what other things did you use to do in your lessons that are no longer used/ frowned upon? we had to do rising trot without stirrups- horrible!
Following on from cavaletti thread...
- Thread starter stressy
- Start date
I used to have to do that lol, actually had to do that in one of my lessons in the easter hols lol,
we used to do all the round the world, thread the needle, scissors, half scissors etc, not seen anyone do that in a LONG time
All sorts! Round the world (it wasn't called that then) while the horses were going round the school, just about every lesson we did no stirrups or bareback and arms folded, reaching and touching bits of the horse when moving or stationary - some of the things, like "touch your horse's fetlock" I'm sure were deliberately designed to make you fall off! - lying down on the horses as they were going round - they must have been a pretty well-mannered bunch of ponies - they always seemed to just carry on round the outside of the school whatever we were doing to them! What we didn't do was working in an outline, getting the horse to bend etc - I think our lessons were more designed for teaching us how to stay on rather than technical stuff.
I think the RI I went to was fairly careful too - at my friends they used to let the kids that had been there a while just take a pony out for a hack with their friends, no supervisor. He was a dealer too so a lot of his ponies weren't trained in the RI and could have been complete nutters for all he knew!
Saying that, I don't recall anyone ever having a serious accident, not even any broken bones, maybe kids were made to bounce in those days.
I think the RI I went to was fairly careful too - at my friends they used to let the kids that had been there a while just take a pony out for a hack with their friends, no supervisor. He was a dealer too so a lot of his ponies weren't trained in the RI and could have been complete nutters for all he knew!
Saying that, I don't recall anyone ever having a serious accident, not even any broken bones, maybe kids were made to bounce in those days.
OMG the memories
Im might go down memory lane tomorrow and see if i can still do them. Look out for my 'i fell on my head today' thread haha
OMG the memories
loll, I might have a go aswell, we also used to do backward rolls off the side if the ponies
, don't think I'm brave enough to do that now though lol
My pupils still do round the worlds etc and jump grids without reins. Recently some had fun learning to gate vault over pony!
I think a great number of RS make excuses of H&S to cover the unsuitability of ponies , lack of helpers or inexperience of instructors. Most things can be done in a safe way, without pushing riders. Main difference these days is that if a rider is unwilling to do an exercise you don't shout at them until they do but find alternative ways to encourage them!!
I think a great number of RS make excuses of H&S to cover the unsuitability of ponies , lack of helpers or inexperience of instructors. Most things can be done in a safe way, without pushing riders. Main difference these days is that if a rider is unwilling to do an exercise you don't shout at them until they do but find alternative ways to encourage them!!
Around the world! Love it! Did it 21 years later for a bit of fun on Stormy - wasn't as supple as I remember.....hehehehee
Well I ride without stirrups for at least part of the time every time I ride in the school and still do rising trot without stirrups. My instructor also encourages us to canter without stirrups as soon as we are able. My daughter (now 14) still does "around the world" and "scissors" (but not our our boy - I think he would freak!) and kids at our old school (we left 6 months ago when we bought Kal) still dismount doing backward rolls. It's all about teaching stickability, balance and confidence in the saddle (helps to have sensible ponies and horses too though).
My instructor has also made me ride with my reins upside down or crossed over to teach me to have softer hands, coordination, or holding a whip across my hands to help me keep my hands as a pair.
When we had Nell and Katie, we all rode Katie bareback - Em even cantered her bareback in the school (but fell off when Katie stumbled - ooops!).
As long as you wear the appropriate protection and take necessary precautions, it's all good for developing seat and balance (IMHO).
N
My instructor has also made me ride with my reins upside down or crossed over to teach me to have softer hands, coordination, or holding a whip across my hands to help me keep my hands as a pair.
When we had Nell and Katie, we all rode Katie bareback - Em even cantered her bareback in the school (but fell off when Katie stumbled - ooops!).
As long as you wear the appropriate protection and take necessary precautions, it's all good for developing seat and balance (IMHO).
N
What's scissors?? Pictures would be nice
yeah I can't picture what the scissors are!
Wally when we seeing photos of you doing the backwards roll dismount then so we can see what we need to do!
hmmm hard to explain ..
