[QUOTE=Slewdledo;5277273]
Some days, it’s all I can do just to get on her and we just do a couple spins in the stall.[/QUOTE]
Wait. Are you riding this horse in her stall? If so, why? That seems an incredibly dangerous practice.
Sorry if I’ve misunderstood you.
Has anyone tried hypnotherapy for this???
It could work really well.
Yes, in the stall, but probably not the sort of stall you’re picturing. It’s not inside a barn & is big, open to elements above the walls/gate on all sides and has a VERY high roof. Horse lives outside, only comes in to get groomed and ridden. Horse never does a thing wrong in the stall.
I don’t have anyone to lead me right now, unfortunately. I have to bring her in and fiddle with her/ride when the yearlings are out or when the riders are on a break and a stall is handy. I’ve thought about asking one of the riders if he’d get on her so I could watch and see that yes, she WILL be a good girl at the faster gaits. We’ll see about that. It doesn’t do the horse any good to have a chickensh*t for a rider!
I don’t know what happend between last summer and now. Last summer, I’d get her (and me!) up into the trot by singing John Denver and asking for it middle of the chorus. (“You fill up my (cluck, leg) SENSES…” 
She likes me to sing to her.) I think the goal for next year has to be to get back to that…
Thank you, stryder. 
[QUOTE=walktrot;5252338]
I gave up cantering a number of years ago. Walk/trot is just fine. Do enough of it and you will keep your horse in good condition.[/QUOTE]
I am interested in knowing why you gave up cantering. Not trying to be nosy, but I seem to have given it up, too, not meaning to, but I haven’t been brave enough to do it since coming back to riding nearly 6 years ago. Giving it up has not been something that occurred to me, but I liked the way you said it, you gave it up (not gave up on it), you sound positive about it.
You could pm me if you wanted to …
Well for one thing I am 62 now, and have no need for the feel of speed. I got into riding at 51 on a broke-to-death leased QH at the barn where I am now.
I bought a green 6 y.o registered Paint gelding that came off a farm in Iowa (I’m in Maine and got him from sale barn, with the help of my b/o). He apparently spent a good part of his life as a pasture ornament, ridden lightly according to the breeder. He is absolutely the sweetest guy in the world, and really loves running and jumping. His canter was closer to the gallop end of things than the lope end of things, but I took on the challenge.
What ultimately motivated me was that I was in a lesson one day, on a lunge line, and the instructor switched from rider point of view to trainer point of view and asked horsie for a “better” canter. “Yippeeee” went horsie, and I wound up bucked off, on the ground gasping for air. I made some half-hearted efforts on my own, but being in my mid-50s I decided I didn’t have to prove anything. Being a mediocre rider, and having cantered plenty on the leased horse, it seemed an appropriate time to establish permanent status as a walk-trot rider, which I wear proudly on my license plate.
You can keep a w/t horse in good condition by doing lots of trotting. I ride 5-6 days a week year-round. I’m the oldest rider in the barn. As long as I can still get on, or more importantly get off by myself, I’ll keep this up.
Small hijack. OP, just curious why you would be riding a five year old stallion. Even if he is well behaved I don’t see why you would want to possibly add to your fears.
LOL, at 61 I’m right behind you. Sophie has a rathere “Yipeee” transition to the canter which really hurts my ankle. So I get stiff, which makes her transition even more exciting.
However I do want to progress (or actually regress to where I once was) in dressage
Hmm…
As much as Merlin would like to BE a stallion, he’s not. He was gelded at 4 months old because he was mounting mares in the pasture. Bad baby horse! Did I call him a colt? I tend to forget he’s not a baby anymore sometimes.
But, I must say, if I had a good reason to have a stallion, I wouldn’t be afraid of riding him. At the walk and/or trot. Cantering him would be different. I have ridden stallions, and providing they are well trained, see no difference than riding a gelding or a mare, except you need to be a bit more aware of what is around you.
[QUOTE=walktrot;5282034]
Well for one thing I am 62 now, and have no need for the feel of speed. I got into riding at 51 on a broke-to-death leased QH at the barn where I am now.
I bought a green 6 y.o registered Paint gelding that came off a farm in Iowa (I’m in Maine and got him from sale barn, with the help of my b/o). He apparently spent a good part of his life as a pasture ornament, ridden lightly according to the breeder. He is absolutely the sweetest guy in the world, and really loves running and jumping. His canter was closer to the gallop end of things than the lope end of things, but I took on the challenge.
What ultimately motivated me was that I was in a lesson one day, on a lunge line, and the instructor switched from rider point of view to trainer point of view and asked horsie for a “better” canter. “Yippeeee” went horsie, and I wound up bucked off, on the ground gasping for air. I made some half-hearted efforts on my own, but being in my mid-50s I decided I didn’t have to prove anything. Being a mediocre rider, and having cantered plenty on the leased horse, it seemed an appropriate time to establish permanent status as a walk-trot rider, which I wear proudly on my license plate.
You can keep a w/t horse in good condition by doing lots of trotting. I ride 5-6 days a week year-round. I’m the oldest rider in the barn. As long as I can still get on, or more importantly get off by myself, I’ll keep this up.[/QUOTE]
I think what you said is so cool. I really admire you for posting it, and for feeling as you do. I needed to hear someone say something like that. Thanks.
I am 58 and I guess I, too, really don’t feel the need for speed these days–only, having come back to riding nearly 6 years ago, after 25-something years away from horses–at first I didn’t realize that I didn’t need the speed anymore, or that my body REALLY did not want speed. After the first couple of years back, one day I looked out at the cross country course, and for the first time I realized that every fence made me think “Ouch” instead of “Yippee, let’s go!” I really realized that the same joints/muscles/bones/nerves that go ouch when I trot, or horse takes a misstep, or shies at something, would be going OUCH a lot louder even if horse landed perfectly from a canter over even an Amoeba-level log. Even if I landed with him.
But I just needed someone else to voice that sort of feeling.
I have been thinking of going gaited, which I hear a lot of our generation do, but I have to ride the horse/s I have access to. So I am going to keep thinking about your philosophy, Walktrot. To see that on a license plate would be really great.
I also identify with you about getting on and off. I am not at all about speed then.
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