What's Your Riding History?

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Puzzles

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Just having a nosey ;) as I'm curious ... What got you into riding, how long have you ridden and what kind of things have you done since you started? I appreciate that it might be quite long but I'd love to read about other people's experiences :)
 
You asked to be bored!!

My Mum was a happy hacker and had a horse on loan when I came into the world! I was sitting on horses before I could walk and although I used to cry a lot I got the bug very early on!

I started competing in SJ when I was 10, and at 13 I landed a "job" with a dealers yard producing their show jumping ponies in Spain (I was brought up in Spain!). I was lucky enough to compete all over the country but unfortunately, I was used to qualify the ponies for the Europeans so that they reached maximum value but never got the opportunity to compete in any! :-(

I spent my 15th summer working for Stormhill Stud back when they were based in France. And on my 16th summer I came over to the UK to learn English. I landed in a fab yard where they had hunters, polo ponies, eventers, race horses and youngsters! I dabbled in eventing (came last every time!) and got a taste of the possibilities that lay in the UK in terms of working with horses.

So when I finished my A level equivalents I moved to Ireland to work for an Olympic Show Jumper. I was lucky enough to be given my own string of horses to ride and compete (the ones he felt were no good) and after 8 months of non-stop work (not a single day off!) I decided to get an education. So I did an degree and a MSc in Equine Science whilst running my own yard and making a living out of riding and competing. I got some very nice rides and got the bug fro dressage, but most of my paid work was on "nutters".

After I finished my studies I realised that although I love horses I didn't want them to be my living (as there was not much living involved) so I got a proper job and kept my two competition horses.

Proper job meant no time so I ended up selling the horses and have barely ridden since.

Looking to get back in the saddle now but not going quite to plan!!

If you read this far!! Fair play!! Didn't mean to bore you to tears!!
 
Very briefly, rode from about 8-17; started working at a local yard for rides, would ride anything & they let me ride donkeys for free. At 11 got first horse, rode bareback & first day on him I was bucked off 13 times. Had various other dubious horses including a small dun aptly named Spooky. Lots of wild riding. Fond memories of a rig we had for a short while called Domino, an absolutely lovely boy but he would not stay in any field, even hobbled he would jump fences. Operated on but died. At 14 started western gymkhana & kept at that til I had a bad fall hacking, then switched to equitation & pleasure horse classes on better quality horses.
Off horses for 30 years til I could afford on my own after moving to Uk....that's enough history, I think!
 
Aw mine's really boring compared to yours Jacquelin, but here goes......

I came to horses relatively late in life (37). I was petrified of horses and presumed they all wanted to bite/kick. My daughter however was pony mad. A good friend of mine sorted out a super little loan pony for my daughter when she was about 6 and helped her out for about a year. However, when my friend no longer had time to help out with the pony, I either had to face my fears or my daughter would have to give it up.

I started to enjoy being at the stables more and more and one day decided I'd like to try riding. I took to it straight away (as in I liked it) and got my own horse who I absolutely adore and has taught me everything. I am still enjoying riding just as much (5 years on) and ride pretty much every day. I've done some Intro dressage and looking to move up to prelim this year (a small accomplishment but from a woman who was literally afraid to hold the end of a lead rope a few years ago, feels like a mountain to me!). I've been through a lot personally in the last few years (losing my mum etc) but can honestly say that my horse is good for my soul and cannot imagine life without her.

Cup of tea and a sllice o cake (as we say up north) to anyone who got this far!!
 
Practically born on a pony!
First pony when I was bout 18 months. hold on, led about but never stopped smiling. Did local shows, moved up to pony club things, had many a pony on loan and luckily had stables at home then. Continued to do PC things, local shows, unafiliated ODE's and hunter trials. Then I was horseless for a bit.
Went to college, higher diploma in equine studies, went on to do my BHSAI. Mixed it with some TB stud work. Taught a bit, then got a full time job as a head girl at an event yard. Got my own horse (gifted to me). 3 years later, I had competed my own little horse up to PN level, found out I was pregnant. Gave up job, raised kids, turned into a happy hacker.
Kids went to school, found current job with a TB stud farm and LOVE it! I haven't had the guts to go back to teach yet, but feel I don't need to right now. Still ride, mainly a happy hacker but the very odd unafil events I will give it a go... I do enjoy it still.
 
