How to become a better rider?

[Shiaway]

I’ve owned and ridden the same (bestest) horse for the past 20 years. We don’t show because I don’t have the money for it primarily. But I’ve been taking consistent lessons and clinics. I’d estimate/been told we are about 4th level/PSG with our forte being piaffe and passage (he’s baroque…). Just to give an aproximation of where we’re at.

At this point I practically think what needs to happen and it does because I’ve been riding him for so long we can read each others thoughts. I feel like a decent enough rider when I’m on him. Additionally he’s also a very sensitive horse so I would say I’m mostly acustomed to a horse with more go then whoa and requires a quiet/reassuring seat/hand.

That all changes when I get on a different horse in particular warmbloods are the worst for me I don’t get to ride other horses all that often but on the rare occasion I get on one I’m like a training level rider all over again. I have no earthly idea how to get them forward and connected forget about collection. My position goes to crap and I feel like a complete idiot.

I live in Massachusetts. Does anyone know of anywhere I could go to ride other horses preferably in lessons and preferably horses with some education? Or have other ideas of how I could improve my riding so I can ride more than just my own horse? How do other amateurs deal with this or is it just me?

[pluvinel]

@Shiaway

Additionally he’s also a very sensitive horse so I would say I’m mostly acustomed to a horse with more go then whoa and requires a quiet/reassuring seat/hand.

I love HOT HOT HOT sensitive horses. Once you get used to this, you won’t go back to dull.

@Shiaway

That all changes when I get on a different horse in particular warmbloods are the worst for me I don’t get to ride other horses all that often but on the rare occasion I get on one I’m like a training level rider all over again. I have no earthly idea how to get them forward and connected forget about collection. My position goes to crap and I feel like a complete idiot.

@Shiaway

Or have other ideas of how I could improve my riding so I can ride more than just my own horse? How do other amateurs deal with this or is it just me?

I have done this for a friend. She trusts my riding and when she went travellig gave me free rein to ride an upper level (FEI) horse. The first time I rode it, it was like riding a cinder block. So, if a horse can feel a fly, I figured he just needed to “reset” his expectations on aids.

What I did was to ride with light aids and explain to the horse what I wanted. Slowly he understood and got lighter. When the owner got back she liked what she felt and we had a discussion about what I had done.

She followed on the “less is more” approach and now he is much lighter and a pleasure to ride.

My suggestion is to find if the warmblood owners will allow you to ride their horses like you ride yours. My caution though is that some people are really scared of that sensitivity. I was asked to ride a friend’s horse while she was recuperating when she fell on ice. When she rode her horse again, she complained that he was “too hot.”

Fast forward a few years and now she totally “gets it” and understands that sensitive is good. She is a good rider and was willing to work on herself. Her horse is a fabulous animal who will ride to the rider’s level. So as she improved he gave her the results of lightness.

[Scribbler]

@Shiaway

I’ve owned and ridden the same (bestest) horse for the past 20 years. We don’t show because I don’t have the money for it primarily. But I’ve been taking consistent lessons and clinics. I’d estimate/been told we are about 4th level/PSG with our forte being piaffe and passage (he’s baroque…). Just to give an aproximation of where we’re at.

At this point I practically think what needs to happen and it does because I’ve been riding him for so long we can read each others thoughts. I feel like a decent enough rider when I’m on him. Additionally he’s also a very sensitive horse so I would say I’m mostly acustomed to a horse with more go then whoa and requires a quiet/reassuring seat/hand.

That all changes when I get on a different horse in particular warmbloods are the worst for me I don’t get to ride other horses all that often but on the rare occasion I get on one I’m like a training level rider all over again. I have no earthly idea how to get them forward and connected forget about collection. My position goes to crap and I feel like a complete idiot.

I live in Massachusetts. Does anyone know of anywhere I could go to ride other horses preferably in lessons and preferably horses with some education? Or have other ideas of how I could improve my riding so I can ride more than just my own horse? How do other amateurs deal with this or is it just me?

You learn to ride well by riding a variety of horses and getting good tailored instruction on them.

Something like a difference in size, in impulsion, in gait, even a new saddle, can throw you for a loop and require the use of new muscles. Especially if you are used to a horse with small or flat gaits.

There is a huge difference between baroque horses and WB in size gait and feel.

Often people have strong preferences and prefer to stick with their breed of choice whether that’s Iberian or WB or Arab or TB. Why not start by riding unfamiliar Iberians and see how you do?

