Do you ride how you want to?

Cornish on the Cob

Cornish on the Cob

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Just wondering if everyone really worries about perfect positions, proper signals to the horse etc. Do you care as long as you can make yor horse walk, trot, turn left or right etc? And if you do, does the horse care as long as it knows what you mean? :rolleyes:
 
Depends what I'm doing - if I'm dressaging / schooling I worry very much about the signals I'm sending and how my position is. If I'm jumping I mostly thinking about striding and hanging on. If I'm hacking I'm mostly thinking about maintaining forward momentum and pony club kicking :D
 
JFTD said:
Depends what I'm doing - if I'm dressaging / schooling I worry very much about the signals I'm sending and how my position is. If I'm jumping I mostly thinking about striding and hanging on. If I'm hacking I'm mostly thinking about maintaining forward momentum and pony club kicking :D
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I am just a happy hacker for the moment and I spend all the ride worried that if I'm not sitting properly, correct signals etc that she won't want me riding her! But I'm not planning to ever sell her so I was just wondering if she gets used to the way I ride, she will get used to me! I haven't got a great position and my reins aren't always the right length but I can make her do what I need to do, so I hope she puts up with me!
 
Don't know about perfect but I do my best to ride well in order to keep my horses supple, strong and to give them the best chance of a long working life.
 
Cornish on the Cob said:
! I haven't got a great position and my reins aren't always the right length but I can make her do what I need to do, so I hope she puts up with me!
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:D Depends on the horse - with my old lad, I frankly could sit on my head and he wouldn't care - he knows the drill and just gets on with it. On Fergs, if I'm alone, I am nearly always in the "correct but old fashioned brace" position as he can be a sharp little sod. Out in company, he's fine so I just chill out...

For rein length, well, I define the correct hacking length as "on the buckle" anyway, so I definitely don't worry about that! :D

I think it's more important not to persistently sit squint or sock your horse in the mouth - i.e. ride in a way likely to cause pain / damage - than to be classically correct. :)
 
JFTD said:
:D Depends on the horse - with my old lad, I frankly could sit on my head and he wouldn't care - he knows the drill and just gets on with it. On Fergs, if I'm alone, I am nearly always in the "correct but old fashioned brace" position as he can be a sharp little sod. Out in company, he's fine so I just chill out...

For rein length, well, I define the correct hacking length as "on the buckle" anyway, so I definitely don't worry about that! :D

I think it's more important not to persistently sit squint or sock your horse in the mouth - i.e. ride in a way likely to cause pain / damage - than to be classically correct. :)
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Thank you for that! I wouldn't ever ride in a way to cause pain but I just am not the best rider! I just hope that she gets used to me not being the best rider and thinks to herself "well I think thats what she is telling me to do"!
 
After having a break from horses due to losing my confidence my position has deteriorated a lot compared to how it used to be.

I'm aware of what I need to do to improve my position though, and I am slowly working on improving it, it's mainly my legs I have problems with. 9 times out of 10 my horses go how I want them to, but I tend to get left behind sometimes if I jump my mare (a lot of that is confidence issues though) and if she spooks and spins (which is one of her many tricks) I'm usually on the floor before I even realised what's happened!

I think my insecure leg issues are because as a teenager, I trained at a dressage yard and was taught the 'classical' position, however, when I was in my early 20's (I'm 26 now) I worked on a hunting yard, and was taught to put my legs right forward into the 'armchair' position.

After leaving the hunting yard I had my break and have only been really regularly riding since probably last summer, although I am now a leisure rider, I would like to do some unaff. dressage, so I'm trying to work on my leg position again! I'm a lot more secure then what I used to be so I'm getting there slowly!
 
Cornish on the Cob said:
Thank you for that! I wouldn't ever ride in a way to cause pain but I just am not the best rider! I just hope that she gets used to me not being the best rider and thinks to herself "well I think thats what she is telling me to do"!
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For the record, I'm not suggesting you do ride in such a way - just that riding sympathetically but not classically is fine for hacking (imho) :)
 
if i'm riding the big girl then no, i don't worry about my position, if it's the late starter then yes i do because i want him to learn the right way. think it's important that a horse is taught the correct signals so that if they are ridden by other people they have an idea whats being asked of them.:)
 
Ibblebibble said:
if i'm riding the big girl then no, i don't worry about my position, if it's the late starter then yes i do because i want him to learn the right way. think it's important that a horse is taught the correct signals so that if they are ridden by other people they have an idea whats being asked of them.:)
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Thats what I was thinking. Only one other person rides her and like I said, I'm not planning on ever selling her so I just hope she gets used to my way of riding!
 
I ride in whatever manner it takes to get me, and the horse, to where I want to go, it all depends on the horse, the day and the going. :)

If the horse is being sticky, fresh or being a twerp/mentally defective quadruped then I am more defensive. If we are bushwhacking and the going is dodgy/deep/invisible then it is a case of long reins, sit up, prepare for the unexpected and trust that my horse doesn't want to fall in a hole or end up on the floor any more than I do.

I no longer have to impress anyone by trying to do everything by the book, my riding is not text book pretty (I can do pretty if you like) but it is effective and for me that is good enough.
 
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