Do You Ride Horses? V.4

[Hime]

Been feeling super stressed lately. I've been trying to get into lessons for at least half a year or more, with no luck. Every time I start talking to a stable they just.... Stop answering me back after awhile. I don't know if I'm doing something wrong, but it feels like the equestrian world keeps kicking me out. It's incredibly disheartening, and makes me feel as though I'll never be able to be involved with horses. It seems like going to a local college for an Equine Studies degree is my last shot

What are you asking/telling them and do they say they have no space on lessons or what? Honestly many stable owners have very minimum time to answer mails and phone calls, as they have so many other things to do. So if the matter is not urgent in their oppinion they might be little lazy to reply. ^^; I know it's not really ideal customer service, but thats how it often is. In equestrian world horses tend to come first and people second, even if they are paying customers. Usually start of the season can be little hectic time for riding schools, since they migth need to adjust and change their lesson groups and times. So they might need little time to sort out their continuing riders and figure out can they have more people on certain lessons, before taking on any more new ones, if they can that is.
Either way, hang in there and keep looking up other potential riding places if the ones you've contacted so far don't work out.

Well they know I'm looking for lessons. When I go to visit potential stables, i usually bring money for a month of lessons, and a list of riding goals so that its very straight forward. There was once I had literally sat through lessons and everything, but facebook said they had seen the message, but never got a call back or a message. The only thing I can think of that might scare people off is the fact I haven't had a proper lesson since elementary school, and the fact I have anxiety. Other than that... I'm not sure. I'm about to send a check in message to my most recent hopeful, since the lady I've been talking to is super nice. Trying to get ahold of the correct admissions counselor for the college I was talking about is proving to be difficult as well-

Hmm... If they've seen your message and othervise things have seemed to go smoothly, but don't reply in say within half a week/week, shoot them another message or give them a ring. It's possible they've read the message in hurry (often happens with facebook) and haven't had time to reply in that moment and then they kinda forget it later.
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I'm not really sure should I be concerned or not... Heta has suddenly decided that she will not eat linseed anymore. I honestly can't think of anyother reason than that there's something different about the product the stable uses compared to the one I used. Even though honestly there really shouldn't be any dramatic differance... She ate the old linseed just fine for couple weeks at the new stable before the stableowner re-stocked the stable's linseed. So it can't be the water tasting funny. Now that I've been using the stable's stuff since last week she has refused to eat the linseed. She did eat some of it today when I added in some vitamin, but still left almost half of it... Usually she loves the stuff even more with the vitamin in it. Othervise though she seems to be eating fine and hasn't been leaving any hay un-eaten anymore, so I'm trying not to panic too much. I'll probably try to remember to bring some of the other brand stuff from L's place next Sunday and see if that makes any differance...

[APH Italy]

Update: One of my main hopeful stables has explained why she hadn't replied. apparently she was out of town, and so is the admissions counselor i need to talk to at college. Hopefully in a week or so i'll be starting lessons and applying to college for my equine studies degree!

[Luzien]

I'm not really sure should I be concerned or not... Heta has suddenly decided that she will not eat linseed anymore. I honestly can't think of anyother reason than that there's something different about the product the stable uses compared to the one I used. Even though honestly there really shouldn't be any dramatic differance... She ate the old linseed just fine for couple weeks at the new stable before the stableowner re-stocked the stable's linseed. So it can't be the water tasting funny. Now that I've been using the stable's stuff since last week she has refused to eat the linseed. She did eat some of it today when I added in some vitamin, but still left almost half of it... Usually she loves the stuff even more with the vitamin in it. Othervise though she seems to be eating fine and hasn't been leaving any hay un-eaten anymore, so I'm trying not to panic too much. I'll probably try to remember to bring some of the other brand stuff from L's place next Sunday and see if that makes any differance...

you feed her a new linseed product...that could be it...the taste could be different, or it is not good anymore...maybe try it ghow it is, when it is the same taste as your usual,...then maybe she simply does not like it in the moment....but horses can be difficult with things they dont know, some horses o not drink any water that is not from there home barn...or the usual hay...what could be bad...bad as it is only linseed...maybe try to get the one you would use at home or did you try the oil? maybe she wants something different^^

[Whippet.]