Also it’s much easier to make a transition to a new horse if the horse has been trained on the same principles as your own. So I’d start by asking your favorite coach for suggestions in riding something that will be congruent with your training to date.

Everyone transitioning to a WB talks about the core strength needed to sit or even post the trot.

You would be able to make the transition faster than a real beginner obviously but there will be a steep learning curve.

Also there is some very bad training with WB who.go heavy and pull. Be selective about the horses you ride by which I mean ride horses where you actually admire the way the owner and trainer ride.

[Jackie_Cochran]

I became a much better rider when I read, understood, and applied what I learned from reading “The Way to Perfect Horsemanship” by Udo Burger.

My oldest horse was already light in hand. I though I was hot stuff!!! However when I used what I learned from this book we went up to another level that I had not really known existed.

Then I then rode the horses I was in the process of green breaking. These horse were nowhere near where my older horse was when I got this book. Problems I had struggled with for months suddenly disappeared–because the horses finally UNDERSTOOD what I meant with my aids.

This book completely transformed my riding after over 20 years of muddling through.

[Shiaway]

I’ll check it out. I feel like I could be a much better rider on my own horse if I could get instruction on other horses too. Like I’m sure we both have short cuts and are too complicit with each others bad habits.

[Jackie_Cochran]

By all means ride other horses too!

After my horses died I found a hunt seat lesson stable with lesson horses. In the last 15 years or so I have ridden more horse than I ever had in my life. On each of these been there, sort of sour lesson horses, I can improve the horses’ responses to my aids. My aids have become lighter and the horses usually don’t cuss me out any more.

Riding the other horses, much looked down-upon lesson horses no less, has really helped refine my aids. Filling up the gaping chasms in these horses’ training is not that hard for me now.

I have MS, shaky hands, bad balance and my coordination could be much better. Even so these horses improve with my riding.

[pluvinel]

@Shiaway

I feel like I could be a much better rider on my own horse if I could get instruction on other horses too.

I do not think you need more instruction. You need more riding. Every riding instructor, at whatever level, started as a rank novice. After arriving at some basic skill level, every accomplished rider learns by schooling more horses.

You took a horse to 4th level. That says your skills are above average as a lot of people never get there. If you want to improve, you need to take the skills you currently have and apply them to other horses…which requires other horses to ride.

[atr]

Have you considered maybe going on a riding vacation to somewhere like Portugal? There are places that offer dressage tuition at a pretty high level, on horses like your own.

[Mander]

Agree that riding lots of different horses is really great. Even better if you can work with great trainers while you’re doing it.

But also keep in mind that the first rides you put on ANY horse will not be “perfect”. On average, a pro will probably be able to get a better first ride than your average AA, but even they have to work out the kinks and horse and rider are still getting to know each other.

It took me at least 2 months on my UL schoolmaster to be able to get reliable steering , and another 6 months to really feel confident in our connection. Then the real fun began and we really started advancing and not just trying to get through things without completely reverting to beginner habits. I’ve hopped on a few other horses at the barn to exercise while their owners were away and such, and I’ve just accepted that sometimes my first few rides are just going to be W/T because that’s where we need to start before we make anything faster or more complicated.

[Willesdon]

I second the idea of taking a riding vacation and going to Portugal. As a broad generalisation, they are lovely horsemen with a very quiet way of riding and dressage seems to be built into their genes. Watch a five year old child ride piaffe!

I’ve had a couple of trips. One combined lessons on schooled horses, under the eye of a superb rider trained at the National Riding School, with hacking out in the countryside. It was a lovely farm, great food and I did things on a horse I’d never achieved before. One was two daily lessons, again superb horses and excellent teachers, staying in a classic Portuguese house with stables and arenas. Most of ones time was spent watching other lessons but as it was located only 20 mins or so from Lisbon we also did some city tourism. Lisbon is a beautiful city.

The Portuguese are taught English as their second language in school. Such charming people.

www.morgadolusitano.pt

www.unicorntrails.com

[eightpondfarm]

@Shiaway

I feel like I could be a much better rider on my own horse if I could get instruction on other horses too.

That seems valid.
My coach tells me often how lucky i am to have so many different horses to ride.

[Brooklyn_Born]

Where in Massachusetts do you live?

[Shiaway]

Central mass.

A riding vacation sounds amazing. I’ll have to start saving.

