Just being nosey.. what level rider do you think you are?

imogen345

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I will always be a total novice. I learn something new everyday as I find horses need to be treated as individuals, often making common sense and the ability to research and understand, more important.
 

Javabb94

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I don't know actually! I wouldnt call myself a novice although probably novice confidence wise on horses I don't know after bad experience at a dealers.

In terms of the whole looking after/riding horses maybe intermediate? I'm only 18 so no where near as much experience as most of this forum but been riding since 4 and had a variety of different ponies.

When I got Java I felt like a total novice again as each horse is so different for me I learn something new with each Horse I have had/get
 

maisie06

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very, very novice. I can't jump or canter and just to walk and trot hacks as I cant get an outline either. I don't ride very much now as I don't really improve.
 

tallyho!

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I am awesome :D:D...........................................



at falling off.


Occasionally.



When drunk.
 

Tonty Tont

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I'm a complete beginner for certain things. I've hardly done any jumping at all - I could do it but it wouldn't be pretty! I also don't have a clue about any of the dressage movements and can't get a horse into an outline.

However, for other things I'm not too bad. I backed my pony myself and we now happily go galloping around the countryside :p I can also ride through napping, bucking and rearing.

So it really does depend on what I an trying to do! :p
 

Ibblebibble

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very difficult to define because what do you use as a benchmark to compare yourself with? i would make an instructor cry at my position, anyone who competes at any level would call me a novice:eek: but i'll happily hack anywhere on pretty much anything and ride through pretty much anything that the horse throws at me. so as a hacker i'm gold medal:p oh and my daughter thinks i'm awesome so i quite like her opinion too;):D
 

Miss L Toe

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I think we need some definitions.

To me a beginner is someone who has only ridden RS type ponies and might be able to post and canter but would fall off if the horse did a buck or a shy. Riding will not necessarily improve beyond this stage.

A novice is someone with a year or so [weekly lessons] who is able to ride most ponies in a RS, can walk trot and canter when asked, trot over trotting poles and jump small fences on a schooled pony. Riding will improve with lessons.

A competent RS rider is able to ride most riding horses and can school them to a limited extent, is able to jump a course of fences and cope with everything they meet out hacking, can tell if a horse is unsound, and is aware of the shortcomings of the horse and themselves.

A good rider is able to stay on most fit horses, school them and improve every horse they ride, without an instructor on the ground.

When I meet people who have been taking lessons at the local RS, they nearly all over-state their abilities, this is due to the fact that the think all horses are going to do what they want, the instructors are doing this to encourage confidence and enjoyment in their lessons.
On this forum I have seen people saying things like "the horse was broken two years ago, has been in a field, so I will be fine"
The most common attitude is "I replied to your ad which stated "good rider required", [but did not know what you meant], I am taking lessons and my instructor tells me I am doing fine!!.
 

scrunchie

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I think I'd be classed as a fair weather novice.

To me, there's more to horses than just riding. My horses make me happy. One day I may get to ride them "properly" when I have no kids to restrict me, but until then I am happy to potter about.
 

lizziegoos

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I have lessons twice weekly for six months.I couldnt do rising trot,canter,have balance & told my instructor on my visit before my lessons i couldnt pretty much do owt but a walk & sitting trot!.Now i ride really good seat,confidence in all transistions,canter freely (also without striuups) tho improving my confidence to start galloping & jumping next, al transitions inc rising trot without my striuups, bareback & ride forward going RS horses.
I class myself as still a beginner & have proved to Myself I can start back riding after 10 year break; having children at a later age and believe in myself and my horse despite me having a serious RTA whilst out hacking last year (with a diff RS).
the instructors at my RS are very impressed with my sheer determination to learn.:)
 
