Riding School Progress

We had a situation tonight that has occured on many occasions when one child is moved up a level and another child is then disappointed. I also remember a time years back when a client only ever managed to get to level 3 but her younger sister got to level 5. Its a difficult situation to be in and we don’t want to see kids hurt and we don’t want to hold them back either but we have to consider utmostly their safety. We grade our lessons from Beginner to level 5. There are certain land marks we expect people to achieve in each level and then we have to decide if the client would be safe and not detrimental to the horse in the next level. I think most people can learn the basics of riding but what determines how fast they move levels depends on how often they ride and their level of confidence . For example a beginner who is confident and therefore relaxed can get on with learning to trot but a beginner who is nervous and tense won’t find it so easy and the pony may sense the riders nervousness and then become more difficult for them. I often have parents of beginners and level 1’s who say that their child doesn’t like a particular horse because they cant get it to go but I know the horse will go for someone more confident. After all if it didn’t go for anyone I would sell it. Nervousness on a slow pony will possibly result in the pony not going anywhere but that is preferable to nervousness on a forward pony as that will result in the pony reacting to the tension by running away or misbehaving due to stress. A child who may ride well in the arena may fall apart in the field or jumping so putting them in a level where they are more likely to be doing these things will have a negative effect on their riding and the horse because they will become more nervous. Another aspect to consider is that the parent or client judges the horse on the lesson they ride or see it in maybe once a week but we see all the horses and ponies in many lessons ridden by a variety of levels and we see how each rider can cause the horse to react in a different ways. People have different reasons for wanting to ride but the most important thing is to ride for enjoyment.  If you ride once a fortnight or less often then progress will be extremely slow but does it matter if you enjoy riding. Most people want to progress but each person is different so ride for yourself and don’t compare yourself to others. I have three daughters, all of them have had the opportunity to ride and they have all competed successfully. Amelia has made the most progress she competes regularly jumps 1m20 and would ride and jump almost anything.  Martha rides occasionally only on horses she trusts although does have a nice seat but is not as confident as Amelia. Jen has been out of riding for a few years and is also not as confident although working back on the yard around the horses has improved jen’s confidence and she has been riding a lot more. What I’m saying is that all of them have had the same opportunities, all of them can ride but the difference between them is there because of their level of confidence. Horses by nature are fairly nervous animals,  over the years some become used to allsorts in riding schools and are fairly laid back but some horses never cope with the less experienced rider. Horses live in a herd with a pecking order and therefore are generally used to having horses more dominant over them. As a rider you have to be more dominant than the horse you are riding or looking after to achieve anything from it. This does not mean bullying the horse but by being firm and confident. If the horses senses that you are not the more dominant of the partnership it will  take control and become difficult or frightened. There was an incident years ago with a girl that owned Fred, she was a little nervous of him and he picked up on this, first she couldn’t catch him in the stable then it got to the point where he would put his bum towards the door as soon as she opened it and if she tried to go in he would lash out at her. He did this to me once I was furious I threw a brush at him he shot across the stable I marched in caught hold of him and shouted at him, he never did it again. Although Leo I would say was the dominant one in his herd and he is not happy to lay that title down without a fight therefore he is less predictable but we have had many years of experience and we know this. Often the most difficult decision is when to put a child on a horse that is less predictable because we know if it goes wrong it will probably result in a faster fall and from our point of view we want to see people progress, we want people to enjoy their lessons but we also want people to be safe as possible. Ways that you can improve your confidence – learn more about horses and how they live and react and what their natural instincts are, spend more time around them generally (if you are old enough) learning to look after them by mucking out, grooming etc. Join the Pony Club and attend stable management lessons and keep riding as much as you can.

Posted on Friday, July 10th, 2009 at 1:48 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.