I’m a little bored so doing this for a bit of fun, I’m just curious what everyone thinks my riding ability level is: Beginner, Novice, Intermediate etc…
Just ask questions as I’m not 100% what you’d need to know.
Well, are we meant to guess or are you showing us a video?
We’ve had recent threads where the consensus seems to be that these are meaningless categories outside of a very specific context. For instance a riding school might assign levels to its students based on passing certain markers. Or you might have a national or international club ranking, liking Pony Club does (D up to A), or the rider levels in Equine Canada. If you look at the whole spectrum of riders and take high level professionals as “advanced” then most of us ammies barely rate an intermediate 
whereas I can imagine a riding lesson program where “advanced” students just means you are allowed to hack out a horse unsupervised, or jump 2 foot 6, or something like that.
So it’s kind of a meaningless question.
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This isn’t one of those message boards that is likely to play a game of 20 questions in order to give you an answer. If you want to either describe your riding experience or post a video, people will probably respond with their opinion.
The only real question is - “why do you want to know?” Will you be happy if people all say “beginner?” Or will you be offended?
What does your trainer think?
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I’d say your probably taking Beginner Lessons. elsewise you’d be out cleaning, mucking or riding.
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I’ve thought alot actually about what makes a good rider and horse person at higher levels and how it can be hard to compare. Because there are a number of metrics.
Position and form, obviously. But also effectiveness. But also tact and intuition in the aids. And then the ability to train, on ground and in the saddle. Then there is courage. And fitness, strength, balance, athleticism. And then the personal qualities of patience, perseverance, consistency. Then there’s the question of technique. Then there is versatility and depth of experience. Comfort in and out of arena. And the question of how much you want it.
No one obviously scores 100% on every metric, and we become successful by using our strengths to make up for our weaknesses. To do this successfully we need to be brutally honest with ourselves, and reflect on our lives outside of riding.
Actually a really interesting thread might be: what is your major weakness in riding, what is your major strength, and how do you use your strength to compensate for your weaknesses?
For instance I know I do not learn physical skills particularly fast. But in riding I compensate for this by being very self motivated, pratcicing correct position all the time, and doing my homework. I also know I am not that brave, and I compensate for that by making sure my horse is well trained to halt and turn and my seat and aids are solid. And I know I will never have the versatility that comes from riding scores of project horses, so I compensate by trying to have very good relationships with a few horses.
Anyway, for the OP I would say one marker of moving beyond beginner into the huge intermediate category is whether you can effectively train and school your horse, with trainer support of course at least at first.
And I would say one marker of moving from intermediate/average ammie into advanced or pro, is versatility. Can you get on a strange horse and improve his ride without relying on a trainer to guide you ? Because that’s what pros are hired to do.
However I’m not interested in playing 20 questions either, because I don’t ever trust what someone says about their riding. I reserve judgement until I see them actually ride, and I usually keep my mouth shut about what I see too.
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I’d call a “Beginner” someone who is taking walk-trot-canter lessons, maybe trotting crossrails in two-point with a crest release, working on the rudiments of position and understanding the physics of riding, and who is in the early stages of learning to safely and properly do ground tasks like taking from stall, cross-tying, brushing, picking feet. You still need supervision for tacking up, adjusting girth and stirrups, mounting, dismounting, cooling out and putting the horse away.
“Intermediate” is comfortable and becoming secure in walk, trot, & canter on a variety of school horses, can now jump small courses and grids including verticals, spreads and crossrails of up to two feet, and can be relied upon to competently groom, tack up, clean tack, and muck on their own. Close supervision is still warranted of course. Supervised riding outside of the ring, or unstructured practice outside the strict lesson time are perks of this level.
“Advanced” should be able to ride any safe school horse, even the hotter ones or the sour attitudes; jump a 3’ outside course off their eye; have the rudiments of an independent seat over fences with diagonals and leads automatic by feel, without looking down and only rare instructor correction. You should know the WHY of how you do things. Handling on the ground should be calm, conventional, methodical, and you should know the safe places to stand and the safe ways and places to tie a horse. Trailer loading assistance, riding greener horses, observing breeding and colt starting will enhance knowledge. Hacking out in a group on roads and trails, a must for those lucky enough today to still have that privilege, and attending local fun schooling shows, hunter paces or combined tests a bonus! From this point you should be getting an idea of which discipline most interests you to pursue; leasing a horse for more unstructured riding time is suitable at this point. Correct-consistent-constructive is the watchword in making progress.
You’ll also have the most success if this entire process starts when you are at least 7 and not yet 15 years old, though many who come to riding as adults do just super.
By your categories I would be off the charts super advanced genius rider but when I look at my coach I know I am not. Or else you are seeing beginner intermediate advanced as all essentially stages in a kids riding lesson program, and there are other tiers beyond that.
A nice illustration of how labels for ability levels are pretty arbitrary, and generally useless outside of specific contexts, like lesson programs.
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Obviously I can only respond with a guess. Having read the question, and noting the generality and the complete lack of context of it, it seems that you want us to play a guessing game. Because you are “a little bored”?
My guess is that you are an absolute beginner and, most likely, quite young.
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Yeah, my thought too
And another way of establishing riding ability after you are out of beginner lesson programs, is: what level are you competing at, and what results are you getting?
Someone who is in the ribbons consistently at one meter is riding at a higher level than someone in a crosspoles class. Someone who is getting consistent 65% at 4th level dressage is riding at a higher level than someone who is in the walk trot class. Now obviously this is a bit dependent on access to good horses, and you can have a good pro taking a green horse in an entry level type class. You can also have stay at home ammies with good seats and hands, who don’t like to compete or can’t afford it.
And you can have folks riding at higher levels who have holes in their riding compared to other riders at the same level (I’ve watched Nation’s Cup jumpers boing around in the saddle on landing more than seems safe to me and even get jumped out of the tack, I’ve watched televised Grand Prix dressage rider with brutal hands), but overall they are still riding at a high level, obviously.
But competition level and results is one shorthand for estimating rider ability.
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