Skib
5th Mar 2006, 11:39 AM
We've had threads abut the merits and difficulties riding in a school, as opposed to out hacking. One poster last week even said that she FORCED her Mum who loved hacking to do schooling. Poor lady, I thought.
We had a thread too about setting goals, to which I was too nervous to contribute. But now I have had one lesson back in the school, I will admit it this is my goal and if I post about it, it may help others who are struggling and the teachers who try to help us.
In my first 18 months of riding I learned in a school and could trot shapes etc on riding school ponies. But I was stressed out and bullied when it came to canter, so I changed tack and learned to canter out hacking. For two years I combined hacking with weekly lessons, mostly on the lunge. So though I have learned to ride, there is a black hole in the middle. Put me in a school and I am bound to fail. eml has rightly observed that you get a good seat on the lunge but dont discover how to motivate a horse in the school.
I chose to make my first try with a horse I often hack and with an AI who knows my riding from hacking out.
Did I feel nervous? Yes. legs quite jellyish before I got on. I felt like I was going to take a BHS exam. I think one of the causes is the humiliation. It seems you can ride, the horse thinks you can ride (very important) and then suddenly you get into a situation where you manifestly can't ride. It is loss of face. And because it is hopeless, you dont try it and teachers kindly help you avoid it. However, it is a truth that one cannot learn to do anything on a horse unless one actually does it.
When we got to the school, I tried to trot round the school and failed. I was relieved because I wanted the instructor to see I couldnt do it - otherwise it would have been like taking your car to the garage with a problem that somehow doesnt show up once the engineer looks at it.
1. As we discussed the alternatives I might use to get this horse to trot forward. I had a moment of total revelation. In a school, I am set a task, e.g. to trot as far as A. and I fail to reach the target.
Out hacking there are no targets. One's speed has to be instantly adjusted to cyclists and loose dogs. What I have learned out hacking is to choose the moment for any transition, not just upward, but downward too. Out hacking I dont allow my horse to stop trotting or cantering until the moment of my choosing. Once I adopted this mode in the school, thinking of each step at a time, she trotted all the way round on both reins.
2. The instructor said that it looked good. She even tried to stop me early because she assumed it was child's play to me.
I said to her that it had not felt good, and there had been no guarantee we would go on trotting. Then she said the interesting thing: That that was as good as it got with that horse in a school. Could it be that those of us who learn to ride easily out on the trail may get a false idea of what it feels like to ride competently in a school? That I have been aspiring to an effortless floating trot which is not possible on the sort of RS horse I was using.
3. Canter. Our trot was such a labour that canter must have come as a relief for both the mare and me. The horse gave me canter each time on asking. The teacher was surprised. But horses always understand my ask for canter. This was totally different to my early years of canter in the school. When sometimes I failed to get canter or in my heart didnt really want canter at all.
For anyone struggling with canter in the first year or two of riding, I can safely say that if you've been cantering happily in the open for a couple of years, as I have, canter in a school is no longer a nightmare. I didnt canter her straight or keep my hands still enough or try her bad lead, but one can't do everything on day one.
4. The RI pointed out that it was a safe school to canter in because it was so big. I am particularly frightened of indoor schools. I came away trembling from one yard we visited and though I made an appointment to watch a lesson there, I didnt dare keep it.
So I looked at this big outdoor school where I felt safe cantering and realised that if you put a roof over it, it would be identical to the big indoor schools which so terrify me. Possibly they frighten me because I have seen people ride problem horses that they bring to demos - horses that wont stop and I have also read posts here about canter lessons which go wrong. But everything is relative. My experience as a happy hacker was that, even in a big school, my horse went no faster than she does out on an open track. In fact she cantered slower than we go most days.
I dont pretend to be over the hill. Nor would I recommend other learners to do as I did and end up with eccentric gaps in their riding skills. But it does seem that one can transfer skills from hacking, back into the school. I feel particularly cheerful that I know how to trot round a school. I came away believing I can probably do this on any horse and feeling like a normal rider.
There is a catch 22 situation perhaps. That, yes, it is disgraceful to ride for four years and still not be able to trot or canter round a school. It makes me every teacher's despair. But it is also possibly true that by not stressing yourself to reach goals, just enjoying riding for 4 years, the milestone tasks become manageable and the attendant risks insignificant.
