trot without stirrups

[catharine]

could you guys give input on when your instructor had you trot without stirrups?? (without a lead line) I had no idea this was so risky until it was to late_ I told him in earlier lesson i felt like I was going to slip off especially in the turn- he said to sit deeper (from post bad spill) some of you indicated you were riding for 6-8 months before you trot without stirrups, am I the only one who was dumb enough to try it 3rd (first and second also but on a slower schooling horse) lesson (what did he think I was wonder woman:eek: )
Thanks again for you help- recovery is going slooowww its nice to have your support (others reactions: what were you doing on a horse???)
Thanks
Cat

Also would like to hear from others who have had accidents and if you have gone back to riding? I think I would have the confidance to go back if I had been riding a while, but to get this damaged after 3 lessons I feel like a loser!!!! I have time to mull it over Dr says 6- 9 months before I'll be back to normal activities:(

[FreedomStar]

I am not saying you are dumb, but you should've waited a few more months before trying trotting without stirrups. You need to get good balance first before you try. It was certainly not you who was dumb. Don't go blaming yourself.

[Mehitabel]

it certainly isn't you who's dumb - it's your instructor. on your 3rd lesson there's no way you could know what you're supposed to be doing, and why should you?
i've fallen off hundreds of times, several of them fairly badly. i lost my nerve, had a couple of months not riding, and missed it so much i had to go back. i spent the better part of a year just pootling around at walk and a bit of trot if i was feeling brave ( i could canter and jump before the fall). both my bad ones were, like yours, bad practice at the riding school. they put my friend on a pony who reared twice and had her off, and she wouldn't get back on it (understandably at 7 years old) so the instructor made me get on. it reared and shot off round the school, eventually going over a jump and landing me on top of it. the spike of the jump cup went into my hip and damaged the cartilage, and i already have changes in the joint that will probably lead to arthritis. so we changed schools. this one, i was out on a ride, and i didn't want to canter. regardless, the girl taking us went off at a canter, and i tried to hold my pony back in trot. he wasn't having it, gave an almighty buck and shot off. the saddle slipped and i was under his belly. i hung on for quite a while and then went splat. that was when i stopped for a while, but i went back. we bought my first pony and moved schools again to where i am now, and began the slow process of rebuilding my confidence. within 4 years i started breaking ponies in, and i never looked back.

don't give up, at least not if ou still want to ride when you're back to normal, but perhaps put your down time to good use looking round your area to fin a school that's a bit more concerned about your safety!
at the place i'm at now,in 15 years i've never had a fall that was anything other than a real accident, that might be attributed to bad practice. we're very safety conscious, and all good schools ought to be.

[kedwards]

No, you certainly weren't dumb. You also aren't a loser, so don't say that. If you choose not to go back to riding, don't make the decision based on feeling that you're incapable. I'm fairly proud of how I've progressed at this point, but I was aweful when I started. Most of us were. That's the nature of being a beginner.

Obviously, I wasn't there and I don't know the specifics, but it is unusual to be riding without stirrups in a third lesson.

[luv horses]

Try not to think of it like that if you can as it will only make you feel worse! Just think of it as a learning experience and that now you know what to look out for when your having lessons again.

I stopped riding when I was a teenager because the horse my father bought me bolted and i came off and ended up with concussion and so lost my nerve but I so wish that I had persevered with it. I'm now almost 40 and trying again but have lost out on all that time I might have had to ride. Now I would just love to have on older gentle horse that can put with a beginner with a long way to go but willing to learn!

Just think of how good you would feel after going through this and being able to overcome it! :)

[Peace]

No, catherine, you are not dumb - at least I hope not, as I did the exact same thing as you!:D I was trotting around during my third lesson when I heard my instructor say, "Hey, Sally, drop your stirrups!" and, since I'm not blessed with a very good imagination and had no idea of the risk I was taking, I did it. Luckily I was on one of those great horses who will shift his weight to catch you when you start to slip, so I wasn't hurt.

I left this particular barn after about seven lessons, and went to a new instructor who decided, quite rightly, that my lack of confidence could be improved by improving my balance. To that end, on my first lesson with her I wound up trotting around bareback! :eek: I'm living proof the Lord (or at least one particular QH mare) takes care of fools, because again nothing happened.

The reason I left the first barn, though, was because on my fifth or sixth lesson, the instructor was determined I should lope. She grabbed the horse's bridle and took off running as fast as she could!:eek: Since I wasn't balanced, and was panicked, I wound up causing the horse to fall with me. Even though, by some miracle, neither of us was hurt, my confidence was wrecked!

So please don't feel like a loser. I wasn't even injured, but it took me a long time to get over the feeling that every horse I got on was going to fall out from under me. I took about six months off from riding regularly and just helped out at the second instructor's barn. I'm still not the bravest rider, either, but with a good instructor and a couple of patient lesson horses, I'm slowly getting over my nerves.

