New Rider--Should I Change Horses?

[FerretMan]

I am a new rider (I’ve had 4 months of weekly 1hr lessons, never been near a horse other than that). Last week was the first time I’ve been able to canter in a somewhat controlled manner without my feet slipping around on the stirrups forcing me to stop and adjust after half a lap.

This week I started a canter and my lesson horse took off going much faster than I’ve seen a horse go in a ring. He spooks all the time, but this seemed very different; instead of being scared of something he seemed to just want to run and refused to stop or respond to me at all. In the heat of the moment I forgot about circling him and just jumped off.

That ended my lesson. My trainer got on him and he tried doing the same thing several more times, I guess he was having a bad day. We are going to talk about me riding a different horse next week, but I have no reference point for what is “normal” and I’m not sure how to decide. I’m not one to give up, but I don’t want to persist doing something stupid.

The horse I’m on is a 10 year old America Warmblood (somebody also called him a “draft-cross”). He’s really big, much larger than any of the other horses at the stable. I’m 6’/175lbs (near as I can tell I’m the only guy who visits this stable) so they put me on their biggest horse.

I wasn’t injured, but this seemed pretty risky, at least for my current skill level. Is this normal horse behavior? Could I expect to be able to learn to handle something like this in the near future?

Also, are larger horses more difficult to ride than smaller ones? I’d eventually like to own a large horse, would it be better to continue to take lessons on a large horse?

Sorry for my rambling questions here, I’d appreciate any advice. Many thanks!

[paulosey]

If your trainer suggests that you ride a different horse, I would suggest you take their advice. The trainer also had trouble with this horse and as a novice, you need to be able to learn to ride without safety issues cased by unsuitable horses.

Larger horses can be as easy or difficult as any other horse. Ponies are sometimes the most difficult rides! I would say a horse’s temperment is more important than size.

At your height and weight, there are many sizes of horse that you can comfortably ride.

I hope your next lesson is great and you continue in the sport…we need more people interested and involved in riding!

[Bluey]

Just a mere guess, hard to tell without seeing what is going on in person.

I would say, maybe you need to start with lessons on the longe line, so you learn balance first, then loose with a horse that is not a dead head, so you don’t get discouraged trying to make it go, but not so reactive that will move too fast and react too quickly when you ask it to do something.
A forgiving but amenable horse is the best for beginners.

That situation seems very scary and, like you say, not that safe.
Could be just an accident, or an accident waiting to happen if they don’t manage lessons and lesson horses that well where you are.

Hard to say, without being there, which is.

[enjoytheride]

This is not an appropriate horse for you. For where you are in your riding someone should be able to land a helicopter in the middle of the ring while you canter around it and your horse shouldn’t bat an eye. You should not be on a horse that spooks or takes off.

[Donkerbruin]

Sounds to me like the horse senses your lack of experience and was taking advantage of you.

I think it would be worthwhile for your trainer to work you on a lunge line while you build up your strength and confidence. Once you get your riding muscles built up and feel more comfortable on a horse at the canter, you’ll be able to sit deep, close your fingers, and say “Whoa” to get the horse under control.

[RxCate]

Horses (as any sporting activity) are risky, period.

I do agree with the above posters that you may not need necessarily a lunge line course, but you need to slow it down a bit and get your balance/confidence back.

Your feet should not be slipping period once you begin canter work. You should be completely stable in the tack.

Lots and lots of work at the trot stirrup-less (if you’re balance is ready) and in 2-point are a couple of exercises that will strengthen your lower half. Ride with your core, seat & legs. Your horse will follow even the tiniest fluctuation in weight and you will not need to necessarily “steer” them.

You didn’t mention - are you riding english or western ?

[MMacallister]

That ended my lesson. My trainer got on him and he tried doing the same thing several more times, I guess he was having a bad day. We are going to talk about me riding a different horse next week, but I have no reference point for what is “normal” and I’m not sure how to decide. I’m not one to give up, but I don’t want to persist doing something stupid.

The bolded part is the part that bothers me the most, yes the trainer could handle it but the horse continued to attempt to bolt. Yes, you should be on a quieter horse until you learn to balance better.

If you check out some reining horses they are usually smaller (around 14h-15h) and they carry guys your size (and bigger!) all the time, so a very large horse is not particularly necessary.

I will also second the riding in 2 point/without stirrups. This will help you develop your balance and core muscles.

Good Luck!

[Snowflake]

Yep, I say go back to basics and ride only on a horse that makes you feel secure. You’re going to be distracted if you’re constantly worrying about what the horse is going to do and it will delay your progress. Lots of trot work (posting and sitting), lots of transitions, two point and no stirrup work. When I taught lessons, if I saw a rider struggling to keep a quiet leg at the canter, we stepped it down and worked on exercises to make them more stable.

