What makes an "experienced rider"?

[fattylumpkin]

I think I'm pretty easy going on that definition. If someone has seen and worked with enough horses that they can ride safely and not encourage bad behaviours or p-off the horse , I'd class them as experienced.

I've met plenty of super brave riders who are fearless, will have a go at riding pretty much anything, and don't get phased by tricky or unwanted behaviours from a strange horse - and these same brave souls are often the kind who have 'just enough' experience to get away with it but not enough to have developed that inner alarm system/sixth sense that fully recognises potential danger when it appears and puts safety first. Riders who have 'just enough' experience tend to have difficulty differentiating between whether it was skill that got them and the horse out of that ditch in one piece or just sheer dumb luck.

Of course there's fearless riders who are exceptionally capable and have bucket loads of skill too, but I wouldn't call them experienced so much as incredibly talented.

 

[LadyGascoyne]

Really interesting reading, thanks everyone for such though-out responses.

I suppose the term really does have different meaning according to situations and perspective.

A horse for sale that "requires an experienced rider".

An advert for breaking and schooling, describing the rider as "experienced".

Advice to get an "experienced rider" in to deal with an issue.

My 70 year old dressage coach must think I'm very inexperienced but I suppose I must have look like some kind of horse-taming-wizard to the eight year old girls who'd get me to stop their ponies from tanking off home.

I met an "experienced" American rider in Denmark who easily jumped a big, fresh warmblood around a course of 1.20- and beautifully- but had never tacked up, didn't know what colic was, couldn't tell you about conformation or identify a pastern if her life depended on it. They have coaches who do everything, including jumping the horse in the class before so that all they have to do is arrive at the show, get on and point at fences.

Quite an interesting term.