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Miss L Toe

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I have lessons twice weekly for six months.I couldnt do rising trot,canter,have balance & told my instructor on my visit before my lessons i couldnt pretty much do owt but a walk & sitting trot!.Now i ride really good seat,confidence in all transistions,canter freely (also without striuups) tho improving my confidence to start galloping & jumping next, al transitions inc rising trot without my striuups, bareback & ride forward going RS horses.
I class myself as still a beginner & yes I have proved that you can start riding after having children at a later age and believe in yourself and your horse despite me having a serious RTA whilst out hacking last year (with a diff RS).
the instructors at my RS are very impressed with my sheer determination to learn.:)
You are no longer a beginner imho, if we compare with ski-ing, the blue run is for beginners and the red run for intermediates, so you are intermediate, able to cope with steep bits, but in moderation.
The rider who can walk and bumps at the trot is not doing a sitting trot, she is bumping!
 

Toffee44

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Prob Experienced but defo a novice.

I will get on most horses and hack or ride in an open field in walk, trot and canter. But I can't ride a dressage test, I cant seem to school a green horse and have to concentrate really hard to school a schooled horse. But I seem to the be crash dummy and if someone is scared of hacking they ask me first, and I love getting horses out of the school and onto the tracks of the downs.

I can break ponies and get them going but again can't get them schooled, but seem to get them almost bombproof and exploring out on their own. Samba however almost beat me but now we have the strongest bond I have ever had with a horse. Schooling next...........hello lessons :)
 

lizziegoos

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You are no longer a beginner imho, if we compare with ski-ing, the blue run is for beginners and the red run for intermediates, so you are intermediate, able to cope with steep bits, but in moderation.
The rider who can walk and bumps at the trot is not doing a sitting trot, she is bumping - Thanks Miss L Toe, thats good to hear. :)
 

Kat

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ARGH I'm going to have a rant.

Can we please be clear about the use of the term novice, it is being misused and it is making the term worthless.

Novice means new to something, a beginner. So all those people saying I'm a novice but I've been riding 20 years are talking rubbish, you may have been riding 20 years and remain techinically a bad rider, or have 20 years experience but lack skill but you are no longer a novice.

You also can't be a novice in confidence, you might lack confidence and that may hold your riding back but confidence has nothing to do with whether you are a novice or not.

Most of us acknowledge and recognise that you never stop learning and improving (and if you don't recognise that then you should give up now) but that doesn't mean that you are a novice all your life.

Calling yourself something other than novice doesn't mean that you think you know everything there is to know, neither does it mean that you believe you are better than Mark Todd. It just means you are no longer a beginner.

So all those people who say that they are a novice but have been riding for years and years have a rethink. Maybe call yourself, competent, intermediate, experienced but nervous, experienced but lacking techincal skill, experienced but rusty, or just tell people what your limitations are.

If we all call ourselves novices it makes it impossible to distinguish genuine novices. So what does the person who has had six months worth of weekly group lessons call themselves? If you are the proprietor of a riding school/trekking centre and you have five people all calling themselves novice riders which do you give the steadiest horse to? How do you know whether they are a beginner or someone with 20 years experience being coy?

Rant over! :D
 

Kat

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I think we need some definitions.

To me a beginner is someone who has only ridden RS type ponies and might be able to post and canter but would fall off if the horse did a buck or a shy. Riding will not necessarily improve beyond this stage.

A novice is someone with a year or so [weekly lessons] who is able to ride most ponies in a RS, can walk trot and canter when asked, trot over trotting poles and jump small fences on a schooled pony. Riding will improve with lessons.

A competent RS rider is able to ride most riding horses and can school them to a limited extent, is able to jump a course of fences and cope with everything they meet out hacking, can tell if a horse is unsound, and is aware of the shortcomings of the horse and themselves.

A good rider is able to stay on most fit horses, school them and improve every horse they ride, without an instructor on the ground.

I think that is fair and sensible, although there perhaps needs to be another category between competent RS rider and good, where a lot of people sit. Someone who can stay on and ride most horses (i.e. pretty much anything that isn't a total loon) who can school them but may need assistance from an instructor and could perhaps only actually improve certain types/levels/categories of horse.

