Another OH's riding adventure

[Sparklie]

I managed to convince my OH to go to the farm with me last week. He's been a couple of times since I bought Twig but isn't too keen on helping me muck out and standing about while I ride. Anyway last Tuesday was sunny so I convinced him to come with me and promised that he could walk up to the plantation (small hilly, grassy area with a lot of small trees and a few XC jumps) and I'd ride up there.

Somehow I managed to convince him to get on and ride for a bit too :eek: Typically he had a fairly ok position and Twig wasn't too upset about carrying him about while he got the hang of things. OH rode for about 10 mins with me walking next to him and then got back off.

Thursday comes around and OH pipes up with 'I might come to the farm with you again today' :p hehehe Got him back on Twig in the plantation and he had another little ride. He practiced steering which he wasn't very good at...in fact he rode into a tree!!!! :rolleyes: only a little twiggy type tree but it did make me laugh as he nearly tipped off backwards. He also had a go at trot with him holding the neck strap while I held Twig. He was even starting to get the hang of rising by the time he'd finished riding.

Anyway...another of the liveries saw him riding and has offered me the use of her gorgeous bombproof pony :) He's a little superstar and often takes her totally novice OH out on hacks...just kind of follows whoever is in front at the same pace. So tomorrow we're going to borrow said gorgeous pony and hopefully go for a quiet plod through the fields. OH will be on the end of a leadrope to start with to see how he does but fingers crossed it'll go well :)

Will we have another NR OH (too many abbreviations!!) bitten by the horse bug!?

[Whatanejit]

Oh well done Twig's mum and OH!

It makes life so much easier when the OHs are into horses too - even if just a little bit:p

Well done Twig for being such a good horse to put up with a beginner.

Remember pics the next time:D

xx

[Supercali]

I'd watch out if I were you :eek: - My OH got the bug and then got his own horse and worships him (more than me :rolleyes: ) :D

[sweuzo]

my Oh is having his very first lesson on saturday, hes never been on a horse.. hopefully he'll love it and go every week and finally want a horse as much as i do :D heehee

[domane]

I'm telling you - these OH's will be hijacking OUR New Rider boards next..... or is that one step too far??? :D

Well done Mr Sparklie for enjoying yourself on a patient Twig! We must have photos too though.... :D

[cazrider]

My OH got the bug Oh yes indeedy. Richard spent half an hour telling me all the details about his lesson last Sunday.;) But it does have its uses. He's now quite willing to hold Sennie for me, get him out of the stable etc. Still draws the line at the mucking out part though.:(

He also admits it's kind of mechanical or intellectual thing for him. In that what he likes is working out what he has to do to so that the horse does what he wants it to. There's none of this grown up My Little Pony thing that is a fair to enormous chunk of why I have my cuddly Sennie.:o ;)

[Imp]

Do you know, my OH absolutely LOVES my Megan so much, and I know it, but I know he'll never (I'll say it again NEVER) ride her.

He loves animals, our ducks, hens, dog and senile cat and tonight popped into the stable whilst I was mucking out (on his way home from work) and was upset that Megs had been kicked - another story. He was also worried that her snackaball wasn't working as it usually did - snorting, tailflicking, stomping mare in the stable confirmed that, so he went in and gave it a good shaking to make sure it worked ok (so did my 15 year old son - all concerned he was - bless :) ) :rolleyes: They say we're soppy :p

[Lucyad]

My OH rode as a little kid, and has been known to go out in the middle of the night (OK 7pm in Scotland in winter) and feed the horses and bring them in, but I can't actually recall actual mucking out. He did hijack a hack / walk once with me (7.5 months pregant), my share mare's owner, dog and welsh section A yearling I was in possesion of at the time. He decided that me and owner were too slow, and ended up riding mare, leading filly, and dog walking to heel (why doesnt she do that for me!) at the other side, miles away up quite a busy road!!! We wer a bit worried, i must say, but it ended well (they came back). Unlike another hack when he decided to have a go, when share mare took him for a gallop, terminating with a swift U bend into a waist deep river! Needless to say, OH was stuck there on imobile laughing mare (did I mention she is a cob!), in middle of river with saddle gradually slipping round under her belly! Absolutely hilarious!!!!

Havent let him on Oscar yet though - he is my precious baby with precious baby soft mouth. Might make him have lessons first or tie a knot in his reins and make him go no hands! Would put him on one of neighbour's cobs instead but they are all so mental he would be put of for life!

