Learning to ride - does everyone go through this?

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Mythical

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That stage in learning to ride where you're just starting to learn to work your horse properly, head down, back up, etc, when every now and again, you get it right but it's still sporadic and you just can't quite figure out how you did it. How did you get through it? Did you have your horse in just a snaffle, or did you have gadgets to help you get it for a while?

Had a lesson today on my loan horse and I honestly feel like I can't ride. It's been six months and I STILL can't get her to put her head down and work consistently. I can't push her into the bridle because she runs and sticks her head up then she starts swinging it around, then starts to fall out through her shoulder then refuses to bend correctly, all the while running faster and faster. When I try to slow my rise to get her to slow down she goes faster still, then I can't fix any of it because as she's trotting faster and faster, I'm feeling more and more insecure and start to grip with my knees which means I can't stop her from cutting the corners or swinging out and I can't push her forward when she backs off, so then she looses all the rythm in her trot.
My RI suggested I work her in a Pelham from now on because I can't work her properly in a snaffle, so we'll train her to work correctly in the Pelham so she'll just do it herself when we come to use the snaffle again and I feel like a proper failure as a rider. (in my defence though, she does have a very upside down neck and has been allowed to go round at her own speed - around mach three, i think - with her had in the air for far too long) We've had all sorts of ways of strapping her head down and the difference in her when we do is mind blowing, she really is a completely different ride in a bungee, but I'm sick of all these gadgets. Why can't I do it on my own??
Does everyone have to go through this or do people usually just get it?
 
Riding is a continual process of learning! Lots of people, some very experienced, feel similar on a daily basis. I've been riding 24 years now and still have moments like that. It is why riding is so addictive.

What I would say is don't get too obsessed with the head down thing. Concentrate on your position and riding the horse forwards and the rest will come
 
Glad it's not just me actually!!! For years I've just plodded around and been more of passenger. I trying to learn to ride correctly and I am finding it really really hard!!!!!!!!! I have been trying with my horse for months and my previous loan horse. I am not 'natural rider' and I just can't get it either :-( u r not alone!!
 
I know very few people who can fully concentrate on their position and also be aware of their horses, one or the other must take extra concentration. Why not vary your focus? One lesson use your bungy, focus on you, next use your pelham and focus on her.
 
yes i think so :) i would suggest a lunge lesson that way you dont have to consentrate on where your going just going consistently and keeping a steady rhythm, also sing a song in your head to keep in a steady trot and half halt when she tries to run. shes doing it to evade. when she works consistently for a few strides bring her back to walk and give her a pat and a fuss and let her have her head and increase the amount of time she is working consistently :) also are you sure she is happy in the snaffle she is in? have you tried her in anything else? she is probably struggling to work consistently because she hasnt been asked to before so she is finding it hard work so she is going to try and get out of it! take it slow and dont beat your self up about it :)
 
its not just riding, i feel like I can't even lead my horse at the moment! have gone a million steps backwards and I can't even see how its going to change! so annoying!
 
I've been riding 13 years and its only this last two years that I can say I've figured it out....tho I still have days where I had no idea how to do it :o
 
Have you ridden a trained horse - so that you know the correct application of the aids, and how it should feel? It's very difficult to get an unschooled horse to work correctly if you aren't 100% sure of what you are trying to achieve, and how it should feel.
 
I try not to focus on where her head is when I'm riding, I'm working on getting her moving off my leg, bending properly, working in a nice rythm, keeping my hands still, trying to get my legs to move independently and where and when I tell them to and not gripping with my knees but getting her to work in a nice soft, round outline is the current goal of all of it. Shell put her head down when everything else is right.

1lucie, I'm glad it's not just me too!!!

She seems to prefer the Pelham, so we put her in a snaffle with the same mouthpiece, she seems to prefer that over a French link. She's also been ridden in a single jointed mouthpiece but that was a gag which didn't help her head carriage at all!!! I'd stick with the Pelham but its not dressage legal (and frankly, it scares me a bit). She's got the same brakes in either.