I’m a big fan of lessons on the line. I request them from time to time just to give me the opportunity to work on myself. It shouldn’t be an insult to a rider to be on a lunge line. Just one of those things we do to make ourselves a better rider for our horses.

[merrygoround]

The horse you were riding is totally unsuitable for a lesson horse. It would make me question the calibre of the instructor.

If you have not mastered the leg stability necessary to be safe at a canter, you should not be cantering, especially on a horse like this. Your size and weight do not require a large horse.

And yes some people unfortunately do consider 1/2 draft horses as Warmbloods, which they are not.

[FerretMan]

Thank you all for your responses.

I’m riding English. My trainer was asking me, what do I want to do, and I don’t feel like I have a good enough baseline feel for what is going on to make a decision. I’ll press her a bit more for her opinion next time we talk.

A helicopter landing would be the end of both of us, haha. He usually spooky, though not too badly, every lesson. It has seemed up until now like a good way to learn to keep balance, but this was quite different from anything I’ve experienced before.

I’ve got pretty good balance, I’m fairly athletic in general, but being on an animal with a mind of its own is a factor unlike anything I’ve experienced in any other sport. I have no prior experience being around horses and I’m unsure of what to expect.

I understand the sport is risky. I’m willing to accept a reasonable amount of risk, but I don’t want to be an accident waiting to happen, and I’m getting the impression that in this may be the case here.

[BuddyRoo]

The problem here (as far as giving you a good answer) is that it’s hard to know what the horse is really like, if the trainer is really qualified, etc etc etc.

Riding only one time per week for 4 mos, given the challenges that you’re describing, doesn’t sound like a good fit to ME, but I’m not a pro and hate to criticize your trainer/coach. But it seems like you are over horsed and perhaps need to go back to basics.

A horse, whether larger or small, can be well trained and have a bad day. Or get sour. Or a horse, large or small, can be poorly trained and be a real jerk on his/her best day. The size of the horse isn’t really the issue. IME.

As others have said, getting on a horse that you feel comfortable on and being able to focus on the learning YOU need to do would be my priority were I in your shoes. When you’re trying to learn technique, it’s awfully helpful to be on a critter who isn’t going to test you each step of the way.

However, you’re not just a sack of potatoes either so you do have to be prepared to shut down a situation. The first thing I tend to show people who ride my horse is how to shut everything down if they’re feeling insecure or there’s an issue. And we practice that. A lot. I am not sure that I’d have someone cantering around who admittedly does not have a good seat/leg even if it was on a saint of a horse if I didn’t have control over the horse–such as on a line.

I hope your future experiences are really positive. Welcome to horses!

[Appsolute]

[QUOTE=FerretMan;7295623]

I understand the sport is risky. I’m willing to accept a reasonable amount of risk, but I don’t want to be an accident waiting to happen, and I’m getting the impression that in this may be the case here.[/QUOTE]

And your impression is correct Sounds like the horse is “bolting” (taking off at a high rate of speed), and this can become VERY dangerous, very quickly. Sometimes horses bolt, and when the rider pulls on the reins, they react to that pain by running FASTER. It can result in horses loosing their footing and falling, or skidding to a stop and launching themselves, and or their rider into a wall - not good stuff that can result in head injuries and broken bones. Riding a horse with a bolting habit is beyond the normal risks associated with learning to ride.

“School horses” ones used to teach people how to ride should be “steady eddies”, usually with much more stop than natural go, and tolerant of rider mistakes. Its better to learn how to ride on a horse which you constantly have to urge forward (learning how to ride off your legs) rather than a horse that you have to constantly slow down (riding off your hands). In addition to being “forward” the horse you are riding sounds like it is sensitive and reactive (that spooking bit), and not suitable for a total beginner. Kinda like learning how to drive in a Honda civic is a good choice verses trying to drive a Porsche your first time behind the wheel - not appropriate!

Someone else mentioned a lunge line. Back when I was learning how to ride, my instructor put me on a lunge line to learn to canter. This way I didn’t have to worry about steering, or maintaining the horse’s speed - and I could just concentrate on myself, my balance and position. Once I had my body under control (which also means NOT having to use the reins for balance) - then I was given the reins and set lose to canter on my own.

Good luck! and welcome to the sport!

[fourmares]

I just have to say it… don’t bail just because the horse is going fast and ignoring you. You can ride as fast as he can run and he will stop eventually. You are much less likely to get hurt staying on than jumping off a moving horse.

