Adult new or returning riders part 2

[theferry]

I thought I’d start a new thread seeing as the existing one is full.

I’m due to ride tomorrow. Maybe I’ll jump. I’ll see.

Gremlinsateit the Nalanta bitless bridles are amazing. We managed to pick up a second hand one on ebay. They look lovely too.

Thanks @highlandponymummy :)

I had a lesson on a mechanical horse yesterday - it was fascinating! My instructor suggested it because my right hand tends to wander when I’m going into canter and I’m struggling a bit with left to right leg yield (left canter and right to left leg yield are both fine 😳). The instructor who does the simulator lessons is a biomechanics specialist and she spotted immediately that I’m putting a bit more weight into my right seat bone even though I feel completely straight! We did quite a few exercises to correct it and by the end of the session everything was feeling so much more stable (no pun intended). She explained the simulator is a really good way of showing where the rider’s wonkiness is because ‘Apollo’ is absolutely straight. I’m definitely going to book some more sessions.

@LunaNorth how is the pregnancy going?

As a usual happy hacker, I’ve had some incredible more traditional lessons on some surprisingly forward ponies. Today was a young Welsh mare! Normal individually each of those words would be a red flag for me!
But it was great, I even managed to sit her three excited bucks (relatively) easily!

@Hereforthedramaz smoothly up to now, thank you. She’s due some time this month, and is showing no signs of imminent birth yet. She’s thoroughly enjoying being spoiled rotten, having scritches, being fed satsuma segments and getting through three meals a day, though.

In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if she kicks the foal under a pile of hay once she’s given birth. I can’t imagine she’ll be in a rush to give all that up 😂

That sounds amazing fun!

So you may remember I was not getting on very well with the horse I had been assigned at my local riding school and was on the verge of giving up?

Well the school moved locations and got some more larger ponies/horses and I am on a completely different horse and i am getting on soooo much better.

He's massive at over 16 hands (well sems massive to me anyway! But he's a very gentle plodder which really suits me at the moment. I've even managed to start trotting! although getting him to canter may be a stretch to far lol

@swearsbymoonlightthats really good news!

It’s amazing how much you and the horse need to connect, and it’s no judgement of you or the horse, some pairings are just not optimal!

I know what you mean on height, the first time the school put me on a 16.1 it felt insanely high!! At 5”3 I don’t really need to up that high!

We had a pregnancy photoshoot today…

@LunaNorth oh she’s so pretty!!

it’s amazing how much she doesn’t look pregnant (at least from that angle) I expected her to be huge for being so close!

Her foal is going to be so lovely!

She looks bigger in real life, oddly. She’s only 14.1, so I’m thinking the foal will be quite little.

Still thinking up names…

@AuntyPants if you feel it’s too bouncy to sit to the trot as part of the transition then would transitioning from walk be easier.
with the trot make sure the trot is collected first and that the horse doesn’t just speed up in trot.

I am so so tired of looking for a horse to buy. My second attempt has just fallen through and I gave up my loan thinking I was definitely getting a horse so now I don’t have a horse at all. My loan horse already had new loaners and there aren’t really any other suitable ones at my yard - slim pickings where I am!

when I do find a horse I still need to make sure it’s right, go and view it, is the dealer dodgy, then wait for ages for the strangles test to be done. Such a frustrating process!

@PonyPlaiterim in the same position! Buying is so insanely hard at the moment, the good ones are deposited within minutes and atleast 60% of things I look at are clearly scams or just dodgy sellers!

I am also using a horse finder alongside looking myself and that is helping a bit!

people darkly say prices sky rocket from May onwards too which is worrying!

Ooh when you say a horse finder do you mean an agent?

I find myself having to lower my standards to find what I’m looking for - but I don’t think that’s a bad thing since I thought I was going to get a ridden highland for about 5k. Had to raise my budget to 8k and accept that a beautiful confidence giving saint of a horse might not be in budget - and something has to give!

Hello everyone, am enjoying the pregnancy posts very much and hoping to hear about the foals first day in reception soon.

I am randomly on the Isle of Man and had a very gentle hack with DD which was lovely. If anyone finds themselves here it's really very pretty up in the hills on horseback.

Couldn't tighten the girth but otherwise was fine even though wrist still at about 50% normal. Lovely to get back on a horse on a sunny day outside.

@PonyPlaiterme too! I started around £6k which fairly quickly became £8k and now I’m looking at £10K. For a very low lever hacker and light schooler it seems insane but then at the moment the money seems to be in the “safe” horses!

