Oh how I wish I'd been taught to ride properly...

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Elbie

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...in the first place!

So basically, for 20 years I was taught pull left rein to turn left, right rein to turn right. Nobody told me that my stirrups were too short and I was 'balancing' my gripping with my knees and ramming my heels down and my toes stuck out. Even when I had lessons at Hartpury, they didn't pick up that I can't ride a circle properly!

So I've been having lessons with a classical instructor and each lesson I find out my body does all sorts of weird things that are ingrained in my brain and therefore it is a constant battle to not do them! Every stride I ride I am having to think about how I am sitting.

So far I've managed to just about get rid of the pokey out toes and have learnt to relax my heel. However, I still have this habit of when I want to turn, I jacknife my body, turning my outside shoulder in and relying on the inside rein. And what's more annoying is I KNOW that I am doing it but my body just seems to overpower me!

Anyway...rant over. I am so frustrated with my flipping body! Please tell me I'm not alone in this
 
You are absolutely not alone. From the age of 4 - 18 I went to the same riding 'school' and I loved it, had a whale of a time. They did, however, completely omit the finer detail as you point out above. It took me AGES to overcome the 'left rein to turn left' thing! Once it was explained to me properly it made perfect sense in my head but easier said than done. It's just one of those things you do without thinking as you're concentrating more on the next jump, or the next whatever, rather than how you're steering. Now I'm at the grand old age where my friends children are starting to ask for lessons I'm going to make damn sure they are taught that pulling the left rein is not the way to ask pony to turn left!
 
I agree absolutely, so few places seem to teach the correct way to ride. It's taken me years to correct bad habits that I was taught by various RI's and it's hugely dificult to retrain your body.
 
i totally agree. I was taught to ride in a riding school from when i was 4 - 9years. Mum bought me my first pony (shes a qualified II and my stepdad is also horsey) she very rarely gave me lessons as when she did she'd get annoyed with me. Spent a few years doing my own thing then had lessons with 3 different people from when i was 11-16years who werent qualified but did the job well enough but didnt spot things before they turned in to habit. I'm now having lessons with my mum and an outside instructor and the amount of things i have to change is huggeeee!

-i look down almost constantly
-i drop my inside shoulder
-i have a weak left hand so have a tendency to drop my left rein or give it away
-i stiffen up though my shoulders
-i dont hold my reins tight enough so they slip through my fingers
-in sitting trot i drop my hands too low

oh and there is more!

obviously this isnt good especially as im currently re-schooling two horses. One of them takes complete advantage of my weak left hand. when doing lateral work he will turn his head to the right and run through his left shoulder and leaves his bum behind so we end up going too fast and whats even worse is the fact that i know what hes doing but i struggle to correct it! arggg should have had lessons and the ones i did have should have been better but hindsight is a wonderful thing...
 
Completely agree! The standard of tuition in most riding schools is appalling, BHS approved or not!

I worked at the same riding school for around three years, then had enough of the way they done things so moved to a smaller, less well known school not far along the road. I learned more from the new place in two weeks than I had from the old place in three years!

I'll never forget the look on my new boss' face when I was telling her how we were taught - and taught how to teach others - in the old place!

At the start of the year I got in touch with my horses breeder and she has been a great help on my position, and making me lengthen my stirrups, I've not had a proper lesson in years but already just from lengthening my stirrups the difference in my seat and the way I ride has improved drastically!

Here's me round about march this year and then again a few weeks ago. I've stopped tipping forward, holding on to my horses mouth and because I've got so much more leg round him he is so much more responsive! There's a huge list of what's wrong with my riding thanks to riding schools, but I'd be here all day listing them!

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I'm about to start lessons with a Sylvia loch classically trained instructor and I'm so looking forward to getting rid of all my bad habits and actually riding properly for the first time in my life!
 
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I too have this issue. I learnt to ride at riding school and was always taught to grip with my knees and push my heels down which in turn made my toes stick out. I've had my own horses for about 5 years and I have managed to over come the knee thing but still struggle with my sticky out toes, I just don't notice I am doing it and I'm ending up with really sore ankles when doing it correctly as they just aren't used to it. Thankfully I am now hacking out with a fellow livery who points it out so I can try and get out of the habit. I also developed a habit of turning one wrist over but I'm not sure I can blame riding school for that, I think that one may just be my own!!

