Wish I could ride properly

[dcp]

Just have the need to get something off my chest. I am such a crap rider!! :o I am all over the place in the school well we are all over the place. My contact is all wrong I am probably ruining Charlie because I am doing things so badly. Rising trot I have no balance poor Charlie! Boy could I do with a riding lesson or what? I am planning to get some but I need to get some cash together and more importantly I need someone quite understanding and patient. So many times I've been in tears with mean instructors :mad:. Anyway just thought I'd share how useless I'm feeling.

[eventerbabe]

i think we all get these crisis moments. i had one yesterday when schooling. i swear i'd have been better off saddling up a cow in the neighbouring field and asking them to do shoulder in coz toby and i were getting no-where. lessons really are the way to go when you get to a rut like this.

[andreaB]

I'm Having This Stage Too , I Literally Booked A Lesson Earlier Today , I've Decided I'd Serve Well From A Few Lessons On A Different Horse To My Own , After Riding A Friends Horse I Realised My Canter Strike Off Is Terrible These Days , Probably Cos My Main Horse Is So Easy To Move Up & Down Gaits

No One Knows It All!!

[Bay Mare]

Everyone has bad days though that probably won't make you feel any better about it all right now :)

On a positive note, you KNOW that you need to improve (don't we all) and it's good that you care about getting better. That in itself puts you on the road to being a better rider. The ones that I worry about are the ones who think that they know it all (they don't, it's a fact ;) )!

Your best option is to get some lessons, even if you can only afford once a fortnight or once a month at first. Something is better than nothing and it will, at least, give you some pointers as to what you are doing right and what you need to improve on.

Good luck

Andrea, please could you not put capital letters at the beginning of every word? It makes it really difficult to read :) Ta

[PromiseMe]

Aw, we all feel like that once in a while - because none of us are perfect. We are always learning!
I'm sure you're not a bad rider, next time you go ride, you'll probably have an awesome ride, look back and think "what was i ever thinking last week!"
Keep working at it! :) I've felt that way soo many times. But haha my friend told me this - IF you suck at riding now, that will change in time. And there is some wisdom in those words ;)

[busyb]

I know how frustrated you must feel because I am so unbalanced as well. I guess we will have to get their one day. Although I have been riding on and off for years I have always had a chair seat that never failed me. But now I am getting more ambitious and I aim to start jumping.

I have been advised by my school to not buy a horse until I sort out my balance. I was somewhat lucky that my past horse was so tolerant of my 'poor' riding skills that he didn't seem to care. Now I am leasing a standardbred who needs reschooling so we are learning our balance together, although I am uncertain as to whether I will improve my balance on such a horse. I am going to lessons but I find them so boring most of the time even though I am improving (slowly). I just want to canter everywhere which is the easiest gait for me but of course I would neglect improving my shoddy trot.

[KarinUS]

Can you get out of the school for a bit?
Trail riding has done wonders for my confidence and balance. You never know what kind of obstacles and challenges you will encounter and you can feel the horse under you adjusting to different terrain. Lots of things you think of while schooling indoors just tend to come naturally when out and about.

[Cheeky]

Hey!! I am sure your not bad at riding ... it is impossible to be perfect ... and, even if you feel like your trotting wrong, you maybe looking right :) That is what I am doing at the moment with my trotting sideways lol!!

Yes, I agree, getting a good quality instructor will help you - and if you find someone pacient, consistant and with creative ideas, you will deffantly benifit from it. When I teach my sister, her friends, and soon to be my friend, I never teach them the way the expect me to. I am usually getting them focusing on the inner eyelashes of the horse rather than the timing of their rising, because without realising it, they are rising correctly without thinking about it, then when I tell them, they are amazed and are albe to feel they are riding correctly (as well as looking, and me knowing they are riding correctly) because they have that confidence :)

That is a main reason I stopped full on lessons, is because the instructors arent as nice as some ... but now a good friend (older) teaches me once a week ... well, she gives us an exercise or an idea to have a go at and it works a treat :) Then we are left to work on it, and we ask if we need help ... itsa great system, but its only for friends lol!

I wish I could help :) I am going to start my instructing certificate after yr 12, and I may come over to the UK for a while also :) Good luck :)

[horsecrazy1972]

dont feel so bad, you recognise that you need a bit of help which is great but negative feelings can actually make it worse, when i couldnt get to grips with something in the school i used to get very frustrated, it then got worse, my instructor would get me to do something completly different to take my mind off it and then return to it later when i was calmer