[Toadie_s_mom]

[QUOTE=enjoytheride;7295313]
This is not an appropriate horse for you. For where you are in your riding someone should be able to land a helicopter in the middle of the ring while you canter around it and your horse shouldn’t bat an eye. You should not be on a horse that spooks or takes off.[/QUOTE]

This^

Your trainer should not be asking what YOU want to do. He/she should have the knowledge to know that this horse is, or isn’t, appropriate for you.

Good for you that you still want to go back!

[Snowflake]

And I just want to add a big welcome to COTH as well! It’s always nice to see guys getting involved in the English discipline. :yes:

[Appsolute]

[QUOTE=fourmares;7295697]
I just have to say it… don’t bail just because the horse is going fast and ignoring you. You can ride as fast as he can run and he will stop eventually. You are much less likely to get hurt staying on than jumping off a moving horse.[/QUOTE]

Hum - I have been taught the opposite. In Pony Club they practice the “emergency dismount” so you can depart from a cantering horse and get yourself safely to the ground.

I have seen a bolting horse run into a tractor (happened to a warm up rider for polo ponies at woodside years ago - rider died, it was terrible). I have seen bolting horses SLAM into the walls in indoors, and have seen bolting horses loose their footing when turning at high speed and fall on their rider.

Now, knock on wood I have NEVER had to bail from a bolting horse - but an emergency dismount is a skill to have, because sometimes it is safer to bail - than stay on a horse you have no control over.

[ReSomething]

With the tack I outweigh you and I ride a 14.2 ish pony. He’s short but half QH and built pretty big. I’m 5’7" with longer legs. He’d probably be happier with less weight, but he’s a racking pony and used to being ridden by a man your size. Go on Youtube and google “speed racking” to see how they look, not overlarge horses with sometimes pretty hefty men riding.

You don’t say what style of riding you are learning, but there’s a certain amount of preference for a size ratio depending on which one you choose. English hunters tend to like to see a person on a horse that “takes up his leg” or is large in proportion to the rider, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6BHwUuvUg8

The jumpers go for function so it’s the matching of horse and rider as a team, not so much how they look but how they perform, Western riders often are mounted on Quarter Horses and it used to be pretty common to see a little bulldog built QH with a big old guy on it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eYpJwojq_g Still is, from that video.

From the point of view of long term soundness of the horse, you want a horse with sufficient bone and large enough that you and the tack don’t weigh over 20% of the horse’s weight. http://www.gaitedhorses.net/Articles/HRiderGuide.shtml

Bone refers to the actual size of the horse’s cannon bones in circumference, so yes, big-boned is supposed to be good. There are a whole bunch of other factors coming into play here though, one of which is genetics, another is being ridden (weight bearing) at a young age, how and what kind of upbringing they have, good nutrition and plenty of room to play or not, and yet another is the kind of riding one does. Jumping is supposed to be stressful on the joints, rodeo sports, polo etc.

I personally learned to ride organically, ie I fell off a lot riding random horses and ponies belonging to friends, lots of it bareback. It led to lots of bad habits, I still ride mostly on my seat without the weight in the stirrups desired for a good English seat, and my skill level topped off pretty low. I went out and took lessons AFTER we got the horse, not uncommon back in the day, and learned more, lots more.

My suggestion to you is to add a lesson or horse riding experience per week if you can afford it. Trail riding if you do it over terrain, up and down hills, through creeks, little trot here and there, will give you some additional feedback on where you are in relationship to the horse while the horse is moving around a lot at the walk. An hour a week for four months is 16 hours, which we got as kids in about two weeks of running around. You need more. I know that it can be hard to find a really good instructor or a really good trail riding place and I’m afraid I can’t recommend any specific card carrying teaching organizations - Pony club is good but for kids, 4H can be really bad (or good). Try to go out and find the good in every place you go and good luck!

[ReSomething]

I started my post and missed some of the other posts, the curse of being long-winded I guess. And the edit feature NEVER works for me!

[ccr0009]

I feel like the trainer responded appropriately to the situation, in seeing an unsafe situation. The trainer’s ultimate responsibility is to keep their rider safe. Often times with the smart lesson horse, he/she picks up on a rider’s newness. So whereas the first few lessons a mount is fine, over-time (if not schooled be a professional) will begin to take advantage.
At this point while you are learning the basics, a smaller horse should be fine if available. The main concern over size, is just a ‘steady mentality.’ Overtime as you progress in your riding you can start to be pickier over what size horse you prefer.

[mrs.smith]

Other have given great responses. I just wanted to address the feeling you get at the canter that your feet are slipping the the stirrups. That sounds to me like you are gripping with your knees to keep your balance at the canter, something I struggled with for years. You should stretch your legs down into the stirrup and lower your heels, then turn your toes outward just enough that most of your leg is draping the horse, and your knees are no longer gripping. You’ll find this to be a more stable seat in the saddle. If any instructors can say it better, please do. :yes: