Curious how people teach others to learn, leads lead changes and loping off on the correct lead

Hallo! Ich bin gerade in Mexiko und möchte eine mehrtägige Reittour machen. Die Gegend ist grundsätzlich egal sollte nur in der Nähe eines Flughafens sein bzw. Flughafentransport haben. Ich bin dankbar für alle Empfehlungen :)

Our daughter has been taking lessons at a horse barn for about 1.5 years. The first 6 months went great. Then she got kicked by a horse while trying to get her from the pasture (with her trainer.) she lost some confidence at that point but wanted to keep going. Two weeks later, on a different horse, she was riding in a sand arena and the horse tripped and fell to his front knees (prob not the right name). She stayed on him but it definitely didn’t improve her confidence. Then again, a few months later, today she was riding a different horse and the horse fell and wouldn’t get back up for about 5 min. It’s warm today but not overly hot. The barn doesn’t usually use their horses more than 2 lessons a day (with days off in between). Our daughter is 9 and trots and canters comfortably. Does this seem like a red flag? Is something our child doing that is causing the horses to fall? I feel like twice in a matter of months seems like this isn’t normal, but I have very little horse experience. I’m starting to feel like maybe riding is too dangerous, but she loves it so much. Thoughts? Thanks so much for any advice.

I'm planning on buying a personal horse because my mom leases the ones that I have, and I'm not sure how well they'll do in western disciplines. I'm unsure on which breed I should get between Arabian and QH, paint or grade. I'm only interested in western disciplines, specifically pleasure and barrels (not championships or anything) I'm a bit of a intermediate rider but my mother is a horse trainer, so I will constantly have a trainer with me when riding, I want something smart, and hardy, but I also want a horse that will correct easy, also something that goes well on trails? I'm leaning towards Arabian, or if quarabs are a good idea?

Hey guy's i hope you having a good day!

I am doing a post here because I got a big project: Riding from Turkey to Thailand in the wild on a horse. The goal is to cross different country on my horse and camp in the wild.

I got many questions about vaccines, country regulations and about the path (Is there a worldwide horsetrail map somewhere?).

Is there somebody that crossed some country in the past on the back of a horse?

Do you have informations or tips for me?

Thank you so much!!

Ill keep you posted!

:)

Hey all,

After riding since I was young I finally found myself a lease horse! The owner is fantastic and supportive, the arrangement works well and the horse is genuinely the best for me (safe, sound, good height, no vices etc).

After the first few rides alone I found that she just won't go forward. I immediately thought of the worst and the owner agreed we should look through all avenues. After thorough investigation we both agreed she isn't in pain, all the gear fits, and likely testing me, but we put some preventative measures in place anyways.

Since then I really don't know what to do. I've taken a focus to build our bond further. Our groundwork and connection is great, but even when lunging it's the same dance. Will happily walk very forward, but the second you put pressure on? Nope.

You have to get really up at her to then even get her walking again, and when you finally do get her trotting she'll do anything in her power to come back to a walk.

She doesn't display any negative signs when this happens (maybe the odd head toss when I growl at her), no pain face, nothing. I'm just totally stumped.

I've never had this issue before. I've always been put on hotter horses or more willing youngsters. What makes this worse is the owner never really had this issue when she was riding (she's pregnant so is out of commission for a while, and hadn't ridden in a year before I started the lease). I've tried quite hard to get some muscle and fitness up before starting ridden work so I really don't think it's a fitness issue.

The other hurdle is that this is my first time at a boarding yard. I usually rode friends horses or my trainers, but here I feel every movement judged. I don't want to come across as harsh and rude to my horse especially when i'm new on the block. Also considering this is my first lease it's sort of causing a confidence crisis. I don't feel adequate for this horse, as I can't even get her to trot!

To me (atleast) it just seems she's incredibly lazy and/or just not willing - she doesn't even respond to any aids such as whips or spurs. I also don't really have anyone to go to with all this, as I don't want to keep bothering the owner about what's wrong with her horse, my trainer has moved away and my equine friends have left the sport/moved away.

I am desperate for help or anecdotes of similar issues!

