self taught riding

[annmarieb]

i was having a wee debate with a fellow horsey friend


I use a riding instructor, there isnt many in my area, but i find myself asking so many question and it never really being explained properly and we don't really progress from walk and trot, she has only ever once taking me out on a hack.

so can riding be self taught? If you have done it , how did you teach yourself?

[donnalex]

When I was ten my sister and I got an unbrken Shetland bought for us. We learnt to ride on her by ourselves and through trial and lots of error, bareback in a headcollar as we had no tack. Looking back Lucy was a total saint to put up with us as she was only just leadable when we got her.
Once we were riding about quite confidently and staying on we got a bit bomb happy charging about everwhere mum thought we needed tack and later on some lessons to get us on the right lines. The lessons I had back then really helped me to understand the aids and really you never stop learning to ride.
The problem with riding from scratch without lessons is that you are not nearly as effective as you dont know the theory and can end up getting frustrated over just about anything. I know I did. Also my biggest fault is tipping forwards, I tend to do it al the time and when Im sat perfectly upright I feel like Im leaning backwards. I will never know if I would not have had this habit if Id been taught properly from day one and corrected as I learnt to stick on.
I am quite good at learning from a book and do read up a lot and get some lessons when I can afford it to make sure Im on the right tracks.
Even having a friend to ride with would help as they can maybe see whats going wrong whilst out hacking.
The cost of lessons and fitting them in can be off putting but they are worth it if you get the right instructor.
Some instructors are better at teaching beginners and very novice riders than others whilst some instructors are better at teaching more proficient riders. Choosing an instructor is a very personal thing and you may have to kiss quite a few frogs along the way.

[Amanda Seater]

anne marie - do you have your own horse?
If so then if you can go to clinics or have a REALLY good lesson or two a few times a year. You could then practice what you have learnt in between. I think you can learn to "stay on" a horse being self taught but if you want to do certain stuff - even simple things such as doing gates or parking out of the way of a car or stopping effectively in an emergency and not upsetting you or your horse then lessons are the way to go.
To learn to ride on your own first horse can be great but can also be an unmitigated disaster without help depending on the character of the horse and the character of the person.

If your situation is a riding school one then the best you can do is ask for more demanding lessons.

Even instructors need a mirror on the ground and coaching from time to time.

[sixfootblonde]

I know a lady who is almost completely self-taught from YouTube - and she is an amazing horsewoman! I have one of her horses (western trained QH called Roger), who she did nearly all the training on, and he is one of the best trained horses I have ever met. So soft and responsive. Really, truly, amazing. She is 20 now and was home educated, and spent a lot of time with her horses and working things out for herself. I think if you have a good knowledge of anatomy and good portion of common sense, and think it is pretty amazing what you can learn.

[sarahlev]

A good question! I have had many lessons in the past but have not found an instructor I really get on with here (there aren't many to begin with!), so I have also wondered how much progress I can make alone.

[Deleted]

Although I've had lots of lessons in the past I think I've made a lot of progress since having one Ride With Your Mind lesson and then reading the RWYM Essentials book. It helps if you can get people to take pictures or video of you so you can see your position too.

It doesn't have to be RWYM specifically but if you could afford to go to a clinic such as Derek Clarke's where you can ride his school horses then that'll give you loads to take away and practice at home. I'm hoping to do one of those this year

Plus also, I've had riding lessons from Rosie Jones, she's an RA and has really helped with my riding as well as groundwork - she can spot if I tense a bit of me or block my horse just as well as any BHS instructor I've had (actually better than most of them!), she's far better at reading my horse and I KNOW she's never going to tell me to hit him In fact I must call her it's about time she came to see us again

[Bay Mare]

I was always of the opinion that you should have lessons if you could. However, since finding Heather and EE I actually believe that you're better off having the occasional lesson with a good instructor than weekly lessons with an average instructor.

There seems to be very little interest in teaching riders how to sit and how to interact with the horse, it's all kick, pull and yank. There are good riding schools like June in the New Forest and Damian in Sheffield (both EETs) but there are a lot that are seriously lacking.

It's certainly worth looking at Heather's simulator clips on YouTube (I can't get the links as I'm at work but do a search for EnlightenedUK) as they will give you a good idea about position and absorption of the movement.

Depending where you are it would help you to try and get to a demo done by Heather or Becky Holden.


Ideally I would like to have regular lessons but there are just so few people now that I would trust to teach me that it's just a pointless waste of money and much better to just get Becky over every couple of months.

[annmarieb]

I do have my lovely 5 year old tb x trotter but she really needs more schooling before i trust her enough to hack her out, as to get to any of the good hack you have to go through the village , shes booked in for spring with a great horsey person and she will give me a few lessons

But i'm currently looking around for a confidence giver to hack out to really get back into riding,

my instructor at the min is ok, not great as she doesn't explain anything , as i had such a long timeout, i asked her to go right back to basics. i get experience being on horses but nothing more. and at £20 a hour.

[Mellymoo]

Hi annemarieb, I feel your pain! The only good riding lessons I have ever had have involved me tootling across to Manchester to ride with lisap! If you can get an EE or Centred riding teacher, you will come on leaps and bounds. I am going across at the end of April to learn how to canter - the past 3 years have been getting confidence, and walk and trot.

If you can get someone to video you riding, that is really helpful. I have a video of me at a show, and I can watch it and pick out what I need to work on - tipping forward, and legs flying backwards!