People that claim that they can ride...

Rudey

Rudey

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People that claim that they can ride - I dread it! The amount of times I have met someone and as soon as I mention my horses, they want to come to the yard with me as they have ridden a few times before and claim to be really good.
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I was telling one of our friends girlfriends how I wanted to go on holiday with the OH to a log cabin/cottage where I can take my two horses and dogs with us.
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Then next thing I know, she has invited herself and her OH along to join us. Apparently while the 'boys' do 'boys things', we could go out and ride the horses.
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Politely I said it wouldn't be able to happen as Rox only turns 2 in April, she said it was okay, I could ride him and she would ride Sammi! LOL! Lord give me strength *rolls eyes*!!
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So how many of you have had similar tricky incidents? xx
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We have had a few people wanting to ride ours, inc when I was leading my 2yr sec a round the village, to meet traffic. A car pulled up and a woman insisted her child would love to ride him, I said his age and hes not backed, and she was insistant her child could ride him. I ended with the fact he was a chronic rearer, and untrustworthy for kids as he likes to bite : D she didnt insist anything after that. hehe

As for the log cabin, theres a lovley place in santon downham, thetford, called little lodge farm. We used to go yrly with our neds and dogs, great rides / walks, and not overly expensive either
 
lots of people think they can ride as they once sat on a horse 20 years ago and didn't fall off.

i just smile and nod while internally rolling my eyes.
 
Yep know that feeling. I'm so picky over who rides my horse that now people know not to even ask! I'm at a livery yard but constantly get asked if there's another horse at the yard they could ride or if there is a pony their kids can come and ride - it's not a blinking riding school! They don't seem to understand these animals are peoples own pride and joys. I don't suggest they share their kids round the local kidless families!
 
My friend claimed she could ride, let her have a go on my loan horse (after asking the owner), she mounted in the weirdest way I have ever seen. After telling me how long she had been riding and how she can jump etc.. she walked on. First corner she was on her ar*e- my horse had gone off into trot and the friend threw her reins at my lovely horsey. My lovely horse didnt take to this to well as she was very forward going, one stride of her bouncy canter and my friend sat here on the floor, cursing me horse. Lets just say shes never mentioned horses after that
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:P
 
when i was teaching in ireland the amount of people that would say they could ride and wanted to go out for a fast ride but you can usually tell as soon as they sit on the horse at what there riding ability is.
i always play my riding down but then i lack serious confidence after my fall last year.
 
I once worked behind the bar at a local pub in the evenings - a girl came in and started mouthing off to everyone how she had 5 ponies and did lots of showing, had been to Equifest etc... I got talking to her, and she asked if I could give her a dressage lesson on my schoolmaster...

I have never laughed so hard in my life! She turned up wearing a barbour wax jacket which she announced to the whole yard was a 'barbour' (seriously, so blatant she was trying to make out she was really posh and could ride just because she had a barbour - the whole yard was laughing!) Then she couldn't even tack up my horse... When she got on she was as nervous as you can get, and wouldn't even get out of walk for ages. Eventually I got her trotting, but thought she'd come off any minute! She had reins like washing lines and was bouncing about in the saddle so much I had to ask her to get off! She was so funny - telling everyone on the yard her boyfriend was seriously rich and going to buy her a show horse (found out at this point she didn't actally own any ponies/horses and had only ridden at a riding school years ago).
 
I learned that lesson - only close friends children get on my ponies.

No one rides my horse, he's mine! Well not quite no one!

My Godson is autistic and he rides my horse. He is immensely sensitive with him and has a great connection. He's a good wee rider.
 
Does anyone who can actually ride go around bragging? my friend (long time ago, i was still at school) said she was a really good rider, so she came to the yard with me and got on (it was my friend's yard and I used to ride her ponies/horses as well as breaking my own pony) she got on the 12.2hh mare i used to ride and the mare just took the p!$$ out of her - wouldn't stop trotting with her, friend couldn't stop her (she was a very strong fizzed up jumping demon) and strangely after that she never asked to come up again...!

Whenever people ask if I can ride i'll say yes, i've been riding for a while (15years now), i'm in no way professional or top class.. i'll just sort of side step the question if they ask how good i am..i've ridden loads of different horses and would say i'm experienced but i never brag, or believe that i have nothing left to learn...besides anything, i find bragging so rude..
 
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My Godson is autistic and he rides my horse. He is immensely sensitive with him and has a great connection. He's a good wee rider.

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Sorry to hijack the thread!

SMID - have you read 'the horse boy'? It's really good, true story about an autistic boy and his parents taking a trip across mongolia to be healed (NOT cured) by shamanism. Very good read!
 
