Need help to keep horse going

[MicRos]

Hi there!

I am 34 and only started taking lessons (for the first time in my life!) in April this year. Everything is going o.k. I can walk, post and almost sit the trot. I haven't cantered yet, the thought still makes me nervous.

I would appreciate any advice on how to keep the horse (a school horse) going at the trot. I always ride the same one, so we've built a relationship. My problem is that I can't get her to "go forward", it seems as if she's trotting in one place. On a good day we manage I good few strides down the long side of the school's dressage arena but then she slows down and my instructor tells me to put on more leg. I try this till my legs feel numb but it still doesn't work! I've tried riding with a crop which helps for the first 5 minutes and makes me lose the rein in that hand.

Please help! I know I haven't ridden that long but I would really like to learn the correct way of doing things and keep going. Thanks!

[orbvalley]

Hi, the trick to keeping the trot going is to squeeze with your calves every time you sit. Its quite hard for a rider to keep doing that at first as it takes a lot of leg strength which you need to build up to first. Just keep trying, the more you try (even if it doesn't work for a while) the stronger your legs will become. Before you know it you'll be able to trot for as long as you want to without even thinking about it.

Edited to add: You are learning the correct way, you will get there. Its also harder to keep a horse going at the same momentum on a corner/turn/circle, thats maybe why at the moment your getting a few good strides down the long side. This is all good news by the way. You can also buy crops with a wrist loop on them so that if you lose hold of it you don't actually drop it. I wouldn't really recommend this at this stage, better just taking one when your RI hands it to you as that way you'll build up your leg strength more. Have fun, you're doing great!

[manwell]

it is quite hard rto say when you are in a school situation with mine i use lots of transitions and pop him into canter when he gets lazy. This might not help you tho as you are having to do as your istructor is telling you and if he has been in a school for a long time he has proberly become dead to the leg. You could try clicking with every step, but it depends if has been trained with a voice in the past or if he will even listen.

[Dooley]

hmmm - but if you keep squeezing at every stride you're just nagging the horse until he switches off. Which a lot of RS horses have learnt to do already anyway.

One of my more recent instructors taught me to stop nagging and get some proper reactions. Ask nicely the first time, if no reaction ask a bit harder, if still no reaction ask hard and back up with a proper tap with the schooling whip if necessary. Basically use it as a wake-up call, but once you get the reaction don't keep on nagging. Wake him up then go soft on him.
You need to get the horse listening to you right from the start of the lesson in walk. Get him "off your leg" in walk. If he's ignoring your leg he won't "jump" into trot. And he'll just drag himself along and slow down whenever he fancies it after that.

It's easier said than done, and especially with lesson horses, and in particular if you're only just starting out, because you may not know what to do when he DOES come off your leg. As a beginner you're quite likely to hold him back when he DOES react to your leg, that's quite a normal reaction.
I would suggest you ask your RI what she would do/wants you to do - some horses have their own "buttons" and she knows the horse best.

Hope you keep enjoying your lessons and being around horses. Welcome to the club!

[MicRos]

Thank you for the quick replies!

I definitely think the horse has become a bit "dead" to the leg, you have to work hard to get her attention. Unfortunately she doesn't like being clicked at, she just ignores me. (Which is actually (on one side) a good thing for me as I can't click very well! :D)

As a beginner I understand that my legs, stomach and back muscles aren't strong enough yet and as a result I'm probably also off balance. But I'll keep trying and working at it. Your advice will definitely help!

Another problem I have is keeping my hands quiet and anchored. My RI keeps telling me to keep my hands still. How do I do that while still using the reins to steer?

[manwell]

ther was a recent tread on here how to stear without reins or sommit read that. The problem is that you get this with some english riding school is they fill you full of bad habits to make life easier for them but then makes your life harder a few yrs down the line, when you relize almost everything you have learnt is wrong i think we have all been there. but with out your own horse, it is a hard thing to get away from. watch lots of videos if i was you, and try to learn by watching top riders how they position themselves use of legs etc kira kurklund does a video set expensive but i would recommend it

[taskey]

micros

i am in the same boat as you, 34 and only just started earlier this year too.

i am dreading the canter, my horse took off last week and it scared me alot.

i find i am constantly 'squeezing' my horse to keep her going and whilst i am doing that, i lose concentration on everything else - she pretty much drives herself.

Tracy

[MicRos]

Taskey

Glad to hear I'm not the only "oldie" just starting to ride!

It looks to me as if horse riding really is a fine art and what works today doesn't always work tomorrow. It seems to be up to the horse/rider on that day. For instance: on Saturday I had the most wonderful lesson, Fairy just responded beautifully and kept her head straight. I could do serpentines, circles, extended trot, collected trot and even sitting trot in between. And then today we're back to me fighting and working my behind off to keep her going...

