How good were you when you first started riding a horse?

Gisele: How good were you when you first started riding a horse?
Title says some of it, but I’m wondering because it doesn’t seem like I’m getting to far. I started lessons in March 2010. I usually take lessons every 12 days, but a few lessons have been canceled due to sickness. At my old stable, I was one of the best Western riders. I could trot without bouncing in the saddle and canter with ease. But at my new-ish stable sometimes it’s hard for me to trot! I feel like I went from advanced to beginner. I’ve fallen off two times, once just a few days ago. But that was because he’s a Thoroughbred and hadn’t been turned out into the pasture all day. (It had rained in the morning.) But he decided to go for a little gallop when I was on a lunge line and bucked twice. I fell on the second buck. I know this is a long question. Sorry for that. But the first time I fell, I was in the outdoor arena and only fell because the horse’s trot was bumpy. (I was in and English saddle, but I hadn’t actually started to learn English, so I didn’t know how to post yet.) That was a month or two ago. The lesson I got bucked off was my first official English lesson, and I was learning to post. I have /so/ much more I could add in, but don’t want you to be reading all day. But how good were you when you’d been riding as long as me? I know all stables are different. Some have smoother horses, some take lessons more frequently, etc. But how good were you when you had been riding as long as me? Had you cantered yet? Jumped? I just want to know if where I am is normal or if I’m behind. I’m /guessing I’ve had about 20 lessons, give or take a few. But please answer. I want to know if I’m behind. I want to jump someday, but that’s a looooooong way off for me. I’ll add detail if you need it.

Answers and Views:

Answer by Loca es Bonita
I took to horses very quickly. SImply because my grandma has a foundation horse ranch where i was able to ride free will. Horses are very love able animals, some people are afraid of then, or intimidated. It shouldn’t take to long to bond with a horse, it takes bonding time more than saddle time. You want the horse to think of you as a companion more than a person only making them work.Understand?

Thanks.Loca 😀
good luck!

Answer by ♥TOBY AND KENZIE♥
well it took me a year and 3 falls to learn to canter haha but nnpw (2 years later) im cantering 3 ft courses. i sucked when i 1st started and i also felt i was getting worse each lesson. then i moved barns and Viola! i got soooo much better!!

Answer by Dunfilly
I started riding at 2 and taking lessons on arabians, so I’ve had an awesome start. Got my first pony when I was very young and had free rein to ride whenever I want. Riding as often as possible is the only way to quickly and fully develop your seat, cues, ect.

However, you haven’t been riding long at all, so give it time. Switching from western (which is a fairly easy saddle to ride in) to english is a HUGE switch and you’ll need to basically start from the beginning. You’ll start to get the hang of it quickly enough 🙂 Just be patient and stubborn 😉 Western horses normally have much slower gaits that are easier to ride than english horses – english horses are taught to move out and cover ground with long strides, so it’s a big transition!

Good luck and just have fun with it!

Answer by I am a cat
I started when I was young, like 12 or 13. I advanced pretty quickly and was doing little jumps and some dressage. Also cantering on a lunge line.
The horse definitely matters, I started with english saddle and a old tennessee walking horse with a smooth trot, because I have never fallen off.

I don’t mean to sound like an expert (I’m not), but people learn at different times. Just make sure your posture is always correct and you’ll get to jumping.

Answer by Katie Phelan
I started on my cousins 25 year old welsh/shetland aged 3 – started lessons then also – I got my first pony aged 5 – he was a coloured driving cob about 13hh and about 15 – amazing lil dude who taught me lots – I didn’t get a proper show pony until I was 8 and she was a total diva but i loved her – now I have 2 horses and am very happy with them – needless to say I’ve fallen off tonnes everyone has but you learn as you go along and fall off a bit less – just keep at it !

I took to them very quickly – theres pics of me at 10 months old sitting in front of my aunt on her hunter – everyone is different however !

Answer by leeloevans
I took just a couple lessons growing up and more recently for about 9 months. I think I took to it rather quickly through natural ability and watching videos of myself to see what I was doing wrong. It also depends on your trainer.

