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Ever since I was a little girl I wanted to own a horse, take english riding lessons, and comptete. Unfortunately, that was never a possibility due to my parent’s financial situation. I still can’t afford my own horse, but now I’m an adult and I have a chance to take English riding lessons. Yeah, it’s kind of late in the game, but I also believe it’s never too late to try something new. I’m so excited! Now I have to buy the appropriate wears. So, I have an emerald peacock-ish GB mini keeper for sale in the classifieds if anyone is interested. I need to raise some funds for my new venture!
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!
*Formerly meowmix101
Not currently open for PYO commissions.It’s never too late to ride! Enjoy 🙂
Read my books! Volume 1 and 2 of A Dragon Medley are available now.
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http://www.sarahjestin.com/feedbacklists.htmCongratulations! 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! 🙂
Thanks everyone and thanks for the PM litteironhorse. 😉 You’re right. I started looking around for some apparel a few days ago and oh my, you can’t buy much of anything for under $40. ?
I’ve taken a few lessons now and I must say, it’s not at all easy for someone in their late 20’s to start riding haven never ridden before…ever! I’ve taken 4 one hour lessons so far and I’m having a hard time as expected. My trainer is cool but somewhat impatient because I’m not learning as quickly as she wants me too. I know it’s hard for someone who’s been riding their whole life not to understand the struggles for an adult newbie rider. However, I’m determined to learn this and I don’t give up easily. Since there’s a few members here that own and ride ponies/horses, I was curious what advice you guys might offer aside from watching youtube vids and reading books. I’m already doing that but there’s contradicting info.
I’m having trouble with:
Keeping my lower legs in place (even in two point). I start out right and as soon as the horse trots they come forward and I loose the stirrups. I’m told not to grip with any part of the leg so not sure how to keep them in place.
I’m having a hard time with two-point. Seems simple enough and yet I can’t not use the stirrups to stand and I tend to “fall” forward. My legs come forward as well pushing on the stirrups even though my heels are down. I don’t understand driving your weight down into your heels. How does your feet not slip out backwards when you do that and how is that not standing in the stirrups?
I’m generally having a hard time with proper seat position too. I feel like I’m sitting on my seat bones, but then she says I’m not sitting right.
It’s been a looong time since I’ve riden, but maybe these suggestions will help… 🙂
Try this exercise to get the ‘feel’ of what they mean when you put weight in your heels – this will also strengthen and stretch your calf muscles, which you may need.
These are Leg raises, and you can do them by standing facing a wall (you can hold the wall for support if needed), and raising up on your toes, holding for 10-12 seconds and gently coming back down in a controlled manner.
To make the exercise harder and to get the feeling of how your heels should be down, stand on a stair with your toes at the end (at the balls of your feet) and use your calves to raise up; then relax your calf and the back of your foot/heel should go down a little past the stair – make sure you hold onto a rail for support. Don’t force it. You should feel light stretching on your calf. IF you have any pain – stop.
You should also stretch before and after exercises – you don’t want to pull anything.
I had always been told to grip with my lower legs – mainly I believe you want to squeeze gently. When I started learning (and bouncing) in my seat, I found that leaning my body back from the waist up would straighten my back to sit up straighter and keep my seat – you think you leaning back more than you actually are, and most newbies are leaning forward when they think they’re not.
When Posting you are also using thigh muscles as well as leg to get you up and out of the seat. Just make sure your foot isn’t ‘flat’ in the stirrups or your toes pointed down, which would naturally bring your heels up and cause you to loose the stirrups. Concentrate on heels down, toes up.Good luck and most importantly have fun! 🙂
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*** Come visit me on deviantArt at http://ela-hara.deviantart.comHey 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.
IN SEARCH OF MY NEXT GRAILS:
Black Peacock & Butternut Adult Poads
Kickstarter 'Rainbow Tiger' Bantam Dragon*~*~*~* Ela_Hara: The DragonKeeper *~*~*~*
*** Come visit me on deviantArt at http://ela-hara.deviantart.comThanks Ela_Hara. 🙂 Every little bit of advice will help. I can’t help but think how comical it must be for someone watching me flail around. I feel so bad for that little pony.
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!Looking for:
"COSMIC SHIFT DRAGONS and KI-RINS" and the "OCTOPUS TANUKI TEST PAINT #1"It does sound like you need to strengthen your leg muscles. Ela’s suggestion is great, and I know there are exercises you can do on the horse to help develop those muscles too.
If the coach is losing patience with you, change coaches. A beginner is a beginner, no matter what the age. If you’re not going fast enough for her, then she may not be the right teacher for you. You need to go to your pace, get your body used to the horse, your brain used to working your body differently, etc., and that takes time! You shouldn’t have to push yourself too fast just to conform to a schedule.
Read my books! Volume 1 and 2 of A Dragon Medley are available now.
http://www.sarahjestin.com/mybooks.htm
I host the feedback lists, which are maintained by drag0nfeathers.
http://www.sarahjestin.com/feedbacklists.htmAbsolutely 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!
This probably belongs in the “whine is served” thread but it’s also somewhat relevant to this one.
My trainer offered me a chance to go with them to a 5 day state horse show with all expenses paid. Naturally, I was so excited. I had never been to a horse show before and, to me, it was a golden opportunity. Then, I remembered I have a elderly dog who’s sickly (heart failure and part blind) and needs to go out frequently and needs her meds twice a day. I can’t take her with and I can’t board her in a kennel due to the fear of her getting too stressed and sick since her immune system is weak. She still has a lot of pep and play despite her health issues and she doesn’t act like she’s in pain so I can’t just “put her down” like uncaring others suggest. My dad could have watched her, yet she would be alone for 12-13 hours a day until he could check her. That’s a long time, even for a healthy dog. Nobody else was available to watch her. She gets really depressed when I’m gone for too long and I’d be gone for 5 days! She’s like my baby and she’s gotten me passed some difficult times. So, I decided not to go to the horse show because I care about her too much to leave her. I’d hate to find out she passed away because I left. Of course, now I’m afraid I’ll never get another golden opportunity like this one. With me, it seems every time, EVERY TIME, I get these opportunities there’s something keeping me anchored and I have to pass on them with much grief and regret. I feel I made the right decision but I’m still depressed about it. The “what if” gets me every time. Curious. What would you guys have done in my shoes?
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.
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*** Come visit me on deviantArt at http://ela-hara.deviantart.comThanks Ela_Hara. I feel I did the right thing. She means a lot to me. She’s my first fur baby…my 13 year old baby and a very old woman in dog years. Only pet owners will understand how this is a difficult decision, especially those who also have an elderly/sickly dog. It seems a lot of members have lost their pets recently. My heart goes out to them because I will be in the same boat at some point.
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