Lesson report for today! *pics and videos*

Snowysadude said:
Aww bonnie is cute but looks very bored in the school! Looks more like she could do with a couple of months of just hacking to wake her up and get her interested in life but I know on a riding school that cant be afforded as not financially viable or feasable.

Not joking if you ever want a sit on a nice, foward, sweet warmblood (can stick him on the lunge if you wanted - even just at first) feel free to come over and have a sit on mine. I know you went to catlips which is two minutes from my yard and you always seem to get the lazy ones on the riding school which wont help your position!! Main thing with mine that might put you off is the fact that hes 17hh, but other than that hes lovely (didnt used to be but has now oficially grown up and is out of pain - videos of him can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yZGGdT2KKE (ignore the kick out he only does that if you slap him and i just wont give you a whip :P) and then on www.youtube.com/user/daziet - in the first one he doesnt look foward but thats cause hes only been in work 3 weeks there :P ) :) xx
Click to expand...

Great offer Snowysadude.....If I wasn't in Holland I would get TG up on Vardi and give her the lunge lesson of her life lol

TG go for it I guarantee you will come away feeling you have improved 100% as all of your energy will be centered on you and not keeping Bonnie Coblet going forward. x
 
Wow TG - you are getting some wonderful offers on here! Some people would give their right arms for this sort of help and interest in them :D.

I too think you have improved so very much and you know I like you a lot, but either we are missing something fundamental, or you have progressed to a point where you won't get any further unless a) you ride a schoolmaster rather than a RS pony (as CH says), b) you get your own pony/horse on loan or otherwise. I don't know if your existing RS has something suitable for you to ride, and I really hate to type this and am loath to do so, but if your instructor couldn't see that something wasn't right with Bonnie then...? It could just be the video and the angle, etc. etc. etc., but I too would not be happy with a private lesson where I had to spend the whole time forcing the pony into movement.

Right. I'll shut up and go away now. I hope you're not upset/angry about all of this. I look forward to your lesson reports and to seeing how you are doing. It's just frustrating.

Sorry! Shutting up now.
 
I too think you have improved so very much and you know I like you a lot, but either we are missing something fundamental, or you have progressed to a point where you won't get any further unless a) you ride a schoolmaster rather than a RS pony (as CH says), b) you get your own pony/horse on loan or otherwise. I don't know if your existing RS has something suitable for you to ride, and I really hate to type this and am loath to do so, but if your instructor couldn't see that something wasn't right with Bonnie then...? It could just be the video and the angle, etc. etc. etc., but I too would not be happy with a private lesson where I had to spend the whole time forcing the pony into movement.
Click to expand...

Which is what I have been saying all along.

Get away from that RS, get on the lunge on a decent horse and find someone who really wants to teach you to ride.
 
TBF MM, I sent PM's to TG offering help and advice and I'm just glad now everyone has caught up and seen the lack of progress I always thought was due to 'circumstances' beyond her control.

Good horses make good riders though good doesn't always mean angels.

She needs teaching horse sense, too and to spend as much time as possible with people who know their stuff and have horses who know they do!

I stand by my previous claim that unless you are talking Cadre Noir, you can't learn to ride properly at a riding school.
 
brighteyes said:
I stand by my previous claim that unless you are talking Cadre Noir, you can't learn to ride properly at a riding school.
Click to expand...

agree with this. riding schools are good for learning the very basics, ie how to sit to walk and trot. but IMO, if your going to be a good horse rider, you need to be on a schoolmaster that will give you the feeling of a 'real' horse. because lets face it, a riding school horse is generally quite stale and dead and when it comes to buying/loaning your own horse, it will come quite a shock when everything becomes scary and your tested out in a hack with no instructor around.

as for you TG, i think you have improved loads and loads and i now think its time for you to maybe even get your own on loan or have some one on one lessons on schoolmasters. :)
 
nativeponies said:
10/10 for trying so hard TG

2 things...

1. the pony doesn't look 100% sound to me?

2. the saddle isn't a good fit..its too far forward..(too narrow?) ..probably causing the above (and the bucks!)
Click to expand...

Could not agree more, the pony looks really uncomfortable and I am gobsmacked that no one at the yard has noticed :confused:

I am also surprised that your teacher has not told you to sit for a couple of strides before asking for canter, by carrying on rising you are not letting the horse know that you are going to ask for canter and what is happening is that you/bonnie are running through the trot into the canter and not actually making a true transition if that makes any sense :)

I agree with the others, the horse did not make it easy for you, not her fault, she looks bored to tears poor thing and is also in discomfort, not your fault either, you are not experienced enough to know, but your RS should have noticed.