[spicegirl]

HI...if she is a school horse I am assuming she is ridden by other riders...so you don't necessarily know what kind of day she has had...and how others are riding her...or maybe you do! I was helping a friend start out her riding school. When she first got her horses, it didn't take long to get them ready for being used in the school. My daughter and I rode him regularly through the winter and spring and they were used late spring into the summer. I think it only took at most 3 weeks before they started getting quirks by being ridden by so many inexperienced riders. The pony started pulling on the reins and yanking the youngsters around. He became "dead" to the leg (he was very responsive to a light squeeze before.). An older mare that had been wonderful at walk and trot began to buck and not want to move forward. She hated any leg on her....So...you can't control how school horses are ridden the rest of the time, so you get "the horse that shows up" that day for the lesson. You might catch her on a good day and you might be catching her on a bad...Now if you are the only one that rides her....please disregard this comment! LOL

[Dooley]

I could do serpentines, circles, extended trot, collected trot and even sitting trot in between.

Has your instructor been calling it extended trot and collected trot or is this your interpretation of what you were doing? I really seriously honestly don't want to sound horrible, but if you are a beginner and struggling to keep the horse trotting most of the time I doubt there's been much extension or collection. I'm not saying this to put you down in any way, please don't take it like that (gosh isn't it hard to come across the way you mean on a forum, without sounding like a b***ch"?! aarrgghh). But I've come across a few instructors who called things by fancy names totally incorrectly and once I had learnt a bit more myself I realised these instructors didn't know what they were doing most of the time. If only I'd realised that earlier I would have gone to a different RS and probably learnt much faster how to ride properly.
That's what I'm trying to get at : if an instructor makes things up as she goes along then you're going to take much longer to learn to ride effectively and you might benefit from going somewhere else.

If it was just your interpretation/own words then please forgive me for being a pedant and jumping to conclusions at the same time. I only mean to help, I promise :eek::D

Enjoy your riding, that's the most important thing!

[Poppet25]

Would it be possible for you to have a private lunge lesson at all?

When I was teaching I ALWAYS started beginners off on the lunge (children and adults) so I would have control of sending the horse forwards so the pupil only needed to concentrate on getting the feel of the horse and learning how to balance etc without the added difficulty of having to keep trying to make an often lazy, dead to the leg, bored school horse move (I'm not suggesting ALL school horses are like that but IME beginners are often allocated the ones considered "safe", interpret that as you wish ;)) I would make sure they at least had a half decent seat and balance, and could do a reasonable rising trot even before considering letting them off on their own so they could then start to concentrate on getting to ask the horse to go forward from the leg. Most people averaged about 6ish lessons before they felt ready to control the horse themselves, some took longer some were quicker but in general I found it the best way to start a beginner off and I never had any complaints, in fact they were usually more than grateful to be started like that.

A while back my OH started having a few lessons, the first time he's ridden since he was 9 (he's 41 now), and the instructor had him on a group lesson which was mixed ability (1st mistake) She had allocated him a huge 17.2 brute which if you described it as lazy was a severe understatement :eek: (he's 5' 6" btw so it was quite large for him especially with him being what I'd describe as a complete novice)(2nd mistake) She then proceeded to put him on a lead rein leading him herself while at the same time trying to teach the rest of the ride. When it came to his turn to lets say do a little trot she had to drag the horse along while poor hubby was sat on it's back trying to kick it to go forward and at the same time try and get his head round doing a rising trot, which she just told him to do but didn't explain how to do it :confused: How on earth she expected to be able to teach him anything in that situation I'll never know as in her efforts to drag the horse round (those of you who have ever tried to drag an unwilling 17.2 into trot will understand where I'm coming from here) she couldn't see what he was doing and therefore couldn't have helped him in the slightest to rectify the problems he was having (3rd mistake) After watching this farce for about 10 minutes I had to walk out of the school before I was extremely rude and told her exactly what I thought of her teaching. In my head I was screaming put him on a flipping lunge :mad: but I'm too polite to criticise another RI in front of their class, it's extremely bad manners. He went back there for 2 more of these "lessons" before I refused to let him go again because he wasn't learning anything and after 3 lessons he still hadn't got out of walk :eek:

Anyway after that rather long (sorry about that) description of an example of diabolical "teaching" (I'm NOT suggesting for one moment your RI is like that btw) I thought it would be an excellent example to show why IMO beginners always benefit from starting off on the lunge. Even as a student right up until I took my exams I had regular lunge lessons and I believe they are of a huge benefit to a rider because they help develop your seat, balance and strength.

If you can have a word with your RI and see if a few lunge lessons would be possible, I'm sure you will find it a great help :)

*takes of my RI hat now and retreats to the corner* :o

[MicRos]

Well, that was what my RI called it (CT, ET etc) while I was riding and I was certainly trying very hard to follow her instructions... That was a very good day. (I didn't mean to sound as if I did it like a pro! ;) )

The lunge sounds like a good idea.

[molly34]

What are you doing with your hands and reins?