That said I did have a lesson recentlyish with a new instructor who told my to basically ride with my reins no seat or body weight which kind of goes against everything I have learnt since riding school, obviously I need reins but that just made my horse very heavy!!
 
Fashions change (have a look at Golden age of showjumping on FB). I didn't really have lessons as a kid, mostly self taught and I do think you appreciate and understand better as an adult. Plus 20 years ago you'd not see the photos and videos we can take now to assess ourselves!

I am actually loving relearning!
 
StoptheCavalry said:
That said I did have a lesson recentlyish with a new instructor who told my to basically ride with my reins no seat or body weight which kind of goes against everything I have learnt since riding school, obviously I need reins but that just made my horse very heavy!!
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That's a weird one! How did you find it? I recently had the precisely opposite lesson, almost without reins - my instructor told me I should be able to control speed, direction and maintain circles etc using leg / seat only and the reins should be a gentle reminder.
 
I spent most of the lesson going 100 miles an hour on a circle in trot stood up with my arms in the air as he needed to slow himself down.... he didn't feel the same!! If I pull against my horse he pulls back and we just end up fighting hence the hundred mile an hour trot! It's weird because she was recommended to me by a different instructor who I could no longer have after moving; who in my first lesson made me ride with washing lines altering the speed and length of stride in walk and trot with my seat alone so was odd to have recommended someone with the complete opposite view.

I also found it a revelation when having lessons after a break with my own horses they turned wherever I looked (obviously by altering weight), in my opinion reins should be to reinforce other aids so half halts and the occasional emergency break in my case but hanging onto his head only makes our problems worse!!
 
I've been having lessons in a 'regular' type school for two years now. Last year I'd decided that something did not seem right to me and I had some sessios with a Philippe Kark trained instructor. The difference was astonishing and by the end of my first session I was quite emotional. I have ongoing issues with contact and reins which I get nagged about by RI. It's not that I don't understand what she's telling me its just that I reject the idea of shorter tight reins whilst working harder with my legs to maintain impulsion.
This week I attended a training day arranged by a friend with a Gerd Heuschmann trained rider. It was really interesting to see how quickly she got my friends horse going much better simply by not pulling back on the reins. It's so simple to do yet so many trainers and riders reject it or won't consider giving it a go. Both PK and GM advocate an upwards motion on the reins to halt or half halt and the hand is held with the palm slightly upwards which helps the arm stay softer. My regular RI is not interested in changing how she teaches riding but apart from the reins issues the rest of what she teaches me is quite good I think. I've just had to learn how to adjust what I do and I know that when I do get my own horse he will be trained a la PK style. I think there are those of us who keep an open mind and are willing to relearn or adjust how we ride and there are others who know what they know and that's how they'll stay.

I had trouble adjusting how my hands reacted after 10 months learning so I'd imagine OP that you will take a bit if time to get out of the habit too :)
 
Yes yes yes!!! I am having lessons with an instructor who is teaching me all about soft hands, turning with the outside rein etc. I finish each lesson with a big fat stupid smile on my face. I'm loving relearning and made a decision to do exactly as I'm told even when it feels wrong.

My instructor is great and yesterday he put me on his 'difficult' schoolmaster and got me to warm up and then to say what the horse was lacking (balance, impulsion but mainly rhythm) and showed me how to correct it. It's great he's not just saying 'do this' but asking 'what do you feel?' And 'how might you correct that'. I've never been taught like that before like I'm being taught how to school and improve a horse. Love having these lessons!!!
 
FfionWinnie said:
Plus 20 years ago you'd not see the photos and videos we can take now to assess ourselves!
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But it's not just from learning in riding schools as a youngster. At least a few years ago we were having lessons with dressage instructors and noone realised how bad my position was! All the focus was on making the horse go in an outline but they never picked up on things like me having short stirrups, using my heels to kick (with toes pointing out!) and totally collapsing my body whenever I turned!

