Really frustrated with my riding

[Ladybird L]

Hoping that someone maybe has some advice for me… I am feeling so stuck with my riding. After learning to ride in various riding schools, then getting my own horses and just hacking and pottering around myself for a while and gaining confidence I got my lovely 5yo and started to really want to improve my riding and start competing. Last summer was great with my old horse, I learnt a lot and started to get out there a little bit more but since I got my 5yo I have been really struggling with my riding. He’s the kindest and saintliest boy on the planet but he is a lot less forgiving than my old girl and I realised I have some really really big holes in my riding abilities. After some difficulty I found a coach who’s ethics I pretty much agree with and have been taking around 2 lessons a week. She is really nice and I like her a lot but I feel like I haven’t been improving much at all, she is very encouraging but doesn’t seem to give me much feedback? My position especially still feels really insecure and not quite right and is enough to make me cringe a bit if I watch it back on video but again she doesn’t seem to give me much feedback unless I really specifically ask her. I want to improve so much but I just seem to have hit a plateau. Could my coach not be the person I need or do I just not ‘have’ the talent to be a good rider? What should I try next?

 

[SEL]

Position could be saddle - they can fit but still not do you any favours @sbloom has plenty of posts about this.

Otherwise how about setting yourself some goals? It was how I got into e-riders when mine was 5. I did the Intro tests and used to watch them back with my score sheets

 

[Foxford]

I've been doing bits of coaching training recently and it's been drilled into me to point out positional improvements in every lesson. I actually went to a demo by an international clinician a few weeks ago, who said even top level competition riders should be provided with feedback on their positions (obviously it's going to be more subtle than for the rest of us!).

Maybe take a look at some of the big "seat trainers" (Sally swift or Mary wanless) and see if you can find some techniques or imagery you can use? It sounds like your coach is very nice, perhaps you can feedback that you're fine with a bit of criticism? I much prefer instructors where a "well done" means I actually got it right, not just meaningless ego boosting for 45 mins.

 

[ester]

Have you discussed with your coach what you want to achieve? She may also be aware that giving a lot of corrections in one go can be difficult to remember/implement and it might be a process of doing it bit by bit.

I have also had experience that some are considering the horse's way of going more than the rider position, the discovery that I was actually blocking quite a lot when riding some time later was really useful and I definitely wished I'd had that knowledge earlier on.

 

[Cragrat]

Book a few lessons on a 'good' Racewood simulator with an excellent instructor - personally I really rate Nicky Caden at Racewood HQ.

The difference between a basic and a top of the range simulator is huge, but the instructor is what really makes the difference. Nicky is not only fully trained and very experienced on the simulator, but is an excellent teacher in her own right.

 

[LadyGascoyne]

Great advice above but I'd also recommend focusing on some strengthening and balancing exercises on the ground. I often find that I know what my body should be doing but I don't have the strength and endurance to keep my position if I'm not developing that off the horse too.

 

[KikiDee]

I find a lot of trainers tend to focus on the horse and not as much on the rider, it’s something that I’ve always struggled with as my horse is quirky so people always zone in on his behaviour when I know I have huge holes in my riding I want to fix too. Current trainer is the opposite, I went to one clinic with him and he fixed about 4 major issues with my position in 45 minutes, I practically begged him to take me on as a client afterwards He still helps me get the best out my horse but he’s also very hard on me and pushes me constantly to be a better rider, with no excuses about how my horse is behaving at the time.

I take so much from my lessons now as I always have so much to work on ‘myself’ between lessons as well as my horse.

I would keep looking, you’ll find the right trainer! This one was my 4th in 2 years before I found the right match.