HELP WITH STONG HORSE THAT HASNT BEEN RIDDEN IN AGES

[jenbleep]

next saturday im going to ride a friend of a friends horse that needs exercising, its been stuck in a field for a while and she said on the phone that 'he is not naughty, but he can be strong'. the owners of this are going to come and watch me ride him, to see if 'we get on'. im scared! has anyone got any tips on riding a strong horse, and any tips on calming nerves. i cant ride when people are watching me!

my instructor said to lunge him for 10 minutes first......

 

[claire1976]

I would echo lunging first to assess him. What bit is he ridden in do you know?

 

[melv1lle]

Definately lunge him first - I do that with my horse sometimes when I know he is having one of his hyper days! It will serve two purposes - a) it will take the edge off him if he is feeling the need to let off some steam / have a buck, etc. and b) you may find it calms you down if you find he starts to relax on the lunge before you get on. At least I find if I have him on the lunge that I am more confident about what will happen when I get on.

 

[jenbleep]

i dont know anything about the poor guy! im thinking though not a plain snaffle. im just going to be riding him in the field at first though, i think thats a sensible option!

 

[Llwyncwn]

Cant you put them off from watching you for the first time? They have put you on the spot somewhat. I would strongly recommend alchohol, if that is not an option, maybe a stomach ulcer, old leg injury (start limping), visiting aunt in nursing home etc might suffice. Good luck.

 

[jenbleep]

haha very good! yes it is somewhat nerveracking when they ar going to be there watching and scrutinising my every move

 

[matthew]

At least your prepared- when i was 13 i was offered a horse for free in return for me riding and looking after full time- they payed for everything! nice set up but the 1st time i sat on him he hadnt been riden for nearly 6 months- they didnt tell me anything about him so being young and nieve i hopped on board- he proceeded to flat out gallop across field dumping me on a fence! no pretty - ahh well never fell off him again but he was always strong and i rode him in a pelham with curb!

 

[jenbleep]

crikey!!! what a way to give me confidence!! agh....

what am i talking about im sure it will be fine...

 

[AmyMay]

I have to be honest, if you are at all nervous - don't get on it. You don't sound as if you are terribly confident that you will be able to ride this horse, and it would be awful to have a bump.

 

[jenbleep]

its not so much the horse that scares me - its the people watching me!

 

[AmyMay]

[ QUOTE ]
its not so much the horse that scares me - its the people watching me!

[/ QUOTE ]
Ah, fair enough then. Well presumably someone will have been riding it before you get on it (I would hope that someone has been on it this week to do a quiet bit of work with it).

The main thing to do is get on it - and forget about the people watching you. If you honestly like the horse then great. If you feel it's not for you say thanks but no thanks.