed up and jumped off. I made it halfway up the ladder and decided I didn't fancy doing it after all so climbed back down :o Don't think he has ever forgiven me!

I'm fine with all the traditional 'scary' things like spiders, heights and take part in quite a few risk sports, just find social situations really really scary at times :confused:
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Do you notice how I made it all about me, and made my husband look a complete and utter wuss with feathers etc????? Meanie to your poor daddy!! haha
 
Im 28 and as a side line to my full time job im a dressage trainer and I also school horses (especially difficult ones) for people. I had no fear at all and would get on absolutly anything until 5 weeks ago - i got on a horse that i've ridden and hacked regularly for a friend of mine, the horse had bronced with my friend and got her off and she had lost her confidence. Having not seen the horse deposit my friend I had no concept of what she was like, to cut a long story short i got on the horse in the arena, walked off and she went bizerk broncing and slamming off all 4 feet into the air and twisting at the same time. I stayed on but when i realised she wasnt stopping i bailed out, unfortunately i hit the fence on the way down and broke the end of my tibia and ruptured all the ligaments in my ankle.

I have since lost my nerve and although i am riding again im not at all confident to start with, however once i have got on and got the horse going i am absolutly fine. I have got to start riding a difficult horse for someone next week which is going to be a challenge for me, as although the horse is quite naughty (no physical problem just teenage years) ive never been bothered by his antics but now it is worrying me slightly. I figured once ive got on once and delt with it i'll be fine!!
 
Devonshire dumpling said:
Do you notice how I made it all about me, and made my husband look a complete and utter wuss with feathers etc????? Meanie to your poor daddy!! haha
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I know, though I did find it really funny recently when my (very) little 1/2 brother did the same thing - although to be fair he did then jump off too.

And I can totally understand your point - I mean how many people have ever been killed/suffered serious injuries caused by feathers?! Falling from great heights however...
 
I'd generally get on anything. I hate rearers so I wouldn't knowingly get on one. Like Little Squirrel I work with racehorses, though I have never been or have any intentions of being a jockey. Your paid to do a job and you get on with it. If you can't ride a particular horse you give it one of the boys lol! We can dispose of them!

I don't think it's a case of being brave it's a case of knowing your limits.
 
since seeing what a rearing horse can do to it's rider when it goes wrong or over backwards i won't get on a known rearer. until i had my kids i was happy to get on any other kind of problem horse and in fact the worse they were the more fun i had, after having my kids i've lost my 'fearless' attitude and have realised that i don't bounce anymore, i can't risk an injury so no longer ride horses i don't know.

there's a pony on the yard that has a high head (and neck) carriage to the point it looks like it's trying to pretend to be an emu/ostrich, just seeing that head so high up makes me wary, the owner asked if i wanted to ride but i said no even though she was doing her best to convince me he was safe. i now associate high head/neck carriage to a rearer but i know that's not always the case, it's just how my mind works after having kids!
 
rhino said:
I know, though I did find it really funny recently when my (very) little 1/2 brother did the same thing - although to be fair he did then jump off too.

And I can totally understand your point - I mean how many people have ever been killed/suffered serious injuries caused by feathers?! Falling from great heights however...
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HEHE I just wanted to big myself up, I didnt bother to mention hes a fireman and although hes not particularily scared of his job, it sometimes takes guts to walk into a building with the ceilings falling in and you can't see a cm infront of your face to do a search... but thats not the point, hes scared of featherss hahaha what a wuss!! Apparently when he was a little lad he was walking along the canal and saw something in the reeds and pulled it out and it was a dead duckling , hes been traumatised since hahahaha... i often throw a feather at him for the sheer fun of it, hes used to get chased by the turkey too hehehehe
 
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