learning to ride

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E13

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Did you learn to ride as a child or an adult? Was this lessons at a riding school or something else? And how long between first starting to learn and being competent enough to have a balanced seat, hack out a friend's horse, hack alone, not being put on the riding school 'plods' mentioned in another thread? Would like to know how people got involved with horses :D (And does anyone feel the 'pull', that need to be around horses? :) )
 
I learned to 'ride' as a child, riding school style ..(and not a very good riding school!!!) it wasn't till I had my horse that i realised how crap I was!! ..he taught me far more than any of the instructors in the school! :o
 
Learnt to ride as an adult, was not fortunate enough to be allowed to ride as a child as parents thought it was too dangerous! I moved around a lot (lived in three counties in the space of five years!) so didn't start sharing until I'd been riding on and off for about four years. By this point I was jumping, hacking by myself (albeit with an exceptionally well behaved 6 year old!) and planned on doing some local shows with my last pony. Now seven years from starting to ride looking to get my own! The pull was definitely there from day one :)
 
Haha I guess the pull question didn't need to be asked ;) Also a quick q - how did people start to hack alone? I have never, though I've hacked out with one other... but if someone asked me to exercise for them, I don't know if I can hack alone, not because I can't, but because I've never had the opportunity! (And my hacks were on a plod with a friend haha, and on a schoolmaster with the YO where I was helping for a while, plus a couple riding school ones).
 
Briefly as you'll nod off if I give you the full history:

Pony mad as a child but with non-horsey parents, lived in London so was restricted to local RS lessons and loved it until i was about 14 when i lost my nerve/became allergic.

Started riding again in my thirties after first child, trying to take my mind off battle to conceive 2nd child. Stopped riding again when 2nd finally materialised!

Started riding again in joint lessons with my daughter when she was 6. She and I still ride together at one RS that caters wonderfully for children, nervous nellies (like me!) and RDA. Now supplementing this with a 'grown up' RS that has a wider variety of horses to ride.

My seat isn't bad, I'm fairly balanced in walk and trot but nervous and stiff in canter which I am working on. I'm told I have good 'feel' for what a horse is doing. I can get a tune out of some plods and have ridden some non-plods! I would hack a friends horse in company but probably not on my own. Riding is my exercise, my escape from and a pleasure with my children and my lessons are the leading light of my week. I absolutely love it. I would love, love, love to have my own horse one day but it will have to wait until children are older and I'm significantly more competent! The pull has always, always been there...even through the 'lost nerve' years.

Why do you ask?

Bodger
 
Rode plodders when I was in primary school, but basically followed the pony in front. Learnt to ride when I was 16 at an awful riding school, did 6 lessons and learnt rising trot diagonals and canter, then bought my own. Took me a few weeks to get to grip with riding a different horse, then taught myself to jump after 2 months. (Consisted of holding on!) Haven't looked back since and learnt so much more on him than I ever would have at an RS.
However, I have worked at a lovely RS, and many of the kids (who are now older teenagers!) Learnt brilliantly, now have their own horses and compete reguarly. So some riding schools teach you well!
 
E13 said:
- how did people start to hack alone?
Click to expand...

Lead hacks.

Following/being with someone (instructor or not) who knows the route and is competant/confident about the pace it is safe to ride at is nothing like hacking alone.

Riding at the front on a route you know but the other riders don't really know, especially if you're aiming to do more than have a walk, has all the responsibility of hacking alone, without the "oh, my god, i'm going to die in a ditch alone if i fall off" random pananoia (or maybe that's just my hack alone paranoia).
 
Tacked up the wife's pony (14.2hh, 7 years old), got on and went out on the quiet country lane.

Not ridden before in my life but had spent the summer months lead reining the three boys and missus around the area.

Since moved yards and now hack out alone, start off straight onto a busy 60mph road, then onto the quieter side roads and bridleways.
Had a couple of lessons to improve my position, but other than that it's just wear alot of hi-viz and keep calm?
 
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