What should I expect after 10 lessons??

Question

I have decided to start to ride in my 40s having never ridden before. I adored horses as a child but never had the opportunity to ride myself. Anyway, I have had about 10 1/2 hour lessons and have been on an hour hack. I am feeling a bit fed up and am wondering if I am progressing OK or whether I am just wasteing my money.

I feel a bit nervous still and wish I had more confidence. I have done walking, stopping and rising trot. Sometimes I can do it better than others but I still have times when I find it really hard to control the horse.

I am goig on a treking weekend soon and I think that should help but I am worried if I will be alright even though they say no experience required.

My question is, am I progressig as I should or should I call it a day. I would really love to ride and am quite sporty anyway but maybe I am too old now to enjoy it !! What do people think. Many thanks x

Answer 1

If you're not feeling confident then a teacher will be able to tell

They will be reluctant to try anything new until you are steady with what you are doing so far

Don't be afraid to ask questions.

It really frustrates a teacher when they know something is wrong but you won't tell them

The trekking weekend should help you're confidence

Don't quit now-stick it out for a little bit longer !! x

Answer 2

after 10 lessons, you should just be about to canter. at the treking weekend, i wouldnt say to them you are experienced, because they might put you on a naughty one, just say what you can do and how long you've been riding.

i'd keep progressing with the lessons until you know the basics such as cantering and jumping, and generally handling a horse.

good luck :)

Answer 3

I think you a progressing quite well, especially for a beginning adult.  After 10 lessons, I would expect a rider to feel comfortable enough at the rising trot to do circles, figure eights, serpentines, etc. all at the trot.  

However, I wouldn't worry if you aren't quite there yet.  As an adult the physical parts of riding (posting, keeping your heels downs, etc.) might be challenging for you, but the mental stuff (understanding what you are supposed to be doing) will come easier.  

If you really like riding, stick with it.  Who cares if you aren't going to be a grand prix jumper, as long as you feel safe and are having fun.

Answer 4

you have only been riding for 5  hours  so i think you are doing  really well, you are bound to feel nervous, it will take months until you get fully  confident, keep it up you are doing great.

Answer 5

Seen as your lessons are only 1/2 hour, you're doing really well!

My mum began to ride at the age of 43, and now at the age of 47 she has her own horse! Apparently the thing she struggled most with was rising trot (like me) so you're doing great if you've mastered it.

It's great that you're going on a trekking weekend, your skills will definitely improve. Why not ask if your ride leaders can instruct you on the way, most do! I reckon at the end of your weekend you'll be able to canter no probs!

You should only ride if you enjoy it. If you love being with the horses, you should definitely keep on at it. There is no age barrier with riding, I knew a lady who rode with her local hunt well into her eighties!

Good luck x

Answer 6

After 3 lessons, i had done a show my barn holds for fun, but i was totally not ready. I've been riding for 3 years, and i don't like jumping and i'm sometimes afraid to canter. ((i've had my share of falls...)) it took me a year to canter and two years to jump.  I lost a lot of confidence after a really bad fall, which was a couple months ago, so my mom is going to switch my trainer to the person that owns the barn, who specializies in building confidence. You could tell your trainer that you are a little nervous and would like to spend more time on things. I disagree that you should be cantering and jumping after ten lessons.

Answer 7

I think you are doing fine you have had about 6 hours in the saddle so far which is not very much. I think that the trekking weekend will be fun - they usually have lovely calm horses that are used to carrying people who have never even sat on a horse.

Once you have done that, you are  probably ready to step up your lessons to an hour at a time - that will give you more time to get a feel for your horse and progress will be quicker.

Stick with it, and this time next year you will be looking forward to going for a nice canter across the stubble fields in the autumn sunshine - there is nothing better!

Answer 8

No no! dont stop riding! you have only just started you cant expect too much after just a few riding lessons. and i have some off days where i dont ride so good.Anyway...just keep at it and you will be a great rider!

Answer 9

well.....

i think it depends on your confidence on what level you should be at by now if your very confident you would be asking to try other things so you would learn things quicker.

And if your riding a strong horse that  can also effect how quick you learn things or a school horse that's used to it can be easier to ride. i learnt to ride on a strong and stubborn horse so it took me longer to get used to things but it also improved the way i ride other horses now.And i think you should only go trekking if you have control and confidence with your horse.

hope this helps xxxxx

Answer 10

You are doing better than i did, and you are doing great to say you have only ridden for 5 hours.

keep it up!

Answer 11

Your doing fine for an older person. My mom rides my horse sometimes and I help teach her what to do! Its a great sport thats alot of fun! Horses are wonderful animals and I have one myself. Maybe in a few more lessons you will learn how to canter. Don't give up!!!!!