Mother rode up until she was pregnant with me and had ponies for my older brothers, so I started riding as a tot. Did pony club as a child, gymkhana being our specialty as I had a super little pony called Misty. Did a little bit of simple showing with her but the gymkhana was always our thing.

Rode on and off throughout teenage years... outgrew the ponies so didn't ride much between sort of 12 and 16, then had some lessons at a riding school (basic stuff!) and got a new horse, a 15.3 TB x Connie. She was just a light hack so did that with her until she was retired a few years later.

In November 2009 I got my current horse, Belle, a 16.2hh ISH. Had some lessons with her but she was really far too much for me, at least when I got her. Stopped having lessons last May (we were only doing very basic things like pole work, basic flatwork and we jumped a few times, probs 2'9" max) as she bucked me off three times in a row... she really didn't enjoy schooling! Had her back checked etc. and no problems there. Currently we are very very occasional happy hackers as she won't go out alone, my mother's horse is recovering from surgery (and has been doing so for 10 months so far!) and there are no volunteers to walk or cycle with me often! Rode her for the first time in 2 or 3 months yesterday and she was a really good girl. Hope to get to ride more!

Having said all that, I work for the family business selling horse riding holidays around the world. This has led me to have a variety of different riding experiences, despite the fact that my actual riding ability is actually not excellent. I am pretty brave and balanced, good for riding out, but am terrible at schooling and have very limited jumping experience.

Riding adventures abroad so far have been:

- Riding Andalusians in Spain, Doma Vaquera style (Spanish saddles and hackemores, no trotting, just walk to fast canter)
- A day of XC in Ireland
- A riding lesson on an Arab stallion in Tunisia, followed by a short ride out and beach canter... though he was a nappy little git!
- A week of trail riding in western saddles in Italy (Quarter Horses mostly)
- Riding crazy ponies in Bosnia for a week, including 3 year old stallion (Arab x Bosnian)
- A week of riding (inc. 3 day trail ride) in the mountains and on the beach in Morocco... rode a beautiful arab-barb type mare, very very fine but whizzy on the beach and great fun.

Next up is a 10 day stay in Mexico, riding Criollo x QHs with traditional Mexican tack!
 
Mum and my auntie were both horse mad when they were kids but couldn't afford to have ponies or really have lessons. In their teens they rode sporadically ( I think they helped out at a local riding school in turn for rides).

My auntie started riding again in the late '80's and I was about 7 and begged mum for lessons. I had weekly lessons, then mum started riding again and my cousin and brother started riding. I use to help out at the yard most weekends and school holidays. Rode various horses and ponies over the years.

My auntie has had a few horses and still has one now at the same yard. I rode properly until I went to uni and then got back into it via my now OH who brought his horse to the yard we rode at. OH horse retired and went back to Holland and we got a 4 year old TB X called DJ. 2 years ago I got my 15.1hh mare Chloe and last year she became properly mine. Done quite a bit of unafill dressage, hoping to affiliate in summer. OH is just getting her back into SJ which she loves.

Now life revolves around the horses but I think my dad still hopes its a phase I'll grow out of! Dad has never been horsey, he has rode but I think the hair-raising experience we had when once pony trekking in Ireland put him off!
 
I was your typical, horse-mad young girl but couldn't afford lessons or have any idea about horses.

When we moved up North, my step-dad got me into lessons at age 10, and it was a case of dump me at the yard at 10am and picked me up at 5pm. I loved every minute of it, helping out, mucking out etc. I used to be rear file, helping take hacks out or help exercise the school horses. A free lesson in return for helping both weekend days was the BEST.

I then left school and went to work for the same yard. Due to various reasons, left there and went down south to a Show Jumping yard. That didn't work out so I came home, bought a horse. Finances meant he had to be sold and I went down south to work on an Arabian Stud. came home, worked part-time for the first yard, bought one of their horses, moved to a Riding School and started teaching.

Other reasons meant I moved away from the horse industry, now have 2 horses and I compete, Dressage, In Hand Showing, working Hunter and Show Jumping. This year I will back the youngster and take the oldie Cross Country.

