Do you enjoy riding your horse?

Theocat said:
I lost the love of riding mine after twelve months of repeated rehab for one thing after another. Walking up and down the same lane every day - and especially when's it's rehab, and it really ought to be EVERY day - is soul destroying. Not a position where you can move them on, and never bad enough to call it a day. She's now turned away to see if time and rest help - I simply couldn't carry on (mentally or emotionally) trying to keep riding when I wasn't enjoying it or, frankly getting anything out of it.

This is exactly how I felt about my boy after endless walking rehab, glad I'm not the only one
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I love riding two of my three current ones, the third one I was not enjoying riding as he is very stuffy and unwilling to school, which was demoralising. It’s also worrying because there is probably a physical reason for it but nothing vet can find at the moment. He is turned away to see if some r&r and growing time helps and I’m enjoying not having to ride him, tbh.

The other two are complete dudes though, can’t wait to get on them! I have had others in the past who I have not enjoyed and they have become other people’s dream horses.
 
I like riding mine. He is just back from his winter break so we are doing a lot of hacking to get fit again.

When I first got him he was very nappy and herdbound so hacking alone was difficult. He's got over that now thankfully.

He was particularly good at napping ;).
He used to march backward with a lovely round outline. Hopefully a good omen for when we start working on reinback :D
 
I absolutely love riding mine - even tolerated the blizzard we got caught it yesterday!

I hack for miles across Salisbury Plain usually alone; it's peaceful and fun and I can got at whatever peace suits our mood. For me it keeps my wellbeing on track.
 
I worship the ground my boy walks on. In our 13 year journey together Riding has been a mixture of joy, tears, frustration and through some periods fear. He likes a buck and used to spin and / or tank off.

However in all those years I can truthfully say that I’ve always looked forward to seeing him and never found it a chore as he has such a lovely cheeky personality.

Now he’s 23 and we hack mostly the pressure is off and I love and treasure every minute I have with him. Every day I can ride him is a bonus and every day with him I hold closely to my heart. My only fear now is losing him.
 
I LOVE riding the BBP. He is always bright and happy and eager to do whatever is happening next. He is hot and sharp at times but is fabulously sensitive both hacking and schooling, he never gets strong in the hand or dead to the leg, I always get a lovely response every time I ask for something. He is mega polite in that he never races or pulls, he can go in front or behind in a group. He is capable of lovely dressage-y and jump-y things when i ride properly, and he shows me when I am not riding properly (not by being badly behaved but just by subtle drops in performance).

BUT - I have had to change my riding goals to suit him. I don't hack him alone much and I don't compete much as he is easily stressed and turns from polite and mannerly into an explosive mental wreck. I am still working on helping him to cope but it's no fun riding a horse that is stressed and miserable, so I keep pretty close to his comfort zone and have dropped my competitive ambitions. This used to drive me nuts, and still does occasionally as i feel I have failed in his training, but then when I think how perfect he is in so many other ways to ride, and how much fun we have just schooling for the sake of being stronger and more athletic and supple, rather than to show other people that we can win a prize, and I don't mind so much. (I just wish occasionally he would show other people how amazing he is instead of them all thinking he is a bit wild!)
 
About 50/50 with mine, I have had him coming up 5 years and he has taken a lot of getting to know, both on the ground and ridden. I could never sell him as he has mental and physical issues and I doubt anyone else would want to pander to his ridiculous needs :P I suspect he has probably got pssm or similar, and he is always in different moods so I understand that if he is not in the right frame of mind to do something then we will do it another day rather than me fighting a losing battle with him! He likes to hack out alone and gets silly around other horses even in the school sometimes, doesn't like open spaces, likes to be kept overly warm, doesn't like the rain(!) so this is something I have to work around to keep him happy or he is an a*se to handle and ride. Good job I love him even when some days I have told him he's going to end up in dog food!!
 
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