If you were closer I would pop you up on Sirena so you could get some feel, if you are ever up in Cambs the offer stands :)
 
SirenaXVI said:
I am also surprised that your teacher has not told you to sit for a couple of strides before asking for canter, by carrying on rising you are not letting the horse know that you are going to ask for canter and what is happening is that you/bonnie are running through the trot into the canter and not actually making a true transition if that makes any sense :)
Click to expand...

That's something I've noticed recently with a lot of new riders, they don't seem to be told to sit before they ask for canter, I am always getting on at the children I ride with to sit first!
 
Right, let me try and type a semi-decent reply...

First of all, thank you all for the kind offers of horses to ride. I really appreciate it :) I am off to TheresaW's yard next week to go on a hack, I cant wait!

Secondly, I agree that her saddle is too far forward. i am sorry I didnt notice, as I really should know better. Safe to say, I will not make this mistake twice! The last thing I would ever want to do is cause suffering to an animal.

With regards to my RS.

I agree that I should be riding school masters to really work on my seat, and everything else that needs improving. There are some more forward, schoolmaster/mistress types and I will be asking to ride them, but of course I do have to ride what they give me. I know how busy they get, and asking for a last minute change of horse is not helpful!

I do not feel ready to leave my RS. I know that to many of you it may seem that I am not progressing at all, or that I havent progressed as much as I should have. I feel that, riding once a week, I have done alright. The yard has helped my confidence so much. In february I hardly knew about diagonals, could barely canter (due to lack of lessons) and now I feel myself getting better and better. I am fitter than I have ever been before, happier than I have ever been, and I've actually made friends. (That may seem a silly point to make, but I do find this quite hard :o). Heck, I even did my first ever dressage test and got 50%!

I try my hardest in my lessons. I know that I am very priveledged to be able to ride even once a month, let alone weekly, so i make the most of it. I spend my sundays riding, working on my stable management (I muck out shavings excellently :D) and just generally having fun. I mean, isnt riding about enjoyment??

I'm never going to be the next Mary King. Im never going to br the next Ellen Whitaker. What I do hope to be, one day, is a horse owner with a semi-decent way of riding who can provide my horse with anything it needs, and most of all sheer love, care and dedication.

When I first read these replies, I considered stopping posting my lesson reports. I am not going to do this, as for the majority of the time, the advice that the HHO-ers give me is invaluable. I cannot learn to be a better horsewoman without learning!

I hope you aren't all sick of me now, and if you are, then feel free to put me on User Ignore.

TG x

ETA: It is not in any way possible at the moment to loan/buy a horse :( And unless the share was at my RS, then i coudnt do it. Part of the reason I can ride weekly is that I can travel there easily and cheaply.
 
Last edited:
Having re-read the thread, would just like to say that Bonnie is notoriously a lazy cow the majority of the time! I will take a little break from her though (but the early morning hugs will still keep coming :D) x
 
thelwell_girl said:
Having re-read the thread, would just like to say that Bonnie is notoriously a lazy cow the majority of the time! I will take a little break from her though (but the early morning hugs will still keep coming :D) x
Click to expand...

I am looking forward to the lesson report when you ride Bonnie again and we see her face showing "uh oh crap she means business ":-)))

Keep up with the morning hugs but no cake or she will get lazier:-)))))) Use the cake to bribe whoever does the horse schedule to put you on Pally :-))
 
Of course it's about the enjoyment!! :) You do what you feel happy with!
Personally, I choose to look for a specific type of lessons, because I want to do a specific type of riding - I'm not even competative, but I want to ride and do particular things. So I find instructors/horses who will teach me those (hence travelling around wales :o) BUT for a long time, I hated dressage, and wasn't interested in competing or even being sort of 'competition standard' as you might put it - so I rode at my favourite stables: a dealers yard!! Didn't 'learn' as such, but had a lot of fun, learned to stick on and handle everything from stroppy 11hh ponies to 17hh showjumpers... And I'd go back to that any day :D

Doesn't mean you have to ignore what you learn on here though either, you can still learn plenty from people on here, even if it is just 'theory' and you can't put it into practice just yet. And if you can, definitely take up some of the offers available to you ;)
There will be a time and a place for you to move on, there is no rush! Just make the most of what is available to you :D
 
Its nothing to do with "stopping posting your lesson reports" or feeling otherwise sorry for yourself. You post your reports for advice, we have given it. Its in general agreement that you need to ride schoolmaster horses - its nothing to do with last minute changes, tell them that next week, when you pay money for your private lesson, you want to be riding *insert name here* or similar horse that they feel is suitable. I would list horses that you DON'T want to ride (i.e. Bonnie).

