Whats the best of horsey advice your've ever been given?

By a fellow HHO member- 'We're amatuers, we're in this sport for fun. If it's no longer fun, re-asses and start over' Or along those lines anyway. Really helped me put a perspective on things.

On a practical note- filling all the haynets up for the week ahead on my day off saves alot of time in the week when I'm working and don't have time to be faffing about.
 
stick with it!
...had a tough time when I first got my girl, was OK for first month of owning her, then we got to the point when she was fit and that was great, but suddenly she was like 'wahay, I can run, jump, f*** about and mum can do nothing!!!' and realised I may have out-horsed myself a little, but I was told to stick with her, and I did and through a lot of hard work we got to the stage where I feel I am a good enough rider to own her and we can now just enjoy our riding!
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"she is YOUR (meaning my) horse now...you have nothing to prove...do things when you are both ready... its not s race!"

(Me saying to ex-owner i haven't even xc schooled let alone done the BE90 i bought the horse for)
 
If in doubt, kick.

Sounds simple, but giving something a kick forward can get you out of so much trouble.

Someone also said to me once that even the greenest of horses has something to teach the wisest of riders.
 
Best advice I have every had was...........

"You may as well dig a hole and put £100 a week in and burn it and you will still have more money than owning a horse!"

And they are soooooooo right.

Still wouldn't change a thing though.
 
The horse you get off is a different horse to the one you got on, and the difference is what you did in the meantime. So make sure you like the change.
 
Not being the most confident rider
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and after my steady eddy, confidence giving boy rear up with me
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, Box_of_Frogs posted: -

You rode your ned well, coped with his squealy day and explained to him that YOU make the decisions, not him. Give yourself a humungus pat on the back and hug your ned and tell him you know it was just a squealy-day thing and you love him just as much xxxxx

I did this, got back on the next day and trusted him not to give a repeat performance, and he didn't
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Thank you Box_of_Frogs, it was just the tonic i needed
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Something along the lines of 'if the horse is being blatently rude to you, you don't have to be polite back'...I think that was from Kerilli on here?! it made me look at things differently and lo and behold I no longer have a pony who tanks off with me or drags me around the yard.

ETS: thought of another one! And another one from someone on here. Think it was Weezy, replying to someone's post about their horse being lazy and she told them to nudge with legs, if no response, smack with whip. I have no idea what I've been doing for the past 2 and a half years but in the space of 2 weeks of doing that Murphy is a changed pone when doing flatwork.

So basically hooray for HHO!!
 
Two bits for me:

1. When buying a horse, if you have even the slightest of doubts and find yourself trying to talk yourself into buying it then walk away, that horse is not the one for you.

2. Horses do not stand in their stables overnight thinking up ways they can pee you off the next day. If things are not going well then most likely the horse is trying to tell you that it is in discomfort or pain and it only has a limited number of ways in which to do this. Don't assume that bad behaviour is due to attitude. If you were mute and someone was hurting you (albeit unintentionally), think about how would you communicate your distress?
 
Stop whinging, get on the ****ing horse and go and show jump. My ever loving brother as I was having a panic attack at Gatcombe and was trying to convince my brother my horse was lame (he wasn't) so I could get out of show jumping due to massive nerves. He (my brother) punched my on the arm, gave me a good talking to and made me get back on. We had a really excellent time, an absolute blast cross country and it taught me that nerves are not bad, its what you let them do that is the problem.
 
I like the Kelly Marks saying of 'be the owner your horse would choose', often comes into my head at stressful times! and also a well respected dressage trainer reminded me to 'sort my problems out on the lunge, and enjoy the benefits in the saddle'
 
Like Chaps89; I've also been reminded that its meant to be fun (thankfully I am now finally experiencing that fun!)
Practically, I have been told not to "overthink" and complicate things and as I am a naturally tense and uptight person (!) my instructor has helped me with some schooling exercises that take this into account and get me to relax quicker.
 
The day I lost Mazzie, I spoke on the phone to my instructor about Genie, who was due to be vetted the next day.

She said: 'You like the mare, she's nice, you'd be getting her anyway, go ahead and if she passes bring her straight home'

Best piece of advice I've ever been given. Genie flew the vetting, came home, and helped me move on from Mazzie and has been everything I've ever wanted.
 
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When on the yard, never go anywhere without something in your hand!

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Soooo true!
 
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