new here, hello

[beth66]

Hi everyone-
I have been following this board for a month or so now and decided to jump in- I have got the horse fever and I after reading so many of these threads I know all you do to-
I think it's great how everybody supports each other and how
helpful this board is.
I'll let you in on my story-
I am what you consider a mature rider, at 37, I have been out of the saddle for about 25 years- As a child, from 5years to 12-ish I took lessons, did equitation but never jumped much, and showed some in small local barn shows etc.- I feel very comforatable around horses and had my own as did my sisters.. Enter real life, university, work marriage, divorce and here we are-
I was approached by a man at my work who said his brother, an eventer, had 4 horses and no time to ride( could I help??- YAY! I met the man and the horses and fell in love(not with the man, but the horses :)). He's got 2 TB's off the track, one I ride everyday and is learning to jump with me, the other is PSYCHO!, one quarter horse(loves to canter forever) and a TB that events like a dream, drassage beautifully etc and brings home the blue ribbon . Initially I thought that I may be able to ride once or twice a week but I am hooked. I began this new horse life in April and have ridden almost everyday since. I drive a half hour there everyday after work and virtually live in my car now, changing in the barn, hanging out there until late in the evening then home to shower & sleep. Men in my life, NO! Just horses!!! I feel like I NEED to ride and if I don't I am grouchy(anyone know what I mean??). He is teaching me a totally different way of riding and I am trying my damnest- He wants me to ride his eventers the way he does. I never had dressage, damn those leg yeilds, and after 2 months of riding every day I started to jump - I am up to about 3'6 and loving every minute of it- His horses are so good, they just carry me over(most times:) ) He is training me to sit back when the jump comes instead of leaning forward like in hunter/jumper(what I learned as a child)- He is starting to build jumps &work out a cross country course with water/drops & all sorts of scarey stuff and I need to be able to gallop this course when it is complete EEK, and not fall off. I have fallen off once since April(just kind of gracefully slid off when the horse spooked)(not bad for not being on a horse in 25 years), so i got the "scared of falling" thing out of the way- I have sooo much to learn as all of his horses work on "leg" He's always yelling "more leg, more leg!!"
UGH LEG, mine have been bruised since April, you should see the jumping bruises on my thighs(I know I'm not doing something right!), they are all sorts of colors today-
He says I wouldn't be bruised if I used more leg- UGH MORE LEG!
I just wanted to share my good fortune with all of you and let you know how lucky I feel to have stumbled into such a perfect situation. And how lucky I feel to have such wonderful horses let me learn on them. They put up with my tugging on their mouths, my screwy aids, my inexperience and still carry me over the jumps and listen(most times) to my very weak leg aids.
I have so much to learn but relish that I have the opportunity to-
The guy I ride for took a video of me jumping yesterday, I wish i could figure out how to show you guys- It's sloppy and ugly but
I keep playing it over and over because I can't beleive I am actually doing it!!!!!
I just wanted to say hi and hopefully join this little horsey loving community!!

Be safe everyone:)
Beth

I am going to try to attach my video- it probably won't work because I am a computer dummy but.....

[iWuvHorses]

Hello and welcome to new rider!!!! you have what we all have,a bad case of 'horse addiction'(best addiction ever! ^_^)

Cant help on the 'Leg yeilds'...i dont use them nor know anything about them...(but im sure alot of people here can help.)

Im not what woul be called a 'novice rider' i guess im intermediate...

Looks like you "have it made" dont ya? lucky you.

I have a horse,love him to death!!!(but dont we all love our horses to death? ^_^)hes a 3/yro quarter horse gelding named dusty(hes around 14.2ish hands and a dun)[oh and yeah,if you cant tell already,i ride western..WISH it was english cause i REALLY wanna jump!](hes not registered but gots good bloodlines! his grandpa was the first cutting horse to make the hall of fame(his name was Poko Stampede)(sorry everyone,i know ive said that alot! *brag,Brag*.) :rolleyes:

But his one and ONLY bad thing is he llloooovvvesss to BITE,and i mean BITE when tightining his girth..! quite scary!)