Answer by Fennec Fox
No one is good when they first start riding.

It takes years to get really good at it.

Answer by sazzy
Everyone progresses at different rates. No one’s going to be able to do the same as each other after the same ammount of lessons – because everyone is different in how they progress.

For example I took to riding quite quickly initially – got the hang of trotting/ cantering and basic jumping quite quickly – but then I hit a plateu and didn’t really improve much for a while and others who had been riding the same time but hadn’t advanced that fast to begin with caught up with me.

Don’t be so hard on yourself – the more you worry the less likely it is to sort itself out. Chances are you just need to get through this little mental block you’re having and then you’ll suddenly start to improve really quickly.

Answer by Horses4life
i have taken lessons once a week for 5 years and helped out in the school holidays for the last year and i can do most things, im learning dressage at the moment. i was around horses when i was little as my nanna had a shetland that i would sit on each week but the fastest i ever went was trot. i only ride english, there arnt many people who ride western in england, or it might just be my area. my first stable was a nightmare so even after 2 years i had only just started canter, my new stable instructor says that helped my riding a lot because i can handle literally any horse at all. if i had been at the stable im at now from the start i would have been in canter by how long youve been going.

Answer by Laura S
Well we all were unbalanced beginners when we first started. Only training of proper position and experience with a lot of horses and styles makes you a good rider. Kudos to you for branching out into a new discipline! It sounds like you may have been riding horses that were far easier rides at your former place. And, if they did not teach you to maintain a proper position through all the gaits and changes of speed and every single transition of gait, it’s quite normal that you should feel challenged now. Many western horses are taught to do this tiny jog trot and itsy bitsy lope. If you were riding those types of horses and now are on ones that move out, you are learning how to ride for real. Also you don’t have that big saddle to sandwich you in and you are relying on your own balance now. That’s what it’s all about. And, even though no one wants to fall off and we do what we can not to, anyone who can really ride has taken their share of tumbles. Don’t give up or get rattled. It’s not a question of how good anyone else was at what stage. It’s about you doing the best you can today with the horse you are riding. If you are struggling, you are learning, and that means you and your instructor must be doing something right. The struggling part never ends but you do learn to accept it as a normal part of being around horses. Relax and enjoy the ride while you focus on the technical things.

Answer by Like a Fox
We all have to start somewhere and horse riding is a sport that takes to time to improve in.

I was 4 when I started taking lessons and I picked it up quite quickly, younger children often do anyway.

I wouldn’t worry about falling off, it is really no measure of riding ability, it happens to the best.
I’ve had more falls than I care to remember, my first pony was a right little bugger and he often turfed me off as he pleased. It can knock your confidence but it’s best to learn from it.

Answer by Alpha Mare
Like everyone else, I was terrible.

Riding is not something you can innately do. Most people aren’t going to know how to balance when straddling atop of a large, intelligent, moving object or how to move each limb on its own at the appropriate time simply because we aren’t usually asked to do that in any other facet of daily living.

If you enjoy riding, keep trying. I promise it does get easier with time. You’ve just started riding- you haven’t even been in the saddle a year yet. Try having lessons more frequently if you can, it will help you and your muscles to remember what you learned in previous lessons and make it just a little easier. You want to do things right, not just do them so focus on what you’re doing right and time will pass a little quicker. Before you know it, you’ll be posting, then you’ll be cantering and working on striding, then you’ll be doing two-point and jumping! Focus on little achievements, but keep an eye to the future.

Answer by DevilHorserider101
i was very good. i had cantered, jumped, competed , now im working on running! so excited.

Answer by Joy
I was around five, and I rode double on my friends pony Prince, it was a Memoir I will never forget, Prince was cantering the wind cold from the winter, now 50 years later I am still hooked to horses.
Some said’ I was a natural rider, when I worked for Detroit Race Course, you have to stand over the center of gravity over the forehand of your horse. I never knew real riding until the horse I was on, was going at least 42 miles per hour around the track!
Also did stunt riding when I was in my teens, so falling off was natural, than went into diving into the huron river.
There is an old saying. If you don’t fall off at least a hundred times in your life, than your not a good rider. I couldn’t count the times I have fallen off, I would rather remember the times I stay in the saddle, though,. Than later in life when you get a good horse, and partner, you may never again fall off.

