E_Lister
Well-Known Member
Clearly, from title, the long and short of this thread is that I would like some schooling inspiration for a novice rider who has never seriously schooled before! (With both a horse and rider that find schooling dull compared to hacking!)
The longer version:
I have been riding for about 6 years, however in the past year I suddenly realised that my riding "ability" was minimal so have been working on this with lessons as and when I can afford them. I'm making tonnes of progress, however I would love to make more on my own. I just struggle to do anything outside the exercises my instructor has suggested as anything I think of bores me and my share pony to death.
My share pony is (as was described to me) the tricky side of a straightforward pony. Which translates as a brilliant bombproof hack, that has no schooling whatsoever. She therefore listens only when it suits her and I am working really hard to improve communication with her.
When I started this share about 8 months ago, like many overconfident teenagers, I thought I knew all there was to know. She has knocked me down a peg or 50 and I am now learning to ride again, trying to master the basic building blocks of riding one at a time. My seat, position and balance are now coming along quite well, and as my instructor and I jokingly say, I have gone from "absolutely, completely and utterly not even a chance of having no control" down to just "no control".
At the moment I try to "school" Ellie one out of the 3 days a week I have her. This is about to improve as at the moment I have Ellie on full loan until I go to university and is why I am looking into doing more schooling with her. However it has been an uphill struggle... there is no sand school, so I ride her in the paddock, however she associates anything that isn't tarmac as good galloping terrain.
This meant that for a month or two (as she was teaching me that I knew barely anything) our "schooling" involved (involuntarily on my part) a lap of walk, a lap of trot then 20 minutes of her cantering/galloping round, with me clinging on for dear life and brakes failing dramatically and consistently until she got bored! At which point she would turn on a sixpence and brake at the same time, leaving me sprawled on the floor and my confidence rapidly deflating.
So I stopped schooling entirely, unless my instructor was there, when she was, as I said we went back to basics!
Now, 6 months and a lot of sweat blood and tears (all mine...) later, I would like to try and improve the little "schooling" I do. We can now "school" as to my specifications, walking, trotting, cantering, turning, stopping, starting when I say. I don't really do much else on top of this though. I just make sure (for my and Ellie's sanity) that I am constantly turning, doing upwards and downwards transitions, changing rein, circling etc to ensure her attention is fully on me.
Ellie isn't on an outline, she doesn't consistently work from behind and (although we are cracking this slowly) seems to have a penchant for being so far on the forehand that her nose creates a furrow wherever we go. However WHAT we do and WHERE we go is (almost) all on my terms! She gets bored very quickly if things start to get repetitive which makes it difficult for me to create suitable exercises myself, and, I am totally unqualified to decide where we need to go from here!
Ideally (and IF possible) I would like some suggestions for exercises I can do with Ellie to improve our schooling further, from "swanning around in the designated schooling area and calling it schooling" to work that will teach me (and her) things that form the very basic elements of "grown up schooling" and mean I can do things that at the moment I can only dream of (like... possibly jumping in the distant future
).
We are taking baby steps, so please, if you have any suggestions for things I could try now, they would be greatly appreciated! And please phrase it simply, although on the ground I am intelligent, on horseback my IQ drops to about 5...!
Sorry this is so long, and if you read through it all and then manage to think of something constructive, you have my eternal gratitude (and a large portion of my ridiculously giant toblerone!)
The longer version:
I have been riding for about 6 years, however in the past year I suddenly realised that my riding "ability" was minimal so have been working on this with lessons as and when I can afford them. I'm making tonnes of progress, however I would love to make more on my own. I just struggle to do anything outside the exercises my instructor has suggested as anything I think of bores me and my share pony to death.
My share pony is (as was described to me) the tricky side of a straightforward pony. Which translates as a brilliant bombproof hack, that has no schooling whatsoever. She therefore listens only when it suits her and I am working really hard to improve communication with her.
When I started this share about 8 months ago, like many overconfident teenagers, I thought I knew all there was to know. She has knocked me down a peg or 50 and I am now learning to ride again, trying to master the basic building blocks of riding one at a time. My seat, position and balance are now coming along quite well, and as my instructor and I jokingly say, I have gone from "absolutely, completely and utterly not even a chance of having no control" down to just "no control".
At the moment I try to "school" Ellie one out of the 3 days a week I have her. This is about to improve as at the moment I have Ellie on full loan until I go to university and is why I am looking into doing more schooling with her. However it has been an uphill struggle... there is no sand school, so I ride her in the paddock, however she associates anything that isn't tarmac as good galloping terrain.
This meant that for a month or two (as she was teaching me that I knew barely anything) our "schooling" involved (involuntarily on my part) a lap of walk, a lap of trot then 20 minutes of her cantering/galloping round, with me clinging on for dear life and brakes failing dramatically and consistently until she got bored! At which point she would turn on a sixpence and brake at the same time, leaving me sprawled on the floor and my confidence rapidly deflating.
So I stopped schooling entirely, unless my instructor was there, when she was, as I said we went back to basics!
Now, 6 months and a lot of sweat blood and tears (all mine...) later, I would like to try and improve the little "schooling" I do. We can now "school" as to my specifications, walking, trotting, cantering, turning, stopping, starting when I say. I don't really do much else on top of this though. I just make sure (for my and Ellie's sanity) that I am constantly turning, doing upwards and downwards transitions, changing rein, circling etc to ensure her attention is fully on me.
Ellie isn't on an outline, she doesn't consistently work from behind and (although we are cracking this slowly) seems to have a penchant for being so far on the forehand that her nose creates a furrow wherever we go. However WHAT we do and WHERE we go is (almost) all on my terms! She gets bored very quickly if things start to get repetitive which makes it difficult for me to create suitable exercises myself, and, I am totally unqualified to decide where we need to go from here!
Ideally (and IF possible) I would like some suggestions for exercises I can do with Ellie to improve our schooling further, from "swanning around in the designated schooling area and calling it schooling" to work that will teach me (and her) things that form the very basic elements of "grown up schooling" and mean I can do things that at the moment I can only dream of (like... possibly jumping in the distant future
).We are taking baby steps, so please, if you have any suggestions for things I could try now, they would be greatly appreciated! And please phrase it simply, although on the ground I am intelligent, on horseback my IQ drops to about 5...!
Sorry this is so long, and if you read through it all and then manage to think of something constructive, you have my eternal gratitude (and a large portion of my ridiculously giant toblerone!)