[beth66]

Thanks for the welcome Jen,
Your horse sounds great and good bloodlines too! You HAVE to get into English, jumping is the best thing ever- I like Western a lot too, i feel a lot more balanced in the saddle but I am concentrating on English right now- I have read a bunch about bareback riding & jumping here- I haven't tried any of that yet and I'm excited to see how i do-
I would love my own horse but riding his right now is the best thing- I get all the fun and none of the $$ output. He wants me to treat his horses like my own and boy do I, they are so spoiled-
they get all excited and make all kinds of noise when I come into the barn because i bring grapes and they love them. If they are in the pasture and they see my car and come running-
That's the greatest isn't it:)
As for biting- The psycho TB bit me HARD in the shoulder a last month and the yellow/green/black is finally gone- I was loving him up and cuddling him, he reached around to hug me with his head and just nipped me- I was told it was a "love bite" Yeh, whatever- there were tears in my eyes
YEEE-OW!! Love bite my a**!!!!!!

[rocketman]

Welcome Beth,

Lucky you! Free rides on good horses AND free lessons from a guy who sounds like he really knows what he's doing! You've got it made.

I own a number of horses (jumpers) and pay through the nose to take care of them AND pay two professional riders to ride, train and show them. I don't even have time to ride myself of late and have pretty much lost the inclination to do so for the time being. When I do get on, I'm not bad for an old gal, if I do say so myself.

Grapes?! That's a new one on me. Florida horses like oranges (really, they do!)

[beth66]

Hey Rocket-
Yep, I do think I have it made and I thank my lucky stars all the time but i always worry that i may be wrecking his good horses. He says I am not and I am a "natural" but I still worry about doing a good job for him. It's so much work to get everything to come together(lots of leg, steering, soft hands, frame-up, hands up seat back, back supple ARGGGG!!! so many things!!!!!)- i can't wait until it just comes second nature to me- He promises it will when I get frustrated- I have to remember i have only been riding for a few months and some people ride for years before things all come together.
I guess i'm impatient but when I see really good riders, I want to be just like them NOW!!!!!
Patience is a virtue I am working on with everything else, I'm definately a work in progress!
Oranges huh? I'll give them a try!

[maverick927]

welcome to New rider.

I have a nice 13.3hh chestnut gelding. he is a New forest and is so quiet and has a great jump.

[beth66]

Hi Maverick-
I have already checked out your great site-
The horse I ride the most, Beau, is a 16.3 hands TB and is the perfect fit for me(I'm 5'7 & of medium weight). I hear some folks talk about 17+ hands horses- EEK! I like the looks of some of some of the smaller horses & ponies, especially the mares- They look so dainty & pretty when they are working. The TB Geldings I ride look pretty brute-ish sometimes- maybe it's because I don't have enough !!!LEG!!! to keep them framed up and looking pretty:)
Congrats on having a good jumper, it's so much fun isn't it:)

[kedwards]

Wow Beth, what a dream situation you have! As for impatience, I understand that, but keep in mind how quickly you have already progressed!

I get bruises on my calves anytime I don't wear boots or chaps, but the only time I've gotten thigh bruises was when their was a problem with the stirrup bar digging in too much or the saddle fit me poorly. That's terribly painful even when your riding correctly!

You're probably already doing this, but if not, there's nothing like periods of two-point and stirrupless work every day (in posting trot and jumping) to tighten up your leg. I've been down to riding only about twice a week (primarily in lessons), so I haven't been doing as much of these exercises lately, and boy can I feel a difference when I jump these days. It's amazing how quickly I lost the muscle I'd worked so hard to develop!

Anyway, welcome to the board!

[cecilia liew]

wow, how I envy you. I have been riding for 4 months and I am really addicted to it. Unfortunately it costs a bomb to ride where I am. I have to pay to become a member of a country club to continue riding....

To have daily rides and lessons....what a dream come true.

