How did you make the transition?

Celestica

Celestica

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As some of you may know, I'm hoping to get a loan/lease during the summer and in fact going to view a potential horse on Sunday! :D

After reading/following the 'Riding school Riders' thread it really got me thinking. The main thing that has been holding me back from Loaning before hand was highlighted in this thread. I'm a riding school rider and have been for the past 7 years so my main problem is;
When I eventually get my horse, how do I adapt from someone in the middle of the arena giving me instructions, telling me what I'm going to be doing in todays lesson etc to myself deciding what I will do today etc?

To be perfectly honest, after I do my full warm up I probably would just be lost in the arena not knowing what to do unless I just decided to do a bit of jumping or a dressage test or decided to improve something of my riding instead of improving something of the horses. The horse that I'm viewing on Sunday is a 14yo bombproof gelding so he may not have much improvement needed but I'd probably end up searching magazines,books and online for workouts or exercises to improve his faults.

How did you transition from school rider to horse owner, also feel free to tell me your workout routine and explain what you do:)
 
just concentrate on enjoying riding the horse, hacking and perhaps some simple schooling exercises like serpentines , circles and lots of transitions. Most important is to continue regular lessons. If you can get an RI to give you a weekly lesson or join a local riding club and attend lessons there you will have plenty to work on in the school ;)
 
Fueledbyaisling said:
When I eventually get my horse, how do I adapt from someone in the middle of the arena giving me instructions, telling me what I'm going to be doing in todays lesson etc to myself deciding what I will do today etc?
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Firstly, congrats on taking that first step towards getting something of your own, you sound like you're going about it very sensibly and a safe little cob sounds like the perfect match to take you from riding school to horse loaner :D

Its been so long ago since I was in a riding school that I dont really remember how I felt when making the transition, but my advice to you would be to have regular weekly lessons if possible and ask your instructor for 'homework' each week, to give you and your cob something to work on and perfect before your next lesson.
Hacking is also fab, and with your own ned and no one to hold you back, providing your parents are OK with it you can go on lovely long rides, just you and your horse doing whatever you please. Its a lovely feeling going out for a nice long hack with your pony and enjoying a good trot and canter :)

You will find tons of things to do with your new pony, and I don't doubt that you'll enjoy every minute of it. Relax and go have fun :)

Edited - somewhere in my head I seem to have made it up that you're getting a cob. Ignore me :D
14 sounds like a lovely age too, btw. :)
 
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Riding is a small part of having your own horse, even on a loan basis. Just ride around however you feel comfortable and concentrate on all the new management stuff you're going to need to take in. Good luck finding something. :)
 
I went from riding once a week to sharing 2-3 times a week - and I won't lie, the first few weeks are awkward and scary, but at the same time amazing!

I now loan and I find that schooling is only just coming easier to me now (I've loaned for 8 years now) so its not an easy thing.
There's nothing stopping you having an RI or even a friend instructing you when you ride in the arena at first and you will find that you start to know what to do and how to progress. There's also nothing wrong with hacking and doing a bit of schooling out there.

Once you start you'll find that the riding is the easiest part to get into, the management side not so easy but its very doable and you'll probably find that there is a lot of support and help around you.

To give you an idea, when I school I generally start by walk on both reins, circles, halt-walk transitions for 15-20 minutes, then walk-trot transitions then trot work for about half an hour working on circles and some lateral work. I'll also take away my stirrups to help me with my position. I'll do a bit of canter (again some circles and working on any issues (atm, pushing the canter forwards)) and then back to trot for 10 minutes and then cool down with walk work again. I know that sounds a lot now but once you're into it....! :p
Good luck and enjoy!
K x
 
You do feel a bit lost at first, but it gets better! As you get to know the horse, you'll start to learn what you need to work on. Also, lessons are a good idea - ask for homework to give you some direction.