Answer by Live2Ride
I know what you’re feeling. You probably feel this way because you went from a not-so-good stable to a really good stable. I thought I was a great rider, and had more experience than a lot of the riders in my group lessons. I never bounced at the trot on the school horse I rode, and I knew all the pieces of tack.

Then I got to a real barn, and realized that walking and trotting in circles on a slow, lazy school horse is not actual riding. Real riding is a LOT harder, and takes much longer to master. Suddenly I was learning to not only ask the horse to go, stop, and turn, but to bend and flex, get on the bit, and engage their hindquarters. I learned to post the trot and use my legs and seat to control the horse. I felt like a total beginner, because I was. I had thought I was the best rider at my old barn, I thought I could take on the world on horseback, but really I didn’t know what I didn’t know.

I expect you’re having the same misgivings. You are only taking lessons every 12 days, which is a long time. I know I get rusty with my riding if I go any less than once a week. I understand if it an issue with money or a commute, but you can always bring up the idea of taking weekly lessons to your parents and see what might happen. You will progress much quicker.

You’ll get the hang of it soon. I did 🙂

Answer by sweetxsour :3
i started when i was 11 on a smooth gaited and slower older horse. my whole barn agrees shes the best one to start with and many beginners are put on her for their first time riding. i picked up trotting pretty quickly, after my eighth lesson. but cantering was a different story, it took me two whole years to get there! imo, i shouldve been cantering earlier. but right about now im cantering 1′-3″ – 1′-9″ cross rails and sometimes verticals, and i started jumping a year ago, but im getting the hang of it.

posting is fairly easy once you get used to it. in english riding, its really important to have your heels down and back straight. so heres a few tips on posting: heels down, soft and steady hands, and back straight.

Answer by redheaded
I really sucked at riding my first year, then I got a different trainer and seemed to be learning something, but when I wanted to learn to jump was told all the things I needed to improve on before I could do that. It was almost another year before I did any jumping. After about 3 months of that I was told I was doing well, but I never felt like I had a secure seat. I went to yet another trainer and she was really the one who taught me HOW to sit a horse. I will be forever grateful to her, some of the things she had me do and the horse she put me on was difficult and I wanted to quit. I’d been riding for almost 3 years when I came to her and thought maybe I’m finally getting it, then found out I still didn’t really know what I was doing. But I stuck it out and later when I (finally) got my own horses I have always been able to look back on it all and realize I just had to find the right person with the right methods to teach me. I’ve won ribbons in jumping and enjoyed alot of bareback riding, which is wonderful for advanced learning.

Answer by Holly
I was crap for my first year of riding. It took me 6-7 months to learn how to post. I have now been riding for 6 years, and have been competing for 3. You just need to focus, don`t worry about anything else when your riding a horse. Listen to your trainer, ask ANY questions you have during or after the lesson. It really helps. 🙂

Answer by RockandRide
Funny story! I have been riding just as long as you, since March 2010! And I have had more lessons that you though because I have been going every week except for when I was sick or on vacation.

-Are you doing good?
You are doing just fine, seeing as how you have been riding for only that long and takes a while between lessons, you are in a good spot. My friend has been riding for four years but this is her first year not taking lessons on and off and she just cantered 4 months ago. I think you are at a good speed and you sound like you will pick it up eventually 🙂

-How good was I riding as long as you?
Well, my 20 lessons would have been somewhere around the first Saturday of September. By then I was cantering but I was not very good and probably had about 4 lessons where I cantered. I knew the basic stuff (walk, trot, steering, posting). I knew my two-point and was going over half cavaletti with a horse that kept launching me. So ya I think you are getting there soon.

Right now, I am cantering better and doing small jumps over cavaletti’s. So I am not advanced but still a beginner. If you keep on practicing, you will get to jumping. It may take switching barns, going for more lessons or something. But trust me you will get there 🙂

Good Luck, Happy Trails and Hope I helped!