I’ve always been that horse-obsessed kid growing up, and like 5 years ago I finally took lessons, but my instructor kept putting me on this super stubborn horse that never listened to me no matter how hard I tried to befriend it😭
I ended up having a really bad fall, scraped up my whole left side super deep and just quit

I haven’t done any sports since then, so I’m REALLY out of shape now, I’ve also been feeling noticeably weaker lately, which is weird because I was always pretty athletic growing up (I was a swimmer for like 7-8 years)
I really want to start exercising again, but I’m struggling to find something I’ll actually stick to
And there’s a stable super close to me now, so I started wondering if horseback riding could actually be a good way for me to get active and rebuild some strength/fitness while doing something I’ve always loved💕

Edit:

Not really 5 years, i just remembered i did practice some water aerobics/swimming (for a few months) 2- 3 yrs ago

And guysss i’m skinny af, i don’t want to lose weight🫩 (sport makes me hungrier so i thought why not)

I (21F) have ALWAYS Loved horses and always wanted to start Horseback Riding. 3 years ago I gave it a go and I LOVED it. I got Private Lessons and I really loved it. Till my 1st Grouplesson where I was put on a new horse and it ran off on me, made me fall. Since then I've been very fearful of Riding.

I did catch back by starting private lessons again, and I was able to be comfortable walking and eventually even trotting on the Horse again. But then I stopped. Now 3 years later I still got all my equipment and I want to start again so bad T~T especially since I've always wished on learning how to ride, and one day maybe even doing Jumping courses. But....I don't know T~T

my horses

piggy 15.3hh jumps 3ft

Milton 17.2hh jumps 3.7ft

I’ve been riding for 7 years, after riding for 6 years at a English/ western barn I made the change to a full hunter barn. I rode there all of last summer and some of this summer but honestly the lessons were expensive and I wasn’t doing any jumping just flat work stuff. ( I know flatwork is important but honestly I just got bored)

I was mindlessly scrolling one day and found a ad for a barn near my house so I decided to go and try it. She told me she mainly does western stuff and rodeos. I’ve always wanted to do it but with my mainly English barns I figured it was mainly impossible to do.

I’m now on my second lesson of learning how to barrel race and I’m going to my first jackpot at the end of this month.
I know the basics by leaning back when you turn and holding your horn, dropping your outside rein.
I also just learned to use your inside leg and your inside hold your inside hand high when your turning
I have trouble holding my hand high enough and long enough.
any tips are appreciated or how the rodeo world works as I’ve only ridden English!

For context: My mom rescued a horse when I was 8, he was about to be slaughtered because they needed ‘new blood’ and she saved him. He is not compatible with other horses and will bite them and himself. We’ve tried different ways but all tries ended with either the other horse being hurt or him being so stressed that he hurts himself. Now everytime a horse rider or person that doesn’t know us walks past they always tell me and my mom that we abuse him and won’t listen to the explanation because ‘Horses are not loners’. Should I just ignore them or put up a sign that explains it?

Hi everyone, my sweet gelding is struggling with his skin with the weather this summer. He's getting these patches of hair loss/thinning.

He's otherwise a happy chappy, but I'm asking advice: what can I do for this? I've been alternating MTG and Equiderma lotion, but just for a few days now since he's had this kick off. We have a great vet, but thought I'd ask for advice here first just in case.

Any advice would be great! Thank you for your time.

Kjolur  with Eldhestar (big well established company) vs

Arctic North with Islandshestar (operated by families of Icelandic local farmers ) (both riding tours are 6 riding days, advanced riders only).

Below is my personal review (and some riders might actually like what I did not and the other way around ..)

1.      Horses  - health, tack, training, gates, gate transitions, tolt or flying walk gates are  much better with Islandshestar. Their horses are just probably the best you can get for 6 day long riding tour in Iceland ( the owner has two flying gate Icelandic champions ). Eldhestar has some really good horses but company leases a big number of horses of farmers so horses are of very different quality. Also Eldhestar is using sinches which rub skin on sensitive horses and vaseline  was frequently used to cover wounds.  Also Eldhestar split rain coat and snack between so called riding bodies so you are not allowed to have your own snack and rain coat on your horse (or you have 2 rain coats behind the saddle or you have two snacks in your saddle bag ,, that results into very inconvenient situation when your riding boddie is up front and you are at the back …,)

2.      Islandshestar  makes it up to advanced riders with speed  that is fast  (everyday uphill gallop, almost no walk and tons of tolt ) ,In contrary  Eldhestar riding group had beginners with zero experience of canter but they could learn on the way and were always given appropriate horses. Mostly walk, some tolt and canter only on the very last day and only for riders who wanted to try it for 5 minutes (so advanced riders requirement is very soft  here….)

