I'll never improve!!!!

[Leesar]

I have been riding for one year (once a week) at a riding school. On Saturday I was put on the school's new horse for a lesson. The horse was described as 'forward going' and everyone kep telling me she was fast and I felt nervous. Anyway, after about 20 mins when it was time to canter I told the instructor I really didn't feel comfortable with the horse, and that she was too much for me. The horse was quick, and doing a lot of head tossing etc. I didn't feel in control!! I then swapped with another girl in the lesson and rode her horse which I'd only ridden once before. Both horses are young - about 5 years old, and mares. I was supposed to trot one ciruit on this horse and then canter the second, but on the first circuit I cantered. I then tried again and I knew I was going to canter because the horse was getting faster and faster in trot as I approached the corner. I kept rising to tell the horse I wanted trot, but it was no use and I cantered off again. The canter was pretty fast this time, and I felt like I could have come off!! Even the instructor admitted I shot off. I tried to give and take with the outside rein but it was no use. I felt really out of control!! - and I was!! I don't think I'll ever be able to control these forward going horses which other people have no trouble with!! It feels like I'll never progress. It makes me wonder if its worth it (even though I really love horses!!). This lesson was such a contrast to the previous week when I went out on a hack on a horse which even responded to my voice when I told it to slow down in canter! HELP.

[Mossy]

I sympathise. However there is nothing so likely to excite a forward going horse as the sense that it's rider is nervous. It picks up the smell of nerves, and no I am not being rude about you, they are called pheromones, like hormones but subtle smelly ones. Us insensitive humans cannot smell them. If you feel yourself getting nervous, sing. It does not matter what, or even whether it is in tune, and does not have to be loud, just give yourself something to concentrate on apart from your own nerves. When I was worried by my mare panicking in the field, I sang "Rock a Bye Baby" to her. [When you consider that she is 15.3 and bright ginger, and that my family complain when I sing in the bath you will appreciate the daftness of the situation] It calmed her down, which was the priority, without her realising that I was scared stiff.
Having said all this I am assuming that you are not being genuinely over horsed, in which case speak to your instructor. Good luck and keep singing

[Wally]

Panic ye not!
It takes practice to handle fast, forward going horses, exactly the same as it takes practice to learn anything to do with nags. If this is just the first few times you have ridden flighty horses why worry. It will come.
Sing, that's a good one or discuss the price of eggs, or how the cost of nutty slack has gone up in the Outer Hebrides.
I know it really does sound daft but it will take your mind off riding a fast horse and your voice will be a calming influence. Simlpy saying woah, and steady I find doesn't seem to work, they do like the matter of fact chatty type voice. I think you are brave to ride a faster horse after just a year. I tried, after my first year, to ride the school speed freak and made a pigs ear of it. A few years down the line I've got the hang of it, you will too.

[minx]

i rode this forward-going, very responsive horse once and i freaked out. she'd speed up at the slightest leg-aids.

sorry, can't help much 'cos i myself have got problems regarding this area! just want to say that you're not alone.

all the best...
minx

[Leesar]

Hi thanks for your words of comfort. It is nice to know I'm not alone. Yes Wally, I have only ridden these sort of faster horses a few times, so I suppose I shouldn't really worry. I still find it amazing there is so much difference between riding different horses. Do people think one year of riding, one a week is much experience? some people seem to think I should be jumping 3ft fences etc (bit of an exagerration!!), but I feel its not long at all!!

Bye, thanks for the feedback. Its great to get encouragement.

[Somethingroyal]

Like they have said- talk to your horse. The horse can feel if ** nervous or tense or anything like that, and just talking, or telling the horse a joke can relax you, and your horse. Also, you might want to concentrate on a lot of walk to trot transitions. When your horse goes into, and stays at, a trot, pat him/her and slow into a walk, then try this again. A year is not long at all to be riding, you are right where you should be. it is omportant not to rush these things. Where I ride, you have to be the best in your class to try something new. It can be a real pain, but everything I can do so far is picture perfect!

[Leesar]

Just to let you know I don't feel so bad about not being able to handle the forward going horses I mentioned. A friend of mine, who is a far more experienced rider than me, saw the first horse I was riding and said there was no way she would ride it. She wouldn't feel safe, and apparently the person riding it could not keep it back!!!

It seems I am not alone!!

[DavidH]

Hi Leesar,
I think your original post has been well answered but as to is 1 year a lot of experience? No, I don't think you should be jumping 3ft jumps. Even if you rode every week including christmas that would meen you have spent 52 hours total in the saddle. To put that in to perspective, not much longer than an average working week. Now would you expect to be able to handle any horse or jump after just one working week? And yes, all horses are very different, they are individuals and what works with one does not necessarily work quite as well with another. To give you an example, when my wife took her BHS stage 3 she had to lunge a horse as part of the exam. As it was an exam she was lunging it by the book. After a few minutes the examiner ask her if that was the way she would work this particular horse if he wasn't watching? Being an honest sort of person she said No! His reply was "then pretend I'm not here". She did, and she past!
Just keep at it and you will achieve all you want to.
Ps.
Just to make life really interesting you will find as you gain experience that the SAME horse will rarely behave exactly the same way twice in a row.

[Wally]

I spent nearly 52 hours in the saddle this WEEK! I don't like going over 3 foot fences. Also to back up what David H said, the same horse rarely behaves the same way twice. We have a bomb proof, safe, steady, well behaved school master. (or so I thought!!) He had just Nannied some complete novices out on a hack. I then needed a horse to work sheep with. (We were doing a round up) You'll do thinks I, so I get on board and start work. He got so excited that bomb proof, steady, slow, safe turned in to Mr. Hyde, he bombed round like a thing gone mad, couldn't contain himself any longer, put his head down and shook it so much that I nearly came off. (I was laughing so much!)

Beware, just because they have been slow and well behaved in the past, it doesn't mean they always will be. I thought I knew him well.

[Mossy]

Wally
Amen to that. My daughter, husband and self took ourselves for a trip to Dartmoor, riding respectively a 20+ Welsh mare with a reputation for sluggishness, my beloved Moss, and me on a flighty 6yr old Welsh Cob whose idea of fun is 6ft up and 10' sideways in one bound. He shies at granite blocks, which, on Dartmoor, makes for an interesting ride!
Guess who was leading the group and trying to take off at every opportunity!? My daughter had her work cut out and gave her schooling whip to my husband as she had no need for it at all. The yard owner said, when we told him, that if it was not us he would not have belived it.