Riding new/different horses!

[emma.is]

Does anybody else really struggle to ride new horses??

Rode a friends gelding today and I really struggled, he is not the type of horse I would pick ever but I didn't enjoy the ride one little bit.

In the past seven months I've only ridden Charlie (pretty much every day since I got him) and schooled an arabian mare for a woman on my farm. I enjoyed her but it took me at least five rides to even get a little bit of a feel.

Think I must be a one horse girl...

 

[Bionic Boy]

I feel the same way. I don’t struggle to ride other horses I just prefer not too, I would rather ride mine any day although he has been off work for a few months so I have been riding my friends mare and whilst I have become quite attached to her and I do enjoy riding her I would rather be on my own comfy armchair

I think a lot of it is trust, you know how your own is going to react and you trust them. It takes time to get that so I guess it is the unknown when riding someone different.

 

[FionaM12]

When I was a horsey teen (around the time the wheel was invented) I'd ride anything and it never occured to me to think, "Oo, new horse..". I just got on and rode.

But once I had my own, I only felt "at home" on mine. Yesterday someone asked if I'd like to try their horse and I felt a bit panicky.

OP, where in Lancs are you? Perhaps we should try each other's horses?

 

[emma.is]

When I was a horsey teen (around the time the wheel was invented) I'd ride anything and it never occured to me to think, "Oo, new horse..". I just got on and rode.

But once I had my own, I only felt "at home" on mine. Yesterday someone asked if I'd like to try their horse and I felt a bit panicky.

OP, where in Lancs are you? Perhaps we should try each other's horses?

I am a horsey teen! Couple of years ago when I was working at a riding school I could ride four or five in a day and be fine! must just have overbonded. Damn that loveable horsey!

And right in Manchester, pretty much the centre! Yourself? )

 

[BeckyMason97]

I'll jump on anything! Gained two from just jumping on new horses which bumped my horses up to 4 and I help YO with reschooling all the problem horses who come on, got a lovely one to ride at the moment! Quite handy if your own go lame.

 

[FionaM12]

I am a horsey teen! Couple of years ago when I was working at a riding school I could ride four or five in a day and be fine! must just have overbonded. Damn that loveable horsey!

And right in Manchester, pretty much the centre! Yourself? )

Nowhere near you, I'm in Lancaster.

I worked in a riding school, back in the mists of time. You rode what you were given, and didn't think anything of it. But I think once you have your own, you sort of mold into each other.

 

[Parker79]

I find it difficult, always felt like quite a decent rider on my own...then got on a friends horse and couldn't ride for toffee!

Back in the days when I rode lots of different horses I think I was better at adapting, you get used to your own and then presented with someone very different feels alien!

I rode a lovely cob on friday, friends mum has bought him, he is gorgeous and comfy but I found myself feeling like a novice when I took him up a gear! I am out of practise tho!

 

[FionaM12]

I rode a lovely cob on friday, friends mum has bought him, he is gorgeous and comfy but I found myself feeling like a novice when I took him up a gear! I am out of practise tho!

Actually, I feel like a novice on my own.

 

[I*HM]

It really depends, sometimes I'm grand other times I ride like pooh
I'd do flat work on most things but would be very wary of jumping other horses, especially XC, though for some reason, I hopped up on a RI's 5yo mare (me being the first person other than RI to ever ride this horse!) and went out and jumped her round 90cm XC. I rode her a week later and didn't feel happy even cantering her!

Actually, come to think of it, I'll happily hack out most things on the road too, it's just the jumping!

Though I'm currently getting a few spins on friend's horses. Felt right at home on them and they're both over 17hh

 

[spotty_pony]

I'll ride pretty much anything these days - it's my job so I'm used to it. A couple of years ago though, I really struggled with riding horses (I was too used to ponies!) and just felt like I was learning to ride all over again!! I now ride new horses regularly and love the challenge of learning how to ride each one as they are all so different and respond better to different things.

