Criticise me!! Reply to "youngster learns big canter".

[UnaB]

I dont have many pics of me on board as i never have anyone around to take them! I have a few video stills and stuff though. I broke my mare all by myself (first time ever!!) at the beginnng of the year and she has been the perfect horse, has not objected to anything, at all! Never once had so much as a buck. I have been very lucky.

This was the first time she was sat on, rising 4:

This was the very first time i rode her properly, rising 4:

And fast forward 8 months, this was her first time jumping about 3 months ago:

 

[nikkiportia]

Oh OK then!! Here's mine
Apollo, lightly backed this year, just a bit of walking around before I turned him away again, bring on next year!!!

Asking for a turn, hence the open rein

As you can see, he was a real handful

 

[noodle_]

ok so no pics of me riding my youngster but...

shes 4.... i have managed to get her over several jumpsies, rode bareback, conquered tractors, rode in an open field, mastered a XC bank (not on purpose - i was trying to get back on her and used that she turned and carried on up the damn thing.....) and done my goal of a dressage test. Shes fab horse and i cant ask for anything more off her - i want to do BD but even if i dont get there we will just have fun;;

 

[Jenni_]

theres not much feedback going on! hehe

i would but im at work and cant see al the pics - but i can see UnaB so ill comment

Looks very comfertable and accepting of the rider, contact looks soft and loose so she is free to stretch her neck...
2nd pic, your seat is balanced and hand are forward, giving her the room to stretch her neck - she just needs to learn to do it! your looking up, shoulders back, and give no indication you are going to collapse onto her neck after the jump

 

[vicky86]

Ok humour me I have a few. First one is zak no ridden picture of him but this is a pic as a 3yo

Mature Zak -

Digli the second time he was ever sat on

About 6 weeks after being backed -

First show as a 4yo

5 yo -

And finally...Neo
Can't find any pics of the day I backed him but this was about 6weeks on (he is 4)

Ok sorry for massive picutre over load and I know ive posted some of these pictures before so sorry for boring people ;-)

 

[UnaB]

theres not much feedback going on! hehe

i would but im at work and cant see al the pics - but i can see UnaB so ill comment

Looks very comfertable and accepting of the rider, contact looks soft and loose so she is free to stretch her neck...
2nd pic, your seat is balanced and hand are forward, giving her the room to stretch her neck - she just needs to learn to do it! your looking up, shoulders back, and give no indication you are going to collapse onto her neck after the jump

Awww, thank you for the nice comments, thats a nice confidence boost, maybe im doing something right afterall! I am very lucky to have such a wonderful horse who has made all of her training very easy though.

She stretches her neck beautifully over jumps when she is loose jumping and I hope it will come when she has a rider on too. That was the one and only time i've jumped her with me on board so it probably felt incredibly weird for her.

Looking at everyones photos we are much further behind most of the others of the same age, but Una has taken a long time to mature and learn to balance herself so I think we will have to continue to take things really slowly.

 

[rowy]

Heres me riding my 3 year old just before i turned him away in june (he is still turned away now until march)

criticism very welcome as do equine sports science and aiming to compete highly in dressage so will be very useful

 

[trojanpony]

3 years 10 months
Hacking


Ayla - very nice!! Is it a Teke?

 

[Jenni_]

Awww, thank you for the nice comments, thats a nice confidence boost, maybe im doing something right afterall! I am very lucky to have such a wonderful horse who has made all of her training very easy though.

She stretches her neck beautifully over jumps when she is loose jumping and I hope it will come when she has a rider on too. That was the one and only time i've jumped her with me on board so it probably felt incredibly weird for her.

Looking at everyones photos we are much further behind most of the others of the same age, but Una has taken a long time to mature and learn to balance herself so I think we will have to continue to take things really slowly.

no bother

dont worry bout being behind - better to take it at you own pace and do it properly!

 

[smellsofhorse]

Unab

Dont feel you have to be at a cercain level by acertain age.
Just go with your horse and do what feels right and they are comfortable with.

nikkiportia

You horse looks very similar to mine!
Maybe just a ltlle chunckier though!

Just shows how much time and effort we put into our horse and how much they mean to us!

 

[wispagold]

Wow there are some seriously nice youngsters on here!

I want to join in! This is my 15.2 connie x tb mare. I bought her as a 2yr old when I was 17. She is 8 now and successfully jumping BE novices but she is the most tricky, tempermental horse I have had. I will appologise now for the picture overload!

As a just backed 3 yr old:

jumping for the very first time

Her first show (4 years old) aweful position, I have now learnt to sit up!

jumping as a 4 yr old

first xc comp

And finally as a 5yr old doing the pony club intermediate team SJ (we came 3rd!)

 

[3DE]

Lol here goes - me this time...

First the flat. 4yo Tequila

Jess first jumpies

No doubt I'll get jumped on for this one and not looking where I'm going lol, and wearing wellies, and jumping in the long grass
Reuben jumping at 5 (backed at 4)

No pics of my current youngsters ridden yet Sundae is 30 months and Imperial 20 months...

All of these pics are over 3 years old now - been a while since I have backed my own. I can wait till the spring

 

[skewby]

Rising 5, reserve coloured champ at Herts County

WOW!

 

[skewby]

Maybe in original thread the rider looked worse as they are still pictures.

I don't believe so. Didn't post on original thread but riding was horrible, as for the fence, well...these are the folks who ruin horses IMHO. Hugely heartened to see this thread of youngsters being started kindly, knowledgeably, slowly and sympathetically. As the other thread left me rather down xx

 

[sleepingdragon10]

My 4 yr old New Forest.

 

[nikkiportia]

Unab

nikkiportia

You horse looks very similar to mine!
Maybe just a ltlle chunckier though!

Just shows how much time and effort we put into our horse and how much they mean to us!

It would seem I have a common looking neddy, as a couple of other people have said that to me recntly
He's not as chunky as he looks in those backing pics, as he was on the portly side at that time, but he is rather broad!

 

[UnaB]

Unab

Dont feel you have to be at a cercain level by acertain age.
Just go with your horse and do what feels right and they are comfortable with.

Yeah, thats really how i've been thinking. As im not on a livery yard or anything i dont have the "competition" of seeing how other youngsters are doing so im a bit blinkered on our progress, seeing everyones horses on here has brought home how slow we are going lol!! The horse could certainly be a lot further ahead, its me thats holding us back as im happy with where we're at right now, i plan to put her in foal in the spring, and what with having no transport to get her out to shows it doesnt seem worth teaching her more than the basics are the moment.

Maybe i should be working more towards getting her more "correct" in outline more consistently and stuff, but I can hand-on-heart say, you would never find a better happy hacker!! lol She had her first hack a week after she was first ridden as a 3yr old, has only EVER been hacked alone, and never once has she had a tantrum or done any proper spooking. The only spooking she does is to stop and eyeball the scary thing, then walk up and sniff at it!! As someone who's riding consists 99.9% of hacking, i cant tell you how valuable that is to me!! lol