Balance

[sarahlou]

I have just had my first riding lesson which I really enjoyed but I didn't realise so much of learning was balance. When the horse went into a trot I was all over the place and I kept thinking I was going to fall off. I felt as though I needed to cling on to something! Does everyone feel like this after their first lesson or is this a sign that riding isn't for me..... (i really hope not!)

[galadriel]

Oh, nonono--learning riding is a long journey :) and it takes everyone a while to adapt their balance well. Nobody is perfect to begin with.

Enjoy your lessons. It'll get easier as you go along :)

[sarahlou]

Thank you, thats very encouraging :)

[MyStIc139]

Hiyaz
on my first lesson which was ages ago cuz i stoped and have only started again now was really bumpy and it does sometimes feel that ure gona fall off but it passes ask ure teacher if there is ne thing u can do to help. Otherwise ull soon learn the balance thing.
Hope the rest of ure lessons are good :D

[Debby Riley]

I am sure that many horse riders all ask them self if riding is for them,

it is not easy, i learnt to ride as a kid, stopped and several years later i started again in sept 2002, i have asked myself the same question but don't give up you have so many things to enjoy and experience your not alone, there will always parts of learning to ride when you question yourself about is it for me, then you master that and move on to something else again you feel the same feelings creeping in and then you master that and so on, but there will become a day when it all fails into place and you start enjoying it.

The best advice someone gave me on here was RELAX, RELAX AND BREATH !!!! as funny as it sounds chant to yourself * i can do this i am relaxed i am breathing !!! repeat and your concentrating and laughing at yourself so much you stop worrying and relax and everything is so much easier then !!

Good luck keep us posted of your progress

[MyStIc139]

good advice :D

[kedwards]

Sarah, it's just much harder than it looks like it ought to be, isn't it? Don't worry, everyone experiences that at first.

[Crazy horse2601]

don't worry. Everybody has balance probs even if dey hav bin riding 4 ages. I spent most of my first lessons in trot thinking i wos gonna fall off!
debby riley is right. Just relax. I know it's hard trying to when u think ** gonna fall off but the more you tense up the more your gonna bounce and be more un-balanced. good luck.:) :D

[Em 1]

Originally posted by sarahlou
I felt as though I needed to cling on to something! Does everyone feel like this after their first lesson or is this a sign that riding isn't for me..... (i really hope not!)

Yes, everyone feels like this at sometime or another. I don't personally know of anyone who didn't feel like this for the first few weeks, months or years depending on how often you have lessons! If you enjoy riding, it's for you. Riding uses muscles you never knew you had. Therefore hopping onto a horse and riding perfectly just doesn't happen until you're really fit for riding. I still find myself overbalancing if I am tired or I've been scrunched over a computer or something - it's life I'm afraid but with horses around it's never boring!

P.S. If you do need to hold on to something don't worry, it's normal but don't use the reins, it hurts the horse's mouth. Grab a handful of mane, the pommel (curved bit at the front of the saddle) or a neck strap (piece of leather around the horses neck). Hang on until you feel balanced and you'll be fine. Within a few months you won't believe you ever had this problem! Good luck!

[virtuallyhorses]

Yes, I can't help but repeat what everyone else has said. There'll be plenty of times when you feel unbalanced. Even when you've been riding for a long time you will still have days when you just feel like your balance and timing are out and you wonder why on earth your body has betrayed you this time ;) - but then you have a good day ... and you could ride to the stars :)

[CobNut]

Oh Sarah!

There's absolutely NOTHING unusual or abnormal about that. It is a perfectly natural reaction to being perched five feet off the ground on the back of a creature which weighs five times what you do, has a mind of your own, and which no matter how much your instructor assures you it will do what you tell it to, you ahve your doubts.

Have you ever done any other activities which require balance and poise? Ballet for example? If so, how long did it take you to perfect your pirouette? DID you ever perfect it? If so, it certainly won't have been during your first lesson. Think of riding as being a bit like that.

If not ballet, well, how about riding a bicycle? Did you get the balance for THAT right first time? Thought not. And the balance you need for riding a horse is more liek what you need for riding a unicycle.

You stick with it. I'm sure you're doing fine.

[ridehorses]

oh no! don't worry! i have been riding for 7 years and i still feel like clinging to something at times!:D

Oh, nonono--learning riding is a long journey and it takes everyone a while to adapt their balance well. Nobody is perfect to begin with.

well put galadriel! don't worry, you'll feel mor in sync soon enough. relax and have fun. think positive!

[Old but trying!]

I really know how you feel. I am now 45 and have a problem with my inner ear anyway which affects my balance. I really want to learn to ride and clearly balance is a big issue!! I am trying hard but the harder I try the more I grip with my knees, the poor horse does an emergency stop. Suffice it to say we go nowhere very slowly!! My teacher is a saint (the horse too for that matter) but I am quite determined to make someting of all this.

I understand that you need to put your weight in your feet and lower leg but mine doesn't seem to know how to go there. I am hoping that one day things will just go right and I am sure it will all seem obvious then. Here's hoping that time will come sooner rather than later.

Good Luck and happy riding.

[virtuallyhorses]

Originally posted by Old but trying!
... I am hoping that one day things will just go right and I am sure it will all seem obvious then. ...

:D Yeah - that's what I'm still hoping and waiting for , so's my instructor, and her instructor.....;) It does get better but you also get pickier about what is good and you move onto more advanced (enlightened?) riding..... :D :D

BTW like your login name

[$@R@H]

I kinda never had that problem, lol, Looks like all those Ballet lesson my mother forced me to go to have finnally helped me out!:) :D :p :cool: ;)

[FreedomStar]

old but trying- Try standing in your stirrups, and drop your heels down a little, this helps to drop your weight down through your lowerleg and soon you'll have it balanced into your heels. It's hard, took me ages to get this one, I still have trouble with it.

sarahlou- i know how you feel! When i first started riding, it was a nightmare for me to find my balance. I always hung onto the pommel, but soon I learned to post and it just got a bit easier then. Keep trying. One thing is to not grip with your knees. When people are learning to trot, they tend to grip with their knees to stop them from falling out of the saddle (I used to...:D ) But this just tenses up your leg muscles and causes you to bounce more. So don't grip with your knees.you should open up at the calf a little.

[Kezzabelle]

Hi!
You've just got to remember that humans were never designed to ride horses, so the riding postion leaves the body in a very vunerable position and when you first try trotting your body tenses up basically because it is trying to protect itself. Ive just come back to riding after a gap of 3 years and im trying to 'train' my body to relax and become comfortable in the riding postion all over again! It can be frustrating but stick with it as its well worth it!!!

Kez x

[Tangle]

Hi Sarah,

I'm also a pretty novice rider - started in the Autumn - and had (OK, still have :o ) problems with balance. We spend quite a bit of each lesson going round the menage just standing in short stirrups (up 5 holes from normal) first at walk and then at trot. I could just about manage walk on a good day, and couldn't stay up at trot for love more money.

In the end I got fed up with being so incompetent and asked for suggestions on how to improve. The one that seemed to work best was standing with your feet about a horse width apart on a low step, just on the balls of your feet. First time I could only last for about 15seconds, but after a couple of days I could stay there a couple of minutes and my rising trot improved no end. You can also try doing rising trot while you're on the stair (OK you get some funny looks, but it gives you a chance to work out where you're balance should be from a stable surface, rather than on two wobley bits of metal :D )

Good luck