shirl62
Well-Known Member
Just introducing myself to the forum.
I am 62 and have just started back on a horse after about a 50+ year break!. I did a little bit of riding in my early teens ( never had lessons , therefore was not very good! ) My twin sis and I decided to take it up again. We stupidly booked a 2 day trek in the Brecon Beacons area ....big mistake...We did say that we were beginners and were paired with suitable ponies. We had to give the ponies a good brush ...mine was tied up in the open stable with a partition and when I tried to move her to brush her hind quarters she kept pushing back squishing me against the partition ( not good considering I am only 4' 10'' ) However we tacked them up and managed to mount our ponies with the aid of a step. As soon as I put my leg over so to speak my hips felt like they were dislocating ( she was a broad girl! ) however after moving my wee short legs around and getting them in the stirrups things were ok although I felt my stirrups were not at the right length ( they already were at the minimum length and twisted round the stirrups for extra shortening. We were okay walking and not too bad trotting going up the mountain. At one point my sister's horse took off and had great difficulty stopping him...very scary ...and has dented her confidence considerably. The rest of the day was not too bad .When I got off the horse my right toes were excruciatingly sore to the point I could not walk properly. We were just able to walk back to the guest house and practically crawled up the stairs to our room. We decided to do some stretching and passive movements to stop us seizing up which worked quite well. We only went out for an hour the next day as my sis was very nervous from the previous day's incident..In retrospect we should have gone for some lessons first and gradually got our 'older' bodies used to riding..Anyway it has not put us off but taking it a bit slower now.
Hope to pick up some good tips and info on here
Shirl
I am 62 and have just started back on a horse after about a 50+ year break!. I did a little bit of riding in my early teens ( never had lessons , therefore was not very good! ) My twin sis and I decided to take it up again. We stupidly booked a 2 day trek in the Brecon Beacons area ....big mistake...We did say that we were beginners and were paired with suitable ponies. We had to give the ponies a good brush ...mine was tied up in the open stable with a partition and when I tried to move her to brush her hind quarters she kept pushing back squishing me against the partition ( not good considering I am only 4' 10'' ) However we tacked them up and managed to mount our ponies with the aid of a step. As soon as I put my leg over so to speak my hips felt like they were dislocating ( she was a broad girl! ) however after moving my wee short legs around and getting them in the stirrups things were ok although I felt my stirrups were not at the right length ( they already were at the minimum length and twisted round the stirrups for extra shortening. We were okay walking and not too bad trotting going up the mountain. At one point my sister's horse took off and had great difficulty stopping him...very scary ...and has dented her confidence considerably. The rest of the day was not too bad .When I got off the horse my right toes were excruciatingly sore to the point I could not walk properly. We were just able to walk back to the guest house and practically crawled up the stairs to our room. We decided to do some stretching and passive movements to stop us seizing up which worked quite well. We only went out for an hour the next day as my sis was very nervous from the previous day's incident..In retrospect we should have gone for some lessons first and gradually got our 'older' bodies used to riding..Anyway it has not put us off but taking it a bit slower now.
Hope to pick up some good tips and info on here
Shirl