Five weeks to hunting

Haha this is excellent :D I say more power to him. He has the right attitude re: controlling fear was already more fit and active than he needed to be for horse riding, so he probably had a long head start on most beginners (also the vast majority of riders I know today.) I hope he continues!
 
Good on him! Learning to ride on the hunting field will teach him far more than going round in circles at a riding school......!
 
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Good on him really. I wouldn't have the nerve to do that lol. He did fall off both days which I guess some people will use to say he wasn't ready but how many experienced people fall off hunting? Bet most of them have at some point.
 
If they're not exaggerating on the fact the horse had never jumped, I think two days of hunting is physically a bit unfair to ask the horse as surely it uses different muscles to what he is used to?
 
SaddleUpSin said:
If they're not exaggerating on the fact the horse had never jumped, I think two days of hunting is physically a bit unfair to ask the horse as surely it uses different muscles to what he is used to?
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Oh come on, they wouldn't have been jumping big stuff and it wasn't two days in a row.
 
Well after 40 yrs of riding 4 children, 3 major spinal ops I decided that I wanted to fulfil my lifelong ambition of going hunting. I took my saint of a mare (who's never hunted either) to a newcomers meet on 28th Dec and loved it so went back for the New Year Meet 5 days later. Not quite as daring as the chap in the article but so so glad I did it. Another tick off my bucket list.
 
Years ago I had a guy who came to the riding centre where I worked. He had a new girlfriend who was a very keen rider, so he wanted to surprise her by learning to ride - in a weekend! He had never ridden before but by riding for 5 hours on the Saturday and another 5 on the Sunday, he could competently walk, trot, canter and jump a tiny cross pole. We were all amazed! He couldn't walk by Sunday night but he achieved his goal!
 
In my experience of men coming to riding as adults they don't seem to have fear which means they learn a lot quicker than I've ever seen anybody else. My partner was walk, trot and cantering on his first weekend. But he's an ex soldier and engineer so following instructions to the letter without fear is what he's always done. The army has some excellent riders and watching videos of them learning consists of falling off until you don't so maybe all or nothing is a man thing.
 
SaddleUpSin said:
Thought it was? Which would be a bit excessive if so. Might have got that wrong though
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Boxing day and 2nd Jan. And frankly if the horse was hunted two days in a row without being physically capable of doing so the jumps would be the least of its worries.

Good on him!
 
Well done to that guy!

I have never and will never go hunting, I am too scared and I have been riding 21 years, so credit where credit is due.

And tbh, at 18hh and doing the smaller jumps, Mr Morph probably didn't notice they were there!
 
The hardest part for adult learners seems to be learning how to fall and not get hurt too badly. This guy fell off both days but doesn't seem bothered, so all power to him!
 
Passtheshampoo said:
Well after 40 yrs of riding 4 children, 3 major spinal ops I decided that I wanted to fulfil my lifelong ambition of going hunting. I took my saint of a mare (who's never hunted either) to a newcomers meet on 28th Dec and loved it so went back for the New Year Meet 5 days later. Not quite as daring as the chap in the article but so so glad I did it. Another tick off my bucket list.
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Hats off to you Passtheshampoo and very well done, so pleased you had such good time :)

Hats off to the novice guy too in the original post, brave? stupid? or both? I don't know but it seems he certainly enjoyed it enough to go back for more - good on him!
 
Having had a horse break his leg when he was kicked on a hunt ride, and having seen riders injured when kicked, my concern was not for the novice rider, but for the other horses and riders there. Surely he wouldn't have sufficient control to ensure everyone's safety. If he was able to keep to the back and out of everyone's way, great, but it sounds a bit of a recipe for disaster.
 
Lucyad - that was pretty much my thinking. Plus I don't think any novice should be hunting a horse that has never jumped before, and certainly not someone who'd only been riding for five weeks...
 
Well I was out with the bloodhounds when this chap hunted on 1st january with us, no, he certainly did not look like he had only been riding for 5 weeks when i saw him, I trotted up the road upsides of him. He had a hunting jacket on and a hunting whip which always helps, I then went to front of the field so didnt see him as he was at the back of the various hunts, I dont think he actually jumped anything as it was optional hunt hurdles that day, although I didnt personally see. What I did see however was the poor horse totally exhausted and laying on the ground for at least 10 mins at the end of the day, I think he possibly slipped then was unable to get up, absolute madness imo to take a shire out with the bloodhounds and then ride him to exhaustion but then he has no horse knowledge and no idea of what hunting with bloodhounds & horse fitness is all about.
 
irishdraft said:
What I did see however was the poor horse totally exhausted and laying on the ground for at least 10 mins at the end of the day, I think he possibly slipped then was unable to get up, absolute madness imo to take a shire out with the bloodhounds and then ride him to exhaustion but then he has no horse knowledge and no idea of what hunting with bloodhounds & horse fitness is all about.
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Poor horse. That part wasn't mentioned in the H&H report, was it.

ETA it may have worked if he had been accompanied throughout by an experienced mounted nanny, who could have kept a strict eye on proceedings.
 
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irishdraft said:
Well I was out with the bloodhounds when this chap hunted on 1st january with us, no, he certainly did not look like he had only been riding for 5 weeks when i saw him, I trotted up the road upsides of him. He had a hunting jacket on and a hunting whip which always helps, I then went to front of the field so didnt see him as he was at the back of the various hunts, I dont think he actually jumped anything as it was optional hunt hurdles that day, although I didnt personally see. What I did see however was the poor horse totally exhausted and laying on the ground for at least 10 mins at the end of the day, I think he possibly slipped then was unable to get up, absolute madness imo to take a shire out with the bloodhounds and then ride him to exhaustion but then he has no horse knowledge and no idea of what hunting with bloodhounds & horse fitness is all about.
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That's horrendous :(
 
Says he hunted on the 2nd? Definitely the same chap?


irishdraft said:
Well I was out with the bloodhounds when this chap hunted on 1st january with us, no, he certainly did not look like he had only been riding for 5 weeks when i saw him, I trotted up the road upsides of him. He had a hunting jacket on and a hunting whip which always helps, I then went to front of the field so didnt see him as he was at the back of the various hunts, I dont think he actually jumped anything as it was optional hunt hurdles that day, although I didnt personally see. What I did see however was the poor horse totally exhausted and laying on the ground for at least 10 mins at the end of the day, I think he possibly slipped then was unable to get up, absolute madness imo to take a shire out with the bloodhounds and then ride him to exhaustion but then he has no horse knowledge and no idea of what hunting with bloodhounds & horse fitness is all about.
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