I'm still as horsemad as ever but took a job outside of the industry so that I can a. enjoy my horse and b. spend more time with them.

I've been riding for 17 years and my family STILL can't understand the fascination.
 
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On my 5th birthday, I was asked if I wanted to be a ballerina, or a horse rider. Since I was already into cats, I figured I should go down the animal route.

I had some lessons, then got the chance to loan one of the ponies. That lasted for a short while until the stables turned into a livery yard only.
I then went to various yards and I ended up terrified of horses and riding. I just wanted to look at them in fields and in pictures. These were 'top class' riding schools which had frightened me. They had ponies which even experienced people would be scared of and someone fell off nearly every lesson.
One day my friend asked if I wanted to go riding with her at a small local stables...

...11 years later I'm still riding there and I have never looked back!

Since then I've been mainly hacking, with a little bit of jumping and doing little local shows. I now hope to be loaning Ned, my favourite horse :)
 
Not been fortunate to have been 'born into the saddle' but started riding when I was at uni. This was just at a riding school and I moved around a lot after uni (did a postgrad course, got a job somewhere else and then moved again for another job!) During that time, rode at lots of different riding schools, done loads of flat work, jumped and also tried cross country and helped out from mucking out, catching ponies and getting them ready for lessons to leading beginners in lessons and cleaning tack! Managed to start sharing a few ponies as I wanted to take the next step after riding school and rode a lovely freisian that was incredibly well behaved for a 6 year old! Then shared an ISH X who was great fun to ride and did lots of hacking with him and now share a lovely Welsh pony who has been a great help with my confidence. Been riding on and off for near 8 years now and hope to become a full time horse owner before I hit 30!
 
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umm well mum bred a sec A before i was born, then when she was six i came along and i rode her from when i was 6months until i was 10, but from when i was about 7 i was having other ponies for short periods trying to find a suitable pony, then we bought darling Pasha. i'm now 14 and she's now for sale and we bought Tank in november.
disipline wise, i've done pony club, hacking, showing, sj, xc dressage, gymkahana, side saddle and this year i'm having a go at some BE events, and having some fun competing with tank!
 
I'm not from a horsey family. My mum enjoyed helping out at the stables when she was a child and her best friend from school owned a farm in the North Yorks moors. Whenever they went on holiday we used to go as a family to look after everything including horses, chickens, peacocks, dogs cats and cows. It was fantastic and I have such fond memories of those times. That's where I really got the horsey bug. I started having riding lessons at home when I was 13, and I worked every weekend and holiday at the riding school in return for a free ride on Sundays. Health and safety wouldn't cover it now! I trained for and passed my BHS stage 1 at these stables, and then managed to persuade my parents to let me give up my A levels and do my AI, which I did. Actually did go back and do my A Levels! Having BHSAI has been the most useful qualification. I was able to freelance for several years, particularly when my children were small and I now work as a riding instructor for EST Leeds, part of the Donkey Sanctuary that provides donkey riding therapy for children with special needs and disabilities wonderful job! And I still have a horse, an exracer and my pride and joy who I have nursed from skeleton to the gorgeous boy he is now
 
totally my mums fault!! :D she was horse mad as a kid although never had her own, got our first pony for me and my sister to share 15 years ago from ILPH (still have him, hes 25 bless him!) joined the local pc was there for 11 yrs and competed in anything and everything slowly moving through all the pony heights untill i got my last horse, had her for 3 yrs, sold her to go to uni, whilst at uni played polo on the uni teams graduated last july and december 2011 brought my current lad whom im hoping to be eventing by this time next yr (or end of this season if im lucky!!) :D
 
No idea what got me started, not at all a horsey famil, parents don't know one end from the other, apparanty I badgered ten from 2 years old to ride ??? So where that came from god alone knows.

