How to determine the level of a rider.

S

showqa

New Member
Jan 31, 2008
1,066
0
0
How do you define a novice, intermediate, advanced rider?

Someone at the yard was saying that a new arrival had over estimated their level, saying that they were advanced when clearly they were not. So that got me to thinking - exactly how are the different categories defined? I would call myself an intermediate rider - a good understanding of working in an outline, tracking up, shoulder in, leg yield, extended trot, jump over 3ft 6, use of hands, use of aids, etc. So what do you all think? If you were about to buy a horse for example, and it was advertised as "Not a novice ride" - where would you picth yourself regarding that ad? Likewise, if you were going to a new riding school for an intensive course, how would you decide which box to put yourself in?
 
For competing Advanced would be the riders you see at Badminton or Hickstead and the Olympics, and im fairly sure the new livery wouldnt be one of those lol!

Most "normal" riders would fit into the other two categories. For me personally, i'd say an intermediate rider is someone who is confident in whatever discipline they choose to do (you dont even have to have ever jumped a fence to be a very good rider, that seems to confuse a lot of people!!) and usually they are competing to a decent level in it :) A Novice rider.. Um, i guess beginners and upwards. Maybe someone who just isnt confident in their abilities yet but working towards it?? I dont know..

I dont like the idea of putting people into categories. As for "not a novice ride" it wouldnt put me off personally as i wouldnt want a plod. A novice riders horse to me is a safe, calm schoolmaster who has been there and done it but probably wont be a great horse in any particular area, but could probably do a bit of everything fairly well :)

Thats just my opinion anyway!
 
I agree with you Jessica, and yet as riders we're actually always being judged and categorised aren't we? I love all things horsy and I cannot imagine my life without the involvement which has been part of my life for many years, and yet in some ways the sport disappoints me because it is a bit snooty and for many newcomers I'm sure it's very off putting.

The yard that I'm on is probably typical - it's not a comp yard or particularly flash - and yet it is very competetive (NOT in a positive way either). One of the women, by their own admission, needs to crack on and develop their skill but she's really quite looked down upon (NOT by me I hasten to add - I'd much rather be around people who fret about what they don't know, rather than bask in the glow of what they think they know!)

Of course, you don't have to jump to be an intermediate rider. I stand corrected!
 
I basically think that advance and intermediate novice etc leave a very broad spectrum which is open to anyones interpretation.

I prefer to think as a confidence and knowledge issue. Knowledgable and confident people need not rate their ability or compare it to others.

If you know what your doing and are confident about what your doing then their is not need to grade yourself at all.

I prefer to buy horses that are not novice ride as they generally have something to offer be it a problem with brakes or just maybe the actually have a personality :p

I would never grade anyone as my perspective will be a whole lot different to someone elses.

Nikki xxxx
 
Nik-n-Kia said:
I basically think that advance and intermediate novice etc leave a very broad spectrum which is open to anyones interpretation.

I prefer to think as a confidence and knowledge issue. Knowledgable and confident people need not rate their ability or compare it to others.

If you know what your doing and are confident about what your doing then their is not need to grade yourself at all.

I prefer to buy horses that are not novice ride as they generally have something to offer be it a problem with brakes or just maybe the actually have a personality :p

I would never grade anyone as my perspective will be a whole lot different to someone elses.

Nikki xxxx
Click to expand...

That's a good way to look at it Nikki!!!:)

I was thinking about my own level of ability especially with the recent post which was very critical of novice riders owning a young horse.

Yes I am novice in terms of number of years riding and level of knowledge but I am confident, determined, have invested in hundreds of lessons and am enlisting the help of a competent RI to help me school my horse. To me that shows more common sense than some people who class themselves as experienced riders and assume that they know all there is to know and could also potentially damage a young horse.
 
As you may know i got a new pony on loan the other day, the advert said "definately not suitable for the novice". Now, i don't consider myself as a novice but i don't think i'm good enough to be an intermediate rider. It all depends on perception. I still took the time to go view him simply because i thought i could handle him. I've only ridden him twice but it is doing wonders to my confidence, that's with him cantering off! With some people that may knock their confidence but it hasn't bothered me, so really it depends. x
 
I agree with what's been said above, but I would add that you don't necessarily need to compete to be a good rider - you do get loads of experience (naturally!) but it is possible to improve your riding, and be a good rider, without competing. I consider myself to be an intermediate(ish) rider, but I have always been looked down on by others (not at my current yard, thankfully) because I'm not competitive and I have never really been bothered about competing. But I have devoted a lot of time and effort to improving my riding and training my horse to a higher level (including shelling out money for classical dressage lessons :eek:) and I would like to think that I am slowly but surely 'levelling up' my abilities :o

Having said that, I'm sure if I got off my bum and made an effort to enter a local dressage test I would probably have an incentive to work harder ;)
 
Having ridden badly for 25 years and not had jumping lesson I consider myself a novice - it can be deemed as a derogatory term.
 
