New member..definitely mature.

[tiggersmum]

Hi. I have just joined this forum and I am 53, 54 next week.
I have always loved horses and have decided if I don't learn to ride now, I never will.:)
I am looking forward to being stiff, laughed at by supple tots and teenagers and smelling like a stable:D
My OH doen't know what is going to hit him!
I already have a pair of jodphurs in preparation for my first gallop into the sunset but feel a bit of a fraud putting them on.
Hope you all don't mind answering silly questions.

[Bay Mare]

Hi and welcome :D

Good on you :) You have to let us know how you're going on though, that's one of the rules ... with photos if you can ;)

x

[PurpleUnicorn]

Hi Tiggersmum, and welcome! We're very good at answering silly questions, and if you want silly in general "Mature Riders" is the place to be!

Most of us on here started riding later in life, or returned to it after a long break, so we all know how you feel! When's your first lesson? And posting on here to give us the details is obligatory- we look forward to hearing all about it, and the aches, pains, muscles you've forgotten about and some you didn't know you had....:D

[NicP]

Hello and welcome! I hope you have stocked up on the radox but bet you love it as soon as you start!!

[ANN H]

Hello and welcome (I'm hurtling towards the big 50 in six months time, so not far behind). You'll probably be as stiff as a board the first few times but you'll love it! Keep us posted.

[ANN H]

Hello and welcome (I'm hurtling towards the big 50 in six months time, so not far behind). You'll probably be as stiff as a board the first few times but you'll love it! Keep us posted.

[OldandNew]

Hallo and welcome Tiggersmum! I know how you feel - I'm 60 and only started a few months ago, having longed to learn all my life. I had "John Wayne" syndrome for about 3 days after my first lesson :eek: but it does get much better. Please let us know your progress. I am still such a novice but I have found this forum so helpful and supportive. All I can say is that riding has brought such happiness into my life - good luck and enjoy! :D

[Gill]

Hello and welcome from another older rider. Don't worry about age we are all the same here, old or young all love horses.

[clarabella_78]

Hello and welcome (I'm hurtling towards the big 50 in six months time, so not far behind). You'll probably be as stiff as a board the first few times but you'll love it! Keep us posted.

...Ann H, just have to say I love your signature. How true :p

[clarabella_78]

..anways, welcome to you! There is no such thing as a silly question, this place is full of good advice and a good slap when you need it :rolleyes:

[coyote]

WELCOME TO N/R!!!!:D:D

[tiggersmum]

Thanks everyone.
I am still looking for a riding school with a very patient instructor who won't shout too much.
I live near Langholm in the Scottish Borders and would be happy to receive any recommendations from other members.

[wanabe]

Welcome! I started when I was 56 for exactly the same reason as you -- it's now or never!

I think the stiffness (of the lower back) is a major problem. Get yourself videotaped early and often.

[cwb]

http://www.octarine-services.co.uk/th_horse.gif

Hiya, I am 59 but used to ride years ago - it is great fun learning all over again.

No need to feel a fraud - you wouldn't go ice skating without skates - so wearing jods is just right, then you will want boots, chaps, hat, etc., etc. :D

[poohsmate]

hi and welcome to NR, at 54 your just a youngster:D:D

[JustJas]

Welcome to NR!
Look forward to reading about your progress!

[LindaAd]

Hi, tiggersmum, and welcome ....

It's great that you've decided to start riding, I'm sure you'll enjoy it.


I'm convinced that age only really matters if you think it does. In my lesson today there were three of us: me, someone about twenty years younger than me, and a girl about twenty years younger than her ... And I wasn't the only one who forgot the dressage test half way round.


I've never found videotaping much help with stiffness, though :rolleyes: the best thing is to ride as often as you possibly can ... <grin>

Sorry, I can't help with a school, I couldn't be much further away. I hope you find somewhere good soon. Have you checked the riding school list on here?

[fairlady]

Hi and welcome to NR.

Oh not only will you get hooked on the riding you will get hooked on this board as well.

Can't help you with a school I am afraid but I am sure someone on here will be able to recommend somewhere.

Keep us posted, start limbering up now:)

[elaine@dow-evan]

Welcome - like you I started late and have only been learning since the end of May...
good luck with finding a RS and keep us posted! We do like to hear how everyone else is getting on.

[laura jeanne]

Welcome to NR. That's just about the age I started (57 now). I am fairly obsessed with horses now and even though I don't own one, they are a big part of my life and I plan my week around my lessons and now I am starting to volunteer at the RDA riding school so that adds another day or so!

The nice part is that along with riding, just being at the barn and around the horse is such a nice part of my week. I just never thought before (stupidly) about the personality of each horse. Getting to know the horses I have ridden in lessons has taught me a lot and given me tons of enjoyment. When you find that special spot the horse likes to have scratched, when you take him out to eat some grass after lessons and things like that, it adds a lot to the whole experience.

Okay, not to mention all the cool clothes to ride in and the fun of going to the tack store and buying things like brushes, treats, etc. heh heh

[cecilyhill]

Hi,

Another oldie here as well.

