Mad riding stunts

[Paint it Lucky]

I am generally quite a sensible rider, I aspire to be great in dressage so am very serious about my schooling. But whenever one of my friends comes into the school she always makes me do crazy stuff on her horse. A few days ago I was being lunged bareback with my arms in the air, then doing some jumps and then my 'friend' decided to chase me with a lunge whip (whilst bareback with no reins!) and made her horse canter round bucking! Thankgod he has a mane to hold onto! Then she made me ride backwards (still bareback) and though promising we would only walk she promptly made the horse trot and as I had nothing to hold onto I bounced off the back!

Today we were practising riding like beginers, ie. strange positions, doing the splits kicks (which are actually very effective for making lazy horses go forwards, I may use them more often!) Then I was 'made' to ride backwards again, this time with a saddle thankfully and managed to canter round without falling off! Then we both got on him bareback (don't worry he is a big strong horse) and walk, trot and cantered round the school. It was great fun, so slightly scary at times! So am I the only nutter or what crazy stunts do you get up to?

 

[brackenhappy]

the only crazy stunts i do is on holiday(in the Dominican) when i've had a rum or two! and think its great to rear the horse up! and ride stallions!! the horse in question admittedly will rear if you so much as touch his mouth and i'm the only tourist who rides him as i dont (normally unless i've had the rum and egging on!!) touch his mouth at all, most other tourists cant resist and then he finds it fun to rear!!(his owner (horrible man) taught him to do this so he is not doing it because of pain. at home i'm totally different only like to ride predictable horses!! and deffo not stallions!!.........also just back of hols and when i was there rode a horse round the island in a bikini and nothing on my feet!he was a bloody big stallion arab as well!!!

 

[emma69]

I'm sorry, maybe it is several years of working with horses that had behavioural issues, giving first aid to people who had come off in all manner of ways, and dealing with legal claims from accidents that makes me find what you are saying rather disturbing.

I have nothing against exercises that promote balance, stability etc, I have often taught people on the lunge with no reins, stirrups etc, to improve balance and feel, but it is always done on a quiet horse, who is well schooled on the lunge - and I would NEVER dream of chasing a horse around with a lunge whip. Aside from the fact that doing this causes horses to respond incorrectly to the sight of a lunge whip, life changing accidents can happen from even 'minor' falls in walk and trot, let alone canter. Those of us who have worked in the industry do everything we can to prevent accidents, whilst still producing good horses and riders.

I find it appaling that someone who considers themself serious about schooling cannot see what is wrong with 'riding horses like beginners' and doing 'split kicks'. People spend years educating horses to respond to correct leg aids, bashing around on their backs won't exactly help will it? Teaching beginners one of the first things I try to do is encourage them to build up their leg muscles to avoid having riding school horses that are dead to the leg, and on the most part we suceeded, and had sensitive, responsive horses rather than 'riding school nags' people tend to refer to school horses as. Maybe you should consider the welfare of the horses, the welfare of others that ride those horses, and the livelihoods of those that own the property on which you ride before you own entertainment value.

 

[JAK]

MD is always up to something ridiculous, though possibly her most OTT stunt was when she & a friend recently played 'chicken' in the field, which I am horrified to say involved trotting to a starting point, then turning the ponies round & galloping straight towards each other on a collision course, to see who would move first!
Needless to say, the Baggage never moved by so much as a centimetre - friend's pony was always going to be the loser with that game!

MD's best effort however was possibly the video below!
Pony (definitely not the plod it appears to be here! lol) obviously missed his calling as a circus horse, as he never put a foot wrong, despite MD's bright idea of taking him to the far side of the school & pointing him at the gate to make him move! lol

 

[soph21]

its all a bit of fun!!!! tomorrow our local RC are holding an adults gymkana and BBQ!!! im taking my sec A and wine is involved in the games so hope the weather stays dry cos it will be a right giggle!!!

 

[JAK]

An adults' gymkhana & BBQ sounds like great fun - hope you have a fab time!

 

[Paint it Lucky]

I am sorry Emma69, please don't think I use horses for entertainment value, I don't, I honestly didn't know my 'friend' would chase the horse with a lunge whip (I would not have got on otherwise), but the horse was not hit at all and he is a very laid back type who is rarely bothered by anything. I love horses and would never deliberately hurt or upset them. This particular horse loves jumping and us having fun with him as he is bored with normal schooling.

I do quite often ride bareback to improve my balance and seat but the other stuff I mentioned is all due to the influence of my crazy friend (though I know it is unfair to blame her as obviously I have a choice), I would never jump bareback on my own or do anything else that might be 'dangerous' and I would certainly never consider my own enjoyment before the horses. I am sorry that I have upset you.

 

[Baggybreeches]

My sister and I used to have jousting tournaments in the paddock, complete with schooling whips as jousts? and galloping ponies and falling off!

We also used to run a little betting scam against the new liverys, my sister used to bet them that they couldnt jump higher than my pony and I, then she said I would do it bare back, and the newbies (who had quite often paid a shedload for their horse) took her up at £5 to the winner! My record bareback was 5ft4ins so we won quite often! just to prove how unimportant saddles are the highest I ever jumped with one was only 5ft6ins.
BTW my pony was a 13.2 ex JA

 

[Breezesbenefactor]

Apache

 

[jumpthemoon]

I worked on a yard with horses trained to perform stunts for films. They could do all sorts of stuff like rear on command, spanish walking, falling from gallop (i never tried that one though!), attacking people on command - we had some fun with those! Espescially as they were mostly spanish stallions!

 

[GTs]

[ QUOTE ]
MD is always up to something ridiculous, though possibly her most OTT stunt was when she & a friend recently played 'chicken' in the field, which I am horrified to say involved trotting to a starting point, then turning the ponies round & galloping straight towards each other on a collision course, to see who would move first!

[/ QUOTE ]

That is one of the best games - CLICK HERE

 

[Seahorse]

A friend of mine had a horse that had been taught to buck and rear on command, we found out by accident about the rearing while trying to cross the road one day, much to the horror of the oncoming cars (and us) but once we realised he had obviously been trained to do it we used to do it all the time, really funny if someone was coming towards you driving too fast lol

When I worked at a riding school we used to ride the ponies bareback with headcollars on, canter round and see who fell off first, and have jousting competitions with our whips as well as sword fights!
Great fun