Fun rides on your own?

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After many years of owning nutty TBs which could not have coped with a fun ride, I now have a gorgeous horse on full loan who has the most amazing attitude and who will do fun rides :) I thought they would be a great learning curve for him, he has just turned 6 and has hardly done any jumping with his owner so I wanted to get him out and about enjoying life before we try eventing next year.

The only trouble is I keep him on a professional eventing yard, so my horsey friends are very very likely to be competing/grooming at the weekends during the eventing season!

Has anyone done fun rides on their own, and is it OK? I am quite happy to hack on my own so I am hoping this won't be too different?
 
yeah i am in a similar boat and i just go alone and have always ended up chatting to loads of people and have made good friends through it. I usually get chatting to the people parked beside me and giving them a heads up that i'm on my own.
 
I have done lots both on my own, and with others. Great either way. As Paddi22 says, there are usually plenty of people for a chat, both at the start and on the way round. Or just enjoy your own company being able to set your oen pace. Have fun!
 
I nearly always do them by myself - using them for hunter fittening, rather than a social wander about. I would rather do them by myself, as otherwise I find that I'm constantly faster or slower than my companion, or they don't want me to jump in case it upsets their horse etc etc. Much easier to be by myelf! (although can get a bit dull, depending on the ride)
 
I do endurance competition and pleasure rides on my own sometimes. I find you always end up riding with someone and have a lovely time!
 
Ask on here if anyone is close by to you and able to meet up...I was a Billy no mates last weekend when a pr was on, quite a few of the hard pleasure riders said they'd ride with me on a forum...so just go and mention when you pay and get your number..bet you meet up with some people have fun! ��
 
Always on my own and I love it, i get to pick my pace, jump what i like, meet people have fun chats or abandon loonies and work along alone and enjoy it. I have a lovely horse though so that always helps, he'll go alone or in a group. I love stopping to help and give leads but I also love meeting a faster paced group and barrelling along at 90miles an hour for a bit too. That's the joy of going alone, you can do all of that :-)

just make sure you tell Sec that you are alone and give ICE number and post it predominantly in your lorry window too.

enjoy
 
I did my first one this weekend with my 6 yr old and I have to say I was grateful that my friend and her very well behaved mare came with us, we've been hacking together recently and my horse takes a lot of confidence from her! so when we went off in a group of 50 horses!! Mine nearly lost the plot but managed to keep all 4 feet on the ground and I think having his friend near by really helped that!! once the group had dispersed he was totally relaxed and back to the same horse that I've been hacking recently, even with 20 or so horses not so far behind! but being up front was best for him!

I certainly wouldn't want to have done it on my own the first few times but once he knows what its all about, I will do consider going alone :)
 
If the group you ride with have a Facebook page, post on for a riding buddy. Lots of folk do on Sport Endurance & think a lot of friendships get forged.
 
I have gone on my own a fair amount - horse's preference :)

If you fancy company, just turn up and ask another person/group if you can join them - when I've gone in a small group, we've often picked up singlies on the way round.
 
I always go on my own. Prefer to go at my own speed and pace myself and jump what I like when I like. :)

Make sure you have a mobile and the organisers phone number with you in case of emergency.
 
I always do them alone. If I waited for people to go with Id never do anything! also been on riding holidays with just me, my horse and a map :)
 
I've done a few on my own and the only problem I had was when others overtook me and my horse got very stressy. I solved it by starting out much later towards the end of the session, so nearer 12.30 rather than earlier and generally there were fewer people so it worked fine.
 
I've done some on my own. Some I've joined and left groups as I've gone round and others I've met up with another person who was there alone and we've gone the whole ride together.
 
I did one on my own on a youngster but I knew she wouldn't worry about other horses cantering past her etc. I would be wary of doing one solo until I had made sure the horse was happy to walk whilst others galloped past as this can and does happen and if your horse gets in a stress you will potentially have a problem.
 
I've done a few fun rides with others . My yo is seriously into endurance , her and her Arab have done all kinds together . I have to say , once I have my own transport I'll look forward to going to more , even if I have to do them solo. We mostly hack anyway , and as long as your horse is fit enough to finish in the required time , what better way to have a nice ride out in different settings. keeps us on our toes . If i make some friends along the way , great , but I'm already with my best friend so that's all I need :)
 
I would go on my own probably if there were any around here. But not heard of any up here which is a shame. Have fun. :)
 
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