Not directly to me, but whenever me and my family have gone on trecks whilst on holiday we always request to go just as our group, no other people, as the number of times we have gone, and been put with people of a "similar level" it ruins the whole thing as they are dreadful and are lucky to stay on in walk and direct the horse, let alone do the up the hills, along the beaches etc sort of rides that we like to do!
We even admit that our family aren't all "same level" riders, me and my sister are better than M and D (although dad would never admit this!
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) but we can all walk trot canter and stop a horse if it tries anything stupid!!! BUt mum will always request a big shaggy horse, just coz she has much more fun and feels that bit safer on a new horse if it fits this bill!
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(so she generally ends up on a hogged coiled spring! hehe)
 
Some of the horse owners on our yard think they can ride...go around dispensing wisdom and lecturing my novice OH.....

....but rarely get on their own horse, and when they do......good grief.
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I HAVE to make frequent trips to the muck heap just to check out the crapness....

Not saying I'm gods gift or owt myself......
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It's funny how people who have little experience of horses view riding. My brothers (who have never ridden) were amazed when I said I was having a lesson and said surely I must know how to ride by now!
So I pointed out that even premiership footballers need to train. This was something they could relate to more.
 
I've lost count of the amount of times someone has told me that they can ride, and that the first time they rode, someone "slapped the horse on bum to make it go and it galloped off and jumped a 5 bar gate" and they stayed on...

Come and have a go on Bondi then...

I've been riding since I was 7, I dont consider myself to be a very good rider but I stay on. I am a nervous rider with a hot seat. Not the best combi!!
 
Happens at the riding school all the time, people will book in for a walk-trot-canter ride (it says EXPERIENCED RIDERS ONLY in big letters on the leaflet thing), but when you get them to have a go in the paddock before they go out they can barely steer in walk. It's bloody annoying, especially if someone who can ride is booked onto the same hack
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I was out on Dylan one summer, and a random woman came up and asked if her kid could have a go; I said no, because he wasn't suitable for novices to ride. Her response, "he's sat on a pony before, he's HARDLY a novice! And if he's not suitable theen he shouldn't be in the riding school, I think that's ridiculous." I politely informed her that he was my horse, and there was no way on earth I'd allow her child anywhere near him
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As a horseless rider a few years ago, it was a source of amusement and bemusement to me that whenever I tried to book in for a hack at a new to me riding school, and told them honestly about my ability, I would always be put in the most novice group the first week. There was then generally a muttered comment along the lines of "oh yes, well we have a lot of people come and say they can ride but, well... um obviously we have to check... next week you're on the canter hack."
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So I think riding schools and trekking centres have it worked out better than us private owners
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It is such a nuisance though when people claim to have done this that and the other, but clearly haven't. The amount of people who have tried B as a share horse, who have been TOLD he is GREEN, needs a quiet experienced rider who can sit if he gets spooked... and ended up coming a cropper about the silliest of things.

The best was a woman in her 30s who claimed she had owned her own Welshie and backed it herself, was making do with weekly lessons but really wanted a young project to work on... Came and couldn't tack him up (stupidly we let this pass, since B could be a pain having already been messed about by another "experienced" rider) , wouldn't go into the field to catch him herself but could ride okay... until she fell off as he did a bounce into canter (not a buck, just a yippee). Cue drama about how she had never fallen off before and kept on repeating summat her instructor had clearly drilled into her about how "even riders who ride around badminton fall off sometimes". Yes love, but most of them didn't lie about their ability to ride before attempting it!
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No - I haven't read that - altrhough I have heard of it

Alex is very good, he gets on very well with the horses, despite being quite autistic and struggling in other areas. I think it is beucase he does not have to think about what they are saying or worry about interpreting them - he can relax and just enjoy being with them. They understand.
 
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It's funny how people who have little experience of horses view riding. My brothers (who have never ridden) were amazed when I said I was having a lesson and said surely I must know how to ride by now!
So I pointed out that even premiership footballers need to train. This was something they could relate to more.

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Absolutely! My OHs family cant understand at all why I go for lessons every 3 weeks. Problem is I find it very difficult to explain why. His sister plays various musical instruments at a very high level (she also teaches music at secondary school/A level) so I've tried explain like she trains with her music but she just doesnt get it.
 
Oh my god i get that all the time! i hate it because i don't like anyone but my horsey friends and my mum riding my horse he is too precious and very sensitive you need to know how to ride to ride him, he doesn't like people getting on him and riding in a way he's not used to it confuses him and you can see him thinking oh no heeeeellllpppp!!
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My boyfriend has a large family and whenever horses are mentioned at a family do it's like oh my god we will have to come up the stables and ride i (or so n so) love/s horses etc etc. i'm like yeah sure have you got a horse to ride!!

