I've been doing this riding thing for a long time, taken a LOT of lessons from some great trainers and feel as though I am a pretty competent rider. I am by no means perfect or a pro- my confidence is something that has plagued me as I have aged.
I have put a lot into Henry (with my trainers help) and I tend to be weird about other people riding my horse- not because I think that he will be bad but because I feel like if he is going to have someone mess up or a bad experience- I would rather it be with me.
I joke that I don't share well- but really, I don't share well ha!
I am 100% for training rides as you know if you read this blog :)
Thoughts... do share your opinions!!
(I've had this post in the works and it's funny that I had mini convo's about this recently with Kat and Emily)
I let other riders ride my horse. I think it is good for him be able to be ridden by other riders. I don't let just anybody ride him though. I have a select few that I will turn to when out of town, working long hours, etc... because if I am around I will be doing the riding. I pay too much money for others to ride...
ReplyDeleteYeah I agree not just anybody :)
DeleteI think it depends. I think my goal with my horse is to have him be rideable by anyone (especially since I want to sell him eventually). Because it means I did a good job in riding my horse. While he's green I think its important to have riders who are better then I am ride him. That being said when I'm in school I will be happy just to have someone hack him for me with our trainer's supervision.
ReplyDeleteGreat point about the goal in mind! And trainers supervision- ding ding ding! :) lol
DeleteI can move to Cali and ride my horse allll the time then ;)
DeleteI don't mind other people riding my horse as long as it isn't consistently as I would then expect then to pay something haha but I'm not very territorial over things Ike that haha
ReplyDeleteI totally don't share well! :)
DeleteI think having other people ride my horse is awesome. I love seeing my hard work shine with someone else riding. That said when I can't be there I only want them to hack and it's usually someone I trust explicitly and/ or are better riders than I am. I have to know they'll be fair to him and provide the care I would. And then Im especially grateful!
ReplyDeleteYeah I guess I am sketchy about when I am not there :)
DeleteOh and being better then me def!
DeleteHave you ever had L hack him? I wish she lived near me! I would ask her to ride huey for me all of the time if I could. He could use her finesse in my opinion. And since we are comparably sized it would be kind of nice! (Then I could see how I could kick butt like that too!) haha.
DeleteOoh meant to add that when I couldn't ride for awhile with my old horse and even a few times with hue I would let them be used with certain people for lessons. I felt like then the horse and rider benefited in the right combo. :)
DeleteShe rode him once way back when I first got him.. getting out to ride/saddle time for me hasn't been an issue till now. He really only gets a "trainer" ride 2 ish times a month.
DeleteLessons are an idea but I don't really know of any lesson people who I would want riding him.. I feel like none of them would be beneficial to him- I don't have any plans to sell him into a lesson lifestyle. Like if he is going to get "wear and tear" I want it to be useful not just up down mundane go around... I can do that prego lol!
Lol, L doesn't like my mare :( But she's great to watch ride around, same with our WS I can see how important staying relaxed is when riding her.
DeleteI like having other riders hop on Hemie and give me their 2 cents - it helps me to understand if issues are mine or his lol! So far I haven't let any non-riders get on Hemie - but more for their sake than for his! He really feeds off of the confidence of his rider so I don't think he'd be good with a beginner.
ReplyDeleteYou make a good point here... No none riders for hue yet. I'm not sure how he'd handle that. Probably fine but I haven't gone there yet.
DeleteI don't. I've let another rider who is close to my equal but she let Sam do things like go behind the vertical (his fav thing) for a whole ride and then it was weeks to retrain him not to do it again - which I previously broke him of the habit. So that was just annoying to have to deal with it again. Otherwise, he's a pretty solid citizen and isn't really going to get 'messed up'. I could NEVER lease and as a rule do not let others ride him.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah idk if i could let someone lease him.. i feel like i have REALLY high standards lol
DeleteI like putting other people on Molls for a hugely selfish reason... she's usually awful ;) Not that she does anything bad or dangerous, she's just typically not very happy about it, and it proves that despite all of her efforts to hate me, she secretly does like me a little. Deep down.
ReplyDeletehaha she loves her mom!
DeleteI will let others ride Simon, but I'm pretty picky about who.
ReplyDelete:)
DeleteI love having trainers/pro's ride my horse! It gives both her and I new perspective, but it took being off for a few weeks to realize how picky I am. I only want people who I've seen ride, and who I think would be a good match. I'm very lucky to have some great junior riders waiting for any ride possible who I like to have hack O. That said, I still usually dig for post-time info from my trainer or anyone else around the stable at the time. I like hearing about what happened! It's hard to let go!
ReplyDeleteYeah we don't really have a wealth of Jr's that I would want to ride my horse lol!