By that reckoning, i'm an advanced intermediate (but it may be a while before people unleash me on their poor horses who need re-schooling :p!), but i'd always thought of myself as a novice/novice intermediate. I think i should just not categorise; i'm confusing myself!
 
Last edited:
Woo hoo I am an Intermediate lol.

I woudl class my self slightly lower down the ranks. Tyler might be classed as an Intermediate horse butr I am afraid I wont be doing any big competitions yet.
 
Anski said:
Ooh that article has made me feel a bit better! I always thought I was barely intermediate but that says I'm Advanced Intermediate, hooray! :eek:
Click to expand...

I am thrilled with that! Thought exactly the same as you but Advanced Intermediate fits me to a 't'! May print that and pin on board at yard for YM to look at as she told someone I was 'very novice' despite never having seen me ride!!!!!!!! I was appalled! This is despite my very qualified instructor telling me how much I've improved since we've been loaning together last year and the mare we loan is definitely not a 'novice ride'. Whoopee!!!!:D
 
Haha, according to that, I'm Advanced Intermediate....but I'd say I'm novice, because all that I can only achieve on certain horses....

Plus I think it's hard to judge if you've only ever ridden in riding lessons....it's a lot different doing it yourself, than having a RI there to help you and stop you riding like a penguin with back problems (oh, no, wait, it's just me that rides like that :p)
 
palmerlover52 said:
Haha, according to that, I'm Advanced Intermediate....but I'd say I'm novice, because all that I can only achieve on certain horses....

Plus I think it's hard to judge if you've only ever ridden in riding lessons....it's a lot different doing it yourself, than having a RI there to help you and stop you riding like a penguin with back problems (oh, no, wait, it's just me that rides like that :p)
Click to expand...

But surely it's an awful lot to do with confidence? Some horses are harder than others. My (ex,thank God) instructor once got me off a difficult-to-even-trot horse and half passed across the arena-completely gutted me, even tho he's been riding for a zillion years. If you had a properly schooled horse and lots of time with it, not just lessons, I reckon anyone could be 'intermediate/intermediate advanced'! LOL:D

PS: Mods, where has the basic yellow smilie gone?!
 
marieclaire said:
But surely it's an awful lot to do with confidence? Some horses are harder than others. My (ex,thank God) instructor once got me off a difficult-to-even-trot horse and half passed across the arena-completely gutted me, even tho he's been riding for a zillion years. If you had a properly schooled horse and lots of time with it, not just lessons, I reckon anyone could be 'intermediate/intermediate advanced'! LOL:D

PS: Mods, where has the basic yellow smilie gone?!
Click to expand...

:) <-- right there isn't it? I stole it ;)
And yeah, I 'spose so. But then again, if I think I can do something, and then turns out I can't, I get very frustrated....especially if someone else can do it on that horse. Confidence can work against me because I've got a tendency to be cocky :rolleyes:
 
It has an awful lot to do with opportunity too! At the end of the day, you can't study piaffe unless you have a horse schooled to that level who can "teach" you how to do it. This is a constant frustration of mine. With the horse I share I ride shoulder in, counter canter, extended trot, a half decent half pass, rein back to canter, but there's a limit to what he can do and therefore a limit to what I can do. By the way, does anyone know of a school where they have that quality of horse in the North West/ North Wales area?
 
I dont think you can say that you shouldn't categorise riders as, with all aspects of our sport, we are put into categories when competing, so you do have to accept that it will happen. But certainly in a livery yard setting its up to the individual to assess their own competance level and do only as much as they feel happy doing, and therefore there is no need for categories, and i imagine those people who put fellow liveries into categories are the ones who have the least confidence, hence putting others down ;)

Showqa - Opportunity and having a schooled horse is one thing. But having the talent, experience and knowledge to school that horse yourself is much more rewarding. Yes, you need to have money and time to train with a good trainer, but its not all about buying a ready made dressage/jumping machine, the best part of any horsey sport is the training IMO!
 
Interesting that you ask this question . . . I had a lesson w/ the chief instructor the other week who said something about me being able to do something "at my level . . ." My first reaction was "I have a level?"

I've been riding 4.5 years and I don't own a horse so ride a wide variety. I'm comfortable in walk, trot and canter, can assess how a horse is going and think of ways to get improvement. I can ride some lateral movements and can jump both coloured and fixed fences (but don't because I don't really like it - much prefer working on the flat). I can also assess my own riding accurately and articulate what I need to work on. I'm confident handling and caring for horses and reasonably knowledgeable about their behaviour and care but I wouldn't feel confident starting a youngster.

Honestly, I think I have my own level . . . I use myself as a benchmark rather than other people because we all have different goals and reasons for riding . . .

N
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
newrider.com
Top Bottom