Hi all. I’ve been riding 12 months now, in a group lesson, once a week. I’ve been cantering 4-5 months in, and recently started jumping at a trot. The school I go to assigns me a new horse every week, and each horse has their problems which can make lessons frustrating at times.
Sometimes, I ride this one horse who I have a lot of trouble controlling in a canter. Once he gets going, he tends to bomb around the arena, cutting off other horses, cutting corners, and refusing to listen to directions from me to turn, slow down or stop. Even worse, we had a substitute instructor today who egged me on during the canter, and once the horse got going, we were a mess. I know it’s my fault, not the horse’s. Another (much more experienced) rider in a private lesson running simultaneously with mine rode this horse before and he was calm and collected with her during the canter, so I know he’s capable of this. What am I doing wrong?
The same horse also gives me a lot of trouble during grooming and tacking. If I let him eat while I groom him, he’s docile and cooperative. However, if I tie him up, he becomes very salty. He will paw at the ground and refuse to pick his feet up (I’ve tried everything: horse cookies, leaning into him, getting him to move around a bit first, twisting/pulling the chestnut, nothing works). If I manage to get a hoof up, he’ll angrily slam it back down on the ground 2 seconds later. The school insists on horses being tied while grooming (I don’t know why this is), but I’ve given up on this after a stablehand “helped” me by punching this horse’s barrel to get him to behave.
Normally, I ride stubborn and lazy horses. Many of them refuse to turn when I ask. I use plenty of leg pressure, and add the outside rein, but the horse continues to refuse, preferring to follow his friends. Some of these horses also cut corners, especially during the canter. I know I’m supposed to do light pulls on the outside rein as we’re approaching the corner, but the horse takes this as an invitation to slow down to a trot. How do I fix this?
I do have issues myself as a rider which I’m working on. I tend to lean my upper body forward while I post (I get anxious about hurting the horse during posting, so I was leaning forward to make the landing softer). I also tend to stick my elbows out, and my hands are often in the wrong position (too high or too low). I do my best to correct this as much as possible without my trainer telling me, but I’m not sure if these mistakes are contributing to the above problems.
Sorry this is long. Thank you if you made it this far. I haven’t had much opportunity to ask for help.
Sometimes, I ride this one horse who I have a lot of trouble controlling in a canter. Once he gets going, he tends to bomb around the arena, cutting off other horses, cutting corners, and refusing to listen to directions from me to turn, slow down or stop. Even worse, we had a substitute instructor today who egged me on during the canter, and once the horse got going, we were a mess. I know it’s my fault, not the horse’s. Another (much more experienced) rider in a private lesson running simultaneously with mine rode this horse before and he was calm and collected with her during the canter, so I know he’s capable of this. What am I doing wrong?
The same horse also gives me a lot of trouble during grooming and tacking. If I let him eat while I groom him, he’s docile and cooperative. However, if I tie him up, he becomes very salty. He will paw at the ground and refuse to pick his feet up (I’ve tried everything: horse cookies, leaning into him, getting him to move around a bit first, twisting/pulling the chestnut, nothing works). If I manage to get a hoof up, he’ll angrily slam it back down on the ground 2 seconds later. The school insists on horses being tied while grooming (I don’t know why this is), but I’ve given up on this after a stablehand “helped” me by punching this horse’s barrel to get him to behave.
Normally, I ride stubborn and lazy horses. Many of them refuse to turn when I ask. I use plenty of leg pressure, and add the outside rein, but the horse continues to refuse, preferring to follow his friends. Some of these horses also cut corners, especially during the canter. I know I’m supposed to do light pulls on the outside rein as we’re approaching the corner, but the horse takes this as an invitation to slow down to a trot. How do I fix this?
I do have issues myself as a rider which I’m working on. I tend to lean my upper body forward while I post (I get anxious about hurting the horse during posting, so I was leaning forward to make the landing softer). I also tend to stick my elbows out, and my hands are often in the wrong position (too high or too low). I do my best to correct this as much as possible without my trainer telling me, but I’m not sure if these mistakes are contributing to the above problems.
Sorry this is long. Thank you if you made it this far. I haven’t had much opportunity to ask for help.
