There are several of us now on NR who have learned to ride in our sixties - assisted by NR. It seems the chief requirement is persistence and good health.
But there hasn't been much posted about resuming in even older age when one's health has let one down. And persistence may be inappropriate.
To be honest, my disenchantment with riding preceded my unexpected operation. I had a bad fall hacking last year, and switched to lessons in the school. Like eml, I began to find my previous work more interesting than riding. It's a satisfaction to exercise one's professional skills and find one still has them.
I was told not to ride for two months after my appendix op and resumed very gingerly in case dismounting hurt my tummy. My daughters thought riding would do me good. A stiff upper lip is second nature to an English boarding school girl, so by my third ride, there I was back in a normal riding lesson with my RI none the wiser.
Many people on NR know I've struggled for years with my elderly lesson horse, Poppy, whom I consistently failed to trot. Last summer the problem was solved when an RI suggested I trot Poppy like her owner did.
In April, after my op, trotting Poppy as instructed was totally beyond me. I had neither the energy nor athleticism to move her. I sat there close to tears when it came to me that I knew what to do if a horse didn't go forward as one wanted. Instead of struggling on with the trot, I three times brought her back to halt. As we moved off the third time, she gave me trot and then a perfect, unsolicited canter transition.
It was a floating transition; the RI admired it - but I wasn't up to cantering. I brought the lesson to an end, didn't book another and I went to see the doctor instead.
Lessons learned?
The GP told me three months was a much more realistic convalescence from the op I had had, and the average a year to get back to how one was before. Being 70 wasn't an obstacle - Sometimes on riding forums there seems to be a race to get back in the saddle - it isn't malingering not to ride if you don't feel like it.
I waited the full three months before going back to say good bye to Poppy.
Goodbye, because this ghastly lesson taught me that - due to age and infirmity - I needed to change to an easier, younger, more forward going horse, to which my RI readily agreed.
Being ill raised two big questions - how did I want to spend my money and my time? I realised there was some riding I didn't enjoy and I wasn't going to pay to do it any more - Whether I could find any riding I did enjoy was another question.
We talk on New Rider about riding or not riding in old age? As if all riding is the same. But it isn't. Much riding is deferring a pleasure or aspiring to future achievement. This is not so valid when you are old.
What do other NR people really enjoy when riding a horse? What makes riding worth doing?
And for those who haven't wanted to ride recently, what might tempt you back?
Because for me as you'll see, nothing turned out as predicted.
But there hasn't been much posted about resuming in even older age when one's health has let one down. And persistence may be inappropriate.
To be honest, my disenchantment with riding preceded my unexpected operation. I had a bad fall hacking last year, and switched to lessons in the school. Like eml, I began to find my previous work more interesting than riding. It's a satisfaction to exercise one's professional skills and find one still has them.
I was told not to ride for two months after my appendix op and resumed very gingerly in case dismounting hurt my tummy. My daughters thought riding would do me good. A stiff upper lip is second nature to an English boarding school girl, so by my third ride, there I was back in a normal riding lesson with my RI none the wiser.
Many people on NR know I've struggled for years with my elderly lesson horse, Poppy, whom I consistently failed to trot. Last summer the problem was solved when an RI suggested I trot Poppy like her owner did.
In April, after my op, trotting Poppy as instructed was totally beyond me. I had neither the energy nor athleticism to move her. I sat there close to tears when it came to me that I knew what to do if a horse didn't go forward as one wanted. Instead of struggling on with the trot, I three times brought her back to halt. As we moved off the third time, she gave me trot and then a perfect, unsolicited canter transition.
It was a floating transition; the RI admired it - but I wasn't up to cantering. I brought the lesson to an end, didn't book another and I went to see the doctor instead.
Lessons learned?
The GP told me three months was a much more realistic convalescence from the op I had had, and the average a year to get back to how one was before. Being 70 wasn't an obstacle - Sometimes on riding forums there seems to be a race to get back in the saddle - it isn't malingering not to ride if you don't feel like it.
I waited the full three months before going back to say good bye to Poppy.
Goodbye, because this ghastly lesson taught me that - due to age and infirmity - I needed to change to an easier, younger, more forward going horse, to which my RI readily agreed.
Being ill raised two big questions - how did I want to spend my money and my time? I realised there was some riding I didn't enjoy and I wasn't going to pay to do it any more - Whether I could find any riding I did enjoy was another question.
We talk on New Rider about riding or not riding in old age? As if all riding is the same. But it isn't. Much riding is deferring a pleasure or aspiring to future achievement. This is not so valid when you are old.
What do other NR people really enjoy when riding a horse? What makes riding worth doing?
And for those who haven't wanted to ride recently, what might tempt you back?
Because for me as you'll see, nothing turned out as predicted.
