hamish1
Well-Known Member
do you think you were at after a year of riding mainly via riding school lessons say twice a week,just curious, i know alot of you wont remember if you started very early but would be good to hear from those that do 
what level of riding....
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Chellebean
Well-Known Member
I think I was still a novice! I didn't really have a clue at what I could and couldn't handle at all. It was only after sharing extra I that I learnt my limits and understood how well or bad I rode.
I now know my limits
I now know my limits
ThePony
Well-Known Member
I was pretty rubbish tbh!!! I wonder if I was at a rather pants school though! Although I could stay on in wtc and pop a little jump there was no way that I knew what to do if a horse did anything other than what I asked. I also had no idea of balance, relaxing through hips and knees, diaganols, use of seat as an aid, legs as anything other than something to apply a 'pony club kick' with, working the horse properly from behind etc!! That is just the ridden stuff, grooming/tacking up etc was all done by the school so I had basically no knowledge of horsecare at all. That said, v few of those things I ever learnt from riding schools. My real learning came from my first pony, and now with my horse and a fab oh. That and alot of reading up on here - you don't need to believe and agree with everyones opinions but it is v useful to understand what people would do in different situations so you can build the knowledge to form your own opinions.
Paddydou
Well-Known Member
Very novice! I had cantered in the school and on hacks, jumping was still a bit rocky but as I was little I didn't care because I thought any pony I rode was the bestest ever and that I was the bee's knees each time I rode! I guess I had got to hap hazard cow boy style with none of the finesse of an actual cow boy!
After that amount of time at twice a week depending on how quickly you pick it up, the intructor you have and the horses you ride I would expect you to be able to walk trot and canter off the lunge/ lead, jump a small group of jumps say about 1-2 ft high, hack out confidently at a leasurly pace and stay on if your horse does a small nap or jumps at something, does a small buck/ small rear. Your seat and hands will not have developed too much and you will still be making mistakes with position etc.
Now after well over 20 (and lots) years and owning horses for nearly as long I still consider myself "novice".
I over heard Jenny Loriston Clarke say once that she would never know if she were an expert or not because she learnt something new every single day.
Those words stuck with me and humbled me because actually she is absolutely right. There is someone I admire, who has tremendous amounts of knowledge and experience (of the kind I could never even hope to achieve) saying that she was still learning. I used to love watching her in her warm ups and training sessions more than the actual tests and there she was admitting that she didn't and would never "know it all". I have heard several other top riders in different diciplines say roughly the same thing since.
I suppose that is the thing to remember. Everyone of us no matter how good or bad is still learning. Horses teach us not just how to ride but how to inspire, how to empathise, how to communicate - the list is endless. That is why I love them so very much and why I continue to try and learn as much as I can about them!
After that amount of time at twice a week depending on how quickly you pick it up, the intructor you have and the horses you ride I would expect you to be able to walk trot and canter off the lunge/ lead, jump a small group of jumps say about 1-2 ft high, hack out confidently at a leasurly pace and stay on if your horse does a small nap or jumps at something, does a small buck/ small rear. Your seat and hands will not have developed too much and you will still be making mistakes with position etc.
Now after well over 20 (and lots) years and owning horses for nearly as long I still consider myself "novice".
I over heard Jenny Loriston Clarke say once that she would never know if she were an expert or not because she learnt something new every single day.
Those words stuck with me and humbled me because actually she is absolutely right. There is someone I admire, who has tremendous amounts of knowledge and experience (of the kind I could never even hope to achieve) saying that she was still learning. I used to love watching her in her warm ups and training sessions more than the actual tests and there she was admitting that she didn't and would never "know it all". I have heard several other top riders in different diciplines say roughly the same thing since.
I suppose that is the thing to remember. Everyone of us no matter how good or bad is still learning. Horses teach us not just how to ride but how to inspire, how to empathise, how to communicate - the list is endless. That is why I love them so very much and why I continue to try and learn as much as I can about them!
Lobelia_Overhill
Well-Known Member
my first riding instructor didn't like me and would only put me on the 'old nags' who spent their time falling asleep or trying to pee ... so I hadn't even mastered rising trot by the time I'd been having lessons for a year.
Fortunately she started competing on her new horse and another instructor came along - I learned more from her in one lesson than I had in 6 months with the first woman.
I heard other people saying similar things...
Fortunately she started competing on her new horse and another instructor came along - I learned more from her in one lesson than I had in 6 months with the first woman.
I heard other people saying similar things...
FAB_FERN
Well-Known Member
I never learn't in a riding school. I just got on and learnt that way. Out hacking with a friend and then got a pony on loan. I was 24 mind. lol. Then when I did go and have lessons it was quite a shock to the system how slow things were. I was used to cantering everywhere but lessons in a group ment you were lucky to get half a lap...lol i gave that up, bought my own horse (a rising 4 year old lol, stupid I know) but we did well had lessons and have done everything you can think off and won lots inclusing hunter trials and we even managed some BE stuff, and now were having a foal 6 years later.
alcraw
Well-Known Member
After a year of weekly lessons I could walk, trot and canter. My canter transitions were terrible, and I struggled to sustain it. I could walk and trot without stirrups and knew my diagonals.
My RS didn't do hacks, so I'd never ridden outside a school, and I hadn't started jumping, although had done some trotting poles.
My RS didn't do hacks, so I'd never ridden outside a school, and I hadn't started jumping, although had done some trotting poles.
Kellys Heroes
Well-Known Member
You can never say you're an expert as you constantly learn things from the day you start to the day you stop! 
After a year, I could do rising trot, canter and pop the odd very small jump with a very bad position!
I'd ridden in the fields but never on the roads.
Tbh, I think I learnt the basics at the RS but I think I really only started learning when I got my first p/l
After a year, I could do rising trot, canter and pop the odd very small jump with a very bad position!
I'd ridden in the fields but never on the roads.
Tbh, I think I learnt the basics at the RS but I think I really only started learning when I got my first p/l