Hello to you all!
Skip this part if you get bored:
This is my first post on this forum but I have been around for some time (and found TONS of useful advise here).
Here it goes:
I am not a novice rider, I have been riding for 3 years now, but I have changed lots of RI (because of frequent moves), so there was no continuity in my schooling.
Where I live now, there is no riding school, but we have a riding club here, where they keep the movie horses. These horses are all experienced, well behaved, well trained, know lots of different tricks etc, but these are not school horses. They can rent a horse to you, there will be someone to watch you (kind of RI), but they do not teach you in the way a riding school teaches you.
Up till yesterday, I was satisfied with my riding. People there have told me I had a good seat etc. But yesterday I had major dissapointement: The club is moving to another location and they took the fence apart, so the outdoor arena had no fence any more. But the worst part is that the arena is located very close to the stable (about 20m).
So I got this stunning 9yo arab mare (Cleo). I have ridden her once before, and she was a sweetie then. Also, I have seen less experienced riders riding her and she was no problem. Yesterday, the first 10 minutes were wonderful, but then I simply could not keep her on the arena, she kept moving into the direction of the stables no matter what I did. I do not like very strong contact, I ride with a slight loop in the reins and when I need to turn to the left, for example, I kind of sponge the left rein and gently nudge with the right leg. RI kept telling me that I was too soft with the horses and I needed a to be firmer, but it worked well up till now and the horses almost always ended up going where I wanted them to go.
RI told me to steer the folowing way:
When I want to go left, move both hands to the left, so that the right rein comes firmly against the neck, and the left rein pulls the head into the needed direction. Also, he told me not to open the left rein, and keep my hands down. And apply the right leg. Also, he told me to shorten the reins a lot. So I ended up with about 40 cm (!!!) reins. It worked, the mere did not go to the stable any more, but I could feel that she tensed and was not very happy.
So, how do you steer? And what do you do if the horse wants to go somewhere else, but you have to keep him on the ground? How do you use the inside and the outside reins?
Help!!! I dont know what to do!!!
Skip this part if you get bored:
This is my first post on this forum but I have been around for some time (and found TONS of useful advise here).
Here it goes:
I am not a novice rider, I have been riding for 3 years now, but I have changed lots of RI (because of frequent moves), so there was no continuity in my schooling.
Where I live now, there is no riding school, but we have a riding club here, where they keep the movie horses. These horses are all experienced, well behaved, well trained, know lots of different tricks etc, but these are not school horses. They can rent a horse to you, there will be someone to watch you (kind of RI), but they do not teach you in the way a riding school teaches you.
Up till yesterday, I was satisfied with my riding. People there have told me I had a good seat etc. But yesterday I had major dissapointement: The club is moving to another location and they took the fence apart, so the outdoor arena had no fence any more. But the worst part is that the arena is located very close to the stable (about 20m).
So I got this stunning 9yo arab mare (Cleo). I have ridden her once before, and she was a sweetie then. Also, I have seen less experienced riders riding her and she was no problem. Yesterday, the first 10 minutes were wonderful, but then I simply could not keep her on the arena, she kept moving into the direction of the stables no matter what I did. I do not like very strong contact, I ride with a slight loop in the reins and when I need to turn to the left, for example, I kind of sponge the left rein and gently nudge with the right leg. RI kept telling me that I was too soft with the horses and I needed a to be firmer, but it worked well up till now and the horses almost always ended up going where I wanted them to go.
RI told me to steer the folowing way:
When I want to go left, move both hands to the left, so that the right rein comes firmly against the neck, and the left rein pulls the head into the needed direction. Also, he told me not to open the left rein, and keep my hands down. And apply the right leg. Also, he told me to shorten the reins a lot. So I ended up with about 40 cm (!!!) reins. It worked, the mere did not go to the stable any more, but I could feel that she tensed and was not very happy.
So, how do you steer? And what do you do if the horse wants to go somewhere else, but you have to keep him on the ground? How do you use the inside and the outside reins?
Help!!! I dont know what to do!!!
