How long had you been riding before...

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Raych

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buying your first horse?

A lot of people grew up in horsey families I know, but for those who started out at a riding school or were the first in their family to learn, how long had you been riding and what stage where you at when buying the first one?

Thanks xxx
 
I started riding 7 years ago (21 years old) and got my boy 2 and half years ago. I learnt to ride at a riding school (no one in my family are horsey) and then volunteered there on a saturday. Bit odd as usually kids help for rides rather than grown women but i learnt so much and YO took me out competing with her. And as i was an adult i was involved alot more in care/first aid etc. I felt ready then and had learnt enough to manage my own as well as how shows/competitions worked to be able to get out there with him, although as he is on part livery rather than DIY i am not thrown in the deep end.
 
Oh god, I'd been riding for years, working for rides at local stables, begging friends to let me ride theirs, generally being a pain in the ass kid. Started riding at 4 years of age, had first pony at 13 on loan. Paid for with paper rounds, egg rounds you name it. As for my riding ability, well I could stick on most things since the only free rides I tended to get were on the more difficult beasties no one else wanted to sit on. As for any kind of real training.... minimal and I shudder to think of all the terrible mistakes I made. I could walk, trot, canter, jump and none of it in any BHS handbook. What the hell though, I loved it and have learned the error of my ways over and over since. Not even going to mention my current age since I'm VERY old now. x
 
Riding school for about 4 years, then had 2 share horses for about 9 months each. I then got one on loan for two years who I bought....

If I'd never had her though I leave it for another few years probably!
 
Dunno, I always leased ponies when I was a kid but to be honest, my riding was very basic, I never cantered in the school, I didn’t jump over a couple of foot and my biggest skill was staying on. Gave up at 16/17.

Returned to riding when I was 22 and bought my first horse three and a half years later, apart from the ability to stay on had to learn how to do everything, sitting to canter, rising diagonals, jumping, I’d never heard of inside leg to outside hand or correct flexion! So although I had the balance I had no idea what I was doing! (Half halts were a new invention in 2006!!)

So looking at it, either three and a half years or 20 years! I had though just done my NVQ when I bought my boy so I was having three riding lessons a week and stable management lessons, according to my boss I’m no longer an ineffective wet weekend! :D
 
Probably started riding at local riding school aged around ten. Had regular lessons right through to age about 18 or so (and had a - looking back on it now, dangerous - pony on loan for a yearwhen I was 15/16) then gave up for a couple of years while I moved up to the big city to see if the streets really were paved with gold. Developed a total and utter hatred of city life, moved back to Berkshire and started riding lessons again in my early 20s and got my first horse about 2 years after that. (But I won't say how many years ago that was, suffice to say it was a long time ago!)
 
About 4 years then i got Mr Speeders :D I also started at a riding school and took my boy into lessons when we first got him but 4yr untrained ex racer going in a group lesson = bad idea haha my instructor thought i was nuts to buy the git for a first horse but im glad i did and the instructor soon changed her mind after a couple years lol :D
 
I started riding aged 3, always rode regularly but always at riding schools, some of which were better than others. I was 24 by the time I got my first horse...by that time I had worked with horses for a few years and done stage 3. I actually bought my first horse from my employer and kept her at my employers yard for a while.
 
Started at an RS when I was 6 doing fairly equal amounts of stable management and riding, then we got a pony on loan from a charity, through a friend when I was about 9, which we kept at home and I looked after. We never rode her, but I proved I was capable of looking after a pony and was committed to it and then 2 years later we bought our first pony to ride :)
 
I started riding at 7, had ponies on loan 6 months later. Got own horses at 11 and gave up at 15/16.

10 years on I went exmoor pony trekking once and 2 months later I bought a 4YO who'd barely been touched to back!!

Best decision I ever made!! :D
 
Started riding when I was 9, was helping out by age 11, started ,loaning age 12 then got first horse age 14 :-) Wouldnt have given up the time I helped at the RS I made so many friends and learnt so much
 
I had been riding for a few years but my family had horses, I actually got my 'own' pony when I was 13 but my mum wouldn't let me have one as she said I was too young...she left and my horsey grandad bought me one!
 
I first rode at about 8, used to nick my sisters pony whenever possible but he was sold a couple of years later.
Didn't ride again until 19, had few lessons and spent a long weekend riding in the black mountains in wales, I loved it but thought the commitment of my own horse was just to much at that time.

So didn't ride again until about 34, took up lessons again, had about 10 and bought a highland pony and just learnt as I went.

My daughter thankfully also developed a love of ponies at the same time, so she got a wee welshie at the same time.

So we both basically got ponies off the back of 10 riding lessons each!! The riding I'd done in the past really didn't count as the gap was 15 years to when I'd last ridden.
Thrown entirely in the deep end, but had good help around us and I dont think either of us will ever be horseless again. I only wish I had done it younger :)

4 years on we've both still got a horse/pony and both have a youngster for the future.
 
I got my first loan at 2, obviously I just sat there and smiled while mother led me round. I didn't compete until I was 4 or 5 (FR and LR).
Out of my own pocket, I didn't buy my own horse until about 4 months ago after I got a good paying job. I now stay on at my job and I'm starting to work for myself :)
 
I wasn't allowed my own horse until I could pay for it myself and look after it full time :(

Started riding at 6 years old and had riding lessons, then shared and helped out with local horses.

Bought my first horse at 21. Have had horses ever since and am now 33.
 
About 4 years to buy one. Rode when little, then stopped again and started on and off. Then when i went to uni i started riding again had a few part and full loans and now have 4 ponies.
 
SplashofSoy said:
I started riding 7 years ago (21 years old) and got my boy 2 and half years ago. I learnt to ride at a riding school (no one in my family are horsey) and then volunteered there on a saturday. Bit odd as usually kids help for rides rather than grown women but i learnt so much and YO took me out competing with her. And as i was an adult i was involved alot more in care/first aid etc. I felt ready then and had learnt enough to manage my own as well as how shows/competitions worked to be able to get out there with him, although as he is on part livery rather than DIY i am not thrown in the deep end.
Click to expand...

Almost exactly my experience except I was nineteen and didn't get the competition experience. I got my horse eight years after I started riding and I shudder now to think of how little I knew and how much I thought I knew! :D My lovely old girl was a proper school mistress and I can only imagine the amount of times she must have sighed and rolled her eyes as I stumbled around. I have a two year old highland now and I am different person altogether.
 
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