Answer by Pickle’s princess
I wasn’t a very good rider for a long time. I got a pony to share with my twin when we were 8. She took to it better than I did. I was pretty intimidated, especially when my parents found us a 17.2 hand retired dressage oldenberg because there were two girls and one pony. He was very gently, but he was just sooooo big. After my pony died (when I was 10), my parents bought me a quarter horse. She was 4, sassy, pushy, and she scared the crap out of me. She absolutely ruined my confidence and made me not want to ride anymore. At 15, I began working for the woman we bought my mare from. She instilled in me such confidence and I learned so much. After three years with her, I am a much better rider and much more confident in my abilities. I love to ride my mare now that I know how to deal with her attitude issues.

Answer by Stephanie
i was horrendous. and now imm pretty good (but not a professional).
it’s only been… eight months? for you, so don’t get too cranky about it. It took me five whole years before someone asked me to ride one of their horses haha. don’t worry. it’ll come to you.

Answer by Aut-Echo
have had quite an atypical history of horse riding as am severely disabled,but its very difficult to judge all horse riders-as everyone differs physically and mentally in how we will adapt,learn, and react to riding.

have been riding since ten years old,dont know if know of it-but started off on the ‘safari cub saddle’ [its a very grippy saddle with support,for kids on ponies.
only ever did walk outs/hacks [not flat work/lessons],had never fell off once despite being on some super spooky horses,but never did any basic technical riding.
only started to do flatwork lessons [private RDA lessons] in twenties,but progressed quickly due to only ever having ridden almost bareback and stirrupless,using a christian lammfelle sheepskin bareback pad- have also ridden fully bareback with perfect balance the first time [no lunging].
am probably up to novice level in terms of jumping,but have been recommended for the paralympics and special olympics if ever improve enough in disabilities.
can walk and trot fully bare back no problem [not got up to canter yet as it depends on weather],and walk,trot,canter with the bareback pad.

as a teenager,was put on a number of young TBs and TB x IDs as for some reason had had a calming effect on each other and a profound connection,apart from when they saw grass which is when they woud attempt to gallop.

to best of memory right now [which isnt saying much] have never fell of a horse.

due to being classic autistic,have never been able to feel fear or pain,so have never had confidence issues with riding,which has helped self a lot,a lot of riders fear falling off or whether theyre going to do something wrong-which from all the overfocusing can end up happening, but it doesnt work like that for self so have ended up at an advanced level in terms of confidence,though not technical ability.

just focus on the here and now,setting goals with actual skills-rather than fitting a label as it can be more harm than good trying to live up to it,plus people who give a damn shoudnt care what level are at,we are all in it for the same things after all.

Answer by SS
some people just take a little bit longer to progress than others, so don’t worry. for me i was riding by the time i was two so i have been doing it for a long time. i think i cantered when i was about 6 and jumped by the time i was 8 or 9. but that was because i had a lot of experience before that. don’t give up and have fun with your riding 🙂

Answer by cimmeron_802
when I first started out, I thought I was doing so well.. this was almost 9 years ago when I was 9.
I did soo good in my first lessons, I thought i had everything down so well.
It wasn’t until actually THIS year where I actually realized I had a lot to improve on, and I wasn’t sure how that could be possible.

I have been through 3 instructors, and it wasn’t until this one, the 4th one, that i realized I needed to work on improving my ‘seat’ (my posture, and all that)

now I know i’m building a stronger body and am doing things more correctly, instead of easily. if it feels too easy, your probably not doing it ‘correct’ because horseback riding is not easy. it takes a lot of strength and muscle building and staying in shape.

Answer by Donna R
I was a joke when I first started riding horses. My father bought me a green broke mare who fortunately was as sweet as they come. We bought her because we didn’t know what green broke meant and she was beautiful sweet and cheap. I didn’t even have a saddle for the first year. We’d get stuck on the side of a hill because I couldn’t even steer. It took me six months riding every day to get really good. After that I could ride like an indian but I spent hours and hours and hours on that horse.

