Do others ride your horse better than you ?

I put my boy on loan for a year and he is now back and at home and the loanee still comes and rides him ... She rides him so much better than me, she gets a tune out of him where I dont really get the same buzz from riding him anymore and it shows in our riding. On the ground he's a daddy's boy but ridden we just cant gel!
 
When I messed up my shoulder my dressage instructor rode my horse for a while. She trains the junior dressage team so def rode her better than me!

I loved watching and she helped iron out some issues I had.
 
My little horse is very emotional I think when it comes to being ridden. Only two other people have ever sat on him, both better riders than me in many ways, or at least ride in a similar style, but when they do he opens his mouth and grinds his teeth (even though he is bitless) and gets tense and stressed. I get back in and his whole face softens and he is back in his happy comfort zone again. My fault probably for not exposing him to other people sooner but he was so erratic and wild when younger I didn't trust him not to cause an incident.
 
I once let one of the other liveries ride my cob in a showing class - she had been hacking him for me once a week for a while, so I thought it would be nice if she could compete him as a treat (her horse was poorly at the time). She was used to riding him, so I thought it wouldn't be a problem. Anyway, first time practising in the double (he had a snaffle for everyday), he went really well for her and she was very pleased that he listened and responded well.

Second time she rode him in the double, he had completely sussed her out and highlighted all her faults, wouldn't do as she asked and generally was a pain in the bum! It was hilarious! He had such a smug face as he knew he was being awkward and was enjoying it.

Anyway, she took him to the show and he behaved beautifully (as he always did) and she was thrilled to come 3rd in the class with him, as was I.
 
I only let one person ride my mare, and when he gets off and I get back on, he has inevitably ironed out the issues I was having. He just has an incredible feel and horses want to work for him.

No-one else rides my gelding as he wont let anyone else on him.
 
I've had a couple of pro's ride Topaz and get lovely results, particularly before I took up dressage myself with her. However she is a sensitive beast and I think gets quite stressed about change and needs someone she knows and trusts to get the best from her. We don't tend to let other people ride her too often these days, but then my mum is super protective of her :o.

Doodle I've never actually had many pro's ride her, and in our show days ride judges were always hit or miss, she likes a contact and being told what to do :o so those that expected her to go and do with minimal input she didn't tend to go well for.

Skylla has only had my mum sit on her so far, really should get other people on her at some point!
 
I think it's really important as part of a horses education that they can accept different riders on them. Sometimes they may go better, sometimes worse, but I'd consider it a failing on my part if I couldn't confidently put up an average amateur onto one of my horses under supervision.
 
ihatework said:
I think it's really important as part of a horses education that they can accept different riders on them. Sometimes they may go better, sometimes worse, but I'd consider it a failing on my part if I couldn't confidently put up an average amateur onto one of my horses under supervision.
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Agreed, when I produce a young horse, I treat it like it might need to be sold at some point. They need to accept different riders and get used to slightly different movements in the saddle etc.

Unfortunately my gelding came to me as a fragile, psychologically scarred 7 year old. For safety reasons, I do not allow others on him anymore. He will never be sold on and will be put to sleep if anything happens to me.
 
Yes my instructor has ridden my horse and done a dressage test on him and of course he went better for her!! Hence why she is teaching me. It helps me if she gets on him at times so she can see/feel why something isn't going right. Noone else has ever wanted to ride him whilst I've had him - don't know why!!!
 
Goodness, most of the time definitely! It's my hobby and professionals make it look easy as it's their job! However there are a couple of "buts".

I took Baby Brian to a showing clinic once with a pro rider that does very well in the higher echelons of the showing world. He rode Brian in my opinion, very poorly, bullying him the whole time, which for a young horse with a questionable attitude was not the way forward. The horse tried everything in his power to get him off his back. When I was finally allowed back on, the horse breathed a massive sigh of relief and went like a dream.

Tiger takes some knowing and I know the buttons to press now and can easily get him going well where as other people get on and he does a lovely camel impression but when pros get used to him he goes out of this world for them.

All my horses are used to having lots of different people on their backs and I am often proud to see them respond and react accordingly to different levels of riders.
 
I also would worry if a horse couldn't be ridden by a good professional. It would tell me something about the horse's personality and/or generosity. I've known horses in the past that went fairly sweetly for their rider because they weren't asked to do very much but with a pro rider aboard they would throw their toys out of the pram because they were required to do some work!
ihatework said:
I think it's really important as part of a horses education that they can accept different riders on them. Sometimes they may go better, sometimes worse, but I'd consider it a failing on my part if I couldn't confidently put up an average amateur onto one of my horses under supervision.
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ihatework said:
I think it's really important as part of a horses education that they can accept different riders on them. Sometimes they may go better, sometimes worse, but I'd consider it a failing on my part if I couldn't confidently put up an average amateur onto one of my horses under supervision.
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yes I agree... I think Kira is one of those who is rather quirky and kind of needs her own style of riding - she's one that could easily erupt if ridden without a degree of sensitivity to those quirks so you could say that only I could ride her... but the very point of my training her is to make it less of an issue, and to make her more *normal* and rideable for anyone!

The more normal she becomes the better I consider we've done ;)
 
Depends on who the person is and how experienced they are!
Mine has just gone out on loan. The girl who has him is better over fences/ jumping than me and they clicked straight away whereas I ride him better on the flat and she needs to learn the buttons to press to get a decent tune out of him, but it will come.
My DR trainer rides him far better than I could ever hope to but then again, that's why I had lessons with her and sent the horse there for training while I was on hols.

I've had people ride him who are better and more experienced riders than me yet he doesn't go as well for them as he does for me. But he will certainly accept a variety of riders on board.
 
I've never met anyone who rides Fig better than me. And that's not because I'm amazing, it's just that he's very particular and very sensitive.

Even my trainer has admitted he would just get run off with if he rode him.

I don't know why he does it! I've never put anyone on him that I didn't think would do a good job. Silly sod.
 
I had a well-known "professional rider" get on my horse while he was teaching a jumping lesson - apparently, my horse wasn't going forward enough.

He then proceeded to kick my horse hard in the ribs and yank on his mouth at the same time and pull him backwards. I shot into the arena and almost pulled the guy off my horse, shouting at him to get off, and how dare he treat my horse like that! Didn't go down too well, but I didn't care, no one treats my horse like that. Needless to say, we didn't have any more lessons with the chap!!
 
I don't think it's about people riding better or worse than me. I'm sure many people could get on my horses and ride them, However I have broken in and done all the work with all of them, I deal with and ride them every day and like to think I know them inside and out, warts and all which is why I can get a nice tune out of them which ever mood they are in. The buttons all work when I push them, but they should as I installed them!
 
Nope, not one person has managed to get the tune I can get out of my mare.

I suspect she has had a trauma in the past and she really needs to know and trust her rider.

Now I am not an amazing rider by any stretch of the imagination, she just knows me.

I have had much better riders on her than me and she just panics, rushes and tenses up like a coiled spring. I hop back on board and she chills out. Don't get me wrong she is not an easy ride at all, but she just seems to pick her riders.

I don't ride anymore as I am too heavy but I would love nothing more than someone to come along and be able to do a relaxed prelim test on her. I would love to see her enjoying work with another rider.
 
I'm sure there are hundreds of people who could ride Alf better than I do, but I figure that he's better off with me, as I know exactly how crocked he is, so resist the (sometimes enormous) temptation to do too much party-trickery. He's very idle to ride on the flat when it's just walk, trot, canter - so schooling him is very dull, until you start asking for the fun stuff. Unfortunately too much of the fun stuff makes him sore!
 
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