Hey guys, looking for some bareback riding tips

So I've gotten my trotting sorted out, can sit without bouncing and can also post (did a full 180 when I wasn't worried about coming off, seat improved immensely so I just must have been too tense before. The horse I ride has one of the bounciest trots ever oh my, but has a nice shape to her which helps staying put. The problem is, she rushes into a canter and doesn't know how to go slow to start with. She's been like this for over 10 years and is not my horse so I can't really fix it as I'm only riding once a week at this point. I attempted to get her into a canter on the weekend but got unbalanced as soon as she sped up so didn't transition. She'll slow down into a steady canter from half halting after 5 ish seconds but its just that transition that I'm struggling with!

One bonus at least, my seat has improved drastically from going back to basics. Hopped back in the saddle after an hour of riding bareback and my butt did not leave the saddle, I asked her for a pretty 'strong' canter too. Usually it's a bit hard to sit as she's usually going flat out, but it probably helped that I was uber confident with cantering once the saddle was back lol

So does anyone have any tips I could try and help sit that rocky trot to canter transition? I think it's just going to take some perseverance and practice which I will certainly be doing, but if there's anything else I can do in the process it may make both our lives a little easier

[steve rogers.]

Hey guys, looking for some bareback riding tips

So I've gotten my trotting sorted out, can sit without bouncing and can also post (did a full 180 when I wasn't worried about coming off, seat improved immensely so I just must have been too tense before. The horse I ride has one of the bounciest trots ever oh my, but has a nice shape to her which helps staying put. The problem is, she rushes into a canter and doesn't know how to go slow to start with. She's been like this for over 10 years and is not my horse so I can't really fix it as I'm only riding once a week at this point. I attempted to get her into a canter on the weekend but got unbalanced as soon as she sped up so didn't transition. She'll slow down into a steady canter from half halting after 5 ish seconds but its just that transition that I'm struggling with!

One bonus at least, my seat has improved drastically from going back to basics. Hopped back in the saddle after an hour of riding bareback and my butt did not leave the saddle, I asked her for a pretty 'strong' canter too. Usually it's a bit hard to sit as she's usually going flat out, but it probably helped that I was uber confident with cantering once the saddle was back lol

So does anyone have any tips I could try and help sit that rocky trot to canter transition? I think it's just going to take some perseverance and practice which I will certainly be doing, but if there's anything else I can do in the process it may make both our lives a little easier

patience, if she's had this rushing habit for 10 years, its going to be incredibly hard to fix.

[FLYBOY]

Heeeyy, never posted here before...
I'm not super involved with anything to do with horses and I probably never will be, but if all goes well I'm going to be working on a ranch pretty soon. This ranch does riding lessons geared towards disabled or otherwise under-priveleged kids who wouldn't be able to ride otherwise, so it kind of steers away from the snobbiness horse culture has sometimes. While I'd be doing a lot of simple/general work, I'd get to work with the horses some too, so I'm pretty excited for that! I'll probably just lurk in this thread tbh, since I don't know much about horses, but w/e

[Whippet.]

