Do you Feel Like Not a Real Rider?

[wanabe]

Because you don't know anything about collection, outlines, etc?

My RI hasn't taught me any of this stuff so far. I'm trotting and cantering regularly but I must look horrible to an experienced rider (?).

[NicP]

I am sure you don't! Any experienced riders know what it is like to start out anyway.

I have been riding years and there is still loads I don't know. Particularly since I bought Cody - I was used to well schooled horses (both in and out of RS) and he is more green than I realised. The first few weeks of owning I felt like a total novice who couldn't ride at all but thankfully it is improving and I am enjoying working with him.

[JustJas]

After many years of lessons I am just a happy hacker! I am not fussed how I look to others...
I could ride a dressage test if I had to but I prefer just to meander the local countryside. As long as I am safe and Jazz is happy (believe me she lets me know when she's not) I will just carry on.

My husband is brilliant on young green horses and has turned round our youngster from being a horror to a sweety. He is not a classsically trained rider (he gets the horse on the bit without realising). He did have a few lessons years ago.

If you can trot and canter you are probably doing more than you think...

[Bay Mare]

A real rider isn't going to look down on you just because you don't have experience of certain things. Everyone has to start somewhere. I didn't have a clue about an outline when I started out (sometimes think that I still don't!).

All of us are still learning. If riding were that easy we'd get bored and do something else.

All the best with your riding, you obviously are interested in learning more and that's what counts at the end of the day x

[wanabe]

Well, I didn't mean this to be looking for sympathy. I was just wondering what other riders on here don't know about such things and yet ride regularly.

[RustyMary]

What exactly is a real rider? It's been my life-long dream to be able to ride a horse, and after a year or so of lessons, yes, I can say I can ride a horse - as far as a non-rider could judge, like when I used to gaze longingly at people out on a hack on the fields opposite our house. 'Riding a horse' is a non-rider goal, because since I started to learn all I've discovered is how much I don't know, and how much I've still got to learn, and that process is going to go on as long as my joints will stand it I guess (hopefully decades yet!). So I don't feel too worried about knowing nothing about collection and outlines etc yet - I assume we'll get to that in due course, and at the moment trotting poles are SUCH fun!!

[popdog]

As long as you are riding quietly and the horse you are riding is comfortable, that is all there is to it.

I feel that there is far too much emphasis on outline, collection etc, etc. I learned to ride as a child and could make any pony do my bidding, I came back to riding as an adult and felt like a total incompetent.

If the horse you ride is happy, I reckon you’re a rider :p

[Mehitabel]

anyone who sits on a horse and makes an effort to learn, and to make their horse comfortable, is a real rider in my book - from the first lesson. it's got nothign to do with where you are on the journey, it's the fact of being on it.

[EquusRider91]

There's so many aspects to riding that I'm not sure how to respond. I mean, there's the tiny bit about loving a horse that creates a rider (oh you know, maybe just a tad?), that simple, yet inexplicable connection, I guess. And then there's the nit-picky stuff, the details, and the sports part of it. Then there's actually having the ability to be an Olympian or whatever.

I mean... I believe myself to be a "real rider" in heart. I love horses, and love riding. It's something that's so natural for me, and something that's been engraved into my dna code or something.

I consider myself a "getting there rider" when it comes to the second aspect. I know my stuff fairly well when it comes to collection and outline, etc. and I work hard because I consider riders to be athletes, not just horse-lovers. But, I'm not perfect and I don't have a whole lot of experience. I remember when I was first learning about outlines and such, and for a while I felt so stupid and lost. And like, wow.. I guess I didn't know as much as I thought I did. But I liked knowing that there was something more to learn than just jumping higher.

