Returning to riding as an adult...

[express_75]

How many are there that have come back to riding as adults?
I first began riding aged 4 and loved it so much i progress very quickly and as my parents had a farm, i ended up with a Section A pony that was so naughty he put me off...always wanted to get back into it and 5 years ago started helping my friend with her horse, just grooming at shows ect and my interest returned with a passion! Started having lessons, then began hacking out with someone who had a spare 15h pony, rode with her for almost 2 yrs and now im the pround owner of a gorgeous Welsh D mare, she's only 5 and quite a project for a first horse but i have a great and very experienced friend who helps when i have a confidence crisis (like now)

I have found that it's much harder as an adult than a child but im determinded to get there...it's too much fun to let it go again!

Im 33 now so i've had quite a break from it!
x

 

[bex1984]

I had a ten year break, I rode from age 8 until 12, then took it back up nearly 2 yrs ago and have owned my ponio for nearly a year. I honestly am a terrible rider, but I just concentrate on having fun and have lessons when I can. I think a lot of adults coming back in to riding struggle with confidence though - I certainly did.

 

[Mattb125]

Hi
I rode as a youngster up until eleven although I was not very good and bit uncoordinated.I went on a riding holiday and fell off jumping a 3ft fence I was incapable of jumping but told to get on with it! Smashed my elbow in four places and didnt ride again for a long time.I kept my interest in horses through racing and one day decided I wanted to get involved in racing.
Turned up at my local riding school in my trackie bottoms and trainers and offered to help on Saturdays in exchange for learning to ride.
Before I got on a horse I told myself I would never be scared again and if I fell off so be it I didn't care.
Four years later I am one exam away from my AI and am a senior member of staff and am looking to buy my competition horse.
My motto of ride what I'm given and have no fear has served me well and has helped me beat my problem of terrible nerves.
Use your position to give you confidence and established seat will save you from 90% of the falls.
Best of luck and never give up

 

[Petrie]

I rode from 8-16, then discovered boys and going out so had a 10 year gap. Bought a horse aged 26 (10 years ago).

I had to learn how to do proper flatwork (wasn't interested in that when I was a teenager) as I didn't have a clue (still don't) but I think I possibly had more natural balance and horse-sense having started as a youngster compared to people who learn as an adult.

Now it's a total obsession again, like it was as a child!

A friend of mine also rode as a child, but had a 20 year gap, starting up again in her mid-thirties. She's now also totally obsessed.

 

[charlyan]

My sister, brother and I all started riding when i was around six. I had weekly lessons until I was about 11- 12 years old.

We moved countries at that point and other than the occasional potter in my late teens, didn't ride regularly until a couple of years ago when one friend moved her horses into a field neighbouring my house and another friend dragged me out hacking with him.

A year later I bought The Min and the rest is history but I have battled with my confidence (and still do when Minnie battles with his own!

) coming back into it in my 30s.

I would have jumped on anything when I was younger and did frequently, coming off just as frequently but am wary of riding new horses now.

 

[hellsdarkrose]

I rode from 8 till 13 years old then came back to riding last year at 21

 

[merlins-mum]

I rode from 9 to 15 - practically lived at the stables. Then I went to boarding school and stopped riding completely. I took it up again at the age of 44, bought a horse and LOVE it.

 

[BeckyDrew2526]

I learnt to ride at the age of 5 and rode until I was around 8 years old when we moved away to an area which didn't have a riding school local to us.

I went back to riding again at secondary school, owning my own pony for a while. I then rode again at the age of around 20 riding a friends Welsh Sec D for a year or so.

Since then (am 34 now

) I haven't ridden on a consistent basis, just the odd hack and a few lessons here and there - too busy doing up houses and getting married to my wonderful husband, work etc.

However, I have just enroled onto the BHS Horse Ownership course at Merrist Wood and also planning to start riding at the Berkshire Riding Centre near Windsor - I just can't wait.

 

[Rambo]

I did !

