Rider Retirement goals?

[Niassa]

I’m a fit 58 year old and am about to finish work at last.
I’m also planning to buy my first horse!
I ride friends’ horses regularly. We are all happy hackers at the moment and I have never competed but now I will have more time on my hands would perhaps like to explore some more structured activities.

Any ideas?

Any recommendations?

If you have a good local RC that would be a great place to start. And getting a good instructor on board with your plans, they should have lots of contacts and ideas.

How much stable management do you know?
You could do the BHS Stage 1 + 2 stable management exams. These give you a good grounding in horse care and management.
Definitely join a local RC and get a good instructor. It is vital to keep having lessons when you first get a horse, even if you just want to hack.
Look at working towards building your fitness to take horse on a riding holiday. Best horsey days of my life haven't been shows or competitions but weekends away with my horse + friends.

Endurance riding is the best. Don’t be put off by the name, it starts at pleasure ride level, it is so much fun & highly addictive! If you are in England, look at the Endurance GB website for local rides. I have found it a really friendly & welcoming sport - perhaps because it is less traditional so more open to different styles of tack and clothing. It can be as competitive or light hearted as you make it and you get to enjoy fabulous country side with your horse.

If you join a riding club, then you'll hopefully have the chance to try a lot of different activities at clinics and unaffiliated level, before being able to choose where to specialise. There are lots of great, fun sports on offer that you may not have considered- for example, working equitation is growing in popularity.

If you get a nice all-rounder, you'll be able to try everything!

Are you planning to buy transport?

How about TREC? There's often cake involved.

How exciting! Keep us posted on what you buy. You could try having lessons and see what you like doing best

It is very exciting! Thank you for the suggestions, now I just need to find the right horse :)
Yes I’m planning to buy transport of some description and also live near great hacking so hopefully have lots of options.

Definitely have a look at TREC. One poster mentions cake, I would like to mention the gin. 🤣 Summer competitions are 2 day events, with a stayover on Saturday night. It’s an extremely sociable sport, once you’ve done the long ride on your own bit. You don’t even need to do that on your own - you can ride as a pair which is great if you have someone you enjoy riding with. You can compete at as easy or as hard a level as you want to, depending on how much of a challenge you want to set yourself.

@backinthebox it's Pimms at the summer competitions the club I help with runs. My boy is past competing but I still keep helping for the cake and Pimms😁

@countrygirl99 if its Pimms I know exactly where you are. 😉😉 There is sometimes pizza there too.

@backinthebox you are probably correct. A sociable sport with cake and Pimms is definitely not to be sniffed at😆. Only soup and cake at the winter comp on Sunday though.

It sounds like great fun!

Nooooo, winter comps have to be cheesey chips! It's the law.