Anyway, my advice (after 28 lessons) is just to just go out there, relax and have fun. There's always another day and another lesson:) Try to do lots of stretching (yoga helps). Reading magazines and books help as well. Might as well get the theoractical as well as the practical! That way you can visualise what you are doing before actually doing it. That helped me get off the lunge. ( I was on it for about a month)

Best of luck.

[Sue&Tasha Green]

Hi Beth, wow that sound great, i'd love to event but I haven't got that guts. Jumping 3'6 already, I can just about jump a 3' spread.
My horse is on box rest at the moment after she cut her foot really badly on the fence. It's gonna be another 4 weeks or so, I won't even have time to get her fit for college. By the way she is a 16hh chestnut TB mare, she is soo sweet and I can't wait to ride her again.
We have 2 other horses aswell, my moms horse who I am riding at the moment while Amber is out of work. Murphy is a 15.1hh welsh D we think. Susie is out on loan to a riding school at the moment, she is a 12.1hh welsh B mare.
Well good luk with your riding.
Tasha

[rocketman]

I tend to agree - eventing is where I drew the line, not that I didn't do it like a fool. I just stopped when it got too hairy!

I only started in the first place after someone else suggested the idea and, at a "mini-novice" one day event (how low can you go?), my horse (my husband riding, I was pregnant) proved rather wussy at jumping out of the field and into the darkness of the woods. Determined that my horse could not be allowed to be so gutless, I took him out to a BHS novice one day event (after I had the baby, naturally...I mean, of course. I did not have the baby naturally. The doctor had to surgically remove the baby from my skinny body.) Did I say that my horse was gutless? It must have been the husband (ex)! He (the horse) went off like a bullet and I ended up 5th, despite my abysmal dressage score.

I am nothing if not competitive, so I continued, accumulating BHS points regardless of our combined ineptitude at dressage (after achieving Intermediate status, I thought I should wear a sign around my neck stating "we're REALLY good jumpers" to explain how we'd gotten so far!) It was only as we were approaching Advanced status that I started checking out those courses. There was alway one jump (only one, since I am both competitive and reckless) for which there simply wasn't enough money at stake to make me point a horse at it while I was sitting upon it. (Plus, by that time, several people I knew had broken their necks doing cross-country jumping.)

So I chickened out and loaned my horse to a daring young man to take on into advanced eventing. At one time, my horse was ranked 12th in Great Britain. Then the daring young man was killed at Burghley (not on my horse) and my horse came home. My horse later colicked and had surgery (28 feet of small intestine removed) and survived another 11 years. I took him back to the relatively safe sport of showjumping and never looked back at the wild world of eventing.

[beth66]

Thanks all for the kind welcome-
I guess I am just learning that this eventing thing is kind of dangerous*smirk*- I too am a bit wreckless but I still get tense coming up to some of the fences. You just never know what they are going to do-
Kedwards: I am going to practice the no-stirrup thing, I worked on it some over the weekend and found that I feel the horses movement much better. I can see where your seat gets more secure by doing that- What do you do with the stirrups when you do that? mine were just kind of flopping around- Any hints? flip them over the saddle? Bruises are better today, they're a nice yellow color, that means they are leaving soon:)
Rocketman: question about dressage, what are the beggining things I should work on? I have a decent leg yeild once in a while- what else can a novice work on? You sound like you have a great life of horses, I bet you really know your stuff- Seems like the more I learn the more I know I don't know anything:)
My thoughts are with that daring young man and it is awesome that he was able to take your horse that far. You must have been very proud and pleased to have a horse so highly ranked-
Beau, the horse I ride most, came from England where he was a adequate eventer- I gues his owners pushed him too hard too fast and he stopped jumping, they couldn't get him over anything, he just stopped- I am thrilled that he jumps for me now- When I first got on him 2 months ago he rushed little trot poles on the ground, now he carries me over almost everything- He still balks at some so I am not 100% confident but when are you ever I guess??
Cecilia: I have been at it just 4 months too and loving every minute of it- I have thought about yoga, I do a lot of swiiming and I rollerblade to try to stregthen up my legs- I am trying to get stronger so i can handle the cross country jumps better-
The guy I am helping isn't pushing me, but he wants me to get strong so i can properly train his horses. he won't let me do big jumps(anything over 3'6) until I am stronger, I still lose control once in a while after a jump- Beau is very strong and gets spunky whne he clears a jump sometime- Spunky means me losing balance, stirrups, something....
Sue & Tasha green: I hope your horse heals soon, it must be awful to not be able to ride her- You're lucky you have some other options in the mean time though:)
Lets all have a great week:)