For example I know that I can school my horse and do something productive without an instructor, and probably could do on pretty much any riding school horse or lower level leisure horse. But I don't for a minute think I could get on someone's fit well schooled competition horse and improve it. I could ride it and probably control speed and direction but I couldn't improve it. I might be able to improve a lower level competition horse with lots of input from an instructor or owner but, for example, I couldn't hope to improve a GP dressage horse!
 

JFTDWS

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A few sandwiches short of the full picnic :D :p


Oh oh oh, I want to be in this category :D:D:D

Well said Kat - novice doesn't mean rubbish, it means new to it. If you think you're rubbish, so say :p

FWIW, I have tonnes of experience of hacking, riding by myself, with no input from anyone else, low level competition, jumping etc on my horses, analysing my own riding and my horses' manner of going and planning/working on improving that. I'm technically "up" on training methods, techniques etc as I read a lot, but I don't have lessons so I'm sure that is evident in my riding. I have experience of nappy horses, spooky horses, rearers, a couple of strong / fighty buggers, but amost no experience of buckers (and I don't suppose I'll get any now unless one of mine takes it up :cool:). I'm experienced enough to say no if I think a horse looks dangerous :cool:

I wouldn't know where to start if you gave me a smart horse and told me to school it over a 1.10 course. I would look a bit of a pillock on a highly schooled dressage horse while I tried to find the buttons which I know theoretically where they should be (depending on how the horse was schooled). I could probably improve your average ned, given sufficient time.

I'm not good by Miss L Toe's description - nor my own - but I'm not an all-round novice either. I'm just plodding around in my own little world, trying not to wreck my own horses...
 

Molasses

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What level rider am I?
Sometimes I’m level with the ground if that helps :D

The definitions don't matter to me, it's not about good or bad I am, if I’m safe and in control everything else is a bonus.
There’s no point in defining experience or ability is there? It’s a moving target, dependant on age, background, situation, surroundings, abilities and day to day stuff and that’s just the rider, if you add horse’s type, age etc. then the definition changes with each ride.
 

Flame_

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ARGH I'm going to have a rant.

Can we please be clear about the use of the term novice, it is being misused and it is making the term worthless.

Novice means new to something, a beginner. So all those people saying I'm a novice but I've been riding 20 years are talking rubbish, you may have been riding 20 years and remain techinically a bad rider, or have 20 years experience but lack skill but you are no longer a novice.

You also can't be a novice in confidence, you might lack confidence and that may hold your riding back but confidence has nothing to do with whether you are a novice or not.

Most of us acknowledge and recognise that you never stop learning and improving (and if you don't recognise that then you should give up now) but that doesn't mean that you are a novice all your life.

Calling yourself something other than novice doesn't mean that you think you know everything there is to know, neither does it mean that you believe you are better than Mark Todd. It just means you are no longer a beginner.

So all those people who say that they are a novice but have been riding for years and years have a rethink. Maybe call yourself, competent, intermediate, experienced but nervous, experienced but lacking techincal skill, experienced but rusty, or just tell people what your limitations are.

If we all call ourselves novices it makes it impossible to distinguish genuine novices. So what does the person who has had six months worth of weekly group lessons call themselves? If you are the proprietor of a riding school/trekking centre and you have five people all calling themselves novice riders which do you give the steadiest horse to? How do you know whether they are a beginner or someone with 20 years experience being coy?

Rant over! :D

Thank you for posting this. Its exactly what I have wanted to say but I couldn't be bothered and I wouldn't have phrased it so well either.
 

tonitot

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I think I'm pretty pants .. I ride racehorses, not very well but I try! I ride my own horse but cant school to save my life and so get frustrated easily because I dont know what to do (getting lessons soon though so it'll be okay!) :p
 

Doogal

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I'll settle for experienced intermediate level.