The third one, is a "nada". I don't have the time or the commitment(as much as I love horses, I could not devote my entire life to them as high-level riding would require). Nor do I think that I have the ability to. My body wouldn't allow, nor my wallet. :)

[Skyhuntress]

I always find it interesting that so many people get hung up on what they consider "correct" riding (and I've admitedly done it too!) but what people always have to remember is that disciplines evolved because of the need to utilize horses for different things in life. A dressage horse cannot be compared to a western pleasure horse. Or a reiner cannot be compared to a hunter jumper. They travel in different ways, they carry themselves in different ways, they are built differently. So as a rider of a specific discipline, you will be taught the best ways to ride within your discipline. That doesn't necessarily mean having the horse go on the bit. It means working with the horse to find what he is best at and being an intuitive and feeling rider

[Skib]

You'll read a lot of vocabulary on NR and in some books. But don't mistake language for reality.
If you want to be a real rider and believe that entails collection and outline, it might be good first to ask yourself what those words mean?
And to consider that they are not the end in themselves but could be just the means to an end, of helping a horse support a rider well and to prolong its working life by developing the muscles to support its back?
Over there in the US, not all ways of riding will employ the same language (or even the same rein contact) as over here?
We don't "do" collection and outline with my RI. If that is any comfort to you. But I cant think of anyone I know who takes more care that her horses should be ridden in a manner that is good for them?
We students learn how to adjust contact, and regulate the energy of the horse and the length of its strides. I guess we use the word contact a lot when I learn. I've been taught that the rein length controls the frame in which the horse will move. But it is not a word that comes up in many lessons. Just something one knows.

I have never learned outline -we might think of the horse going softly on the bit? But position of both horse and rider is the outcome of good riding? You ride as well as you can and the horse finds its own position?

The not needing specialist language to ride a horse well, applies particularly to us riding RS horses already trained to carry a rider properly. The scene is quite different for many folk on NR who have a horse of their own and are desperately trying to get the horse to carry itself as it should, needing reassurance all the time that what they are doing with their own horse and the way they are riding is right.

[Teehee]

In my case, if I really sit down and think about it... The less I knew, the better rider I thought I was!!! When I was younger, I'd get on any horse, ride bareback with no care in the world.

With time I've learnt a lot, and sometimes I doubt my own capacities... since I know there are so many things to learn, and I haven't had the chance... I think it's called the "What If Syndrome" !!! :D

[Bobbi's_mum]

I have no idea how to ride in an outline etc, but i dont need to know, i just go out hacking with my plod so all i need to know is how to stay on:D

[mirror]

I have no idea how to ride in an outline etc, :D
I dont even know what this means!! lol:rolleyes:

[wanabe]

Well good! I'm glad I'm not the only one! (Although I have some idea of what the terms mean.)

skib - I never asked you. Were you a professional writer of some sort when you were younger? You certainly have a way with words. :)

[fairlady]

I guess I would look on being a 'good rider or horseperson' as hoping to achieve a certain goal with your horse, from walking down the lane in-hand to competing at top level, and achieving it.

If your goal is to hack round the block on your own, and you achieve this with both you and your horse being happy and enjoying it fantastic, you have reached 'your goal' as 'a rider'. However if you have problems and need to seek help and advice to help you achieve it you are not any less of a 'good rider', and I would guess that goes up thro' all the levels.

As long as both you and your horse are enjoying life together, are fit and healthy, and are achieving by hook or crook what you are doing, seeking help and advice with any problems, thats what makes you a rider and horseperson.

[laura jeanne]

anyone who sits on a horse and makes an effort to learn, and to make their horse comfortable, is a real rider in my book - from the first lesson. it's got nothign to do with where you are on the journey, it's the fact of being on it.

That's a beautiful answer Mehitabel.

[carrimclaren]

As a friend always says to me - everyone always has something to learn about horse riding no matter what level you are at. The crime is not wanting to learn or believing that you know everything already. Def very true and i try to stick to that.
I know a very small amount when it comes to riding and horses but i feel no shame in admitting this because if you don't ask then how the hell are you ever going to learn anything? Just because someone tells you how you should be doing something it doesn't mean it's always right or that it's suited to you or your horse. You can but try and if it doesn't work out then just don't do it. I like to think that horses have made me into a better person because they've made me want to learn, want to persevere and want to be as good as i can be. It's also taught me that i'm not a quitter and that with hard work and some confidence i can do things (like sit my horses bucks).
I might not be the quickest off the mark when it comes to picking up things or how to do them but i'll work hard to try and understand and it usually works in the end.