Answer by SLA
What you need is less lesson work and more riding time. Just like learning anything else, you need to take what you learn in a lesson and apply it on your own time. Reading is very similar to learning to ride. If you don’t read between lessons, then you’re going to read very, very slowly and it’s going to take years to gain any sort of proficiency. You need saddle time. Trail riding is excellent for that.

When I give lessons, I don’t worry a whole lot about which saddle or any to begin with. My goal is balance and confidence – and lots and lots of miles horseback. Once the student has hit a certain level of confidence in their body and balance control, then we start working on which discipline and increasing levels.

I spend some time teaching a student how to fall. If you’re going to ride, you’re going to fall – that’s just reality. So we learn to roll out at a 45 to the right and left, how to do an emergency dismount, and how to sit a rear and balance for a buck.

My latest student started the same time you did. He’s naturally athletic, but even at that, he’s progressing unusually rapidly, and it’s because he’s riding so much. He’s picked up a job penning cows two nights a week for a livestock auction horse back. He’s also starting a quiet, good-natured filly under my guidance. He’s also riding six miles to school two or three days a week and penning his horse at the mayor’s house during the day. So he’s getting lots and lots of riding. That’s what you need, behind in the saddle time.

Answer by PeaBee
I really like a lot of these answers.

But Donna R’s made me smile. You REALLY learn to ride when you are bareback and trying to navigate and figure out the world together with a green horse. And riding a lot.

You learn to move your body, seat bones, and hold posture with the horse and develop feel.

Now, for your question. Many moons ago with my first horse when I was 22 (never had a lesson), I was galloping about ride 4. That was his choice, not mine! I actually lost my sock hat in the wind.
But I stuck with him and when my fear subsided, I realized I could stay with him. But I rode every day and eventually we became a very solid pair. It just took lots of riding and we figured one another out. Was I good? Absolutely not. I hung on for dear life. Now it is funny, but he taught me to work through my fear and stick with him and I taught him that I could be trusted. I had him for 29 years and every horse since then has paled by comparison. It was the fact that I rode him so much that we could read and feel one another.

Answer by Myta
Each person is different. It’s much easier to learn young because you’re more confident and don’t over think. I had been riding for maybe 15 years before I took my first lesson, and didn’t start jumping lessons until this summer. But we had a boy paying for lessons at our yard who had only been up on a horse once before, when he was 8 (he was 15 at the time). English stable, day one he had to have a neck strap to help him post, day 3 he was going over low jumps. He had confidence and determination to jump. He bounces around a lot at the trot and has trouble posting, but could stay on the horse most of the time. You’re never really behind, learning to ride is at your own pace. If you’re confident, you’ll progress faster. It also sounds like you may not be at the best stable for a beginner rider. If the horse they’re giving you lessons on is bucking (no matter the reason) they should either warm it up with someone else first or not put you on it. Any lessons I’ve had lunging or stirrup-less were on older horses who may not be the best jumpers or might have, but were not going to break gait or protest in any way. If this is a typical problem, you may want to change to another stable, your trainer will also make a big difference on how you learn, each person does better with a certain type of trainer.

Answer by Becci
Everybody learns at a different rate, depends on the horses, and by the way, being a Thoroughbred has nothing to do with him taking off, my horse is a TB and hes really calm, the horse might have just been high strung. When I first started, I learned pretty quickly, I had trouble learning my diagnols, which you will learn after you start posting, and we put neon stickers on the horsey’s shoulder. But I got to a point, I guess a few months after I was jumping, when I stopped learning so quickly, and I couldn’t figure out why. Now I realize, I got down the basics and now I’m learning to work out the details, and more about how to really ride, instead of just my position and the basics of controlling a horse. good luck!!

Answer by Lfinkale
Hey don’t worry about it! It sounds like western is just you thing. I was exposed to jumping, english pleasure, western pleasure, and barrel racing at a young age so I have always been able to do those things. But my delema is now deciding which I enjoy more when it comes time to pick between shows. So if you apire to jump one day, go for it. But if your good at western pleasure and you have fun doing it then why fix something that aint broke, ya know? Just have fun with whatever you end up doing, thats what its all about =)

Answer by Taylor
super good