We had a thread too about setting goals, to which I was too nervous to contribute. But now I have had one lesson back in the school, I will admit it this is my goal and if I post about it, it may help others who are struggling and the teachers who try to help us.
In my first 18 months of riding I learned in a school and could trot shapes etc on riding school ponies. But I was stressed out and bullied when it came to canter, so I changed tack and learned to canter out hacking. For two years I combined hacking with weekly lessons, mostly on the lunge. So though I have learned to ride, there is a black hole in the middle. Put me in a school and I am bound to fail. eml has rightly observed that you get a good seat on the lunge but dont discover how to motivate a horse in the school.
I chose to make my first try with a horse I often hack and with an AI who knows my riding from hacking out.
Did I feel nervous? Yes. legs quite jellyish before I got on. I felt like I was going to take a BHS exam. I think one of the causes is the humiliation. It seems you can ride, the horse thinks you can ride (very important) and then suddenly you get into a situation where you manifestly can't ride. It is loss of face. And because it is hopeless, you dont try it and teachers kindly help you avoid it. However, it is a truth that one cannot learn to do anything on a horse unless one actually does it.
When we got to the school, I tried to trot round the school and failed. I was relieved because I wanted the instructor to see I couldnt do it - otherwise it would have been like taking your car to the garage with a problem that somehow doesnt show up once the engineer looks at it.
1. As we discussed the alternatives I might use to get this horse to trot forward. I had a moment of total revelation. In a school, I am set a task, e.g. to trot as far as A. and I fail to reach the target.
Out hacking there are no targets. One's speed has to be instantly adjusted to cyclists and loose dogs. What I have learned out hacking is to choose the moment for any transition, not just upward, but downward too. Out hacking I dont allow my horse to stop trotting or cantering until the moment of my choosing. Once I adopted this mode in the school, thinking of each step at a time, she trotted all the way round on both reins.
2. The instructor said that it looked good. She even tried to stop me early because she assumed it was child's play to me.
I said to her that it had not felt good, and there had been no guarantee we would go on trotting. Then she said the interesting thing: That that was as good as it got with that horse in a school. Could it be that those of us who learn to ride easily out on the trail may get a false idea of what it feels like to ride competently in a school? That I have been aspiring to an effortless floating trot which is not possible on the sort of RS horse I was using.
3. Canter. Our trot was such a labour that canter must have come as a relief for both the mare and me. The horse gave me canter each time on asking. The teacher was surprised. But horses always understand my ask for canter. This was totally different to my early years of canter in the school. When sometimes I failed to get canter or in my heart didnt really want canter at all.
For anyone struggling with canter in the first year or two of riding, I can safely say that if you've been cantering happily in the open for a couple of years, as I have, canter in a school is no longer a nightmare. I didnt canter her straight or keep my hands still enough or try her bad lead, but one can't do everything on day one.
4. The RI pointed out that it was a safe school to canter in because it was so big. I am particularly frightened of indoor schools. I came away trembling from one yard we visited and though I made an appointment to watch a lesson there, I didnt dare keep it.
So I looked at this big outdoor school where I felt safe cantering and realised that if you put a roof over it, it would be identical to the big indoor schools which so terrify me. Possibly they frighten me because I have seen people ride problem horses that they bring to demos - horses that wont stop and I have also read posts here about canter lessons which go wrong. But everything is relative. My experience as a happy hacker was that, even in a big school, my horse went no faster than she does out on an open track. In fact she cantered slower than we go most days.
I dont pretend to be over the hill. Nor would I recommend other learners to do as I did and end up with eccentric gaps in their riding skills. But it does seem that one can transfer skills from hacking, back into the school. I feel particularly cheerful that I know how to trot round a school. I came away believing I can probably do this on any horse and feeling like a normal rider.
There is a catch 22 situation perhaps. That, yes, it is disgraceful to ride for four years and still not be able to trot or canter round a school. It makes me every teacher's despair. But it is also possibly true that by not stressing yourself to reach goals, just enjoying riding for 4 years, the milestone tasks become manageable and the attendant risks insignificant.