I bet you'll go back to riding when you're able - you have all the early signs of horse addiction!:D

[cabanha]

You are certainly not dumb or a loser! If anybody is, it's your instructor. On your third lesson, you should definitely have stirrups, they are there so you can begin to acquire a good seat and stabilize you since you won't have much "riding muscles" developed yet. You should learn all your gaits with stirrups, it's safer that way. You need a firm base to help you stay on when you are a beginner and trying to learn the gaits.

I've had my fair share of accidents, none of them very serious but then again I'm only 15 years old (been riding for 11 of those 15 years). My most serious accident occurred last year when I was helping my mother train a 17hh Thoroughbred x Warmblood gelding. He was only 4 years old but he was very willing and generally sweet. But anyway, so here I am trotting him around the ring to loosen him up before we start the *real* workout. The farm tractor about 50 yards away starts up and my 17hh buddy goes crazy. He gallops off while I'm trying to lean back, calm him down, and slow him up. Then for some reason, he believes he can jump the ring's fence. Well he cleared about 3/4 of the fence and then he broke it and one of the broken boards gets jammed into my leg and I fell off. My mom stopped him and made sure he was okay, which was was by some miracle. I, however, had a board about 1 inch into my leg :) which was removed at the hospital. To make a long story short, I'm still riding. Hopefully you will return to riding...but please, change riding schools :D

[Gracie]

Catherine you are not dumb and I truly understand how you feel! I think almost all riders feel dumb sometimes. So don't blame yourself! I don't think its fair to call anyone dumb .... even though your instructor didn't put your needs first, possbily they thought you were a good enough rider! I'm certainly not saying what they did was right! But if your instructor is not working for you what about trying to find an instructor that will! I'm sure theres other stables in the area! Try to do some research with the riding instructors, ask to watch them in action coaching students. Also ask to see all the school ponies and tack! Keep riding, trust me theres a lot of nuts out there but don't let it get to you!

[catharine]

Thank you for the encouragement-it makes me feel better to know I shouldn't of been expected to hang on without stirrps on the third lesson-I'm not a daredevil just love horses and wanted to learn correctly (and safely) as I know next to nothing so I don't understand why my instructor would ask me to take such a chance (I'm out of work now for at least 4 mths, have to OT and PT ,physical terrorist ha ha, Dr said n 4 weeks he will see if im starting to heal)
It encouraging to hear your stories and you guys are very brave to get back on and scary to hear what some of your instructors have done to put you in danger!!!!!!!have a death wish, a child on a bucking pony, horses falling on you YIKES!!! It seems to me they are pushing with no regard to safety, I know riding and horses have risks involved but these should be minimized not encouraged!!!!! Glad you all came away wiser and recovered!!!
thanks again I'll stop beating myself up over this and work on recovery!!!!
:D Cat
Hug your horses for me:( :rolleyes:

[mikka]

Am I reading your post correctly when you say you trotted without stirrups on your first and second lessons, too? If so, it seems that the trouble started when the third horse took off at a canter.... Even though I don't think it's smart for instructors to push folk into trotting without stirrups until some balance has been established (this is NO reflection on you!), there's a really big leap from trotting without stirrups to cantering without stirrups! A sharpish turn could unseat even a more experienced rider.

I had a devastating accident in my teens (broken pelvis) that was due entirely to my stupidity. I wish I could say that the fear has gone, but it hasn't. I think there will always be an element of nervousness. And being a parent just seems to exacerbate that need for self-protection.

However, when I returned to riding I found a sympathetic instructor who was happy to let me take it very, very slowly. Eventually an element of boredom kicked in and I found that I actually wanted to do more. The point I'm trying to make is, if you take responsibility for the pace of your learning you'll have a greater sense of control and will regain confidence more quickly than if you're forced to work according to someone else's goals.

Good luck with your recovery.

[Peace]

Hi, catherine:

mikka is absolutely right - the key to recovering confidence is to take it very, very slowly when you get back to riding. I would suggest doing lots of research, watching different instructors with their students, and find one who's successfully helped someone like yourself regain her confidence.

I also think it's important to be totally honest and clear about your riding goals. Sometimes instructors worry that a student, feeling she's not making progress, may leave for another school. I made sure my instructor understood that "progress," for me, was learning to feel comfortable and secure, not necessarily learning how to ride faster gaits.

I found the Sally Swift books to be really helpful. The first one is called "Centered Riding." These books illustrate how much can be learned at the walk, and are not so much about the mechanics of riding as about balance and communication between horse and rider. (Balance being especially important for me - I actually had more than one horse fall out from under me! :o I'm happy to say that thanks to advice from Wally and from my instructor, and a really confident schoolmare, that problem was solved!) Being an art teacher, I bet you'd like these books - they use lots of visual images to illustrate principles, instead of mechanical instructions. They're sort of a "Riding on the Right Side of the Brain.":)

[Shady_Indigo]

I learnt to ride, and now teach kids basic riding, without a saddle. Learning to ride without a saddle gives you a deeper seat because you don't learn to rely on the stirrups or saddle for balence. I don't think there is anything wrong with trotting with out stirrups on the first lesson, so long as you feel comfortable with it. Were you given a choice or not?
I have little 7 year olds trotting around a paddock by them self with no saddle on their second lesson.