I can't believe you're friends gf invited them on your holiday
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thats really rude! BTW Rudey i love your coloured foaly in your sig i'd love to see some more pics please!
 
Yes, I have this too, but my boy is not a novice ride. Yet it seems that the more novicey they are (might have ridden ponies years ago as a child, or had a few lessons on bombproof riding school horses), the more they think they'd get on great, having a go on my horse. I think not! LOL.

Does anyone also have trouble out hacking with people asking to stroke your horse? I ride around the village a lot, and I get it all the time. I have to tell them my horse bites and it would be dangerous (he doesn't bite, he's just a bit sharp sometimes and fidgits and if he trod on a childs toe and broke it - I think i'd be the one in trouble!)
 
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Does anyone also have trouble out hacking with people asking to stroke your horse? I ride around the village a lot, and I get it all the time. I have to tell them my horse bites and it would be dangerous (he doesn't bite, he's just a bit sharp sometimes and fidgits and if he trod on a childs toe and broke it - I think i'd be the one in trouble!)

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All the time-Its not so bad if I'm riding Larry as he will stand still for hours (he's only 5 and a complete angel) but if I'm on Bondi, he will stand still for about ten mins and then just march off.
 
QR - I find them hilarious to be honest!
They can tell me all day how good they are but they still ain't getting their backsides on my lad! He's as good as gold most of the time but no way would I have a complete numpty (aside from myself!) bouncing about like a sack of spuds on him!!!!!!
Funniest tale I ever heard was from a woman who claim the pony she had when she was a kid took off down a cobbled street, she was hanging under it's belly watching the sparks fly off it's hooves!!! Ooookkkaaayyyy!
 
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Does anyone also have trouble out hacking with people asking to stroke your horse? I ride around the village a lot, and I get it all the time. I have to tell them my horse bites and it would be dangerous (he doesn't bite, he's just a bit sharp sometimes and fidgits and if he trod on a childs toe and broke it - I think i'd be the one in trouble!)

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I always let people - especially little girls pat K. They always enjoy it and even though he is quite big and a bit fidgety, and sometimes their dad will hold them up so they can reach, I think it is nice to see them smile when they do. I do tell them to stay away from his feet, but I see it as horsey PR and you never know, you might insipre the next Mary King!
 
My boyfriend still claims he's an amazing rider - even after an extremely honest pony bucked him off and broke his thumb... The pony I'd had for years, he was safe as houses and never ever bucked...
 
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Does anyone also have trouble out hacking with people asking to stroke your horse? I ride around the village a lot, and I get it all the time. I have to tell them my horse bites and it would be dangerous (he doesn't bite, he's just a bit sharp sometimes and fidgits and if he trod on a childs toe and broke it - I think i'd be the one in trouble!)

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I always let people - especially little girls pat K. They always enjoy it and even though he is quite big and a bit fidgety, and sometimes their dad will hold them up so they can reach, I think it is nice to see them smile when they do. I do tell them to stay away from his feet, but I see it as horsey PR and you never know, you might insipre the next Mary King!

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Me too. As a male horsey friend of mine one said, those kids who want to pat your horse may well grow up to be brats or scallies... they don't need to have their opinion reinforced that all horsey people are snobs.
 
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Happens at the riding school all the time, people will book in for a walk-trot-canter ride (it says EXPERIENCED RIDERS ONLY in big letters on the leaflet thing), but when you get them to have a go in the paddock before they go out they can barely steer in walk. It's bloody annoying, especially if someone who can ride is booked onto the same hack
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Don't they assess people before they book them on these hacks though???
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I don't have a choice who rides Scooby... he's a riding school pony first, my loan pony second.
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It doesn't bother me too much though, because he isn't used much (he was bought for RDA work, but quickly turned out to be too sensitive and forward-going for that) so he's mainly used for adults. They may not all be terrific riders, but neither am I (in fact, a lot of the people who have lessons on him are better than me) - as long as they're sympathetic and don't yank his mouth or hurt his back, I don't really mind.

My dad is always going on about how good a rider he is, but the one time he rode Scooby he fell off and ended up in A&E.
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He's much more realistic about his abilities now! (The fall wasn't really his fault, the saddle slipped, but I'm not telling him that!)
 
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So how many of you have had similar tricky incidents? xx
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I teach riding school and every single person who comes here says that "It's OK, I can ride". To date only one has been reasonably competent, and by that I mean not completely rubbish. *sigh*
 
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