How long to learn to ride?

[HelenMac]

I'd say go hacking (lots can be learnt in quiet, unstructured riding) , make sure you can power walk for 20 minutes, try a different horse, try a different instructor, try some lunge lessons and lessons without stirrups. But definitely don't give up!There

I'd say go hacking (lots can be learnt in quiet, unstructured riding) , make sure you can power walk for 20 minutes, try a different horse, try a different instructor, try some lunge lessons and lessons without stirrups. But definitely don't give up

There is a place for hacking I could go. It’s also a hour away but so is my riding school so it’s possible. Thank you. I will see about booking a few hacks.

 

[HelenMac]

Still learning aged 61 but I would say the basics can be learned in a year. Depends how often you have lessons or have the opportunity to ride a forgiving horse. If you’re riding wily old riding school horses that don’t want to do it it’s a lot harder to learn!

I think my horse is a bit wily. He also stops if you get unbalanced, which was wonderful in theory but I feel very balanced now. But he has hit the idea that when I ride he can trot for half a school then walk and by then I will run out of strength trying to push him on.
So he sees me and goes, “ok, thus lesson will be an easy one”

 

[HelenMac]

I started aged 60. I had two half hour school lessons every week. I was completely out of my depth and taught by a bullying teacher. I sat in the car and wept after every lesson. In my second year, I did the BHS stable management course so learned to pick out feet and tack up.
In my second year I changed teachers to a teacher who gave lunge lessons and who concentrated on balance on the horse. I also started to hack and thus learned to canter after learning for 18 months,

I regarded it as going through the UK education system. Learning lots of sujects to O level GSE, then two years to A level. A level means specialising in the things you want to do. For me that meant dressage and hacking. I never wanted to jump.

Remember you are the customer who is paying for lessons and you can shop around and find the right horse and the right teacher for what you personally want to learn next.

There are enrmous difficulties in continuity when learning to ride due to frequent changes of young staff and of ponies. I three times had teachers and their lesson horses move away from our area.
As you say, it is snails pace. But in the long run my OH was right. He said what mattered was saddle time and that I should go to any RS where I could sit on a safe and suitable horse. And that is what I am still doing twenty years later.

Saddle time? That’s pretty much what my instructor is saying.

 

[Skib]

But he has hit the idea that when I ride he can trot for half a school then walk

Some horses are trained to continue in the requested gait until asked to transition up and down. But in the UK most RS horses will trot on only if the rider gives a leg aid.
His ideas that he can transition down to walk is not an idea but the inbuilt instinct to minimise energy out put.

I was much influenced by a horseman called John Lyons when learning to ride. He was recommended by my neighbour who owned a horse. His first rule was to be polite to the horse as you are asking it a favour and the nexct rule is to set yourself and the horse a task which you are likely to be able to do. If you can trot for half the school, I would trot a long side, then ask for walk, riding a proper transition into an active walk and when you reach the next corner, ask for trot again.

The following time you ride, do the same but gradually lengthen the trotting. If you are exhausted by the asking, you are not doing it right. The first thing you need to do after mounting is to relax. You dont want stiffness in your legs or seat to put a brake on the horse. I was taught by Mark Rashid whose solution is to breathe deep, relax and cound the steps of the horse. 4 in walk and 2 in trot. You should feel your seat bones rise and fall, first one side, then the other as the horse moves its hind legs in walk. Then ask for trot and feel the same movement in sitting trot. But in trot think the 2 times rhythm of the trot.
Once the horse gets used to this feel of your seat allowing the movement, you can try transitioning down to walk just by altering your count from two times to four. And going from walk into trot it is the same, increase your energy so the horse has the energy to trot and think of the two time rhythm.

One of the problems of riding is that you are on a living thnking animal. You dont just need to give the cues but you have to show the horse that your cues mean something. If the horse comes out of trot when you want him to continue, you need to show the horse quite definitely that it has made a mistake. A single extra firm kick may be in order.

 

[kayeandGin]

I’m getting a disheartened.

I learned to ride as an adult. In my 20s I’d manage weekly group lessons for a 6 month stretch then have an enforced 6 month gap etc. I made the most progress in my late 20s and finished up a confident novice. I jumped 95/100 in the school but only ever attempted a very low course once. I couldn’t remember it for the life of me! I was starting to do a few lateral moves, like shoulder in, badly.