I could never master it lol,
basically you have both feet out of your stirrups, you swing your legs and, now I can't remeber if it is infront of you or behind but when your legs are at their highest, you cross them over and twist round and you end up facing the other way .. I know I am no good at explaining, will try and find a vid lol
We still get our kids to do all those things (well not the backwards roll thing - maybe they should give it a go next Pony Club!) and all riders are encouraged to do lots of work without stirrups and/or reins. Our ponies are sensible but they're not plods, and sometimes kids fall off - they brush themselves down and get straight back on! Most of our kids are supremely confident (even the most novice ones) and I'm sure it's because of the things we get and/or allow them to do!
A few weeks ago I had a group of teens jumping a grid of eight 2ft uprights with a bounce between each one, with stirrups crossed and hands on their heads. It does wonders for their balance, and their positions really improved.
On Thursday I took a hack out and one of the girls elected to ride her favourite Shetland bareback - at one point she decided to ride down the hill backwards and the pony decided to trot and then canter off - the girl thought it was hilarious even when she was flat on her back in a ditch
Last weekend some of the girls were riding and jumping the Shetlands bareback in the school, I turned my back for half a minute and when I looked back there were two of them doubled up on one pony sailing over a 2ft upright
Luckily in Portugal we don't have all those stupid insurance restrictions that limit what UK riding schools can do. My boss is BHS trained and all the stuff she used to do that is now not allowed in the UK, she does out here anyway. We have a strict hat policy and expect our clients to be relatively sensible when they're in the saddle, but apart from that we're quite soft on them!
A few weeks ago I had a group of teens jumping a grid of eight 2ft uprights with a bounce between each one, with stirrups crossed and hands on their heads. It does wonders for their balance, and their positions really improved.
On Thursday I took a hack out and one of the girls elected to ride her favourite Shetland bareback - at one point she decided to ride down the hill backwards
and the pony decided to trot and then canter off - the girl thought it was hilarious even when she was flat on her back in a ditch Last weekend some of the girls were riding and jumping the Shetlands bareback in the school, I turned my back for half a minute and when I looked back there were two of them doubled up on one pony sailing over a 2ft upright
Luckily in Portugal we don't have all those stupid insurance restrictions that limit what UK riding schools can do. My boss is BHS trained and all the stuff she used to do that is now not allowed in the UK, she does out here anyway. We have a strict hat policy and expect our clients to be relatively sensible when they're in the saddle, but apart from that we're quite soft on them!
riding bareback, jumping bareback, riding/jumping without reins or stirrups, jumping grids with your hands on your head!
Round the world, scissors, half scissors, thread the needle...
wouldn't want to try any of them these days!
I could only do full scissors one way, you kicked your legs up over the horse's rump, crossed them, and twisted yourself around so you ended up sitting facing the horse's tail, then you had to do the same thing -kicking your legs over the horse's neck, to get yourself back the right way round- I couldn't do that part at all for some reason.
For half scissors you kicked one leg over the neck so you ended up sitting sideways, then crossed your legs and twisted around so you were laying on your belly over the horse's back, then you had to get yourself back into the saddle again without falling off!
Round the world, scissors, half scissors, thread the needle...
wouldn't want to try any of them these days!
I could only do full scissors one way, you kicked your legs up over the horse's rump, crossed them, and twisted yourself around so you ended up sitting facing the horse's tail, then you had to do the same thing -kicking your legs over the horse's neck, to get yourself back the right way round- I couldn't do that part at all for some reason.
For half scissors you kicked one leg over the neck so you ended up sitting sideways, then crossed your legs and twisted around so you were laying on your belly over the horse's back, then you had to get yourself back into the saddle again without falling off!
*groans* God... I did ALL of the above as a child.... and LOVED it!!! Not sure I could manage now Remember standing on pony's rump then sitting down behind saddle, sliding off over the back, round to the nearside, crawling under pony's belly and mounting from the wrong side too.
Remember standing on pony's rump then sitting down behind saddle, sliding off over the back, round to the nearside, crawling under pony's belly and mounting from the wrong side too.newrider.com