[kedwards]

Yes you can cross the stirrups over the saddle. Make sure to adjust the buckle position where they are lying flat and not digging into your thigh. Alternatively, you can take the stirrups right off if you know your going to be working without them for awhile.

[rocketman]

This is funny, Beth. You're asking the person who sucked at dressage to give you some dressage tips! However, you may have asked the right person, 'cause it's not like I didn't try.

I had the benefit of being coached by my ex-husband's cousin who is now an international dressage judge (when she got on my horse, he looked fabulous, so I knew it was me!)

My advice (and her's) is, get the basics right. My horse did all the circus tricks - flying changes, shoulders in (sometimes hindquarters out...of the arena). But that's what they were - tricks. We even managed a capriole once, but it was an accident and not in the test. We got crucified on the basics - not tracking up, hindquarters not engaged, halt not square, etc.

Don't practice the test too often. The horse will learn it before you do and anticipate the movements. My best dressage test occurred when I'd given up on improving. Having practiced all week, all I had succeeded in doing was driving my horse nuts to the point he was rearing and rolling his eyes, with his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth. This was the day before a one-day event. I could not scratch without a vet's certificate, so when the day came, I tacked him up, threw a blanket over him, and led him down to the dressage arena. Without any warm-up (or hotting-up, as the case may be), I mounted as the person finishing their test ahead of me was leaving the arena (the steward thought I was quite mad.) I merely went through the motions without attempting to push any of his buttons and learned afterwards that I was lying in second place after dressage. This was a first! I was usually in the bottom quarter after dressage and had it all to make up on the cross-country (which can be done if you're a total lunatic like me.) I had the luxury of simply coasting around with a couple of time penalties and holding my position.

[beth66]

Funny about driving your horse mad- I know I have been doing that too- I get head jerks, tail swishes and sometimes he just stops and refuses to walk on- I know it's me too, when the guy I'm helping out gets on, the horse looks like a star. That's what's frustrating. From the sounds of your reply, I should get a dressage test- I assume there is some pre-lim test I should be working on, where do I find one of those? Is there some basic test floating around on some web page somewhere?
It's a little scarey knowing that my horse was an advanced eventer so I know he knows way more than I and will forever probably :(
I had a particularly crappy ride last night- I have been working on changing my jumping technique and the new way hasn't been clicking so I tried to return to my old hunter/jumper style and it seems I have lost that as well. He wants me to sit back in the saddle with my legs forward and I am getting thrown out of the saddle a bit on the landing- The back of the saddle keeps hitting me in the arse & ejectring me, could be the high lip on the back of the saddle or could be me(probably me). So I may return to the style that makes me feel more balanced but could kill me because I'm too far forward. What to do? Poor horse, didn't know what the heck I was trying to do & neither did I. :(
Tonight is another night though-
Thanks for the reply- :)

[kedwards]

Here are the dressage tests from USAeq.

http://www.equestrian.org/aboutus/inter/eventing/2002nationaleventing/

[beth66]

Thanks kedwards-
Looks like I have some things to practice-
Couldn't do squat again last night-
I am noticing the cooler weather really affects the horses-
They don't want to listen and boy do they want to run:)
I shouldn't have worked them so hard and built them up when it was 95 degrees- Now it's 70 and they go FOREVER!!!!!