[Edre]

I think your instinct here - to get the opportunity to ride more horses, more often - is right on the money, OP. I’m in a position where I am “borrowing” horses left, right, and centre after spending years of just working with mine. I can tell you that every time I sit on a new one I feel like a rank novice. The ones that ride “more familiarly” I can do more with, more quickly, but some of the odd ones out (there are a few QHs in the mix, and a draftx or two) I am all thumbs and it may take five or six rides before I really feel like I can ride with at least passable competency. Truly, my brain and body are working so hard that even just posting and steering seem like too much multitasking and is completely beyond my reach, and I am not a beginner rider, but my word do I feel like one sometimes

I am a better and more effective rider for being able to ride all of these horses. They have some similarities (all of their riders work with the same coach, who puts training rides on them all, though some are “once every blue moon” and others are “twice a week on the regular”) so the buttons are arguably all a vague idea of the same but they ride very differently because of their riders, rider goals, skill set, and just the type of horse they are. Being able to ride different ones this often is really bringing back my dexterity, timing, and effectiveness as a rider.

Do you have a local show circuit/show grounds near you? Maybe you can look at the pro riders there and see if any of them have lesson programs in your area. Even if they don’t have lesson horses, if you can build a rapport and a relationship with them they may have client horses that the owners would allow them to use, but you may have to ride with them with your own horse a few times before they are willing to make that leap/offer it to you.

I really like the idea of riding vacations that other people have mentioned though, and if you ultimately go that route, at whatever point you do it I hope you’ll share your experiences! That sounds like it would be a spectacular opportunity.

[joiedevie99]

@pluvinel

The first time I rode it, it was like riding a cinder block. So, if a horse can feel a fly, I figured he just needed to “reset” his expectations on aids.

This may have ended well for a very experienced rider on a horse owned by a good friend, but I wouldn’t generally recommend the approach of getting rides on FEI horses and then trying to change them. It’s a good way to not get invited back.

@Shiaway

Central mass.

Maybe start with riding other iberians before you move towards warmbloods. Vitor Silva at Sons of the Wind can’t be that far from you, and he offers lessons on his horses.

[pluvinel]

@joiedevie99

This may have ended well for a very experienced rider on a horse owned by a good friend, but I wouldn’t generally recommend the approach of getting rides on FEI horses and then trying to change them. It’s a good way to not get invited back.

The friend who invited my ride has ridden my other horses and likes what she felt…direct quote when she rode one, “Oh, power steering!” I was given “free rein” to ride her horse as I saw fit. So it was not me taking advantage of being allowed to ride a horse…I was asked to ride it.

[eightpondfarm]

@joiedevie99

This may have ended well for a very experienced rider on a horse owned by a good friend, but I wouldn’t generally recommend the approach of getting rides on FEI horses and then trying to change them. It’s a good way to not get invited back.

right?!? i don’t even let someone else drive my tractor!
When my coach hopped on one of my horses, just for like 3 minutes during one of my lessons, i immediately felt a change in him (she didn’t cure or fix anything, she just wanted to feel what a pace felt like). Within a couple of minutes after remounting, he readjusted back to me though.

Unless correction or adjustments need to be made, and can only be made with someone else’s riding, then i’m not into it. But me, i’d much rather be given instruction on how-to myself. Even if it takes 2wice (or 10 times) as long. I want to learn.

[pluvinel]

@eightpondfarm

right?!? i don’t even let someone else drive my tractor!

Hey each to their own…I’m not trying to make converts here. Someone asked how to become a better rider, I offered a suggestion.

[Shiaway]

I’m not asking people to let me joy ride their horses. I was more hoping there might be a place with some lesson horses.

I do appreciate everyone’s input.

[Alterration]

Ok first, you’re probably not as bad as you think you are on these other horses. I completely recognize the feeling - it’s like trying to eat with your non-dominant hand.

The hard part when you catch ride for other people is that you don’t want to change the horse too much for them. I learned that lesson in my hunter-days, when my very good trainer told me that if I was going to catch ride for someone I needed to ride like them. The hard part was that the particular amateur in question was very handsy and I am NOT a handsy rider.

But I digress - yes, to get better, yes, lessoning and riding as MANY different horses as you can is key so that you can quickly assess the type of horse you have underneath you, and adapt your ride accordingly. I’m assuming you want to stay in dressage-land, but it’s difficult to find trainers who have lesson horses in this land (at least in my area), so you might have to cast a wider net. I wouldn’t suggest it to a beginning rider, but you sound sufficiently advanced that a lesson in a different discipline wouldn’t hurt too much.

Good luck!