English Riding Lessons

That’s awesome! Learning to ride is so much fun no matter what age, not to mention learning to work with the horses and how to care for them. You’re gonna love it!

Congratulations! Age doesn’t count when making a dream come true!

If I may make a suggestions: riding apparel is really expensive so I suggest you look into buying used, except for the helmet though that should definitely be new!

PMing you! 🙂

Hey again – I had said ‘Leg’ raises, actually this exercise is called ‘Heel Raises’ and here’s a link to the exercise I was referring to… This one is the harder version demonstrated on a chair rung to show the affect, but is done on a stair as I described in my previous post: http://www.wikihow.com/Perform-a-Heel-Raise

For the easier version, just stand in front of a wall or behind a chair and raise up and lower down.

Another thought I had is to check that you don’t have your stirrups adjusted too long, like in Western style. Your knees should be bent when your feet are in the stirrups, but not a drastic bend, just enough to naturally hold your foot with your heel slightly down.

I’ve ridden, trained horses and taught people how to ride my entire life. (44 years) But I have never done much english riding. The few times I tried it, I found it to be very uncomfortable and seemed to spend so much time trying concentrate on everything except how the animal is actual reacting to what you are asking of it.
So kudos to you for taking the time to learn something new and I am certain that you will do well.
First, to me, no trainer should be training if they are making you feel as if they are impatient with your progress. Everyone progresses at different rates and making you feel rushed is not going to help you improve. Making certain that you understand what it is that they are asking of you and being willing to go over things until you feel comfortable works best. It may take a bit longer at the beginning but in the long run that will make for a more confident rider.
As for your other issue, It is extremely common for new riders to have leg placement issues. They tend to tense up instead of relax. This is to be expected. The exercises that Ela_Hara mentioned are perfect for helping with that. The other thing I tell my students to do when they have a hard time is to try to keep their toes spread out. If you are doing this it forces you to not clench your toe muscles. As soon as those start to tighten up and curl people start to tighten their lower leg mucsles too and then you start to see them begin to tighten their entire bodies.
English riding is much more controlled than Western but the basics of being relaxed enough to move with the horse and not against it are still the same.
Good Luck!

Absolutely what the others have said!

And also, please do be patient with yourself. It does take a while for your body to figure out what it should be doing and how the “right way” feels. You can’t rush it and it will take many more hours in the saddle before you feel really comfortable. In the meantime: Hey! You are sitting on top of a horse and learning to be more than just a passenger! Isn’t that awesome? 😀

And there is no embarrassment in changing coaches, especially this early in your training, that relationship is so important and should be a positive one if you don’t want to end up dreading your lessons!

PS: A friend of mine used to fall off her horse at every single one of her 10 (or so) first lessons, but she stuck with it and had a very patient coach and now she is a very respected coach in her own right, and she started riding in her early thirties!

I would have stayed with my Fur Baby as well, especially if you couldn’t swing a trusted person to ‘sit’ with her. I’m sure you’ll get another chance to go to a Horse Show, maybe not an all expenses paid perhaps, but I’d hate to hear about a Fur Baby passing or getting worst while I was out of town too.

I think you did the right thing for your situation, and I would have done the same.