I then got dumped in a verge by a young horse on an assessment at a new school. I know! That hurt a LOT for some time but nothing broken except my confidence. So I stopped riding.

I’m now in my 50s, started again in January and I have had a weekly private lesson. I’ve gained my confidence back. But I am making such slow progress. It’s snails’ pace.

Getting the horse moving forward is such an effort. It’s not him, I’ve seen him ridden by an instructor and he’ll move. It’s me. I just can’t seem to get my leg on him effectively. A full circuit of the school in trot has me dying with the effort of keeping him going. I’m doing strength exercises and going to the gym to improve myself. I’m stretching my hips, quads, calves etc. I’m doing cardio and Pilates. I like the instructor and the school very much.

But I’m wondering if this is really worth it. I’ve managed lessons twice weekly over the last few weeks but need to go back to mostly one a week. I so want to get my own horse but this seems more and more like an unattainable dream and I wonder if I’m just being unrealistic. Apart from anything, there seem to be few horses suitable for novices ever offered for sale.

I feel like every horse owner learned as a child and I’ll never actually get to that relaxed and competent stage of riding. Do I admit defeat? Or am I being impatient?

Hello please don't feel disheartened especially at the entitled "no one wants a novice on their horse". I rode for 6 months and bought my own horse and never looked back since. It was the best thing i ever did. I now have a 3 year old who i'm doing a lot of in hand stuff with. Getting your own horse and getting lessons on it aswell as building a bond is really rewarding.

 

[HelenMac]

Some horses are trained to continue in the requested gait until asked to transition up and down. But in the UK most RS horses will trot on only if the rider gives a leg aid.
His ideas that he can transition down to walk is not an idea but the inbuilt instinct to minimise energy out put.

I was much influenced by a horseman called John Lyons when learning to ride. He was recommended by my neighbour who owned a horse. His first rule was to be polite to the horse as you are asking it a favour and the nexct rule is to set yourself and the horse a task which you are likely to be able to do. If you can trot for half the school, I would trot a long side, then ask for walk, riding a proper transition into an active walk and when you reach the next corner, ask for trot again.

The following time you ride, do the same but gradually lengthen the trotting. If you are exhausted by the asking, you are not doing it right. The first thing you need to do after mounting is to relax. You dont want stiffness in your legs or seat to put a brake on the horse. I was taught by Mark Rashid whose solution is to breathe deep, relax and cound the steps of the horse. 4 in walk and 2 in trot. You should feel your seat bones rise and fall, first one side, then the other as the horse moves its hind legs in walk. Then ask for trot and feel the same movement in sitting trot. But in trot think the 2 times rhythm of the trot.
Once the horse gets used to this feel of your seat allowing the movement, you can try transitioning down to walk just by altering your count from two times to four. And going from walk into trot it is the same, increase your energy so the horse has the energy to trot and think of the two time rhythm.

One of the problems of riding is that you are on a living thnking animal. You dont just need to give the cues but you have to show the horse that your cues mean something. If the horse comes out of trot when you want him to continue, you need to show the horse quite definitely that it has made a mistake. A single extra firm kick may be in order.

Oh thank you. I shall try the counting thing.

 

[HelenMac]

Hello please don't feel disheartened especially at the entitled "no one wants a novice on their horse". I rode for 6 months and bought my own horse and never looked back since. It was the best thing i ever did. I now have a 3 year old who i'm doing a lot of in hand stuff with. Getting your own horse and getting lessons on it aswell as building a bond is really rewarding.

You got your own horse after only 6 months? Way to go!
I’ve been back riding for 8 months but I don’t feel ready for my own yet. It’s the dream though I feel it’s slipping away from me

 

[HelenMac]

I'd say go hacking (lots can be learnt in quiet, unstructured riding) , make sure you can power walk for 20 minutes, try a different horse, try a different instructor, try some lunge lessons and lessons without stirrups. But definitely don't give up!

I had a different instructor last week and she got on board at one point to explain something. Didn’t say anything especially different to my usual instructor but it was nice for a change.
This week however I’m going somewhere totally different for a hack! I don’t think I’ve ridden out since 1997! And a friend is coming too so it should be great