Adult new or returning riders up for a chat?

[Hereforthedramaz]

I have recently returned to riding after a very long gap.

I was a very casual rider as an early teen, happy hacking on plodding ponies rather than technical riding. I am thoroughly enjoying having proper lessons now.

I thought it might be nice to chat with other newbies or returners, all non-horsey people in my life and there is only so much they want to talk about it!!!

Also the stables I'm going to is so lovely and welcoming but, in their own words, aimed almost entirely at 8-12 year olds so it would be nice to talk to some adults!

@Pleasedontdothat I’m very glad to see that you are clearly coming along well. I hope your recovery is smooth.

I finally had a good ride yesterday, though DHorse claimed that after all these weeks - bad weather followed by a paddock injury - he had No Idea what a saddle and bridle were for, let alone a mounting block. We have even more rain forecast this week - we are on track for the wettest year on record - but fingers crossed for a better summer.

@Gremlinsateit lol they can be so cheeky!

Did you get a good ride in once you were on him?!

Hi everyone, lovely to read how you are all getting on. I haven't ridden for a couple of weeks due to an injury and then being unwell and feel like I have really lost confidence. I have a private lesson booked for tomorrow and really need to sharpen up canter transitions so hopefully will get a horse suitable for that!

Hi I hope everyone is doing ok and enjoying their riding? Can I just show off a little bit about my lesson tonight? No-one in my house would understand or care! I rode my favourite horse who can be lazy but will try his hoof at anything if you get him in the right mood and had a different instructor.

At the end of the lesson I did a serpentine in canter! I trotted a few strides of the straight line across the school bit and then picked up canter as we turned back onto the track to get the right lead. I’m so impressed with myself and my wonder horse.

It also made me realise how hard a decent dressage test must be to ride!

Thank you for letting me show off 😂

Congratulations @Tupperwarelid that sounds very successful! It's lovely when you have a breakthrough.

@Pleasedontdothat how are you doing now?

And hope your lesson went well @DuaneDibbley!

My boy is ticking along nicely. He is just enjoying pottering between field and stable and showing the kids how this pony life is done! He has had remedial (equilibrium) shoes on for the past two years to help out his arthritis and his walking. At last visit farrier recommended giving a go at taking them off as his feet are looking great, and it's a bit more sustainable that way for him if he can manage, avoiding all the extra stress on his legs of shoeing. One week in and going ok!! Fingers crossed!

Hope you all have a lovely weekend.

@LikeAnOldFriend thank you - I’m getting there slowly - the ribs are almost healed, the bruising and swelling on my hip has gone down so I can wear jeans again (I’ve been living in yoga pants) and I’m taking less pain medication than I was. I’m still having to be careful not to overdo things as by the evening my back is desperately uncomfortable but it’s only four and a half weeks since it happened so it’s going to take a little longer..

@Tupperwarelid that is fantastic - you should definitely be feeling proud 😊

@Tupperwarelid that sounds amazing! Well done!

My cantering needs ALOT of work!

@Pleasedontdothat really glad to hear you are on the mend, sounds like great progress.

I've just started riding as an adult as I always wanted to do it as a child but we could never afford it.

I'm hoping it will help me to finally lose weight as I am obese, to the point of having to look hard for a riding school that would take me. Luckily I found one that doesn't have a weight limit as they have an enormous Irish draft horse who stands at 18.4 hands and is built like a brick wall.

He's a dream to ride, so responsive and easygoing and easily bought with carrots but my rising trot is laughable. I just can't physically do the movement. I hope it will just click eventually and I'll get it but it's so hard.

How long did you all take to learn it?

@Notanotherwindow , good for you!

18.3 must feel VERY high up!!!

I'm a returner to riding so not the same as learning rising trot etc as an adult. You have my sympathies, relying on muscle memory helps a lot!

There are some great experts on this thread who I expect will give better advice but I'd guess working on some core exercises (on land) would help a lot.

Pilates is excellent for horse riders and I do Equipilates which is aimed specifically around the muscles and core stability that riders need. Anything that helps release tension in your body will help but ultimately rising trot is learning how to find the rhythm and I would think it feels completely alien to an adult learner rider. Lots of work without stirrups will help too.
Although I'm of the school of thought that says work without stirrups is the cure for everything 🤣🤣

I shit a brick when they led him out. I'm not so conscious of his size when I'm on him, it's getting off when it feels very very high up.

Trotting feels like being in a tumble drier. I will focus on core exercises and hopefully pick it up soon. I'm 3 lessons in so not had much chance to practice yet.

@Pleasedontdothat glad to hear you're making good progress
@Notanotherwindow rising trot is really hard to get, when I would teach children we would get them to chant up down in rhythm as its much easier when you are moving with the bounce not against it. If you think it's a strength thing then some core exercises and pilates will help.
I had another lesson on Friday and felt it was a bit disastrous as I had a different instructor who normally takes the advance dressage students and she was really wanting me to focus on getting the horse balanced but I just couldn't get him to move the way she wanted. Got off a bit deflated but lovely DH who had came to watch was an excellent coach afterwards and pointed out actually despite it not being perfect I was complimented on my seat being good and my leg position which was something I really struggled with when first starting. So taking away that I did learn a lot about how the horse should be moving and balanced now I just need to work on getting that theory into reality.