Yes I mean an agent really although I found an extremely down to earth one who seems to specialise in normal everyday horses! I assumed the agents were extremely expensive and looked for competition horses!!

Oh yeah see I assumed that too maybe I ought to have a look - I took out a wanted add on horse quest but that was only this morning. I’ve booked in to see a horse tomorrow that is the wrong colour and too young but he’s billed as safe and steady so we’ll see!

@PonyPlaiterif you at any point do want to explore an agent or even just have a chat with her I can pass her details on. Tbh honest even just the first conversation before I decided to use her was incredibly helpful and reassuring that what I want does exist!

But good luck tomorrow! everything on the market seems so young at the moment! My head knows I don’t want anything young, but then I see so many great sounding young ones….

hopefully I’m going to a yard tomorrow recommended by my instructor who think they have a couple of possibilities but I have a feeling they might be too “sporty!”

ive also seen a pretty 8 year old mare who sounds sweet.

Good luck with horse shopping @Hereforthedramaz and @PonyPlaiter - the problem is amateur-friendly horses who are safe, sane and sound are what the majority of buyers want so there’s a real premium. Unless you have someone on hand to school any potential horse then you need to look for something that’s already doing the job you want them for. I could go for something greener than would normally be ideal but my daughter’s been able to turn him into a good equine citizen for me. Having said that, we did have a blip a few weeks ago when he suddenly became nappy in the school and spooky out hacking. He got steadily worse over a few days and culminated in him tanking off with me. We’re not sure what caused it - probably a combination of factors including not enough turnout and him coming out in hives the day he tanked off. We stripped back all hard feed so he’s just having a token feed of chaff (much to his disgust) and meadow haylage - thankfully turnout has increased and he’s back to happy, chilled Timmy again. He’s coming home at the end of the month and he’ll be out 24/7 here which I think will suit him much better 🤞

My share cob was a complete nut job this week. Luckily he is normally so chilled that being very lively and spooking he is still manageable, He is 25 and very sane so the only thing I can think is that the spring grass has come through. Everything looks so lush and green that it makes sense he is essentially like a child at a party on a sugar rush.

Fingers crossed that sorts him out there’s nothing scarier than the dragon snorts!

my issue is confidence - I have absolutely none, especially out hacking. A few people have said why don’t you work on that then look to buy but the thing is with riding schools, you rarely get to hack and you ride a different horse each week. I need one that I can ride consistently. The main trouble with horses is that they’re horses - I need one that isn’t going to spook at stupid things or is steady enough to take the lead out hacking if other horses are mucking about.

my problem is it’s dawned on me this morning I seem to be looking at adverts for my “second horse”. One that in reality I could probably confidently ride in a year or so but isn’t actually going to help me get to that point. So. Time for a rethink!

Whereabouts are you @PonyPlaiter ? If you’re anywhere near Warlingham in Surrey it would be worth getting in touch with Kingsmead. They have regular hacks several times a week and you would be able to ride the same horse. They also do hacking lessons to build confidence and learn how to deal with stuff you might encounter out hacking.

@PonyPlaiterdid you go for the viewing today? How did it go?

I know what you mean, I need a proper confidence giver and “bombproof” hack (as much as any horse can be!!) BUT I also want to progress with it and together that’s a pretty big ask!

I went on a viewing today and my god it did not go how I expected! It was a friend of my instructor who had given them a good description of my riding and they thought they had one great match and one good match.

The one they thought would be a great match is a 16.1/2 warmblood Chesnut mare! If I’d created a list of what I wasn’t looking for at the beginning she’d tick all the boxes!!!

im only 5”3, I have no business on a 16.2, I was looking for a big pony really!

but as you would expect she was wonderful! As soon as I sat on her in the school I just felt safe, the right balance between responsive but not sharpe or too forward! Great out on a solo hack, we went past a lot of horses (who ran with us), grouse popping out and a flapping deflated balloon and no reaction!

But she’s a 16.1/2 warmblood!!

She sounds amazing - apart from her size and breed were there any downsides? What is it they say - a good horse is never a bad colour/breed/size!

I might have put a deposit down on the one I went to view. He was absolutely perfectly well behaved, green in the school but responsive off the leg. We went out on a hack and he had so many opportunities to spook and every time I tensed up and he did…nothing. Absolutely nothing. We went past all sorts of noisy people cutting grass, rattling bins, cyclists, a forklift moving things behind a fence. There was quite a lot of traffic passing us from both directions and we went into a field too where he was good as gold, so I feel like we covered off everything and I couldn’t fault him.