Is it just me?

Nayumi1

Member
May 10, 2017
67
29
18
Yorkshire
So I've been doing riding lessons weekly now for a couple of months now and loving every minute of it. The last time I did lessons I was only a kid and since then has been the odd hack ride, where no doubt i was doing everything wrong!

What I have found at lessons though is, I'll be riding a long trying to listen to the RI about what to correct etc, but there are so many things to think about! hands, shoulders, legs, correct diagonal, crop, those damn corners haha. The previous week I had managed to get my rising trot on the correct diagonal spot on, then this week I was thinking about my hands, trying to get my corners etc and I remember just looking down at the horses shoulder completely blank on which leg I rise with haha.

Is it just me that struggles to take it all in at once!
 
Ha ha, I've been having lessons since I got my pony 7 years ago and my Ri still says to me, "Blah blah blah, and blah blah... Jane, come in, Jane, have you run out of brain space?"
 
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And I'd afraid it never changes either! There are always too many things to think about!!
 
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I must admit I do love learning it all! I just find it highly amusing when I go completely blank! My RI will be shouting left rein and I'm pulling the right.....or doing something completely different!
 
You will get better at multi tasking and then it won't seem as daunting but horse riding and horse management in general is something that your always learning and improving with. In each lesson although you try to take on board everything your been fired at you think or one or two bits of advice that you really feel you can achieve and try and get that down to a fine art, honestly it will all come together in time:) x
 
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Haha its also annoying when you tell your brain to do something and your body disobeys! Like when I get nervous i pull back with one rein a bit, and I get told off so I think of dont pull back dont pull back and my hand does it anyway!
 
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Haha its also annoying when you tell your brain to do something and your body disobeys! Like when I get nervous i pull back with one rein a bit, and I get told off so I think of dont pull back dont pull back and my hand does it anyway!
Haha yeah I know that one well :)
 
Seriously it's not just you! I learned to ride as a kid by going out on a hack. No lessons as such. Just learning on the job.

Age 36 I got on a horse again after a 17-year absence. Having to learn it ALL from scratch!

Had a great lesson yesterday though and learned loads. So much to think about. Hands, shoulders, elbows, look where you're going, straightness, reins short enough to provide a contact, but long enough to allow him his head, sit, balance, but don't grip, knees away, relax into the saddle, sit, ask properly, release when your horse has responded, ask one-two if no response then stick... meanwhile back to those hands? They've gone wrong again...

I have ADHD. I find being around horses like therapy. I spend so much of my time so mentally "elsewhere" that this is amazing schooling for my brain to keep it in the here and now, and teach it to focus! I can achieve more in other areas of my life thanks to training my brain with horses.

Don't get disheartened. It honestly isn't just you! Doesn't matter what you learn in each lesson- just figure out what you learned. Whether that's what you need to work on next, or what type of horse you prefer. You learned something and that is to be celebrated. :)
 
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Definitely not just you! There really is an awful lot to think about! You'll find though that the more you do the less you have to think. It does start to come naturally. (Says she who's been riding for thrity five odd years and still has to check the diagonal in trot :shame: )
 
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Well that definitely makes me feel better. My main focus at the moment is my corners in canter as the school horse likes to cut the corners, but when I focus on the corners I end up forgetting everything else! I missed this weekend as I was away but have a lesson this Saturday so determined to get it!
 
I can hear my instructor bellowing "right rein! Right rein!" At me as soon as you said "corners" LOL.
 
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