I had a very similar problem to you with canter, and finally figured out it was my hands messing it up! I never used to ride with gloves and was always trying to keep the contact soft - but the flip side of that was that I would let the reins would get too loose and I was constantly having to shorten them, meaning I was inadvertently fiddling and pulling at the horse's mouth. If that happens, or if you have the reins too tight, the horse may think you're asking it to stop or collect even though your legs are saying 'go!'

[Dooley]

Well, that was what my RI called it (CT, ET etc) while I was riding and I was certainly trying very hard to follow her instructions... That was a very good day. (I didn't mean to sound as if I did it like a pro! ;) )
.

Haha, don't worry, you didn't sound as if you were at all. I really wasn't having a dig at you, but I do feel an RI shouldn't be using terms like that "randomly". Extension and collection are not easy and I think that with such little experience, on a horse that doesn't want to trot anyway, it is unlikely that that was what she was actually getting you to do. Never mind, as long as she does teach you effectively I guess it doesn't matter what she calls things, but I am a bit wary of instructors calling things fancy names as in my own experience it has unfortunately always meant that in fact they didn't know what they were doing.

I'm not saying your RI doesn't know what she's doing, but I guess I like for instructors to keep things simple and stick with the basic aids to start with. You have only been riding a few months and I don't think anybody would be expecting you to collect or extend the trot. As long as it felt good and you had fun, you're right that it really doesn't matter and I'm just being a pedant again.

Enjoy your lessons and don't pay any attention to me, sorry. After all, you didn't even ask for comments on that part of your post. I'll shut up now, honest !:p

[MicRos]

Molly34:
I recently started wearing gloves after my first fall where I landed on some thorny weeds and the stung areas in my hand got infected. I don't know if they make any difference to the contact... but you might be right, I think I sometimes hold the reins too tight. I'll try to work on that at my next lesson. (Phew, there are a lot of things to keep in mind and focus on.)

Dooley:
No offense taken! I appreciate any help or advice. My RI was probably trying to sound positive and encouraging when she told me that I was extending or collecting the trot... But I sure felt like some super hero that day! :D

[Torri.x]

Hi there!

I am 34 and only started taking lessons (for the first time in my life!) in April this year. Everything is going o.k. I can walk, post and almost sit the trot. I haven't cantered yet, the thought still makes me nervous.

I would appreciate any advice on how to keep the horse (a school horse) going at the trot. I always ride the same one, so we've built a relationship. My problem is that I can't get her to "go forward", it seems as if she's trotting in one place. On a good day we manage I good few strides down the long side of the school's dressage arena but then she slows down and my instructor tells me to put on more leg. I try this till my legs feel numb but it still doesn't work! I've tried riding with a crop which helps for the first 5 minutes and makes me lose the rein in that hand.

Please help! I know I haven't ridden that long but I would really like to learn the correct way of doing things and keep going. Thanks!
If You Still Keep Your Leg On And When You Feel Her/hHim Slowing Down Give Him/Her A Kick You Have To Show The Horse Your The Boss Or You Will Be Stuck With The some Problem Over And Over Again But If The Kick Doents Work Then Get Your Crop And Give The Horse A Tap And If That Dont Work Get A Schooling Whip :)

[Torri.x]

I am thinking about buying a horse but it has had a tendon inujury about a year ago but i dont wont to buy her then push her to hard and would like to know what i would be able to do with her? and she is a bit shy as has been abused in the past when she got sold so she could rested her leg and some time tends to get sceared off the most little think,when you ride her she also thinks her leg will hurt her so not that willing to go into canter should i lung her for a while to get it out of her head?

[cramarion]

torri put this last bit in the genral page x

[Dooley]

... But I sure felt like some super hero that day! :D

And that is after all what it is all about ! :D:D

I hope horses give you many many many more moments /days like that!

[inhs]

Similiar issue in this thread which they seem to have fixed :)

http://www.newrider.com/forum/showthread.php?t=152383

[vieshot]

Being a typical beginners riding school type, the pony is probably lazy and bored sick of running around in circles- hense the lack of enthusiasm! Lots of leg is great but carry a schooling whip that you can use without letting go of the reins(its longer) to give the pony a smack behind your leg to insist they listen. Its kinder to give one sharp smack than it is to keep kick kick kicking all the time.

As for hands, your riding instructor doesnt mean dont steer, she probably means when you are trotting your not letting your hands move with the rythme of the horse- but with your rythme if that makes sense so if your body is going up and down then your hands most probably are to which your pony will be able to feel which is why she wants you to try and keep them in the same position (except to steer) so as not to confuse your pony.

These are both very, very common problems that new riders face! I know i faced both of them! But as you progress these problems will soon be a thing of the past and you will wonder how you ever struggled!

[MicRos]

Hi everyone...

Just wanted to say thank you for all your responses, I have another lesson tomorrow (Saturday) and I'll try your suggestions. It's really great to have some support!