DeleteWhen I was a kid I didn't care who rode my horses because they were just backyard trail riding horses. With Chrome I don't share well at all! He's so green and I don't want someone to accidentally mess him up. I kind of want to be able to say that I did all of his training myself too, but I will probably have my trainer ride him eventually when I can afford it. :) As for other people I prefer no one ride him. My husband is the only other person who has ridden him, but he has a bad back so they just walked around for a bit and did a tiny bit of trotting. Right now when people ask I just tell them he's too green. I wonder how long I can keep using that excuse... :D
ReplyDeleteHey it's your horses you can say no to anyone as long as you want :)
DeleteRed is typically the go-to horse for family members and friends because he's 99.9% bomb-proof and is pretty much as safe as a "pony" can get. I'm okay with it as long as they treat him well and don't make him to idiotic things. At one point, my brother got on him and used the crop a little too much, then ended up letting Red run home (not good for a barn sour horse, haha) and I had to stop him halfway through and get back on. Supervision is important if it's not a professional riding. I've done a lot of work on Red and I don't want him thinking he can get away with things. That being said, I love putting beginners on him so he maintains that sweet personality with them and he remains safe for them, and I love having professionals on him for obvious reasons. :)
ReplyDeleteYeah ponies rides to beginners is totally understandable.. I mean B gets led around on Henry all the time lol :)
DeleteI think its kinda two different things with hacking vs lessons/ jumping. Hacking Henry could prob take your hubby around fine at this point, other then a hairy eye he's pretty locked in. Jumping is easier to mess him up with. You know I don't mind people riding Holly at the barn, anyone trainer puts on her is easily a match or better than I, and really I want her to put up with all sorts of different rider errors, just as long as no (other) bad habits form. I love that our WS rides her over the big stuff I'm too weenie to give her confidence too.
ReplyDeleteYeah people like hubby I am more ok with cause he won't try anything haha!!
DeleteI LOVE that J has been with me through this whole process so she knows how to "ride" Henry :)
ahhh sharing. I'm terrible at it. Initially when I was pregnant and trying to decide what was best for Prair, I thought a 1/2 lease was BRILLIANT!!! then, in thermal I had this weird come-to-jesus moment where I freaked out about someone else feeling possessive over her. It's a given for me to be picky about who rides her (up to now, no one but trainers), but I was almost more averse to someone cuddling with her and feeding her treats and being a "mom."
ReplyDeleteThat being said, when we evaluated goals (good experiences, good miles, keep showing..) Having a great rider (emphasis on great) half lease and help subsidize a show season was more important than me hoarding cookie-feeding privileges.
It's hard though! It's like co-parenting with someone!
I think for the right person, I could do a lease but it might take me forever to find that person haha! But I bet my mind would change if I found the right person :)
DeleteI feel like being that the financial responsibility is on me for Henry- it makes me 100 times more cautious and tuned in then someone else would be. Not to mention I have been there every step of the way through the 2.5 year process of training him through his hell habits.. maybe the fact that he came with a stopping problem makes me more cautious?
I don't own a horse, but when I do I probably won't let everyone ride him. I want him used to various riders, but I would only let people I know well--friends, family, and my trainer--ride him, and probably only people who have ridden before if the want to try him out.
ReplyDeleteIts sad to think this but in Libbys stage of the game, I don't trust others with her. And I don't trust her with others. Shes so quick to react still, even on a dead head day, that I would feel so terrible if someone got hurt because of her. And on the other hand, shes so quick to panic that I wouldn't want a bad experience to happen with someone else, because they didn't realize she was escalating. Does any of this make sense. Of course, it all depends on the riders capabilities. Of course, I'm also the biggest worry wart in the world, so over worrying is my forte.
ReplyDeleteYes bad experience because the person don't know their quirks or how they work- worst.fear.ever!
DeleteGetting through Henry's stopping problem was hell and I don't ever want to go back there :(
Well you know now that I'm not good at sharing either! A barn friend has asked me to hack her Jinx around a few times when she can't come out. I'd return the favor to a friend and experienced rider. Nothing wrong with a hack- and it's good to get other riders on them. But no- no half lease, full lease, used for lessons- not my flavor!
ReplyDeleteI feel ya girl- not my flavor either!!
DeleteI'm ridiculously picky about who can ride my horses!
ReplyDeleteP due to his age (25) and my feelings that he needs to be ridden a certain way only has three people I would let ride him unsupervised. He is not a hard horse to ride really, but he if he knows he can get away with something with a good rider he will try. Now with my friend's mom who is horse saavy but isn't always as steady he just takes care of her.
Stampede is a whole other issue. I used to have my good friend ride him when I went out of town, but she is little and he is huge so it was never a good combo. Then she fell off of him (this was several years ago) and I have hesitated about letting others ride him without me there since. There are just so few tall riders at my barn, plus the fact that I really don't like him ridden in other saddles with his kissing spines. Add in the fact that I'm really anal about his flatwork, and you see why I'm still riding almost every night in the middle of tax season! Two weeks to go!
