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Permalink Reply by Jackie Cochran on June 10, 2010 at 11:49am

Patience, with yourself AND your horse.
It takes a LONG time to become a good rider. It takes a LONG time to train a horse well.
I've ridden for over 40 years and I still have to work on things. I will always have to work on things. This , to me, is the great thing about horses, you never run out of things to learn. Whenever you think you know it all you can be pretty sure that the next horse you ride will promptly prove that you know nothing. After a decade or so of this happening you start becoming good, and after a decade or more of experience after this is when new horses stop proving that you know nothing, though occasionally one will still leave you feeling like the biggest fool in the world.
My biggest advance in my riding came when I learned to time my aids to the horse's footfalls (after riding for over 20 years.) That was when I started becoming a GOOD rider (as judged by riding teachers, and more importantly, by the horses I ride.) It takes a LOT of riding to develop your feel.
Give yourself time. Listen to the horses you ride and work with, they can be your best teachers.
And RIDE, and WORK WITH THE HORSES. This is the main way to learn. Try to ride and work with as many different horses as you can, this way you can find out where you need to work on your horsemanship.
All you need is to want it bad enough to work hard enough to get there. Everyone gets discouraged. The people who become good riders just keep working at it even if it feels like they are going nowhere for a while. And they ALWAYS try to improve. At least I did.
Another thing that helped me was reading a lot of books on riding. Of course it took me just as long to UNDERSTAND what the authors were saying as it took me to become a good rider. For the first decade reading mostly helped me avoid ruining my horse, after 20 years or so of reading and riding I finally understood most of what I was reading and I was able to use some of the knowledge.
Of course, though, the most important thing is to listen to your horses. THEY are the ones who teach us how to be good horsemen and riders.

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Permalink Reply by Jennifer Lamm on June 10, 2010 at 12:21pm

Jackie has encouraged me more times than I know... hi Jackie!! I've had horses for 6 years..... I rode dangerously and stupidly for about 3 of those years.... took my horse out in the road because we trailride here in L.A. and I just realized i honestly knew not at all how to control my horse. I decided to quit being scared all the time because just riding and riding and not really emotionally having it under control didn't work for me. Like during the ride I was kind of unsure, trying to breathe and enjoy and then an hour or two of survival I'd get home thankfully getting off the horse... .... now I am going through a curriculem that I put myself through, with various trainers, and I got down off my horse..... so I'm not much of a connosieur of horseback riding by any means.... geez, I'm trying to have a relationship with my horse and I make a ton of mistakes.... when I took hypnotherapy my therapist said to remember not to give the horse an adjective.... they are horses period and all the mistakes are on the handler..... 3 years is not a long time and you don't give much of a description about what your setbacks are but I wish you the best of luck.... I'm working on groundwork with my mustang..... then I want to learn to ride him bareback.... that is going to take forever and I want to start where Jackie went 20 years later with understanding where his feet are and how to move them..... I'm not at all where you are at and I'm not even riding anymore, but I have a super great connection to my horses. ... it needs physical application now... .... I do yoga and I try and do it with my older horse... physical suppleness can help with your riding..... is that what you are referring to? like what are your setbacks? I'm walking more, eating better, quit smoking, it is hard work to work a horse.... I think I've lost 9 pounds since I started.... but at the moment I'm still grounded... and sometimes I feel like a loser that I'm not riding... but then Clinton Anderson said something in my no worries email.... "It is better to be on the ground with your horse than on the back of him wishing you were on the ground"... if like Jackie says, you get to ride alot of horses, that's cool.... I'm working on getting along exclusively with the ones I have here... horses and I aren't real comfy around each other yet....

let's hear all about your riding..... Oliver and I are going to do Trail Trials if he can get along with people and horses, but otherwise I'll trail ride him and I will take him camping.... we ride Western....

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Permalink Reply by Jackie Cochran on June 10, 2010 at 8:25pm

As Jennifer has correctly pointed out there are many ways of expressing true horsemanship.

And yes, please tell us about your riding. I have made most of the mistakes in the book.

Due to being horse poor most of my adult life I did not get to ride that many different horses. I did buy weanlings and learned how to train them up to saddle--3 horses, reclaim a crazy ruined mare that my parents gave to me, make a ruined pony somewhat rideable, and of course take my first horse from green-broke to becoming a confidence builder to a dressage rider. Now that I no longer have my own horses I am finally getting to ride more different horses than I have ever before in my life.