Thanks for the replies. I feel a little better
 
TBH, I don't think your RI has explained very well. Instead of thinking of getting the horse's head down, you need to think of getting the back end working correctly by using your seat and legs. To do this you need to develop your thigh muscles, it all takes time.
If the horse has an upside down neck, she isn't going to be able to work correctly. She needs time to develop the correct muscles as well. I suggest that when the horse starts running on, you bring her back to walk and then re-establish the trot. Repeat every time she trots too fast.
I have to say I'm surprised that your RI is advocating the use of gadgets, instead of teaching you how to ride properly.
 
Auslander said:
Have you ridden a trained horse - so that you know the correct application of the aids, and how it should feel? It's very difficult to get an unschooled horse to work correctly if you aren't 100% sure of what you are trying to achieve, and how it should feel.
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I havent ridden a trained horse but If we use the bungee I can get her up into the bridle quite consistently after about twenty minutes, her back is up, she's solid and balanced, she's taking the contact down and forwards, she's listening and responding to my aids, the bungee is loose on her shoulders and I feel like I'm holding the controls to a fighter jet. Is that how it should feel?
 
I'd say you need lessons on a schoolmaster type, only then can you actually 'get' it. And to be blunt, with an instructor that focuses on improving your ability to improve the horse, rather than one that suggests gadgets to disguise the symptoms of being insufficiently schooled.
 
Littlelegs said:
I'd say you need lessons on a schoolmaster type, only then can you actually 'get' it. And to be blunt, with an instructor that focuses on improving your ability to improve the horse, rather than one that suggests gadgets to disguise the symptoms of being insufficiently schooled.
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It's not the first time a new instructor has been suggested and there have been phases where she hasn't seemed to want to teach. Thing is she's also the YM and we get along quite well. (I'd say she's my friend, she could be my friend, but first and foremost she's an employee at an organisation where I'm a client). I'd say my only option is to sneak off to lessons at a local EC five miles away, but a) they're not taking any new clients on at the moment and b) she's the sort of person who knows everything that happens within a twenty mile radius!!

On the other hand it could be that I'm trying to go faster than the horse and I are really ready for. Grace can and does work beautifully every now and again, without any gadgets, just a snaffle and plenty of time and I can get it more and more often, just not for long and not consistently. More importantly, I can tell the difference from when she's just tucking her nose in and not really working. Maybe the problem is I've had a taste of that, now I'm in too much of a hurry to get it all the time, when really there are other things to be worked on first.
 
Hi Mythical - I know where you are coming from. I only started to ride as an adult and didn't begin to learn to ride correctly until I moved on from riding schools, bought my own horse and got some decent lessons. I then realised how much I still have to learn and it IS frustrating when you begin to get a feel for it but its only sporadic :D But I remind myself that it is what it is and will take time and hard work. Although it is mind blowing to see an 8 year old child riding better than me :eek:
 
Pearlsasinger said:
TBH, I don't think your RI has explained very well. Instead of thinking of getting the horse's head down, you need to think of getting the back end working correctly by using your seat and legs. To do this you need to develop your thigh muscles, it all takes time.
If the horse has an upside down neck, she isn't going to be able to work correctly. She needs time to develop the correct muscles as well. I suggest that when the horse starts running on, you bring her back to walk and then re-establish the trot. Repeat every time she trots too fast.
I have to say I'm surprised that your RI is advocating the use of gadgets, instead of teaching you how to ride properly.
Click to expand...

Agree with this... putting its head down doesnt mean its working correctly.
 
Hi,
This is so much like my situation. However I have been lucky so can see the wood for the trees.

Firstly, yes a pelham may well be a good idea to help train the horse. I did this and after a couple of months was able to move to a hanging cheek snaffle which is dressage legal. And of course you can always compete HC (non competative ) in the pelham if you want to go out have some fun and get some show experience
However, you should also remember that at the lower classes in dressage there are more points for a horse working nicely than there are for having it's nose in the right place.

Perhaps ask your instructor about trying a small pair of spurs to see if that helps the way of going. Has worked a treat for me. Just the cold metal band on the horses side gives me much less of a 'discussion' about doing as asked.