The little cob I used to school had a few things to work on - suppleness, reactivity to leg aids, and most of all, he had a pretty boring time in there and got a bit stale, so I wanted to engage his brain. Typical session - warm up in walk. Plenty of halt to walk transitions and maybe some large circles or serpentines, aiming to get a correct bend. Trot work - again, transitions (trot to walk, trot to halt, walk to trot, halt to trot) circles, changes of rein, serpentines etc. always using the corners, asking for bend and so on. Canter on both reins, as he was little, I normally took a forward seat and got him bombing down the long sides and then asked for more collection at each end - as much for his enjoyment as anything else as he loved to move, bless him! Various transitions into canter too, circles, and perhaps asking for a stride of counter canter once my instructor had covered this in our lessons. Then cool down on a loose rein, still making changes of direction using seat and leg aids. Then finish off by opening and closing the school gate without getting off.
 
Bumping this post for you, I'm also interested in the answers. I've just started sharing again after a good few years break.

Luckily the horse management side is slowly coming back to me, but my riding is slightly atrocious!
 
Holly_09 said:
Bumping this post for you, I'm also interested in the answers. I've just started sharing again after a good few years break.

Luckily the horse management side is slowly coming back to me, but my riding is slightly atrocious!
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I've added you so we can message each other and help each other out :D Congrats on your new loan!
 
Don't worry too much. The experienced horse you're going for is a great plan. Try and be on a yard where there are people to hack out with, and an instructor who can teach/help you. Just take your time and enjoy yourself.
 
Looking in books and magazines sounds like a great idea to me there are some great ones out there off the top of my head 101 schooling exercises is a good one if you get a bit stuck.
Make the most of hacking after all schooling can be boring for horse and rider :rolleyes::P
2nd the make sure you get some good lessons and homework always a good idea. Oh and one thing I always remember is transitions! Round and round in circles is boring for anyone and not doing anything so just make sure you keep thing svaried and interesting in terms of pace and direction, maybe look into some pole exercises and you will be fine :D
 
Get an instructor :D

Get a good book or two - I have '101 Dressage Exercises for Horse and Rider', it's brilliant for giving me ideas and thoughts :D. Even got D1 looking at it :eek::D

You'll find as time goes by, especially if you have an instructor once a week, that there'll be things you want to improve on, both the horse and you.

I hope you have a lot of fun :D
 
Good luck in finding the right loan pony.

The best thing is to start steady as it can be a bit daunting having the responsibility for someone elses horse esp if they arent there and you are used to riding school as i felt the same.

With hacking unless you know the horse previously i would just go for short hacks to start with. Also make sure you tell someone where you're going, when you'll be back and take a mobile phone just in case.

Schooling wise you can get some very useful books which give you various exercises to try.

You can also buy sets of dressage tests from the BHS which can be fun to work through.

If there are some poles available you could do some work over poles but make sure they are correctly spaced.

I have a horse on full loan and its so much more rewarding than riding in the rs as you can school the horse how you want and work on what you want and also no one undoes it all!

Also make sure you get a contract drawn up ie who is responsible for what, what happens if any thing is damaged, who pays for what etc.

Most importantly have fun! :)
 
I found the transition quite scary, particularly as I was also very used to having instructors bark orders at me. Being left to think for myself and I was sometimes at a loss as to what to do! However, I think with the number of lessons you've had, you'll have a rough idea of what you need to do. I try and tackle one thing each riding session, such as my position in sitting trot, or getting a smooth trot to canter transition. I agree with other members who have posted and make sure you still have regular lessons as that gives you something to focus on and stops you slipping into bad habits! I currently share a pony twice a week and for me, it's been great for me to get more stuck in with the care side of things, which I was missing out on when riding in a riding school, and I'm also getting the opportunity to do ground work as well, such a lunging, which is something I've never done before!
 
I will look into this 101 Schooling book as I keep seeing it mentioned on this forum, I have a 100 ways to improve your riding which is very good if anybody is in search of a book that tackles everything!

I'm not sure if there's an instructor on site yet but will be enquiring when I visit on Sunday. It would be a pity if there wasn't but there'd still be loads of people around to ask advice from! But to be honest, if there wasn't an instructor I may be put off the yard a bit as my current RS is actually a livery yard and I just ride some of the liveries. All my friends and both instructors are there so it's my horsey 'home' so will be nerve wrecking leaving them all behind and even though it's further away the livery is cheaper there then the new yard that I might be moving too :(
 
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