From H&H - Natural riders, are they born or made: a bit of a tangent!

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_jetset_

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I was just wondering what everyone's opinion is on here about this?

I have ridden since I was six years old, but I didn't own a horse until I was 18! However in six years I feel I have learned so much, am willing to listen to any advice or criticism from my trainers and am now quite confident getting on most horses.

What would you say makes a natural rider in your opinion, and do you think someone who has not ridden since they were knee high to a grasshopper could qualify or is it something you have to have been doing since day one?

I sometimes wish I could have started riding competitively earlier than I have. It is only in the past 4 years or so that I have been taking my horses out to dressage competitions. I sometimes wonder where I would be if I had started when I was 6 or 7 with my own pony. Does anyone else feel like this?
 
All the time! I'm way behind all the people my age at the yard because they had ponies when they were younger!

My sister's friend rode once, though, and she was pretty natural. She'd never been on anything but a donkey before, even though she loved horses, but she had Jayjay going beautifully in five minutes!
 
I understand about feeling left behind - I've only ridden as an adult and feel like I've missed out on PC camp n' stuff - never even ridden bareback though hoping to try it soon
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As for natural riders - in my limited experience I think they are born - I know a lady who didn't come from a horsey family but she looks so 'natural' on a horse and has such a lovely way with them
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I think they are born not made. I know a lot of people who parents rode and granparents etc but their child are not natural but rather learn it all.
I think a natural is someone who gets on a horse for the first time and has a natural postion and can learn new things quickly.
I also think you can get natural horsepeople who can they have a rapour with any horse and sense something before it happens.
 
I think some people are born with an amazing natural sense of "feel". While I think this can be learned to a degree over many years, i think some will have this inate skill that will always make them slightly better riders. Equally some people just seem completly incapable of learning this. No matter how many lessons they have, they just don't seem to ever pick it up.

While I think you can learn to ride without it, those who can feel what is going on under them will have an advantage. They know the exact second to ask for a movement rather than just asking as they turn down the long side for example.

I do think people who started riding very young are at an advantage also. I was plonked on a pony for the first time at about 2 and a half years old. I then had lead rein classes up til being 5 when I was allowed to join the youngest class at our riding school.

I wish I'd started seriously at a younger age though. I went to the local riding school, had my first horse at 14 and didnt start showjumping at affiliated level until 16. At that stage I also started classical dressage lessons with a very good teacher and it was then things started to become more serious. Ive focused on dressage 100% for a few years now and was lucky enough to have been based with a fabulous trainer.

At the same yard i mention about though, there are a couple of ponies on livery belonging to children riders. One girl is 12 and is riding at medium level. She works at home at the equivalent of advanced. She's had two or three lessons a week from a grand prix rider for the last 6 years and she's very very good. She's now aiming for the pony squads with a pony that has represented the UK on countless occasions.
 
I had a pony when i was a kid, gave up for a few years, rode all sorts at riding schools and trekking centres, then got my own 10 years ago and am now onto number 2 ......and I am still a pretty crap rider and getting worse with age! soon i'll be back to being unable to rise to the trot or hold my reins properly! Do other people feel their riding has got worse since passing the big 4-0?
 
I think some people are naturally talented, others work really hard and some just cant grasp it.

I once read an interview with Charlotte Edmunds and she said she doesnt think she is naturally talented, shes just worked really hard to get where she is. I think shes done really well to get where she is and I admire her for that.

Its like all things in life. Some people can do it and some cant no matter how hard they try.
 
I think that from beginner to advanced, there are different 'displays' of natural riders. By natural I mean those who look just right, you cannot see their aids but you see the horse understanding and responding. I taught a girl earlier in the week on a fizzy jumping pony who just 'sat' and had a lovely balanced light seat, yet she wasnt confident enough in herself to ask the pony to do more. I believe that given time and maturity she will become what looks to be an effortless rider, yet I know that she was not always like that.
At the end of the scale, people like John W and Andrew N, I admire them for the fact they appear to be in tuned with the horse, mentally and physically. AN will stick to his horses no matter what, yet there is no flailing and JW is so quiet , yet you can watch his horses body language, faces and striding to see that there is communication.
There are also those riders who may not look 'pretty' but who get results too, like exercise riders and people who work at dealers who have to show every horse off to the best of their ability.
 
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