Beginners - Thank god!
Published by Cari Zancanelli under beginning riding, horse back riding, horsemanship on 4:33 PM
This week some friends came up, two teenage girls and a mom. They wanted to ride the horses which I enthusiastically encouraged. One girl thought she could handle anything and had ridden before, the other one had never been around horses but had an interest (not the 'horse crazy' variety), and the mom loves horses but hadn't ridden since she was a girl.
My initial feeling was that the situation could turn bad with the two girls pretty quickly, so I was maintaining heavy control from the start. I had confidence in my horses, Snickers and Angel, as I had been schooling them fairly regularly and had plenty of notice that everyone was coming to ride.
Here is how things turned out:
Fearless teen rode first on Snickers. She was a good rider though not particularly knowledgeable. She was confident, though, made even more so by the presence of the other girl who was very shy. After a bit of instruction she was off and running, confidently riding out his giant trot across the pasture. I put the other girl on Angel with a lunge line. She was not too sure of all this but after about 20 minutes she agreed to try walking around off the lunge line. It went well until I sent her towards the fence. When she got to the fence and turned around, Angel started trotting for home. I was able to talk her down and got her to stop Angel before things got dangerous but it scared her. She wasn't really enjoying it much.
Then I put the mom on Angel and she did really well, but Angel was nervous and too quick. I could tell that she was somewhat confused by the beginners and didn't feel comfortable. With some instruction the mom was able to have a good ride on her and did a really good job of listening to me and doing what I said. Whew! Since the second girl wasn't feeling confident I didn't have to worry about the two girls galloping across the pasture and getting dumped somewhere while I yell "slow down" to no avail...
All of this reminded me of a few things. One, that riding takes skill, actually skillS. There are so many things you must do at once to make it appear smooth, regular and in control. Even more skills to do the turns, shoulder-ins, etc. Plus our pasture is dotted with small trees, about knee-high making riding a challenge at times. And ditches, yes, lots of small ditches and long grass, and POOP. I suddenly realized that although I enjoy riding Angel and Snickers, it actually takes a lot of riding to get them to do what I want. I am always comparing them to last week, last month, last year. They keep improving but not enough for a beginner to feel comfortable on.
In my mind, since Angel isn't rearing straight up and Snickers isn't turning back to the barn every other stride (I am NOT exaggerating!) that they are REALLY GOOD. So this weekend was a wake-up call for me and for them too. I think my horses appreciate me more now... I hope.
The other thing I realized is that I am better than I think sometimes. It's easy to get down on yourself, especially if you don't compete. I have no way of knowing how far I've come since I can't take lessons right now. I can't afford to compete, either, and these two facts tend to lead me to believe that I am not very good. Or that I am becoming a bad rider...with bad habits. This weekend I learned that I make two very green horses look good and that's not easy to do. Although I would like my horses to be able to be ridden by anyone, I realize that it takes time for them to feel confident in themselves so that can happen.
To everyone who has ridden for a long time, pat yourself on the back. You are probably far better than you realize!
My initial feeling was that the situation could turn bad with the two girls pretty quickly, so I was maintaining heavy control from the start. I had confidence in my horses, Snickers and Angel, as I had been schooling them fairly regularly and had plenty of notice that everyone was coming to ride.
Here is how things turned out:
Fearless teen rode first on Snickers. She was a good rider though not particularly knowledgeable. She was confident, though, made even more so by the presence of the other girl who was very shy. After a bit of instruction she was off and running, confidently riding out his giant trot across the pasture. I put the other girl on Angel with a lunge line. She was not too sure of all this but after about 20 minutes she agreed to try walking around off the lunge line. It went well until I sent her towards the fence. When she got to the fence and turned around, Angel started trotting for home. I was able to talk her down and got her to stop Angel before things got dangerous but it scared her. She wasn't really enjoying it much.
Then I put the mom on Angel and she did really well, but Angel was nervous and too quick. I could tell that she was somewhat confused by the beginners and didn't feel comfortable. With some instruction the mom was able to have a good ride on her and did a really good job of listening to me and doing what I said. Whew! Since the second girl wasn't feeling confident I didn't have to worry about the two girls galloping across the pasture and getting dumped somewhere while I yell "slow down" to no avail...
All of this reminded me of a few things. One, that riding takes skill, actually skillS. There are so many things you must do at once to make it appear smooth, regular and in control. Even more skills to do the turns, shoulder-ins, etc. Plus our pasture is dotted with small trees, about knee-high making riding a challenge at times. And ditches, yes, lots of small ditches and long grass, and POOP. I suddenly realized that although I enjoy riding Angel and Snickers, it actually takes a lot of riding to get them to do what I want. I am always comparing them to last week, last month, last year. They keep improving but not enough for a beginner to feel comfortable on.
In my mind, since Angel isn't rearing straight up and Snickers isn't turning back to the barn every other stride (I am NOT exaggerating!) that they are REALLY GOOD. So this weekend was a wake-up call for me and for them too. I think my horses appreciate me more now... I hope.
The other thing I realized is that I am better than I think sometimes. It's easy to get down on yourself, especially if you don't compete. I have no way of knowing how far I've come since I can't take lessons right now. I can't afford to compete, either, and these two facts tend to lead me to believe that I am not very good. Or that I am becoming a bad rider...with bad habits. This weekend I learned that I make two very green horses look good and that's not easy to do. Although I would like my horses to be able to be ridden by anyone, I realize that it takes time for them to feel confident in themselves so that can happen.
To everyone who has ridden for a long time, pat yourself on the back. You are probably far better than you realize!
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