I am 56 going on 16 LOL.:)

Enjoy.

[Gill]

You are lucky being in the Borders, fab countryside.
A good instructor will not shout but will somehow make you do things you never thought were possible.
Have fun!

[muddyjods]

Welcome and good luck!

I found copious amounts of homeopathic arnica tablets seemed to ease the pain a bit after the early lessons (even though i really don't believe in homeopathy, really :rolleyes:)

[hoofhearted]

Welcome Tiggersmum:)

[Skib]

You are very welcome. Learning late to make the dream come true is normal here. So no pessimism please.
It is perfectly possible to ride well without a perfect body - riding may improve ones back but it might not. Nothing repairs the ravages of age. we ride with the bodies we have got as my teacher wisely says.
And it shouldnt hurt at all. Provided you space the first lessons and dont overdo it.
If riding does indeed hurt, you might need to consider whether a different saddle or horse shape might suit you better. And put less stress on your body. Riding is for your pleasure after all.
And our experience like Linda's is that regardless of age, you dont need to suffer for it.

[RustyMary]

You can also look forward to the indescribable pleasure of feeding a horse a carrot, the smell of sun-warmed horse-neck - the best smell in the world, listening to White Horses on your iPod and covering your work diary with horsey stickers :o

It's never too late to be a teenager! (aged 45)

[tiggersmum]

Thanks again everyone. I have emailed a couple of riding schools near to me but had no reply yet. Silly really, but somehow it seems easier to ask if I'm too old for their school :rolleyes: online than by telephone.
If I haven't heard anything back by the end of the weekend its the telephone :o

I've started slowing down in the car every time I pass horses or ponies in fields again.....lol... I remember how I used to yell at my Dad to stop every time we saw a horse and how I drove my parents mad wanting to get on the donkeys and ponies on the beach.
Its all coming back :D
I had the I-Spy Horses book and tried desperately to fill in every page.
And I read every book about horses I could. All the Silver Brumby books.
The first book I read in my life was "My Friend Flicka" when I was 8. Cried my eyes out and told my Mum I was never readind books again because they were too upsetting.
I remember spending my pocket money buying "Pony" magazine.

I think my second childhood has arrived.:eek:

[Afellpony]

Welcone Tigger's mum. I'm 56 and have ridden nearly all my life - and I'm still trotting along (just)!!!! Hope you'll enjoy joining in with the friendly chat here.
I remember Pony magazine. It cost me all my pocket money (it was, I believe 1/6 (about 8 or 9p in present day money).

[magicalmac]

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u7/magicalmac2007/howdy.gif

Tigger's mum and welcome to NR. Another oldie here [51] Im fortunate to have been riding most of my life and still have to look at all the horses I pass on journeys-I dont think Ill ever stop, dont think Id want to. Hope you get lots of pleasure from your new hobby and look forward to hearing all about it.

[blues mum]

hi, welcome and watch out, this site is addictive !!

[Skib]

somehow it seems easier to ask if I'm too old for their school online than by telephone.

I simply cant understand anyone asking this? Or even thinking of it!!!
What makes you think there might be an age limit? Or that an age limit might be legal? My RI once taught someone over 70 to ride a horse and he got as far as jumping. When I posted about "our" experience, I meant me and my husband who started 5 months ago aged 67.

The schools need to know a bit about you (height weight age etc) to fit you to the right horse or pony. They also need to know any physical impairments, medical conditions. But if you decide to ride, that is up to you.

The only bar any school has is weight limits. And those are ever with us. If it is your weight that is the problem, yes, phone and ask the weight limits. You don't need to by sylph-like to ride, but weight is a health problem, and shouldnt be confused with trepidation about getting on a horse. If you are over the limits, you may want to deal with that first and separately. At our school the limit is 12 stone. Some schools go up to 14 stone.

I am one of those older persons on New Rider who suffered from being bullied in riding lessons. Learning anything new as an adult does make us vulnerable and learning to ride (a risk sport) makes us vulnerable in more ways than one. It really worries me that you are nervous of talking to the schools, or visiting to watch some teaching, BEFORE you have even started.
You seem nervous you will be told you cant ride. But I promise you that the schools need our money. No one is going to get turned away.
Don't regard it as a rebuff if you hear nothing by e-mail. People who flourish with horses cant always master computers. Neither of the places I ride at uses a computer booking system. The large school that has a website, I don't think I have ever seen anyone in the office log on.

Please go to the schools in person and have a look round. I didn't ring first. I just drop in at schools. Meet the teachers and if possible watch them teach. Make a wise mature choice of the school where you would like to start lessons - and don't forget that you can always change schools - and return to schools you have left.
Learning to ride is not like enrolling for an evening class. You may be lucky but there is often massive staff turnover, little continuity and if you want to learn to ride you may have to work out much of it for yourself or with the help of folk on New Rider. There is only one rule about learning to ride and that is not to give up. Give it time. Like at least 5 years?

[Lu n BB]

Hiya, and welcome...

I have to admit when I returned to riding - I had been accompanying my daughter to her lessons for several years but didnt have the courage to ask if I could go really from the start for myself. I was at that point over 40 myself.

