Where do you feel most comfortable when riding?

[amarche]

Curious really as I had a bit of an 'experience' last night and have been looking over the confidence threads.......

anyway my very good friend offered her nice horse for me to ride, that was ok , until she said 'oh, you can take him in the field'

now I go to pieces when riding in a field, I tense & freeze, lock and get so upset the horse totally mimics my behaviour and acts out - I have this inbuilt dread that the horse will b*gger off as soon as they get grass under feet (and yes guess what usually happens )......BUT i will hack out anywhere, anytime pass anything - i kind of use hacking as a safety net (and despite being hit by car a few years ago) still prefer hacking to riding in fields.

it's very wierd, all I could think about last night was 'i'll be ok as soon as I hit concrete' (not literally btw ;D as I've not got a self-harming streak! ;D ) and lo and behold as soon as we got the driveway C was a complete angel

Would love to be able to overcome this eventually but also would like to hear other people's stories too

[nic1]

I am most at home in the school, getting better in the field.

[sandy]

Definitely in the fields but am enjoying hacking on the roads again even though I always feel a bit apprehensive.

[angblue]

I chose arena, as I am happy to ride Blue on my own in it but I'm also happy to hack out with company.
My bugbear is hacking alone
But I much prefer hacking to schooling it's much more fun!!

[kya]

The sandy forest tracks, very relaxing.... well except when 40 deer decide to frolick through the scenery!

[em&ed]

I chose arena too - i think it stems from years of riding lessons in a 'controlled environment' with an instrucor there too... Indoor or outdoor - doesn't matter... (well in winter-indoor obviously -lol) I don't mind hacking when its with a 'treking centre' or riding school as the horses are usually well behaved.... I think it stems from when i was a kid and a horse bolted with me... turns out it didn't really bolt, it just cantered in a place it always cantered.. but i didn't know that - and it's been buried in my mind for over 25 yrs! I only remembered abou it last year when scolding myself for being a nervous nellie but if the girl had told me i would have expected it....

[ktk]

Hacking for me as it doesnt involve roads! My horses are more likely to have a bit of a fit in the school or in a field than on a hack

[kpick]

urm, depends who im riding, and if i know i can trust the horse in question. Inky im happy to ride ANYWHERE. even if hes having a doorkus day, i just find it funny but, if im riding a mad 18hh obviously an arena or enclosed field ;D

[wozzer]

I am much happier in an open space, so chose hacking.

Don't know why but feel much safer there than in the confines of an arena (and this must transmit to Lincoln who is much whizzier in a school than out on a hack)! xx

[Booze Fish]

Ive always hacked out rather than school so I feel more comfortable doing that anywhere really. Im actually more nervous in an arena because I havent done much schooling and am afraid Ill get things wrong .... I think Oscar enjoys it more too, he has spent most of his working life in a menage or arena and he seem to loose the will to live when we go in there (but he's never naughty, just really doesnt want to be there!!), whereas on a hack his ears are up and he's interested in everything and if he spooks its just a little jump, I dont think he knows how to run away from stuff!!!

xXx

[Skippy - RIP Banana]

Depends who im riding but generally the arena only cuz im nervous rider and have a 'thing' with feeling out of control in a horsey situation, but im working on it (or will be when i get back in the saddle finally!).

[Persianhorse]

Hi:

By field I mean Nature.
I voted Field because is open with nature and you have all sorts of things especially for the horse to be in nature and get use to it because after all he/she belongs to nature he/she home is nature and some of the poor horses never see their home for their entire life.

In nature horses see WATER Crossings , going Dow Hill and Up Hill , they hear the sound of dried leaves , bush and shrub crushing under their feet so all those spooky things (which are not in city's) will be experienced.

In nature horses are able to see and experience much more than any other places.

Nature is the best place for horse it could be not so good for us but it's definitely the best for horses.
[/b]
Best wishes.

[julz]

I know where you are coming from regarding riding in feilds...took me a long time to be comfortable with riding in feilds, (and wide open spaces) but as long as i know the horse I'm sitting on, I'm now ok with it...to the point that two summers ago I took the oldie into the stubble feild, and literally threw the reins at him... I gave him the choice what to do..if he wanted to wander round the feild so be it...and if he wanted to gallop..that was ok too..we ended up going for a gallop to the middle of the feild where he stopped and caught his breath again, had a good look around him, before taking off again uphill...It was totally exhilerating (sp) and can't see him getting the chance again as the feilds are currentntly being turned into a golf course!

[joto]

i've ticked "other". thats because I feel safest on the roads. this is because I only had a housing estate to ride aroud as a kid/teenager and any expedition into the countryside involved going with others who charged off across fields, and as i rarely got to canter it was scarey.

[nich]

well its hacks for me (which include fields) cos 3 of us have fallen of Dolce in the school, but no-one has on hacks (yet!). I think unless she is worked very hard and is too busy to think, she looks for distractions in the school, is easily wound up by nearby horses, or seeing things out of the corner of her eye.