my RI is a stickler for "proper" riding - she is of the Sylvia Loch school of thought - which is brilliant, knowledgeable, but im just not getting it....
i go one step forwards, then 3 back.
its worse as im an adult learner. RI is really very good, and says yes, you can get by from kicking and pulling, but she teaches properly the use of leg aids (i e - riding from the ankle UP...no kicking unless for discipline)
im worse than useless. She talks about collecting the horse and riding in front of the leg....now i understand these as concepts but i have all on trying to coordinate my body, legs and arms.....
i do not want to give up - it gives me such pleasure, and i know enough about horse care and stable management now to own my own pony, RI often leaves me to it if she needs a few hours off....and i love helping out, plus i dearly would love my own pony.
im thinking of booking a series of intensive lessons daily for a week or so, because just as i seem to be getting it i go backwards again. My legs will not do as they are asked....(!!) i give the poor horse mixed messages, i cant seem to keep my heels down and toes in....and my lower legs refuse to stay where i put them originally!
im getting so annoyed with myself! RI says i am perfectly normal but im not improving at all.
because i help out RI says she will do me a deal on intensive lessons.
im feeling a bit despondent. I so want to learn. i can do everything now with horses except ride them!
Discuss horse riding and ownership on our Horse forum.
The tack room
im just not getting any better - intensive lessons?
ThatVikRinA22 · 22/06/2013 23:43
Hi there.
This is just a suggestion, I am new to all of this! 
so I don't know if this is an option.
Is there a local Pony Club that you can contact? The trainers at ours all give private lessons in addition to their PC commitments.
Or are there any local farms nearby? DD gets lessons at the farm where she keeps her pony by one of the family who used to be the local PC trainer but who's kids have gone way past PC now. However, before this arrangement was agreed, they had given me three different suggestions for trainers they would recommend. I Googled them, but nothing much came up, certainly not enough for me by myself to find out about them, these are more people who have been around horses/ponies all their lives, are fully qualified but give lessons through word of mouth on an ah-hoc basis etc. rather than make their living from it.
Just wondered if you could approach any local farmers who have horses/ponies?
Sorry if this suggestion isn't appropriate but we wouldn't have found our trainer without some insider knowledge.
Another one here who thinks you need to get some hacking experience & just relax & enjoy!
DD started riding, age 3 on a friend's Shetland. She was on lead rein, around the lanes & bridleways. She was holding her hand up & thanking cars etc before she'd started school lol.
She then progressed to a bigger pony & had someone walking running next to her. She learnt to ride, without knowing she was, if you get my meaning...& most importantly she had FUN.
She then got her own pony & has taught herself so much by messing around in the field on him...heart stopping stuff for me, though, when I look out of the window & she's sat on him backwards or jumping him bareback, in a head collar 
.
She has started formal lessons now, to brush up her technique & does PC etc but she learnt on the job, so to speak & I think she is a better rider for it.
WillowKnicks - DD has also just started formal lessons, given she's now doing PC, gymkhana and jumping etc. She's been hacking for years and years though.
She rides pretty much most nights, either hacking or games practise in the field - I choose not to look either because they do some pretty mad stuff too
The bareback stuff doesn't faze me (if hats etc are worn) or lack of stirrups, I think it's good for balance?
Oh yes I used to do bareback jumping in a head collar 
my friend had a pony & we used to head out on him up to the moors where we set up little jumps, no adults around. Our parents had no idea!
Avoid working livery like the plague. It's no fun for the horse and you won't even feel like its owner. You'll have to book when you want to ride it. No last minute ability to squeeze in a hack or if its been in the school all week then there is pressure to take it hacking to keep s/he interested and enjoying a varied life. You run the risk of your horse going stale, no say in who rides (even though you will be told you will have a say). Get a horse put it on part livery and get yourself a sharer. Best of both worlds.
Or find yourself a share where you could so have lessons as well as hack etc.
I also spent my youth riding bare back turning the RS ponies out. We'd go on mad hacks jumping everything in sight. As has been said before its a bit like learning to drive, it's not until you actually start driving on the roads after your test that you actually start to really learn. Does that make sense? Get out there. Get hacking. See the sights and sounds. Enjoy the wind in your hair and the branches whipping you in the face as you forget to duck and the holly bushes and brambles snagging your sleeves as your horse does a quick left round the outside of a puddle! 
Don’t want to miss threads like this?
Weekly
Sign up to our weekly round up and get all the best threads sent straight to your inbox!
Log in to update your newsletter preferences.
You've subscribed!
I'm a bit sad about it now because I know you are all quite correct, but she has become a friend and I do really like her. She is quite matronly and motherly and we sit and have a glass of wine and moan....( usually about our kids!) 
To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.