@Notanotherwindow it took me ages to relearn riding trot as an adult - I’d been able to do it as a child so I knew it wasn’t right but it just wasn’t happening.. I could do sitting trot no problem and for a while my instructor would get me to do sitting trot with no stirrups and then give me my stirrups back and then I could get it but I couldn’t pick it up straight away. And then suddenly I could 😄and I realised that I was happily trotting in a nice rhythm without having to think about it. One thing that helped me was to think of it as curving my hips forward and back rather than thinking up down

@Pleasedontdothat I can't even do sitting trot, literally just bounce and eventually lose my balance.

Just some pointers for rising trot (in addition to stability exercise). As someone else said, don't think of it as up and down as this can cause you to bounce and close/stiffen your hips.
Instead you need to think of an upside down boomerang action in 2 parts: so the first is to move pelvis forward and the second part is to move it up so in an upside down boomerang shape. Then on the way down it is down and back. The challenge is to do this in a fluid motion so it looks imperceptible but it makes you focus on your pelvis/hips and softens the action.
Also don't try to rise too high, a lot of people force themselves high out of the saddle when that isn't needed. The point of rising trot is to protect the horse's back from people who can't achieve a soft sitting trot (also for young horse's who don't have the muscles to yet support a rider doing sitting trot or for older horses to give them a break from sitting trot) so it doesn't need to be a big movement.
A decent instructor should be able to talk you through this and demonstrate the action on the ground out of the saddle.

So I’m just after some advice if possible I started having lessons a year ago but don’t feel like I’m making progress. We seem to do the same things each lesson like circles / serpentines/ and trot work . We asked today about completing the dressage test as I think you get a rosette for this . At what stage should we be doing other things ie cantering ? A lovely lady on this post mentioned cantering should be introduced by now ? And possibly some pole work .Should I look for another riding school as I don’t really want to still be going round in circles doing the same things in a years time Or am I just bring a bit impatient?

Thanks for the pointers but I think I'm hopeless. 🤣 Half the lesson spent trotting and I still can't get it. I'm less unbalanced but I just don't seem to have the muscle strength to push up as needed. I think my instructor felt sorry for me as she decided to take a break from trotting for the rest if the lesson and taught me to get him into an outline instead. I'm now googling pilates 😂

Are your heels back far enough, in line with your shoulders? Is your back straight, head high, and pelvis neutral to start? It shouldn’t be a massive effort - it’s more of a tilt forwards, than a push, using the inside leg muscles, not using glutes like a squat.

I had all sorts of trouble until I found a better teacher. My particular problem was that I kept swinging my feet forward on the second beat. Once I kept them back and squeezed up rather than pushing up, it was much less effort.

Quite good thanks! It was so interesting to feel him stretch out his legs and relax his back as he decided to get on with it.

Sorry I think you need a different instructor. There is no way that you should be finding rising trot this hard and sorry at your stage the instructor shouldn't be teaching how to get a horse into an outline, they should be teaching you mastery of the basics. A good instructor should be working on your position in all 4 basic paves and helping you improve through eg visualisation and physical demonstration. Have you had any lunge lessons? Does you instructor show you from the ground the rising action and have they used anything such as Franklin/Alexander techniques to help find neutral in your pelvis and release your muscles? Are they qualified as an instructor? The point is that they are there to help de-mystify the whole riding process and help you progress.

Great to hear that you're feeling better. I've spent almost a year out of the saddle concentrating on getting my core fitness and stability back; I'm sometimes surprised at how much pain I can be in some days or how challenging a full on work day can be.

However - I'm off the painkillers and can do everything regularly and at normal pace again.

I was very disheartened when I went to try a pony recently as the lady did the classic 'you don't know how to ride' thing when the pony started playing up and I just thought - did you, you have no idea what I've come back from and how much courage it took me just to come here and sit on your flipping pony.

The outline was just a bit of fun as I was getting demoralised with the trotting and had been watching a dressage lesson in the other ring before. We were back to basics right after.

But that's the point, your instructor shouldn't let you get to the point of being demoralised. They around be showing you different techniques until you find a way that works for you. Well done for sticking with it and honestly something like equipilates will help you a lot. Might be worth investigating a local school which has an equipilates/Franklin/TESTT riding instructor.
This is why we love riding though, you never stop learning and you can never say that you know it all/can do it all as there is always constant refinement you can do.

She's given me some exercises to do at home, I think I just don't have the muscle strength to do it because I can feel the rhythm but it's really hard to push myself up. I think I just have too much fat and not enough flex. The exercise is hard too but much easier to do on the floor than while bouncing on a horse!

I'm no expert, but I think you should definitely ask to be taught to canter after a year and ask to do a dressage test (intro doesn't have canter I believe). I can't remember it taking my kid so long to be taught to canter. What do the instructors say when you ask about it?