Answer 12

your exactly where you are supposed to be. right now your instructor is just teaching you the basics, walking, stopping, rising and sitting trost. and once your instructor feels that you have mastered those you will move on to cantering and trotting poles. then once youve mastered that you will move on to small X-rails. the treking weekend will help your confidence alot. so saddle up and have fun!

Answer 13

my advice to you is to not waste your money on lessons.

look around and see if you can find a nice "bomb proof" horse to loan/lease.

once you have found one, tell the person your situation and ask her/him if they would mind teaching you a bit and say you tried lessons but never progressed past hacking!

the persion should be happy to help and then you can move on at a pace you feel comfortable with.

Having your own horse to mess about on is the best thing that could ever happen to a horse enthusiast young or old (not emplying) at my old yard, we had an 80 year old bloke that had never ridden before. thats what he did and within 3 weeks he was comming out on hacks with us, galloping up and down fields!. it is the best way to learn so go for it and if you dont feel happy, you can always go back to lessons.

good luck

Answer 14

after ten lessons you should expect everything up to the canter, and you should be jumping a few little jumps. On my first lesson i was already cantering so.

Answer 15

You are doing fine! It is better to establish your seat before trying anything more. That way, you get the basics right and the rest will follow. This is easier than "learning" to walk, trot, canter and jump (badly) and then be told "Oh actually, I know that up to now you've been doing it this way, but that's all wrong and you've got to relearn" - I had to do it this way and it was so hard. As for you being too old?! Never! My mum is in her 50s and took up riding a few years ago. She was terrified of horses and only took it up because she wanted to get over her fear. For about a year she just walked and trotted (well, bobbled) around at a riding school who were all about getting you jumping before you could walk and so she had an awful seat and no balance, but no help available to correct her. After that time I finally persuaded her that she was wasting time and money on this school, so she got a loan horse and my instructor taught her. In those few months, she learned more than in more than a year. Just recently she gave back the loan horse (a schoolmistress) and took on my semi-retired TB. He's a little angel and she is coming on in leaps and bounds and is aiming for a little unaffiliated prelim dressage in a few months!

Also, the riding school I worked at for a while had, I think, the oldest beginner!! He was 78 and had been bringing his grand-daughter riding when he decided (as he put it) "Why should I just sit and watch for an hour?! I might as well join in!!" So there!! Good luck with your riding! :-)

Answer 16

I think u r right where u shoud be.  obviously everyone progresses at a different rate, and adults take longer to develop than kids.  that is becasue we have a "fear factor" that most children do not.  u r able to steer, halt, mount, dismount, walk and have started working on the rising trot.  when ur instructor sees that u r becomeing more confident, she will add things.  for now, it sounds like she is being very careful with u and not tring to make u do things u r not ready for.  it also takes alot longer for an adult (even an athletic one) to gain the blance necessary for riding.

i have ridden for over 30 years, and took 2 years off.  got a lovely young horse off the track, and find that i do not have the lower back flexibility i did 2 years ago, or the balance i did 2 years ago.  it is coming back slowly.  i have had the horse 2 and 1/2 months and have only just now started a little bit of cantering.  hang in there, and enjoy...you will see a big dif. between now and this time next year if you keep at it:)

Answer 17

10 lessons is not going to improve your riding skills overnight. The best 10 lessons will do is show you how to sit up properly, back the horse up, and get the horse to move. If you really love the sport continue riding for 6months, and see how you are doing then. If you feel you need more riding time, schedule a private lesson with your instructor and that way you can work with him/her one on one to improve whatever you are falling behind on.

Answer 18

I think it depends greatly on the person. If that is the stage your at then thats where you are. No point worrying about how well everyone else is doing.

I think you should keep at it, and instead of worrying about everything, enjoy it. This weekend trek will be great, you'll be able to relax more coz it' not a lesson.

Keep going you'll get better, doesn't matter wot age you are.

Answer 19

Saying you are too old to enjoy it is ridiculous. I am 44 and ride horses at least 3 days a week, and I know people in their lates 60s that ride regularly. In fact I met a man who is 89 that still rides.

The way to get confidence is simply by experience. The more often you ride and handle horses the more confidence you will get.

If you have times when you find it really hard to control the horse, you are NOT ready to go out on the trail. Riding horses is a lot more serious than people imagine. Many horse people have cavalier attitudes about it. But the fact is people get killed, paralyzed, head injuries, or broken legs all the time on horses.

The best way to minimize the risks of those things happening is to practice A LOT in controlled circumstances. Make sure you practice flexing and emergency stops. Practice emergency dismounting. Here is a video on flexing, which translates into a one rein emergency stop.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91xp3gMYI...