So aged 5 they gave in, also did ballet and age 11 got an audition for the royal ballet school, had to choose one way of life ax the two don't mix , so chose horses ) lol

Any way code horses, saved enough to own my own aged 7 , ac my sister followed, she now shows and breeds her own, I was obsessed with XC but now happy to happy hack and show off my daughter on her pony :D
 
Mum and Dad both liked horses and used to go for lessons/rides out occasionally so they got me and my big sis into it.
Think they started me off at about 4 with lessons then started helping out with a local stables from the ages of about 12-16.
I then took a 10 year break as I moved out of my parents house and have only just recently started back into the horsey life. Haven't looked back since - although I have looked up from the ground after being dumped a couple of times! ;) - and now own my own gorgeous boy which is a massive dream come true! :D
 
no family connection other than Grandad worked a pit pony. Got my first horse was a 3yo who I broke in aged 14 and later competed sucessfully sj and eventing,completing Bramham 3de and taking the scalps of John and Michael Whittaker,Mike Saywell and Harvey Smith at local county shows:D:D
 
Not a horsey childhood really - had some lessons for about a year at a little riding school and the local dealer used to let my friend and I ride whatever we liked in the holidays etc. Over the years I rode very occasionally.

About 12 years ago (at the age of 40) mentioned to a colleague at school that I used to ride and enjoyed it and she said 'come with me'. Used to go for weekly lessons with her and then when we moved 'out' into Kent found a local yard and started to have lessons/hacks more often. Eventually (about 2 years ago) I got my first loan horse and then a few months later got my own horse (at the age of 52!!)

Now I ride as often as I can! Mainly schooling and hacking. I have literally in the last week or two started to jump a little bit! Poor baby is the biggest wimp you ever met, so we are going to work on going out on our own over the Easter holidays. He has done wonders for me, getting my confidence back after the evil loan horse - best thing I ever did, buying him :D
 
since I can remember I've always loved horses! Mum used to ride young but stopped. After years of harassment I finally got to start riding a few weeks before my 10th birthday!(3 years earlier then Mum said I could start :D) I've been riding since then and now 17 going strong :D Stuck in the riding schools though due to lack of finance for my own :( Looking into a lease over the summer though and hopefully will have my own someday!
 
Non horsey parents, Grandad that loves horseracing, harped on for riding lessons when I was 6 and got two (it rained on the second one so parents never went back), moved to Reading for a few years then moved back to north east (The promise was that i got a horse if I agreed to move) when i was 13 where i met my best friend - now yard owner, who was starting at the school the same time. Parents took me for riding lessons at the stables from hell, I still get butterflies driving too it. Then i persuaded best friends dad to loan me a couple of horses, then got a loan from a friend of a friend. Then got dad to buy me jet when I was 16 (6 month old foal - tight wad, wouldnt pay for the horse I had on loan). Took my BHS1 and Equine Science then best friend broke jet in and its all gone from there. I sold Jet to buy my second horse that I had for nine years, then bought Affy with my sister and bred a foal. Compete at unaffiliated showjumping and cross country and county level showing. Thats my entire life history!
 
I started riding twhen I was 4 in riding schools, I was chucked on anything, young, or akward.

At 14 me and Shavings (as she is known on here) got a horse called Major. Her dad bought him but I shared him with her. What a gem of a horse he was. 17 years old, tb, ex racer, raced til 12, gelded late at 7. Couldn't of asked for more of a gent.

I then deided I wanted my own fully and a work collegue of my mum had a horse on loan. A 3 year old tb who had only been broken 3 months. I had him for the winter. He was very good for a youngster and taught me alot. Then I rode a carriage horse for the summer who was alot of fun!

Then I bought a 4year old tb when I was 15 nearly 16. Just off the track. By god she taught me alot. She napped and did rodeo displays. I had her 3 and a half years and loved her dearly. In that time I rode a 15hh skewbald cob for a year for a friend, he was a nappy sod too with a good buck in him. I then rode a friends mare and ompeted her, a 16.2 Trakehner X, she taught me to sit to big paces because by christ she could move.

By this point I also worked on a livery yard, so I got to ride the yard stallion. He was an absolute gem under saddle. Taught me how to ride from my seat, I had a reinless lesson on him and we were doing canter to walk, leg yielding shoulder in and spirals just off my seat and leg. He really taught me alot! I also rode my boss's horse. He was sharp and I mean you breathe the wrong way and he just goes, he scared me!