Heeeyy, never posted here before...
I'm not super involved with anything to do with horses and I probably never will be, but if all goes well I'm going to be working on a ranch pretty soon. This ranch does riding lessons geared towards disabled or otherwise under-priveleged kids who wouldn't be able to ride otherwise, so it kind of steers away from the snobbiness horse culture has sometimes. While I'd be doing a lot of simple/general work, I'd get to work with the horses some too, so I'm pretty excited for that! I'll probably just lurk in this thread tbh, since I don't know much about horses, but w/e

It's a great experience working with heaps of different horses! I'm fairly experienced when it comes to horses and currently work at a large racing stable. Very tiring to get 30 of them worked in a couple of hours but definitely rewarding. Even for people like myself who have been around horses their entire life, can improve even more with the right place. One of the best parts would have to be getting to know each of the horses and their individual personalities and quirks (some of which are more desirable than others). There's one at work which grabs the lead in his mouth as soon as you put his halter one cause he likes to fidget and often walks himself lol he's been found teaching it to the ones in the neighbouring paddocks as well also his goal is to inconvenience you as much as possible while hosing him down. Loves playing in the water, grabbing the hose in his mouth, can't wash his neck as he puts his head in the firing line, starts pawing and trying to reach the hose and my least favourite, stands on the hose at the worst times. I swear he knows what he's doing and it's for sure intentional lol

[Hime]

@Luzien: I did manage to get Heta eat like one quarter of her usual amount, but it took like 4 times pelleted stuff on top of it to get her to eat all of it. It's just slightly concerning as Heta's not really a picky eater at all... I asked around among other Icelandic horse owners in facebook and apparently there are some differances among linseed products even if they seem to be same stuff. One said it hasn't mattered to her horses, but one boarder's horse at L's has apparently also refused to eat the linseed at one point last month even though they didn't even switch products.
Oil would be good option for good fats source, but it only contains energy and protein is more what I need at this point... We shall see, I get to test out if she eats the old stuff on Sunday. If that fails then I need bump up her other feed amounts, as she has also lost some weight during this month and that is not good at all.

@Whippet: Sounds like she might first need to learn how to actually transition slowly and more 'collected way' under saddle before attempting to do so bareback. Heta used to be a lot like that and she's still little tricky to canter sometimes bareback as I need to have my seat and balance spot on or else she will loose her balance, won't pick up canter and just keep rushing trot(which is super bouncy). Sometimes I can sit the boucy fail trot by really telling myself to relax and be loose, but only if it's a straight line, on corners I can't keep my balance yet... But I would really suggest getting the canter transition more balanced and less rushed under saddle first, as then you don't have to worry so much about your own balance and can focus more on the horse.
What I've done is if I know Heta is starting to anticipate canter in trot, I do circles until she stops rushing and starts to bend correctly (she also likes to counter bend and push inside shoulder forward when she gets antsy). I've also taught her to pick up the canter from walk, which is much easier transition for me when bareback and if I get all the pieces right often the canter itself is also better. Of course if the transition from walk doesn't succeed, then she ends up in bouncy rushed trot. : P I would also avoid giving your horse too much rein in the transition and generally when attempting a transition I'd make sure she's going fairly slow (but still energetic), as then she's less likely to rush in canter. Like keep her nice and collected when asking for canter, if she's rushing or starts to rush the transition slow her back down and try again. Obviously this all might not work in short term or at all as she's had the habbit for so long and and you ride her only once a week. If the other people riding her would be on board getting the canter transition better then it might be easier to fix.
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Tý was feeling quite patient yesterday (or more like there was some salt remains on the stall's wall which kept him busy lol) so I tackled the forever project called mane detangling.

I still need to divide it more evenly as now it's again mostly on the left side of his neck. Maybe 2/3 or 3/4 is on the left side. He's been pretty good to ride, not that I have had many chances to ride him after his short holiday... Trot he finds bit harder gait to balance out currently, so we have little giraffe and counter bending stuff occasionally going on in corners. But transtions differance to tolt and trot seem to be pretty clear to him now. Tolt is still pacy, but I feel like we are getting there with the beat and at least it's not horribly bouncy like it was at one point. He's bit lazy though and term energitic walk really is not in his gear selection. ^^; He probably needs to get out on the trails little more...

[MagicAdventurer]

I go horseriding weekly on Saturdays!

[Whippet.]

Thanks for the advice Hime!