 

[emma.is]

Nowhere near you, I'm in Lancaster.

I worked in a riding school, back in the mists of time. You rode what you were given, and didn't think anything of it. But I think once you have your own, you sort of mold into each other.

Yeh I think that's it. He was so green, I'd just call it backed tbh. And I had a long break from riding before I got him.

 

[FionaM12]

Yeh I think that's it. He was so green, I'd just call it backed tbh. And I had a long break from riding before I got him.

My long break was 32 years!

 

[emma.is]

Mine was fifeen months! I suppose its all relative though. If you've been riding since the stone age as you put it before it's time to let everybody else have a go!

 

[Copperpot]

I don't mind riding other horses but after it always makes me think how much I prefer my own. I have taken other peoples horses hunting too, but I never trust them as much over jumps as I do my own

 

[flirtygerty]

Prefer my lad but don't mind riding other horses, but I am a happy hacker so don't expect a lot from them, my daughter will ride anything and has a stroppy mare we gave up on, yet hates riding my lad, my OH doesn't like riding my lad, probably because he's a trotter x, but he suits me

 

[Cinnamontoast]

I used to jump on anything then lost the plot a bit and found my horse too forward. I rode a confidence giver slow ex-racer and was so bored I was relieved to get back on my boy!

 

[FionaM12]

I returned to riding two years ago, and started riding out on 4 year old mare I borrowed. I was hacking out on her alone for a couple of hours a time.

This is great, I thought, just wish it was my own horse again....

Then I got Mollie last summer. Sold as bombproof, 17 years old. In truth, nervous and moody. Ten months on, and I've plucked up the courage to hack out on her in company precisely twice, and alone not at all.

So having my own isn't exactly working out as planned this time.

I love her to bits though.

 

[Lintel]

Not at all
I get on other people's horses and I ride better
My boy knows how to press my buttons... so we either look beautiful... or terrible

Quite like a bit of variation! Baby Highland hasn't worked out how to shove me out of position, press my buttons, pelt me off or send me sliding down his neck
YET!

I've been quite used to it since I've started riding so it's never been a problem really

 

[maletto]

I don't mind riding other horses but after it always makes me think how much I prefer my own. I have taken other peoples horses hunting too, but I never trust them as much over jumps as I do my own

^^^^^^^
this! although insert "jumping" for "hunting". My boy is such a psycho i wouldn't trust him to take me hunting. yet, I would trust any other horse even less!

 

[ausipaliboi]

I'll happily jump on anything and have a go, I am the rider people come to when they have issues with their horses. I love the variety of riding different horses but always feel I have 'come home' when I get on my boy, nothing compares to him for me.

Mind you, I have had him for 4 years and it is only in the past year that I feel this way about him, I lost my horse of a lifetime a couple of months after getting him and we struggled for a long time. Took us a while but we have finally figured each other out.

 

[Bernster]

After a weekend of new horse hunting, I've learnt a fair bit about my riding from riding new nags! Has made me realise I don't ride my horse that much and he is obviously masking a lot of my numptiness by working out vaguely what I want and where I want to go even if I don't ask properly - oop!

It's really educational riding other horses who don't know you well though. I tend to find I either get on well with them or I ride like a sack of lard that's just learnt how to get on a horse. Always entertaining when I can't seem to steer em! But it was nice when I got on the odd one that I could get a tune out of

 

[Marydoll]

Riding your own is like wearing comfy slippers in that you know their buttons and quirks and they know yours, depending on the partnership
Riding different horses mean changing whats comfy sometimes, and riding what you feel, not what you know if that makes sense and the more you do it, the easier it becomes.
I was a ride anything type from a young girl, but 2 knackered shoulders later, im not just as gung ho as i used to be, and at my age you dont bounce as readily so while i'd still jump on most, and have been told i get a good tune out of what i do get on, id give the nutters a by now, my days of coping with spectacular dismounts are in the past now