Lessons with new instructor focus on how my 'position' dictates what the horse does. Yesterday I was trotting around standing up with my hands shoved right up the horses neck and turning by using the weight in my legs - this was to prove I do not need to pull the inside rein!
 
atlantis said:
It's great he's not just saying 'do this' but asking 'what do you feel?' And 'how might you correct that'. I've never been taught like that before like I'm being taught how to school and improve a horse. Love having these lessons!!!
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Same here! My instructor will say you need to do this because... It's all about gaining a tool box of ideas and know what to use, not just learning to sit in one position. Makes learning so much more interesting!
 
atlantis said:
Yes yes yes!!! I am having lessons with an instructor who is teaching me all about soft hands, turning with the outside rein etc. I finish each lesson with a big fat stupid smile on my face. I'm loving relearning and made a decision to do exactly as I'm told even when it feels wrong.

My instructor is great and yesterday he put me on his 'difficult' schoolmaster and got me to warm up and then to say what the horse was lacking (balance, impulsion but mainly rhythm) and showed me how to correct it. It's great he's not just saying 'do this' but asking 'what do you feel?' And 'how might you correct that'. I've never been taught like that before like I'm being taught how to school and improve a horse. Love having these lessons!!!
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I think it's really interesting how different a lesson can be when you are left to think things through a bit more. I had a lesson with a different instructor recently on a horse I regularly ride and she gave me fewer instruction and direction. It was a really great lesson and horse was more relaxed than usual too. I think I too switch into the not thinking for myself in lessons. Last week I was left to mess around whilst RI was chatting and surprised us both because the horse started to soften up and move better even though he'd resisted all our previous attempts to get him moving nicely.
 
That needs a like button TrasaM. Glad your lessons are going well. I think I panicked a bit yesterday and I got told off for not trusting my judgement. You feel what you feel apparently. I think I was just scared of getting it wrong.

I was told I rode beautifully yesterday. The horse is difficult to get going well apparently, but when you ride him well he goes well and he was going pretty well ;)

Big thumbs up for us all being taught to ride well!!! Great stuff!!
 
Atlantis. How lovely to be told that! I got the RI to video me recently and had to take deep breaths before I could watch it. Id never seen myself ride before. It looked far better than I'd expected but i think i could see where I was going wrong. but stupid me! I accidentally deleted it when I was taking stills from it to analyse !!! I wanted RI to view it with me and point out my defects :(
 
I was taught in the exact same way you describe - turn with the reins, arms straight, balancing on the reins etc until I got my own horse. I stabled him at a local yard which is owned by a very 'old school' type lady (think along Sylvia loch lines!) and she has competed nationally and short listed for Olympics etc. Well she couldn't believe what I had been tought. I had months of 'posture' excercises you name it, there were even times I thought of packing it in because I couldn't do anything right. Through the pain and frustration I thank the woman! I have the most wonderful classic position and it just feels amazing. My boy is so off the leg and willing at every movement. It's also improved his hidden talent in the world of dressage , being a welsh c x cob he can easily get 75% against warmbloods!

The way riding schools teach is ridiculous, it's all kick kick and pulling. I don't understand why they don't teach correctly ?!
 
Yes I am one of these too! Things seem so much more logical now, my horse responds pretty well considering she is one of the most backward thinking horses ever! Actually after the initial 'stop napping' phase I think she is more sensitive than she appears and if you ride her well and with sensitivity she goes well.

I feel quite annoyed that I didn't learn properly in the first place but to be honest I was just there to be around the horses anyway. My riding school wasn't the worst, we did at least get taught about seat and legs but it wasn't perfect and I have a terrible tendency to lean forward and lean on the reins - mostly lack of confidence though.
 
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I was self taught as a child, then had 'proper' lessons in my mid 20's. I had a bit of a break from riding when my old mare retired. For my 40th birthday my OH gave me an envelope with £200 only to be spent on lessons (prior to this I had purchased a 4 yo cob and was floundering and bemoaning my lack of riding ability). In Jan I started lessons on my instructors schoolmaster and realized I knew nothing. I am completely relearning. Progress is slow but steady. What I am being taught makes sense and seems right and this is transferring onto my own cob who is slowly starting to come together too.

OP a major part of the battle is the realization that what your body is doing is wrong, so you are doing well, I am at the point now where my legs and hips feel comfortable and normal in the right position, I am sitting straight, I just have to think about arms and shoulders and the overwhelming desire to look down. Interestingly I what I am learning about balance and posture and using core muscles I am carrying through to other areas of my life and I am getting much less lower back ache. Its my excuse for continuing lessons - cheaper than the chiropractor!
 
