Back in the saddle

[Scottie]

It's amazing how untrue the whole "it's just like riding a bike" cliche is!
Yesterday I went riding again for the first time in 15 yrs (incidentally, I'm 31). I went with my son who's almost 10 years old. It seemed like a good idea, we both have a interest in it and, unlike rugby, we could do it together!
My son sat deep when shown how to ... I sat either like a sack of spuds or as if someone washed my boxers in starch!
It was super to see how easy it is to ride when relaxed but disciplined.
As soon as I got off the horse I was hooked again. I will keep going back to get rid of my old bad habits and will keep checing out this site for regular updates and tips on improving my riding.

The biggest problem I have is that I always used to ride with a very short stirrup ... this makes leg positioning difficult. However, when I lengthen the stirrup it make balancing slightly more difficult and I ended up pulling the rein to keep balance ... poor horse, didn't know whether to stop or go!

If anyone has any suggestions that might help me develop balance without using short stirrups, please let me know.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Scottie.

:)

[liz--y]

horses are just to adictive, i always ride in short shurrips to, try putting them down a hole at a time, when you can ride ok with that put it down again, is you get what i mean

[Scottie]

Thanks Liz,
I'll try your suggestion ... maybe try and convince the instructor as well!

L8R

Philip

[FRED]

Hi Scottie, welcome to NR and nice to see a Rugby player who likes horses and especialy riding. I only started 11 months ago
at a, maturer age....I was rugby player,2nd row.Could do 400m in under 58 sec too,and tried so hard to make it into Staffs County team,always got played out of position, and retrial and retrial. I have to laugh at the average persons perception of rugby players, at least rugby players have never perfected Dying Fly Trick on the pitch and ho if only magic sponge worked in Rugby.

Anyway, riding in short stirrups, I'm afraid the answer to your problem is:
practise,practise and more practise,when you no longer feel like a sack of spuds, you will know that your seat and balance have improved and so will your confidence not to balance on the reins.
I looked at it this way,time spent on a horses can't be bad.Take it steady for a while,till your seat and balance improve,they soon will with time.
Best regards from Fred.