Be safe everyone:)

[Palomino55]

beth

[galadriel]

Heehee, learning with an eventer is going to definitely bring out that reckless streak, Beth! According to my horse, dressage is boring, stadium is easy, and cross-country is *IT*. --oh, man-- Event horses are SO much fun to ride :)

I have a horse who pops my students in the butt if they don't jump just right. It's one of the things I focus on when teaching beginning jumpers. It's true that you don't want to be too far forward on the approach. You do want to move your center of balance forward as the horse goes over the jump (not your whole body, just your torso going with the movement). BUT!

While you stay in the seat to jump, you don't keep your *weight* in the seat. I'm going to try to explain this without having a horse handy to demonstrate, so I apologize if this isn't too clear.

If your weight is in the seat of the saddle as you go over the jump, the horse is going to pop you in the butt. However, if you have your seat in the saddle but your weight in your legs (and stirrups), it will not dislodge you or make you lose your balance. Try this on the ground before you go over a jump: Stay in the seat of the saddle, but concentrate your weight down your legs. It should feel like you are standing on the ground, but there just happens to be a horse under you.

It may help to try standing in the saddle, even in two point, to get the feeling; then return to sitting and just shift your weight out of the seat of the saddle.

[beth66]

Thanks for the seat-hitting-bumadvice- things have been going better with the jumping as I have started taking lessons from a man who was on the british olympic team. WOW! he gets me working!
I continue to progress but am having problems with stopping now- Broken hand as a result of this new problem. Cast is off next week so we'll get back into it :)
Yes, it's a crazy sport i am finding but I love it-
Thanks for the nice words :)

[Emma_G_NZ]

Welcome to NR! :)
I own a shetland gelding called Ben, and a chestnut riding pony x called Lenny :D Let me know if you want pics and I'll gladly post them for you :) hehe

[beth66]

Love piccys Emma:)
Please share them- I can never look at enough horsey pics :)
Thanks for the nice welcome:)

[galadriel]

How are your lessons going, beth? :)

[beth66]

Lessons are going well- The man I ride for didn't want me taking lessons from just anyone since i am riding/exersizing his eventer TB's, so he has been footing the bill for me to take lessons from his trainer who is a former Olympian who rode for Great Britian.
He is awesome and has been trying to help me with me jumping, I have good days and bad days, the horses i ride have good days & bad days but when we both have good dyas things are great :)
lessons have been put on hold since I broke my hand coming off a jump- I didn't fall off but broke my hand when the crop got tangled in my glove(I don't really know how??)while I was trying to hang on-
I go to the Dr. to see if I need pins in the bone, i hve had a cast on for 3 weeks and am dying to get my butt back in the saddle-

Thanks for asking- i hope all is well with your riding:)
be safe:)

[Emma_G_NZ]

Ok you asked for it ;) tehe
I had to cut them down to fit onto NR, so they dont look as good as the full size shot, but you get the picture!
These pics are from the first and only show we've done so far, he has changed colour with summer, I'll post one of Len & Ben together too. Even in 2 weeks Bens coat has changed alot!
This is Lenny..

[Emma_G_NZ]

This is my all time fav pic of him so far, I havent gotten it blown up yet, but I will soon!!
A friesian stallion attracted his attention!

[Emma_G_NZ]

This was in mid winter, food was used to attract his attention! :rolleyes:

[Emma_G_NZ]

All 3 of us, ugh dont look at me :P lol
I promise the next one will be the last one!

[Emma_G_NZ]

And yeah i know his nose looks big, lol, its the angle, but it shows off how much he has changed in colour since september!

[beth66]

ooooh! I want your horsey:)
sooo gorgeous. I like the third pic, standing there so nicely-
Ok, so you used some food to tempt that nice pose but who cares:)
Lovely head shots too- Thanks for those. i am at work and can never get enough horsey pics to distract me from what i should be doing :) :)
Nicey pony:)

[jUmPingIsLifE]

and welcome to newrider :) i adopted a paso fino gelding and he is my WHOLE WORLD. his name is Autumn

http://nikkibeth05.tripod.com/fa <my website

:)

[Emma_G_NZ]

Thanks very much Beth! They are both very much my pride and joy! Ben is 9.2hh and Lenny is 14.1hh!