Rode from the age of 6 to the age of 19. Used to compete BSJA up to 1.30m/1.40m level...then one day on the way home from Hickstead I decided enough was enough and chucked it all in

Never so much as even sat on another horse for 18 years and was adamant that my kids would never either

Then one day my youngest son announced that he wanted to try riding...and against my better judgement my wife took him to a local RS. I went and watched a couple of times...and then we went back to Hickstead to watch the Derby later that summer...where I announced that I would be riding the following year (not in the Derby itself I might add !). Anyway, went home, started scouring the local papers and horsemart etc for a new horse to jump, but that my much less experienced OH could also share. At this point I still hadn't gotten back in the saddle I might add...but we found a couple of horses that might suit and set off to go and see them (after a frantic rush to get a hat and some jods and some boots that I could actually get over my much wider calfs.). The first horse was nasty ! A real bad attitude and covered in marks and blemishes...it was also shown to me in draw reins...which after we removed them it proceeded to show it's true colours. Suffice to say we didn't buy that one

The next horse we saw was a sweet little mare...and tbh, if we hadn't have seen Bo the same afternoon we probably would have bought her

Anyway, after the mare we set off to go and see a horse with a local SJ rider. When we arrived he told us he'd been thinking about it and decided the horse wasn't right for us ! It was a green 5yo I think...just what I was after (brain still thinking I was a teenager...forgetting the 18 year break

)...but he had a 'mate over the road' who had a few that we could go and look at. Immediately I became immensely suspicious as we trekked off by car to this dealers yard...where on arrival this horse was hauled out of it's stable, already tacked up, and the thing I remember most....freshly oiled feet

I just thought 'here we go...typical dealer ripoff' and must confess to being rather rude and uncomplimentary about the horse and the situation

Anyway, the dealer took it better than he might have and told me to look around...and so I did. Found two very nice looking chestnuts...one was a 4yo which I initially preferred but it had thrown a shoe and wasn't going to be rideable...and the other was 'a Grade B SJ'er' ! Bummer I thought as I wanted something I could jump round smaller tracks to start us both off...but the dealer and my (now) agent explained to me about the Open classes that never used to exist and that I could jump any height I wanted. Soooo...off we went to try him. Now bear in mind I had ridden a sum total of about 10 minutes in the past 18 years...being the time i'd taken trying the two other horses...and I was about the get on top of a 7yo KWPN who had been jumping 1.30's at Hickstead a couple of weeks before, in an open field, and jump a course of fences

We had no idea how much they wanted for this horse either but I was so carried away with the situation. After seeing the dealer ride him and jump him I was smitten...so on I hopped and had a quicktrot (didn't like his trot!) and then a canter (lurved his canter

) before coming to a small upright

Managed to jump too far to the right and took the whole wing with my leg...ooops

Jumped a few more and the technique started to return...and I was bitten ! Didn't jump very big...probably no more than about 3ft tbh...and I was puffing something rotten ! So, hopped off and was suddenly hauled back into reality by OH who hauled me over to a quiet corner for a 'chat' ! She'd asked the guy how much the horse was while I was riding....and he was roughly double our budget

No matter ! I had visions of jumping the main ring at Hickstead firmly planted in my head now...we'd find the money somehow !

To cut what is becoming a very long story short...we did find the extra money and so Bo came home on 11th September 2005 and the long and often painful process of re-learning to ride proceeded. I did make it to Hickstead the following year...just as I had threatened but we've had a huge number of ups and downs along the way. The sharing with OH part didn't quite go so well as Bo turned out to be a bit more than she was able to cope with...although now she is starting to ride him very nicely and will be out doing some dressage on him soon hopefully...although she'll never be able to hack him out

It's now 2.5 years since we got back into horses...and we now have two horses and a pony and are on our second lorry

Well...I did warn OH that it would take over our lives lol!

 

[angiebaby]

I had two lessons aged 8 and didn't like it!
Got round to having another lesson aged 40! and became obsessed! That was 6 years ago ,now have 3 ponies and have just bought a 15.1h TBx