How important is it to ride other horses?

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Parkranger

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I can honestly say that in the last 6 months I've probably ridden other horses about 5 times, if that.

Mangobiscuit and I swapped on Sunday for a bit and it was interesting how different we found them. I rode her boy once before and I felt like a sack of spuds but I really had fun on him on Sunday and was cantering him around etc. I think it must do you good to ride other horses as you learn to use other techniques to get them going etc......

I suppose the downside is that getting on your own horse is like putting on a pair of comfy slippers - even if you're having issues with them, you usually know what they're going to do and how to get them going.....so do you slip into bad habits?

Bear in mind that I'm still probably a novice to average rider so is riding other horses going to confuse what I'm learning on Ty?

What are your views on it?
 
I come from the other direction - I've been at riding schools for years and now I'm really enjoying the opportunity to really get to know a horse. I think my riding has come on a lot since I started working with one horse.
 
I enjoy riding other horses - more often than not it helps me work out whether bad things that the boy and I do together (i.e. falling in on the left rein) are as a resukt of something I am doing or if thats his way of going. More often than not its my fault and the same thing happens when I ride a different horse.
 
I think its good to ride other horses. Saying that, if I hadn't started riding Hooch I wouldn't have fallen off and broken my leg, so I'm very happy just riding Chex for the forseeable future. I suppose it would be different if it was a safer horse. I find I ride other horses differently, but it doesn't effect how I ride Chex, except I can completely relax on him and be relieved that I trust him 100%!
 
I don't think it would confuse you & it is nice to become a 'well-rounded' rider BUT I wouldn't say it's IMPORTANT as such if you have your own horse. You'll benefit far more from learning how best to ride YOUR horse. If you ever get a new one, you can then learn how best to ride him!
 
I think it's incredibly beneficial to ride different horses, and can only improve you as a rider.

I ride four different horses, each so different from the other - and learn something new from them all the time.

Very excitedly looking forward to riding a friends horse that's with us for a few weeks and trained up to advanced level dressage.

I'm sure I won't be able to ride one side of him, but it'll be fun trying!!
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I'm lucky....I have two of my own to ride anyway...and they're like chalk and cheese
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It has made me a better rider though for sure as I don't fall into 'one way' of riding all horses....What works for one of them simply won't work for the other !

I have also ridden a couple of the other liveries horses on the yard too...and found that to be very interesting ! Luckily they are both decent horses so it's quite easy to ride them nicely ! I certainly wouldn't want to get on some old 'plod' though....as it would show up all the bad things about my riding lol!
 
Riding all manner of different horses is vitally important to make you a good all round rider - I used to ride at least 3 different horses a day, and now I realise that not doing it really does affect the way you can adapt quiickly! Year before last I used to go and have lessons on dressage horses a couple of times a month and it DID help - must get into doing that again!
 
It can teach you to ride better and also different horses go differently so you will have to adapt your riding to suit. I tend to find I am a better rider on sharp horses and tend to make them quiet. If I ride a quiet horse I tend to make them wild - it is all very odd
 
i generally dont ride other horses apart from my two. I do occasionally school a friends horse for her about once a month. And ive also had lessons on an intermediare horse but i tend to stick to my two - probably more so because i compete alot, so its them i need to ride, not other peoples!!
 
IMO if you intend on being a groom or something where riding a variety of horses is essential daily, then yes, alot of practice is good.
If you have your own horse then I don't see it's essential to ride other horses. As Weezy said in her post, yes, you can kind of get stuck into ways of riding, but it's not an issue if you only ride your horse.
Perhaps make sure you have lessons on Ty at least once a month to make sure you're riding him effectively.
 
I have two that are very different to ride anyway! And the option of riding another 4 if i so wished although i never had time for more than 2!! Prefer it to what i was doing before - i.e. riding at a dealer yard, different horse each week or every few days!
 
I agree with Wheezy on this subject. However due to circumstances and access to other horses it is not always possible. I personally wont let anyone ride one of my horses, we are used to each other and she is now 21 and my baby.

If it is possible to get on something new and if safe circumstances as you explained you are still getting there with your riding, very good. The alternative is to get to ride instructors horses
 
For the last few years I have rarely ridden other horses. I think you school your horse as much as they school you into the way they're going - especially for us more average riders who haven't got the expertise to be able to adjust our riding quickly and to adapt different horses. I'm very fortunate at the moment to have the opportunity to ride a lovely (big) mare and at the moment I spend most of the time I ride her trying to figure out how to ride her. Tonight I had a bit of a breakthrough and I'm going to create a post (maybe) later to ask for people's opinons. It's doing my riding a world of good. On my own horse I'm fairly well balanced, ride leg to hand and try and achieve a nice way of going. Applying the smae principles to another horse and you find you need to take a completely different approach - like YM said tonight "it's like trying to stop a collander from leaking - you plug one hole and the water comes out of another." I found that quite a good analogy.
 
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