Eleanor2003
Active Member
As some may have seen in recent posts, I have recently gained a four-hoofed friend. We have had 3 weeks lunging due to no saddle and now have had just over a week of in saddle work. We have tried lots of bits and different exercises and have grown so much as a pair already.
Beforehand, I learnt 80% of my dressage knowledge from my instructor in a riding school. I have learnt half-pass, walk pirouettes ect. most notably on horses that didn’t know it before so quite a baptism of fire! She has guided me from the ground throughout everything and I went from struggling to do shoulder-fore to switching between 3 of their largest horses and schooling them all in my lessons. I am however no where near the perfect rider and although considered very advanced in the riding school setting, I class myself as a nervous novice with a non riding school horse.
I would have loved to have had my instructor ride and help me with my new friend as we get on SO well however she is 2 hours away from me so having her as a daily instructor is not possible.
So I am in search of someone who’s able to help me with my new horse! I do have anxiety so someone that’s not overly “heavy worded” would be quite appreciated.
I am looking for someone who would potentially ride my horse but keep him to what I need him would be nice. I have had someone ride him and I got on to find my work of making him reach for the contact had been reversed as well as a much hotter and grumpier horse than what I left with them ?. He was previously a hacking/hunter and was starting to be a schooled as a showing horse (had gotten to the point of learning how to hold his head in a showing manner) so I’m trying to get him to reach for the contact rather than just tuck his head in while also concentrate on me- he likes window watching and will happily watch everything going on rather than where his feet are ?) so I’m very cautious of who to ask. We were told that “he didn’t enjoy schooling” so I do want to keep that in mind in terms of how I teach him and what is done in lessons. Although I think schooling can be exciting for every horse it’s about the questions you ask and how you ask them! And yes I did buy him to do dressage despite that comment because I saw potential and so far he has grown enormously ?
As I mentioned I am a “nervous rider” to some extent so I don’t need an overly fresh horse (he was bought because he was quiet) but I would love that helping hand either from him being ridden and I taught or just me taught from the ground.
In terms of his dressage education, he is unbalanced and finds transitions hard as well as reaching for the contact. He falls out on his left but is stiff on his right. He’s not done anything other than straight lines so during our first ride when I asked for a very small shallow loop it was like the most epic puzzle to him. In the week I’ve ridden him weve done lots of transition circles, shallow loops, using the boards to help balance transitions as well as one or two poles to make it a bit interesting. In terms of using his body correctly, he’s very weak in his neck and finds it hard to hold a correct outline for longer than .2 seconds. However he’s starting to get the jist as at the end we are getting a long stretch! (Small wins!) So in conclusion, we have a long way to go!
We are based near Market Rasen, Lincolnshire and the instructor would have to come to us however we have extensive facilities so potentially they could teach a block of lessons if other clients were near and wanted to hire the arena. I also tend to be very flexible in terms of days and times on 5/7 days a week as I’m in my gap year.
Any and all recommendations are appreciated!
Beforehand, I learnt 80% of my dressage knowledge from my instructor in a riding school. I have learnt half-pass, walk pirouettes ect. most notably on horses that didn’t know it before so quite a baptism of fire! She has guided me from the ground throughout everything and I went from struggling to do shoulder-fore to switching between 3 of their largest horses and schooling them all in my lessons. I am however no where near the perfect rider and although considered very advanced in the riding school setting, I class myself as a nervous novice with a non riding school horse.
I would have loved to have had my instructor ride and help me with my new friend as we get on SO well however she is 2 hours away from me so having her as a daily instructor is not possible.
So I am in search of someone who’s able to help me with my new horse! I do have anxiety so someone that’s not overly “heavy worded” would be quite appreciated.
I am looking for someone who would potentially ride my horse but keep him to what I need him would be nice. I have had someone ride him and I got on to find my work of making him reach for the contact had been reversed as well as a much hotter and grumpier horse than what I left with them ?. He was previously a hacking/hunter and was starting to be a schooled as a showing horse (had gotten to the point of learning how to hold his head in a showing manner) so I’m trying to get him to reach for the contact rather than just tuck his head in while also concentrate on me- he likes window watching and will happily watch everything going on rather than where his feet are ?) so I’m very cautious of who to ask. We were told that “he didn’t enjoy schooling” so I do want to keep that in mind in terms of how I teach him and what is done in lessons. Although I think schooling can be exciting for every horse it’s about the questions you ask and how you ask them! And yes I did buy him to do dressage despite that comment because I saw potential and so far he has grown enormously ?
As I mentioned I am a “nervous rider” to some extent so I don’t need an overly fresh horse (he was bought because he was quiet) but I would love that helping hand either from him being ridden and I taught or just me taught from the ground.
In terms of his dressage education, he is unbalanced and finds transitions hard as well as reaching for the contact. He falls out on his left but is stiff on his right. He’s not done anything other than straight lines so during our first ride when I asked for a very small shallow loop it was like the most epic puzzle to him. In the week I’ve ridden him weve done lots of transition circles, shallow loops, using the boards to help balance transitions as well as one or two poles to make it a bit interesting. In terms of using his body correctly, he’s very weak in his neck and finds it hard to hold a correct outline for longer than .2 seconds. However he’s starting to get the jist as at the end we are getting a long stretch! (Small wins!) So in conclusion, we have a long way to go!
We are based near Market Rasen, Lincolnshire and the instructor would have to come to us however we have extensive facilities so potentially they could teach a block of lessons if other clients were near and wanted to hire the arena. I also tend to be very flexible in terms of days and times on 5/7 days a week as I’m in my gap year.
Any and all recommendations are appreciated!