I would read the horse books, try to understand what was being said, try it out on my horses, and the few times it worked incorporate it into my method. Now as a disabled rider (MS) I use what I know to help the horses put up with the irritations my handicap gives them (tremors, balance problems, coordination problems, etc.) I have a deal with horses now, I do not torture them and in return they do not actively hurt me. I am so weak that I REALLY depend on the horse's good will.
I think I remember, when I was riding seriously for a few years, of coming to a complete standstill. During this time I thought I was learning nothing, but I was wrong, my body was learning how to ride, and I am still using what my body learned at that time in my riding today.
You want to improve. This is excellent, this is the necessary first step for true achievement down the road.

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Permalink Reply by Krystal.b on June 11, 2010 at 2:51am

Thanx Jackie and Jennifer

I do read alot of books, which I just love to do.
I have been going backwards and forwards because when we started to live in the country we were living next to three horse that I looked after for two years. I used to ride the 2nd oldest, he name was ashling and she was a connemara grey mare. She and her owner used to teach me how to ride. I was going great and doing horseback riding and starting to canter when one day we went for a trail ride and she bolted off on me and I fell off. I didn't hurt myself that bad but it did traumatiz me. I was scared to ride her again but I didn't tell anyone. After that I had two more and both of the was because she bolted, the third time I got winded and was all by myself. After we moved down the road and got my horse Charm today, so I don't look after them anymore. I was a bit scared still when I was riding Charm but know I do pony club and that has helped me alot. About 5 weeks ago Charm bucked me off while I was cantering and I got winded and I broke my wrist (still in plaster today) I am not scared to ride her again but she has been a bit lost, I think it is because she is the only horse we have and there aren't any other horses except in the corner. She has so much energy but she can't let it out. I can't lunge, my mum is pregnant and my dad isn't very good with horses. So that is my experience and my riding. My mum told me this affternoon that we are going to take Charm to a trainer to teach her good manners. I was a bit upset cause I know I will miss her but I know it will do her good. It is only a week but i love her heaps. I don't excpect alot out of her cause she is just young. thanx for replying :)

Sorry if i am not clear but i can't really comunicate very good :)

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Permalink Reply by Jackie Cochran on June 11, 2010 at 11:26am

I take it you are young (nothing wrong with that!) and are learning yourself. Your mom is right about sending the horse to the trainer. If it is at all possible I WOULD TAKE LESSONS FROM THE TRAINER so you can learn what signals he has taught Charm.
When your wrist heals AND you have regained the strength in that arm lunging is an excellent idea. Since you are young and she is young I would first teach her WALK and WHOA while leading her, then start the first several sessions on the lunge at a walk, working on walk and whoa. Then realize that you will probably have to teach her all over again at the trot, and then all over again at the canter. If she blasts off on the lunge line remember that it is better to drop the lunge line than to get dragged (I had to learn this, luckily I had sense enough to drop the lunge line!) Be sure to close the gate before you lunge! If you do not have a ring on your place try to find a corner of the paddock that has safe fencing, and use some sort of markers to make a border on the other side (traffic cones, hay bales, just something that the horse can see.) Remember to pull and release, the horse is stronger than any person, even men have to pull and release.
I would ask your Pony Club instructor to work on you with your lower leg. Some horses get real picky about heels that dig into their sides. Proper grip comes from the top third of your calf, the heels should only touch the horse to give signals, and then you promptly release the pressure. Keeping the heel in her side will just make her go faster, because that is what you are telling her to do.
Krystal, you are still trying. You have courage. You just need to learn how to ride properly, then one day it will be magical, your horse will do what you want her to do. This is what happened to me.
Take care of yourself, dear.
Oh, how young is Charm? If she is from 2 to 4 years old she is still in her awkward stage, and it will be hard for ANYBODY to get a good performance out of her. Send her to the trainer, and afterwards work with her on the ground until she obeys your voice commands, practice with your voice commands when you ride her, be sure to keep your heels out of her sides, and you will have learned the first stages of properly training a horse. Perfection comes only after years of work so don't get down on yourself if she (and you) are not perfect right away.

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Permalink Reply by Krystal.b on June 11, 2010 at 7:53pm

Thank you so much Jackie

Yes I am young, I am only 13 years going onto 14. Charm is 3 years and her last oner was 18 and she has taught her to walk and whoa and all that stuff but yet again she is young. Thanx for all of the advice. You sound like a lovely lady.

Thanx again :)

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