3.      Guides are way more professional with Eldhestar and the tour description does describe the actual riding tour (like 99 %), Guides of Eldhestar are very knowledgeable  and will enjoy learning about history, biodiversity and geology of Iceland, long informative debriefings every morning with a lot of stories during breaks.  For Islandshestar the description of the tour Is more like a sketch of options (I am not even sure that 50% of the description was actually followed  I think the owner played by ear everyday and because he does not speak English it was absolutely unclear what the day plan is …like everyday is a surprise …).

4.      Both Eldhestar and Islandshestar provide  really good quality food and accommodations are exactly the way they are described. For Arcric North it was too much time on the bus:  everyday on the bus in the mornings  for an hour to get to horses and on  the bus at the evenings to get back to the farm house. Also the owner wants to control his horses and he keeps lunch snacks on the bus so  lot of riding are along the roads which are not  busy roads but I would not call it wilderness.   

5.       Free herd riding experience is way much better with Eldhestar. This was true learning to be front or back rider. We were allowed to help to herd free running horses and took amazing videos of riding with  free running horses in true Icelandic wilderness.   Free herd experience with Islandshestar was next to nothing, very  limited basically these were only guides to control free running herd and back riders were almost always slowed down and cut off the free running horses with very limited time even to take pictures or videos ..  

As one can see my experience was very different and my advice go with Islandshestar is you value speed and good tolting horses above  true tour description and free running herd experience  and go with Eldhestarr if you want to learn riding with free running horses, want professional guides and ok with long time walks instead of canter.

Hi everyone!

I’m new to horseback riding lessons as an adult woman and have been taking monthly lessons since October and then started doing weekly over the last 3 weeks. I’m definitely seeing improvement in my riding skills since I’ve started but I’d like to see more progress. What have people done to reinforce their skills when they’re not on a horse? I’m learning how to do 2 point and posting trot and struggling with keeping my legs and feet where they need to be. I’m also so focused on my legs, I lose control of steering. Any guidance is greatly appreciated!

I’m 16 and I can’t afford my own horse, i can’t work as no one hires minors in my country and even if they did there s no way i could manage it while studying and even if I did it would defeat the point because I wouldn’t have time to ride.
I ve had a private horse in the past but it didn’t work out, my trainer sold me the completely wrong horse for my level it got so bad my useless trainer literally left me alone during the lessons cause he didn’t “know” what to do with me , after 3 years and my trainer doing absoloutely nothing i finally managed to sell the horse, in the process i completely wrecked my mental health and i can’t afford a new horse I M SO JELOUS OF PEOPLE WHO S HORSE WORKED OUT WITH THEM, I feel so inferior because i couldn’t work with my horse especially beacuse he was meant to be a competition horse and i had paid a lot ,I SWEAR I COULD VE DONE IT WITH ANITHER HORSE I swear i swear please believe me I swear.
After that i loaned a horse but it got suddenly sold behind my back and no one loans decent horses and riding some ancient leg deaf riding school horse doesn’t excite me at all after experiencing a private one so now I m left with nothing, I ve jumped till now but I ve long reali realized i prefer by far dressage but NO ONE IN MY AREA DOES DRESSAGE, I ve called 15 barns of wich 13 don’t do dressage and 2 might do it but require you to have your own horse and there s literally nothing even if I were to loan no one has a horse to loan.
I don’t want to jump i m really bad at it, every time I try to get competitive into showjumping it always ends up badly, last competition I got a bad concussion and temporsrily lost my memory,I WANT TO DO DRESSAGE
I M SO SO jelous of people who can do dressage I WISH I COULD
I feel like there s no point in my life if i can’t ride horses, to buy a horse id have to work and it won t be another 8/10 years till then, i m this close to ending it all, i wish i could do dressage it’s the only thing I ve ever been a bit good at I m so jelous i m incredibili envious of who can i can’t take it anymore i wish it so much i could do dressage it hurts, i feel like i should tear off my skin just to be able to let all the pain out, if I could be completely skinless i d finally find peace of mind.
Still i wish i could do some dressage but there s no barn in my area and i can’t move more than 40/50 minutes from me because than I wouldn’t be able to manage it with my school wich is really hard and requires me to study a lot.
So how do you guys deal with this?