I have ridden for over 20 years, I hack, jump up to 3ft and I am capable of schooling green but basically sane horses to novice/elementary level - beyond this level I will need a lot more input from an instructor as I would be trying to teach a horse stuff I haven't done before.

I wouldn't attempt to back my own youngster, hunt, jump huge fences or ride complete nutters because I lack the confidence and I am not motivated enough to try and overcome them because I prefer other activities!

I would say nerves is the more limiting factor on my horsey pursuits than my actual ability so I agree that simply lacking confidence is very different to being a genuine novice.
 

Orangehorse

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Intermediate-but-not-as-brave-as-I-was.

I have had about 20 horses and ponies through my lifetime - so not as many as all that.
Everyone has taught me something! I have hunted quite a lot on several different animals, but not for a long time. I passed PC B test, but I would never have passed A.

I have done Novice dressage tests, but not that well, I am still trying to learn how to do dressage effectivley. I have evented at what was Novice level (before all these 80/90/ classes) but realistically Riding Club is more my level, not BHS.

I often come home with a rosette, but it isn't generally a red one. I am often the best of the also rans, rather than top of the class.

I am of an age now not to want to fall off or do anything to energetic. I just enjoy my horse and hope we can grow old together. It will be a toss-up as to who gives up first.
 

Miss L Toe

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Oh oh oh, I want to be in this category :D:D:D

Well said Kat - novice doesn't mean rubbish, it means new to it. If you think you're rubbish, so say :p

FWIW, I have tonnes of experience of hacking, riding by myself, with no input from anyone else, low level competition, jumping etc on my horses, analysing my own riding and my horses' manner of going and planning/working on improving that. I'm technically "up" on training methods, techniques etc as I read a lot, but I don't have lessons so I'm sure that is evident in my riding. I have experience of nappy horses, spooky horses, rearers, a couple of strong / fighty buggers, but amost no experience of buckers (and I don't suppose I'll get any now unless one of mine takes it up :cool:). I'm experienced enough to say no if I think a horse looks dangerous :cool:

I wouldn't know where to start if you gave me a smart horse and told me to school it over a 1.10 course. I would look a bit of a pillock on a highly schooled dressage horse while I tried to find the buttons which I know theoretically where they should be (depending on how the horse was schooled). I could probably improve your average ned, given sufficient time.

I'm not good by Miss L Toe's description - nor my own - but I'm not an all-round novice either. I'm just plodding around in my own little world, trying not to wreck my own horses...
I came across a girl who told me she could ride anything, well not in my book, she could not ride any horse, she was useless, no horse went well for her, she could not jump her lovely little [schooled ] arab, in other words she made every horse look worse than it was, the fact that she could stay in the saddle of a quiet pony did not make her a rider.
I came across a lady who told me she used to ride when she was a child, turned out she was "self-taught", did not know how to lead a pony, mount or dismount, and she was the experienced person, child was even worse.
 
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Jesstickle

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I wouldn't know where to start if you gave me a smart horse and told me to school it over a 1.10 course. I would look a bit of a pillock on a highly schooled dressage horse while I tried to find the buttons which I know theoretically where they should be (depending on how the horse was schooled). I could probably improve your average ned, given sufficient time.

I'm not good by Miss L Toe's description - nor my own - but I'm not an all-round novice either. I'm just plodding around in my own little world, trying not to wreck my own horses...

I've seen you ride and you would be fine to go round 1.10 on a horse that knew its job. I can and you don't ride any better or worse than me. Just because you haven't ever done it doesn't mean you couldn't and you shouldn't think it does! I won't have it!
 

BentleyBelly

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I've been riding 20 odd years but am still pretty rubbish...i don't have much confidence or skill but plenty of enthusiasm!! I am a ploddy happy hacker so it doesn't really matter. My pony is the same as me...he is never going to win any prizes, we are quite well suited.
 
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