My lovely instructor says she feels ashamed that she used to teach like we were all taught, its only in the last few years that she has changed through attending training and conferences on horse and rider biomechanics
 
I absolutely ache like billio after each lesson, but that excruciating pain in my hip joints has got better. So i think im getting better at msinraining my position naturally. This is without my sprenger stirrups too so I think the fundamental problem was my position of my whole leg not my crappy ankles. Also wow saddles are so comfy!!!!

It was lovely to be told I'd ridden well, although he is trying to get me to share one of his schoolmasters so I'm not going to totally believe everything lol. I def need to be filmed so I can watch it back. Hubby has agreed to do so one weekend. It's just fab and enlightening.

My riding school was great fun and I had a blast, its the instructors I had when I had my own horse who were disappointing!!!
 
And me, me , me!!!

Have managed to cure sticky knees and poky toes - however hands ..............OMG, I appear to have a mental block when it comes to them. Whilst I know that I should be asking for the inside eye whilst doing a circle, my right hand seems to want to pull up and over the wither ............... WHY!!!!!
 
In the last year I've been having lessons with a biomechanics instructor - Wow! She has completely altered how I sit and is always asking 'how does he feel?' 'what did you do different that time?' thereby making me evaluate him and myself all the time. As a result I am finally starting to really feel and notice the subtleties in his movement. She is amazing for explaining things to! It was a revelation compared to the riding school I rode at before, where if the horse wasn't 'on the bit' it was a case of hands down by your knees and lean back and explanations were non-existent. Hate thinking how I used to ride.
 
Oooh - and for all those, myself included, grumbling about knowing you are doing something wrong but still doing it - have hope, it is apparently Stage 2 of the conscious competence matrix!

Stage 1 - Unconscious incompetence
State 2 - Conscious incompetence
Stage 3 - Consious competence
And the strived for Stage 4 - Unconsious competence

We are getting somewhere!
 
Ur, I DID have "proper" lessons at a "proper" riding school when I was a kid, so have no excuse whatsoever for the fact that I sit like a bag of ferrets coming undone :)

Then I got my own pony and joined Pony Club, and that was the instruction I got; which TBH was sometimes good, sometimes OK, but frequently indifferent. Then I got fed up with PC and started work, but still kept my beloved pony, and just didn't have the time, or the money! So went for a great many years without having one single lesson, to my shame!

The problem is that you get into bad habits very quickly, and once you've got those, unless you've got someone there to sort you out immediately, they'll stay.
 
Mozzie said:
Oooh - and for all those, myself included, grumbling about knowing you are doing something wrong but still doing it - have hope, it is apparently Stage 2 of the conscious competence matrix!

Stage 1 - Unconscious incompetence
State 2 - Conscious incompetence
Stage 3 - Consious competence
And the strived for Stage 4 - Unconsious competence

We are getting somewhere!
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I'll be stage two then!! I'm back into riding after 22 years and currently having classical lessons. I dont own so its just 45mins a week. Like others i was taught to grip with the knees and have only just managed to stop the gripping and tensing of the thighs. It was soo hard.

The added problem has been the totally stiff body. My hips and back were so inflexible and stiff and I've spent a small fortune on physios and sports massage and hours doing stretches to loosen everything up. My rounded shoulders were another issue but I've sorted that now and have quite athletic looking shoulders that sit back...although they do creep forward during lessons when I'm tense!

So finally the body is allowing me to ride better which has been half my battle. I just need to get the new way of riding to stick in my head and my muscles to remember that I ride a new way. Its slowly happening but its easy to go back to old ways like leaning forward, hands too low, gripping.

My instructors are fab and incorporate Alexander technique into their teaching. We've done plenty of stirrup free lunge work and work on how the seat influences the horse. Its really hard work, physically and mentally, but I'm loving the process of relearning!
 
I love reading threads like this! I'm such a beginner I probably do most of the things that are being mentioned, my local riding school is absolutely useless and unfortunately the horse i help out with is not happy in the school so can't have lessons on him. I am basically teaching myself at the moment and picking up some very bad habits on the way!
 
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