When I finally did pluck up the courage in passing while my daughter was on her lesson, as Skib said, they menitoned nothing about my age, but did ask about my weight and health.

I havent looked back, we have since bought our own horses - and we have livery on the riding school yard. I watch the lessons each evening when I am up seeing my horse and there are more and more adults and mature people riding in these lessons (the riding school conducts lessons until 9pm during the week). Weekends are mainly children but not exclusively. My daughters riding instructor has recently taken on a new client at the ripe age of 62.

Please pluck up the courage, look around and watch, I think you may be surprised. You wont regret it!!

:D:D:D

Good luck - let us know how you get on.

[elaine@dow-evan]

I'd echo everything Skib said...riding schools are like any other business - if people dont go to them and buy their services they will go out of business. I bet you have never been asked how old you were whenever you have bought anything else - unless you look so young you can't buy alcohol or sharp knives!! So, stop thinking you are too old to do something and get out there and enjoy it. If you think you are too old for something, you will loose a lot of enjoyment in life.

My "thing" when I started was my weight - I am a little heavier than I would like to be (but not so heavy that I can't buy "normal" jodhs from a tack shop rather than Fuller Fillies ones by mail order - I have heard they are excellent though) I still weigh the same as I did when I started riding at the end of May this year, but I now go to the gym 3 times a week and now that my sprained ankle is almost recovered walk more too. None of the last two are for any other reason than it is fairer on the horse to carry someone who is fit and balanced - so when I am hot and sweaty at the gym I think about riding...same when I am walking anywhere! I also think that some people carry their weight better than others, and you cant judge that over the phone. And the limit at my school is 16 stone.

So, being the age you are isn't too old at all, and the only reason you may be unable to ride may be your weight. Do as Skib suggests and visit a few schools, watch a few lessons, talk to the instructors, see that riders are normal people of all ages and shapes and that horses come in all sizes and shapes...book your first lesson and let us know how you get on with it!

Good luck.

[tiggersmum]

OK OK :D I am not going to be a wimp.

I phoned first riding school on list and they have no ansaphone, just a message saying you can't leave a message :(
Phoned second riding school and told they don't do lessons any more.
Going to keep at it .

My weight used to be a problem but, I have lost nearly 7 stone and still losing. So, at the moment I am 11 1/2 ish which I am really chuffed about.

Back to the phone :D

[Nazdaq]

ooooh well done on the weightloss, keep phoning, you shouldn't have a problem with your weight at all, limits go from 12 stone (for stingy schools!) to 16 stone. The place I ride at has a limit of 12 stone, and thats what I was when I started there. I have wavered since then (am now back down at 12 stone) but I went right up to 12.5 stone and no-one said a thing and I could still ride there, so once you get your foot in the door it should be fine. I too have been bullied in lessons, and there is no-where else for me to ride, so I am lesson-less at the moment. I wanted to say when you do find a place, if anything happens that you don't like don't hesitate to leave and find somewhere else, after all the customer is always right. :D

[tiggersmum]

I did it :)
Spoke to a very nice man who listened to what I wanted from riding and was very supportive.
So I am going to book a lesson for when we are back off hols week after next.:D

[Nazdaq]

ooooh yaaay well done! I look forward to hearing all about the wonderful lesson you had. :D

[Tiggy02]

Another older rider here not 50 yet though but have dodgy hips so feel older most of the time - have not really ridden much in the last couple of years as our Welsh cob has been produced for the show ring just the occassional hack but she is now coming back to live with us and I will be able to hack at least 3 times a week as going to pay my daughter to work in my office 2 days a week till 11am so that I can ride and spend a bit of time with the girls and boy no doubt stiffness and pain will be a feature for a few weeks

[em23]

Hi. I started late too and am now mid 50s. I've had lots of good advice and help from this site so just ask.
One piece of advice I would give is to get a good body protector and always wear it. ( as well as the hat!) We don't bounce as easily as the youngsters. I've mostly just toppled off because of lack of balance, but I've been grateful to my body protector to save some of the bruises. The other disadvantage of the age thing is that the brusies don't go away so fast.
I still keep coming back for more and have just spent a wonderful 10 days in France, riding 5 - 6 hours a day over 300km. I was no more stiff than younger riders, but they are a bit more agile when it comes to picking up the horseball..........

Em

[tiggersmum]

Em....what's a horseball?

I will be looking at a full suit of armour, never mind just a body protector :D:D

I am a bit accident prone and tend to have unusual things happen to me. My employer must despair sometimes when the sick certificates come in.
Who else could be sitting in a stationary car, broad daylight on an open stretch of road and be run into by a Traffic Officer :rolleyes:

I am so excited about my first lesson now! A friend who has not ridden for 30 years is wanting to come with me. And my niece announced that she has always wanted to learn so I have told her I will treat her to her first lesson.

[cazrider]

Well done on the weightloss and welcome to the mad world of the older person taking up riding.;) I took it back up at 40 when I got fed up of watching my daughters enjoying themselves, and here's me 10 years later having a ball with my lovely little horse. You will love it.:D