[$@R@H]

I statred to trot without stirrups on my um,i think 5ith lesson.Our instructior always asks us first if we want to do sitting trot without stirrups,If we don't we can keep our stirrups but were not aloud to rise.The also won't let u if your horse is being naughty.

[EzLou]

When I teach beginners I get them riding without stirrups pretty quickly as there's nothing like it for developing balance and a good seat. However I build up to trotting. We do a lot of correctional work on their position in walk then I get them to ride a trot transition and come back to walk after a stride or two. We gradually build up the trotting time as their confidence grows.

I'm sorry you had a bad experience don't let it put you off.

[catharine]

Well, I did have my free will, which I should of exercised, I didn't want to trot without stirrups (felt like I was falling 1st 2 lessons when I told the trainer he said to sit deeper)so I assumed it was normal to feel that way. And the horse I was on didn't keep trotting when I started slipping she would stop, had to kick and flap to get her to move definately my speed. On the bigger horse I had been on him maybe 10 to 15 min (my last lesson had been on an old school horse a month prior.) when he told me to drop stirrups, i asked him if he was sure (I sure wasn't) and he assured me I could do it I listened, I was actually surprised when I fell, he had me doing everything, two point, posting trot, (The 3rd lesson I was on a horse I don't believe is normally used for lessons-he is boarded there, (some else was riding the schooling horse) I felt like I could of had time to pull him back (or just hang ON) if my feet were in the stirrups-my instructor was yelling at me to pull back but thats hard to do when your about to go flying!!!
I'm not sure the canter was the horses fault I was slipping around alot and I think he was so much more sensitive he thought i wanted him to canter. Of course this is all 20 20 hindsight, but one of the stable hands told me he is a trained dressage horse (when I noticed his bridle was different from the others!) I was encouraged thinking he won't run off to jump!!!!
Duh:( :rolleyes:
Thank you guys for the encouragement and information!!!!!!!
Cat:eek:

[lil'filly]

i trotted w/ no stirrups in about 3 months. I was on aslow horse, who i love and tust deeply, and my instructor said i was ready. i started posting w/ no stirrups on about 6 months. your instructor needs to go back to his 3rd lesson so he knows how uncofident you feel. I don't know whether u were unconfident or not but i was!!!

[catharine]

lil filly,

thanks that sounds so nice!!! You are right someone who is so confidant (I like my instructor but he is a total daredevil) probably can't imagine why a beginner would hesistate!! :rolleyes: (its been 3 weeks and I can touch my chin :D) I dream of streching my arm out!!! My doctor isn't giving me many answers except recovery will take about 9 months but is so happy as am I,my feeling in right hand is comming back!!! I know this progression is an individual thing as I can see from the replies but it seems there should be guidelines at least for begginers who don't understand the risk involved or at least ask before telling you to do something that is an increased risk. (do you feel ready to _____?) and tips for what to do if you get in trouble.
I'm surprised there are no guidlines< im a public school teacher and you guys wouldn't believe the guidelines and checks and tests teachers go through and the subject matter is much less risky!!! Our plans are checked by administrators and department heads each month.

Thanks again for the information!!!!
Cat

[Peace]

LOL, catherine:D I never thought of it like that - I used to teach in the public schools, and we had to have lesson plans mapped out two weeks in advance. And we weren't (at least most of the time ;) ) putting the little dears at any physical risk, were we?

Y'know, I know this instructor is a friend of yours, but I really think, if I were you, I'd look at other schools once you return to riding. Even though I'm sure he had the owner's permission, most of the time boarders' horses are not used for lessons. No offense, but we beginners are not good matches for most competition horses. Because we're just learning, we tend to give confusing signals to the horse, who may then become frustrated and act up. A schoolhorse may be kind of hard to get going, but they generally stop when confused and give us beginners a chance to get our act together!:)

And is there only one lesson horse at the school? I've found that to be a problem. There's a school in my area who has a darling little schoolmare, but she's really the only true "lesson horse" they've got. As soon as someone gets past the first few lessons, this school moves them to one of the other horses, who aren't as forgiving of mistakes. Since I'm not that quick of a study, I passed up this school for one with more beginner-type horses.

[vgilchrist]

i was riding without stirrups from my first lessson back on a horse after 8 years of being a scaredy cat after a bad fall! it doesn't make me feel like i'm going to fall off (but i've got long legs so i'm quite good at hanging on for dear life!) but my bum is SOO SORE! its meant to help get a deeper seat especially if on a lunge line, you can hold the front of the saddle with one hand and pull yourself into it and rotate your hips round to get the perfect leg pose! easier said than done. either way, i hate riding without stirrups on a sitting trot (or even with stirrups on a sitting trot) as it hurts too much!

[catharine]

Peace , thanks for the advice I know you are right and don't worry I wouldn't go back there, (he's not a personal friend outside of riding I know him a little from him teaching my daughter.) I,ve learned so much from reading everyones posts I cant believe the variety of instructors, methods, and injuries that you brave folk have gone through!!! I feel lucky to be in one piece although I now have extra parts!!!!
Cat