I then moved to Cumbria, my little mare had had lameness issues that nobody had been able to give me an answer too. After I moved she spooked on a hack and napped badly which was really unlike her as we were in company. She was then crippled so the vet came out, diagnosed a slipped disk in her back and was PTS.

I then bought my current horse, a sharp 16.1hh Warmblood mare that I have owned for a year and whom I loved to bits but she will never replace my little 15.2 girly.

I have ridden my YO's mare twice but there you go, thats my riding history.
 
This is all really interesting thanks everyone for posting stories!!

Mine is quyie standard - Mum always rode when she was younger, I was about 5 when she heard of this poor badly conditioned foal, being like she is we took him on and it went from there really! Never had money to buy anything expensive and we always had a soft spot for the "rejects" that no one else wanted. Had a few ponies over the years and rehomed, we got out own land when i was 11. I had Blue from when i was 5 and he was always "mine" only :) the best pony in the world. But I put him on loan when i was 17, went to college then bummed around and workd and drank for a few years :D

then i just started thinkin about him more and more, missing him and thinking what an idiot i ever was for letting him go. I moved back home just before 21st birthday and luckily i was asked to take him back, it was the BEST BEST BEST thing i ever did. It's been two years and i feel i am finally getting the bond back, i love looking after him, it NEVR feels like a chore and i go on and on about him to anyone who will listen :)
 
Some lovely stories! It's interesting to see how many people got the riding bug from their mothers!

My mum has also always been horsey, but not madly so - rode when she was young, had me and then just hung around with her friends and their horses when I was very little. My first memory of horses was getting my foot stood on by my mum's friend's (thankfully unshod) broodmare!

I went to riding schools since the age of about seven, and by the time I was ten I was helping out on a Saturday leading the ponies around in their lessons in return for my lessons. We moved to the country when I was 12 and I met the lady who changed my horsey life - I took a pony on "loan" who was barely broken and spent a number of years pretending I could ride, then got taken under the wing of this woman who showed me how to actually deal with horses properly and started to teach me to ride instead of sit on top! She had big dressage horses and her daughter's eventer, and a lot of my horsemanship style and horse sense has been learnt from her. I had my first very own pony whilst at this lady's yard and I learnt a lot.

I then started working at another local yard, and there were lots more opportunities to ride there so I really started to ride properly. After I finished uni I worked there properly for 18 months and learnt how to be a proper yard groom instead of a weekend helper! During A-levels and uni I was between horses, so I rode a lot of different ones for friends which taught me an AWFUL lot. After uni I also bought, and then broke (as in, she tore her tendon) my first horse, and learnt about injury and how hard horses can be to deal with. That mare also taught me about losing a horse - she died of colic last year.

That pretty much brings me to now! That's more of my whole "horsey history" rather than just "riding history", but I think that is important, too :)
 
I begged my (non horsey) parents for lessons from about 9, but had to wait until my 12th birthday until I got them. I was hooked from the first ride, and as I got a bit more confident and capable I started staying at the riding school all day on Saturdays, helping out. It is a big riding school with loads of kids hanging around 'helping', but those who did actually help always got a free ride, either as a lead file on a lower class or backing up a hack.

I had little group of friends and we loved it there, I spent every Saturday there from age 13-18 as my parents have never been in a position to buy me my own, or even to pay for a loan (2 non-horsey siblings, it wouldn't have been fair).

When I was about 15 I had a friend who had a little bugger of a pony, that would go up on his hind legs as soon as look at you, and I used to go down the the stables with her every night after school to fuss over him and ride him. We did all the naughty stuff I couldn't do at the riding school, galloping up from the field in tandem, bareback in a headcollar!

I had to stop when I went to uni, although I joined the riding club I didn't really like the riding school, and felt I was actually regressing! As soon as moved back home after uni I went back to my old riding school, as an adult on the adult lessons. I've been there ever since (c.18months) and I still love it. Everyone is friendly, the owner is fantastic and puts on loads of events for hiring riders. So far we have had a mock hunt, 2 x-country comps, a one day event, horse and hound, gymkhana games...etc.

One day I'd love my own, but at the moment I'm not in a position financially to have one.

Wow, that is long...sorry!

x
 
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