[iluvhorses28]

Awww....I AM JEALOUS! My OH has been on a horse twice last year...on rental horses for my daughter's bday... now we finally got 2 of our very own...and not sure if he'll have nay real interest...
I think he is already up to his neck with horse chatter in the house :p

But good for your OH! Wish mine would be even remotely interested... all he knows is he is paying for something her has only seen twice in the last 3 months.:rolleyes:

OH WELL...
Glad to hear your version of it! HAVE FUN!!

[Sparklie]

We went on our lovely little hack yesterday :D

It was such a gorgeously (a word!?!) sunny day too...very nice. We got to the farm and got Twig ready to ride. He's had a week off with a sore spot on his lip (lower than where his bit was but I ride with a flash so I havn't ridden in case the flash irritated it) so I thought he'd be full of beans. Twig usually prances everywhere...although recently he has decided that walking is allowed sometimes too. Here is super sexy Twig...his summer coat has come through and he looks orange now!! (please excuse the OH's squinting...the sun was behind the camera!)

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a231/SparklieH/P1010083.jpg

Then we went to the field and caught our borrowed pony for the day, Jasper. He's lovely, a cute, chubby, skewbald cob and a perfect beginners pony so ideal for us to borrow for the day.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a231/SparklieH/P1010088.jpg

No ridden photos as Twig wasn't keen to hang about once OH had mounted and I have anyone to hang onto him for me. Also no hacking photos as it was so warm I didn't ride in a jacket...hello summer!!!!

We set off down the lane with OH on the end of a leadrope and Jasper having to be dragged as he didn't want to leave the yard :rolleyes: He was quite happy in his field and didn't really understand why we'd dragged him out of there. He soon perked up though and we managed to wander all the way to the next farm before he decided he'd had enough and stopped dead. :cool: OH kicked and growled at him but he was having none of it so for some silly reason I asked if he wanted to ride Twig instead. Of course he jumped at the chance as he loves Twig so we swapped.

I managed to get Jasper going again (typical pony, as soon as he knew that I could ride he realised he'd better behave) and started to panic that OH would be ok. Twig is a very speedy pony and once he gets going takes a lot of stopping, add this to his usual jogging and acting like a bit of an idiot and combine with a completely novice rider and it just spells out trouble.

Twig was an angel! :D Didn't put a foot wrong all ride. OH let him wander along on a loose rein and even did a few short trots on him pulling him up easily afterwards. I'm a super proud mum and a super proud girlfriend!!!!

We swapped again when we got close to home so that I could take Twig for a canter. We split up so that I could do this. The field we were in splits into 2 forks and the forks meet at the top. I took the slightly longer one and cantered off...OH took the other one in walk....atleast that's what I thought. We the forks met up again I was suprised to see him waiting for me :o 'I think I cantered' he said....:eek: what!?!

Apparently Jasper had decided that he was close to home and had seen Twig dissapear off in canter so he started trotting up his fork. OH decided, ah trot, I can do this, you just regulate your bouncing so that you're rising up and down in a 2 time beat. He was coping well with that when Jasper went faster and he realised that the beat wasn't 2 time anymore and rising was virtually impossible :p So he just clung onto a bit of mane and rose out of his saddle a little into a light seat and then asked Jasper to stop when they got to the top. Typical I leave him alone for 2 minutes!!

So there you go...our lovely day out. Tired boys after our ride
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a231/SparklieH/P1010085.jpg

[cazrider]

Sounds great Sparklie.:D What a lovely ride.

[Sparklie]

it was :)

just wanted to add...OH found my saddle very small. Does anyone else find this with their OHs? Twig was such a pain to fit a saddle to that I can't really borrow anything with a bigger seat to put on him. His saddle is only 16.5" so no wonder OH (who has big thighs from lots of running and sport playing a couple of years ago) finds it a tight fit.

Time to start him off riding bareback!?! :D

[*toHorse&Away*]

Can't help on the saddle thing I'm afraid as mine bails the minute he has dropped me off at the yard!!! LOL!!!:p :D ;)

[DITZ]

Wow what a great ride. I wish my OH would come with me but he wont. He did ride with me a few times with me when we first starting dating but it hurt his bum cheeks!

[Bronya]

I got my OH into riding, and he was doing well on Mysti, until she got a bit of spring in her step this week and started playing up! Now he's going to improve his balance on the pony for a while (no saddle, so the balance should get VERY improved!!), as she's the 'oh, do I HAVE to go faster than walk?' type, rather than Mysti, who's in a 'yay, let's go, faster and faster and faster!' mood at the moment!