You also need to go into every lesson with an aim. I agree with the person who said that althoguh they dont compete they have an aim each lesson. I remember the days of my parents paying for my lessons - I got on, walked round in circles for a while, got off again, thanks very much! Things changed when I started paying for my OWN lessons - I realised pretty quickly that they're VERY expensive if you're not progressing!

And the point about moving riding schools is that if they can't provide you with this, then you move.

Stop feeling sorry for yourself, chin up! Nobody is saying that you haven't progressed - more that you could be progressing quicker and more productively!
 
*prod* I'll beat you with a big stick if you dare stop posting missy!

I don't think anyone was saying your riding school was bad, more that they want to see you get the best of everything which I'd say is because we see how hard you try everytime you ride and because when things aren't brilliant, you get on with the advice in your head and learn from it.

Do what makes YOU happy, you don't ride to please others, you do it for you. If where you're at makes you happy, then stay :) God I was taught the basics in a back street, run down riding school and hell, I loved it!

If you do ever go anywhere else for a lesson and want company, I'm up for it :)

Keep truckin' girlie!

*hands TG some cake* thats for you not Bonnie, Bonnie can have a cuddle when she behaves herself :)
 
TG - You seem to have a really positive and great attitude towards horses and your riding.

It's great to hear/ see a young person so positive and grateful... I only ever seem to encounter bratty 'kids' who are spoilt rotten and care nothing for their horses.

I wish you all the best and keep up your hard work!

I look forward to seeing your next thread of your riding lesson ;)
 
Definitely don't stop your posts. And I definitely won't be putting you on user ignore either! I rode at my RS long after I had outgrown it because that was what my mum could afford at the time. I honestly think that if you don't feel ready to move on you probably aren't anyway. The last thing you want to do is try and ride something a bit more lively and end up being scared IMO.

If you are in Cambridge visiting SirenaXVI you are welcome to a ride on my brown horse too. He is ace on the lunge and is a peace of pee to ride. That's the only reason I manage to ride him! Plus everything is in slow motion on him because he is a big doper so very good for working on position as you have loads of time to think about it before the next thing happens!
 
thelwell_girl said:
I try my hardest in my lessons. I know that I am very priveledged to be able to ride even once a month, let alone weekly, so i make the most of it. I spend my sundays riding, working on my stable management (I muck out shavings excellently :D) and just generally having fun. I mean, isnt riding about enjoyment??

I'm never going to be the next Mary King. Im never going to br the next Ellen Whitaker. What I do hope to be, one day, is a horse owner with a semi-decent way of riding who can provide my horse with anything it needs, and most of all sheer love, care and dedication.
Click to expand...


I really like your attitude TG, I think it's brilliant. You're 16 right? Me too - and I see so many, some of my friends even, brattily pushing their parents around demanding stuff - but rarely being grateful for what they have and the experiances and oppourtunities they get.

Bonnie seems lazy but, we all have days when we don't perform at our best - this also extends to horses! Don't be worried about telling her who's boss ;)

Cake, cookies and this weird but very yummy wintery mulled wine stuff that I made today (Sorry, got a teensy bit carried away with my cooking today and now have to much :D)
 
TG you remind me a bit of me ;) on one particular pony and various small ones I have ridden since... in fact rode a lazy 13hander for a friend and prob looked the same as you a couple of weeks agod. I had all my formative years at a RS and also remember one pony and being told off for kicking lots and pushing hands at front end etc etc but it wouldn't go anywhere otherwise.

It took me a long long time to get canter properly... and several ponies.. one schoolmaster rocking horse later... much easier.. though I have to say I am not sure I lost my tendency to grip until I had my own... (age 22!) got a dressage saddle and finally stopped tensing up. I am having ankle problems atm so trying to sort them ;) .. though I think they come from having a less than forwards pony and my legs being a bit long on him.

So I think my summary would be do what you can/ride what you can now, enjoy it and know that you have years to improve ahead of you.
 