Also no instructor is perfect and knows it all. Don't be afraid to try another sometimes. I have made huge jumps doing the same exercise with a different instructor that explains things differently.

And lastly. watch other people ride. Watch stuff on u-tube, go to the local dressage and watch the good guys doing the higher classes. I have learnt nearly as much this way as I have through sitting in the saddle.
 
What about getting the horse schooled, possibly sending away to avoid any fall out, & you having lessons on it where its gone to be schooled? I think at any level out of horse & rider one needs to know more if the other is to learn anything. And whilst 6wks or so of schooling won't make the horse a schoolmistress, if you had the opportunity of getting on her straight after a pro has got her working well, you'd be able to feel the difference immediately & have more of a goal. And some, not all, people who take in horses for schooling have a decent schoolmaster you could have a sit on & learn from.
And on a side note, when you see small kids who ride well icandy is that they've put in more hours than you, so it makes perfect sense that although they might be younger, they have more experience. And it can come across dismissive of a child's hard work & ability when a new to riding adult comes along & is shocked the child is better than them.
 
You have had lots of good avdvice, lunge lessons, riding a schoolmaster and giving frequent breaks to your mare at the walk.
My mare was like yours, she still has a tendency to put her head up as she always wants to know what's going on. Some things that helped me is teaching her to give (so if I do a half halt she actually gives instead of pulling and putting her head up), bending with inside leg and outside rein when she starts desengaging and lots of lateral work to build strength (even when hacking out we practice our shoulder in on the last stretch of long straight path when coming home).
I think hacking out on a long rein at the walk, jumping, galloping and feeding from the ground are things that also help develop correct neck/topline muscles.
Also, slowing down her trot and doing a small circle then going into lateral work so she uses her back instead of just throwing her legs. My mare was very slow and careful in trot once I asked her to properly engage.
 
Hi Littlelegs - the bit about younger children riding better than me was supposed to be tongue in cheek, a bit of humour and certainly not dismissive of the time and hard work they have put it :D
 
I realise that, wasn't having a go or thinking you were being dismissive. Just pointing out that kids who ride well have just done more of it, rather than the adult not being 'good'.
 
The only advice I can offer is have patience. I am also learning to ride 'properly' while also reschooling so my lessons partly focus on me, partly on the horse. Think back to how far you've come in the 6 months and continue. Don't be tempted to use gadgets to rush things along. Things will come together! Good luck
 
I realise there's a difference between tucking her nose in and working properly. She's completely different when she does work properly. Completely utterly not the same horse at all.... I just can't get across how different it is.
 
Go for a horsey 'weekend away' if you can, to a Ride With Your Mind' weekend course with Mary Wanless. She specialises in helping you figure what 'it' is that makes it go right in your particular body with your particular horse. She is a master at biomechanics and can really spot minute differences. If she's too far away for you, go to her website and look up the list of coaches - lots of them do weekend clinics etc you could go to. It might help you get over this frustrating 'hump'.
 
Oops, sorry. Rambling to myself but on my phone so it's stuck there now.
Sending her to be schooled isn't really an option at the moment it's just too expensive and it's not really about her knowing how to do it, we know she knows, it's just that I can't seem to get it out of her.

When she puts her head up, she's not having a look, she's reacting to the contact. She's having the dentist in a couple of weeks.
I might have her saddle fit looked at too cause she's had it a while.

We do lots of lateral work in our schooling, lots of circles from 10 to 20m, direct and progressive transitions, leg yields on a circle, lots of walk breaks on a long rein and on a shorter one, I really really am not just trying to yank her head in I swear.
 
Agree with lunging advice for concentrating on your position and a schooled horse for feeling if possible.

If she hasn't been worked properly and consistently and has an upside down neck for it... She isn't going to stay in the correct position for any any real amount of time. Just think about when you do a different sport - ice skating, tennis etc and how much you ache. You may use muscles daily, but using in a different way is a big ask, don't expect it to happen overnight as it won't you'll just be disappointed. Talk the worries through with your instructor though as trying to concentrate on you and horse at same time is a very difficult thing.
 
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