Don't worry about cantering at a certain number of lessons. Canter when its right for you. I rode for a good year before I started cantering.

Saying you should be jumping is not true. Many riders don't do that sort of thing at all. Jump if you want to, but its not a requirement and you can be an excellent rider without jumping. Jumping is dangerous anyway. Do you want to do a Christopher Reeve at age 40-something?

But remember riding on the trail IS dangerous. Recently, a horse ended up at the rescue ranch where I board my horses. Her owner could no longer take care of her. The reason? She was riding on the trail and something spooked the horse. The lady came off and broke her back and can no longer walk.

I am not trying to scare you but just pointing out the serious nature of what you're doing. Horseback riding is a lot of fun but it is not something that is to be rushed. Being anxious is not something compatible with horseback riding. Becoming an expert (as good as you can be) is what is important. That means taking the time to build a solid foundation. Kids are often anxious and think they are hot stuff on horses, but as an adult you know that is naive-just like kids driving cars. They may be good at it but they do not have the proper appreciation for death and serious injury that only comes with age

How is your groundwork? To be a good horseman, you need to be solid on the ground too-and you need to do that before you think about becoming a good rider and going on trail rides. If you can't handle horses solidly on the ground you are setting yourself up for trouble in the saddle. I don't care how good you are at jumping or whatever. So invest some time into groundwork too.

David

http://gentlenaturalhorseman.blogspot.co...

Answer 20

i don't mean to be ageist but most lessons we have at our riding lessons that are for adults usually move alot slower that they do for younger people like me.

It won't help if your nervous either and could be the root cause of you finding hard to control the horse. I have had a period of time at the moment where i just did bad on every lesson. i realised i wasn't giving my fulll attention and allowing other people on my lesson to distract me.

I have rode a couple of times elsewhere but where i am at now it has taken me a while to get to the top of the lessons where i am more confident than ever. What i am saying is you need to give it time.

Try private lessons aswell, they do the world of good for me.

If you realise the stables it just not good enough move.

BUT whatever you do DO NOT GIVE UP!!

Horse riding it the best sport ever and the most satisfying.

Hope i have helped, and good luck.

Answer 21

My dad is a horse man, I'm 27 and he has been having me ride his barely broke araybian horse.  I don't know where you should be in 10 lessons but riding and doing it right is alot more complicated than you think.  I can tell you this.... you dont sound confident, if you are nervous or insecure the horse will pick that feeling up and run with it.  I've experienced it as much as I love horses I was scared to death the first few times I rode Tiv and she sensed  it and gave me a hard time misbehaving.  They will test you, you have got to be confident in your commands and let them know that even if you arent sure what you are doing you are still the boss.  Then be sure to praise them when they listen with a scratch, a pat , and a good job.

Answer 22

i took western lessons so i dont know about the whole jumping thing but on my tenth lesson i was comfortble with walk and trot and good at cantering...this was on a very strong bouncey and fast horse ecpecially for a 7 year old (i am 13 now and buying a $10,000 filly)

Answer 23

You are progressing fine. I had been riding about a year and a bit before i cantered so you are learning faster than me!

Answer 24

Hey you are doing well for not riding before!   Remember, you must train your body to feel the horse, know how to sit the horse correctly, AND to learn how to steer the horse.

When you are first starting, it takes a while to get your body trained.  Plus, you are dealing with an animal who has a mind of it's own (not like a car) so you need to learn how to steer and control this animal and keep your self balanced and correct.  

It will take a bit of time but is sounds like you are doing well.  You have to train the muscles and find your balance, especially if you are riding english.  It is much more demanding than western riding.

Remember how hard it is to go to the gym and start a workout?  This is the same thing. :)

Your confidence will come with time.  You need to learn how to relax and feel comfortable with the horse you are working with.  They know if you are afraid and they will test you just like a child would.  Spend some time with the horse on the ground, too. It will help develop your relationship and you may feel more comfortable.

Try not to be impatient and you will learn to relax and enjoy it.  If you want to learn to ride well, there is a lot of training involved.  Some people think you just go jump on a horse and ride into the hills.  :)   It is not always that simple.

You are NOT too old.  :)    You just need time.  You are doing great!  Keep up the good work and good luck on your trip.  Remember, this should be fun and not too much work.  :)

Answer 25

Hi, my partner is 52 yo. He started lessons 6 months ago,(1hr per week). He is progressing, but it is at quite a slow pace.

He is becoming a rider now rather than a passenger.

He has not yet developed an independent seat, and still bounces in sitting trot and canter. He is able to hack on quite horses and manages some short canters comfortably.

Please do not expect too much too soon. It is a slow process.

Try to just have fun and enjoy your lessons,