How does your horse react to new riders?

My old one was a total dobbin, for me he'd jump round 1m courses, have a glint in his eye, do some cheeky bucks, but I could stick my friend who had never ridden on him and be confident he would be fine. He'd plod round, pop a few teeny jumps. If they showed some comptence though he would take the pee a bit :P

I wouldn't sit anyone who wasn't used to a sharp horse on Genna, she was easy to rile and would have mega-tantrums.

Charlie had 2 different riders on him the other night, he's pretty chilled and will get along with minimum effort, so with one girl he just bowled around and was a bit lazy, whereas the other girl managed to get some sort of sense out of him and he produced a reasonable outline. But then he's quite a straightforward horse so wasn't worried about him buggering off.

Sooo... basically it depends on the horse tbh. If horse is very touchy and sharp then it can be a bit touch and go, but then again Genna behaved pretty well when people came to try her when she was being sold. However I do believe horses need a bit of variety to prevent them becoming a 'one-person' horse, if the long-term plan may possibly involve them being sold on.
 
i have a rescue ex-racer and he throws an absolute fit if someone new gets up on him. He is a pet with me, and also with the yard owner. If he trusts someone he is fine, otherwise he naps, rears and is generally a nightmare.

Its been a nightmare in the past as I had to take a break from riding and couldn't get anyone who was happy to ride him. I am also hoping to do ror classes next year and will have to get him comfortable with judges getting on him.

He had a rough time in his past and is great 99% of the time. New riders on him is the only remaining issue we really have..
 
This is an interesting question. I started my life riding western (in US) and the philosophy there is you NEVER let anyone else ride your horse. When I came to the UK I was surprised that the training approach is that a horse should be trained in such a way as to respond to any competent rider.

The two approaches reflect something true about horses, in that a horse typically needs to develop a bond and trust with the rider and keeping that to one horse/one rider does that. But here the requirement ( with hunting and the like) is that a horse should be able to trust any rider.
My own recent experience is that young horses are best off with fewer riders, and may take some time to tolerate more than 1 or two. As a horse becomes a schoolmaster it then will be better at responding to a variety of competent riders. My own preference, even with my fairly tolerant horse is to try to limit the number of people who ride him. Hope that helps!
 
She's a gem. She takes it all in her stride, novice, experienced.

I'm a novice rider, my sharer is an experienced confident rider who hacks her out and a friend who is an excellent jockey who schools her.

I wouldn't have bought a one rider only horse. With being a novice rider, I need my horse to accept a different rider as I want someone who can keep her top notch with schooling riding her and/or a sharer as I can only ride 2 or 3 times a week.
 
My horse is as good as gold whenever anyone else has ridden him.
I haven't had a complete novice on him yet, but wouldn't have any concerns about doing so in a controlled environment.

TBH I think it is the sign of a good horse and good training. I don't hand him out to all and sundry btw!
 
Lol!

Not very well.

He is okay when other people ride him, he is always well behaved. Although I am usually standing by, and he stares at me to make sure it is okay, and he can be a bit difficult. He will often just stand still and not do anything, or just be unresponsive and not listen to them.

...but like I said he is overall very well behaved so I don't think anyone notices. xP
 
Kal gets stressed with new people up top . . . he takes a while to relax and trust the rider (and by "a while" I mean months). He doesn't do anything awful - just gets tense - short/choppy strides, hollow, rushing. His one quirk, though, is that if the rider rattles him up and/or holds onto the front end he WILL rear - so he is currently only ridden by me and my trainer.

P
 
my older lad's an angel, put anyone on him, he'll do whatever they ask - from pony rides to competent friends jumping him over a metre.

Little lad's been very good for everyone he's had on him - from semi-competent through to competent. Haven't had a complete novice on him though as he can be sharp. I suspect he'd be good, just can't guarentee it yet... He's only young though...
 
He is the same no matter who rides him, though he is very much the type of horse that what you get out of him depends on what you put in. But that is how he is with me, if I don't put the effort in to ride him properly then he doesn't see why he should put the effort in either! It makes him great with beginners as I know he isn't going to do anything stupid, although I don't let that many on him as I can see him practically rolling his eyes at them. But also when my instructor gets on him he shows what he can really do, which both frustrates and inspires me!
 
Bents is stubborn and will test new riders, he naps quite badly. The first time I rode him out whenever we came across an excuse to be naughty he was, he turned for home about 3 times. He takes a long time to accept change and finally after 18 months he is totally chilled out and I feel trusts me.
 
Big mare is the one I put people on. Novice or nervous riders or even the tiny 10yo we put on to have her confidence restored she is sweetness itself. However when we put a 4* rider on her she just turns into a camel, we've had two very different 4* riders on her at different times and she's done the same thing both times, you can see it in her face "OK so you think you know what you're doing? Go on then, make me!" Once she's made her point she settles down and goes nicely. The most usual comment we get from anyone who does know what they're doing is "She's not as easy as she looks" or "She's not as easy as you make her look". This is great from my daughter's point of view because when she was learning and the mare had a camel fit and the instructor got on she'd do exactly what she'd been doing for my daughter, but more so, so my daughter was never left feeling that she was a useless rider as the mare was behaving just the same for extremely experienced people.
 
Bella spends quite a bit of time testing out a new rider and seeing what she can get away with. She's doing this in her new loan home and even though my daughter fully disclosed all her quirks of behaviour it is a bit of a worry. Once she's ascertained she's not going to get away with anything she tends to pretty much get on with it though isn't above trying it on again at a later date.

Solo pony also tests new riders out, he starts testing from the moment he is led in from the field

Basil (so far) seems to be able to gauge his rider's ability and behave accordingly. With an absolute beginner he plods so slowly and carefully but with a more experienced rider he has a bit of a spark too
 
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