Just a thought and you may disagree with me but here goes. I agree with the others that although you have improved lots you have the potential to go much further on a different type of horse. I hear what you are saying that you are happy at your current riding school and don't want to stop going there and I agree with you riding is about having fun. Instead of leaving your current riding school would it be a possibility for you to try a different riding establishment (as a one off) just to see how you find it. If you are not happy then you have lost nothing by trying, however you may end up loving it and want to go back for more. At the end of the day its for you to decide and this suggestion may not be an option for you at present, however think it is worth considering.
 
I am going to disagree on some points here! I do think you can learn to ride properly in a riding school! just has to be a riding school with decent horses, and a good variety! this is a horse at my yard who would fit right in at any competition with privately owned horses! just think its a generalisation made above

victoria-and-ronan-chestnuts-riding-school-13-05-2009-b009-04previewJPG.jpg
 
I'm new here, although a H and H reader for several decades, so my comments will probably be seen as inflammatory, but here goes.

This pony is not schooled, plain and simple.She doesnt know the aid to canter because she probably has only ever been kicked into it, as so many riding school horses and ponies are. The rider hasnt a hope in hell of timing a correct aid either, when her liver must be mixed up with her kidneys at a trot speed more suited to pulling a cart.

With some decent training and the rider being taught with some logic, this could be a perfectly good partnership.

And Brighteyes, hitting the pony six times harder is not the answer. The pony has never been schooled to respond to light or correctly applied/timed aids. So is it fair to punish her?:confused:
 
Hi, TG! I'm a lurker on here and don't post much at all, but I always really enjoy reading your threads, you obviously are very hard working and determined and always seem to be having fun whatever happens! Which is what horse riding is all about! If your ever in cardiff you can have a ride on Norman, he's only a fat fell pony but you'll definately have a fab time with him! :) Sorry I couldn't offer any helpful advice!
 
TG - I think the reason everyone is suggesting schoolmaster lessons etc is because you are clearly so dedicated to progressing your riding - it seems to me that it's almost a bit unfair for someone so determined to be held back by the horses they are riding in their weekly lesson.

I have a hairy, lazy pony, who bears quite a resemblance to Bonnie. Even the most experienced, neat riders on my yard will admit that they can't sit there and look pretty on Murphy because he needs a lot of leg. However, he is mine and therefore I can stuff him full of oats, spend time working on his schooling, user spurs, give him a mega crack on the arse when he ignores my leg, hack him out to give him a break etc, and all of this helps. You don't have the opportunity to work on Bonnie - your time riding should be spent working on you.

As a 'learner' you cannot be expected to maintain a canter or even a decent trot on a backward thinking pony, whilst also working on your seat and balance, especially without stirrups.

Often with riding school ponies (and this is the case with my own pony too) they are 'easy rides' in that you can put anyone on them and they'll plod around and won't do anything unexpected, but that are incredibly difficult rides if you start asking more of them. They also have a way of making you feel like the least effective rider in the world. I love my pony to bits, but he has driven me insane sometimes - but as I've said, I can work on him and change his way of going etc.

I guess what I am saying is these ponies are doing you a bit of a dis-service and you don't deserve that. If I were you I'd take up as many of these lovely offers of rides as you can get, and look out for somewhere local to you where you can go for occassional schoolmaster lessons, and if you're stying at your current RS make sure they give you the better horses.
 
EnlightEquitation said:
I'm new here, although a H and H reader for several decades, so my comments will probably be seen as inflammatory, but here goes.

This pony is not schooled, plain and simple.She doesnt know the aid to canter because she probably has only ever been kicked into it, as so many riding school horses and ponies are. The rider hasnt a hope in hell of timing a correct aid either, when her liver must be mixed up with her kidneys at a trot speed more suited to pulling a cart.

With some decent training and the rider being taught with some logic, this could be a perfectly good partnership.

And Brighteyes, hitting the pony six times harder is not the answer. The pony has never been schooled to respond to light or correctly applied/timed aids. So is it fair to punish her?:confused:
Click to expand...

I'll give you that, if the pony has no idea that pressure aids from the rider's legs mean, then no, it isn't fair to give it a wallop. However, I think the pony does know and might be a bit more generous with a more assertive rider. There would be no point in TG smacking it as she can't maintain the balance, seat and aids after the upwards transition.

I think TG does well not to get very demoralised by the whole thing. I know she says she has only been making progress since February but that was eight months ago - or about forty hours of riding at one lesson a week!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top