Yeah it is hard to let go of our kids!!
DeleteI let other people ride Dino, but I'm picky about who. My husband rides him a lot, but he never asks much of D, and D LOVES him and his riding style and goes around like a soft, lovely little hunter pony with him. I also have a select few riding friends who I let hop on him, but they are all people whose abilities I trust, and I'm always there to give pointers since my pony is a bit of a particular, special snowflake and it takes a certain kind of ride to get him going his best. I used to let one girl in particular ride him a lot, but she started this whole see-sawing on his mouth thing/beating the snot out of him instead of working things out, and so that hasn't happened in a while.
ReplyDeleteYou gotta find someone who is a good rider and who will just hack them- not try to get fancy or do anything funky - SO HARD haha!
DeleteNooooo. I cringe when people at my barn TOUCH my horse. I am the worst at sharing.
ReplyDeletehaha.. yep i don't share well either!
DeleteI'm normally the person with the naughty horse that no one wants to ride...that being said. I'm totally fine sharing my horse with people I know. I also enjoy riding other peoples horses when offered.
ReplyDeleteHaha Emmi is going to be perfect tho right? ;)
DeleteI don't share. Like, ever. The one time I did it felt like physical pain. And I only let another person ride him because I was in school and she was a much better rider.. but he didn't like her style and developed bad habits that transferred over into my rides. And she, in turn, thought he was a giant turd (prolly because the Kid didn't like her....), so we mutually ended the agreement. Thankfully.
ReplyDeleteThe exception to this is, of course, my old trainer. She only rode him once and that was to determine if he was bucking because of me (the answer: no).
Yeah totally don't need anyone else help giving my horse bad habbits
DeleteThere are some people I would let ride my horse but not a whole lot and for a few reasons. Number one would be the liability, though. I would hate for someone to get hurt riding my horse!
ReplyDeleteLiability is a good ones, I haven't really thought about that!
DeleteI share with people I trust. To this point, it's only been with supervision, but I'm not adverse to the idea of an experienced rider hacking/riding for me if I need to be away for a while. That said, no way no how do I offer pony rides to the non-horsey. It's just not a risk I'm willing to take.
ReplyDeleteSupervision is good cause then you know whats going on!
DeleteDepends entirely on the horse, the rider, and the situation. We'll let just about anyone hop on Red to take a little trail ride at the walk, but only tactful, experienced riders who aren't going to make problems for me to fix later are allowed to actually DO anything with any of our horses. We've put too much time, money, and training into them, and Paddy especially is at a stage where even one or two poor rides will really set him back.
ReplyDeleteAMEN! So much time, money and training.. and sacrifice to make those things happen it's hard to hand them over to someone else!
DeleteKika - NO! She's finally in a place where ee rarely run into her bug bad rearing issue & it's not something I can tackle again. It almost broke us the last time. In saying that, the Guru rides her & my lil sister when she's back but for diff reasons. The Guru (L) is a better rider than me and really gets after K to work properly - L loves her & her quirky questioning ways. Although I don't relax when watching them discuss *blush* My lil sis rides her completely diff, without asking for much from her and of course K loves this cos like me she is lazy as sin at heart ;-)
ReplyDeleteNancy, it depends I would trust her to the moon and back with nervous or non-riders to go trail riding as she is super solid and has a great brain. But in arena work she feeds from rider confidence and being a big girl she needs a fair bit of rider support when being ridden in enclosed areas.
It's funny this should come up as one of the girls at the yard might "lease" N for one day a week as of next autumn - but she has never ridden her so we'll try that and see before deciding.
As a general rule though I have no prob wih others riding my horses as I can learn from watching others ride. To see how & what they do plus how each girl reacts to diff stimuli and requests. Although I am picky as to who rides what girl - moreso with Kika as I've invested more blood sweat & (lots) of tears have gone into her, yet the more I work with N the more fussy I can see myself becoming about who rides her as in the development stage it's more fair on them not to have too many conflicting riders trying to install buttons
When we invest to much into them, I think we have a whole different perspective.. esp when we started with a GREEN horse!
DeleteI had a few bad experiences with others riding my horse. While they were very capable trainers, no doubt, I found out that not many share my ethics when it comes to the training of a horse. Most people don't think it's a problem to hit a horse, with the whip or hand, e.g. if he's a bit lazy or maybe nibbling at your coat. Once my horse had a nap while I was grooming him, and my trainer came by and wack! hit him full power on the ass. I asked, "what was that for?", she replied, "oh, just like that." Can you believe it?
ReplyDeleteFor my taste, the trainers that I could ask to ride my horse use way too much spur and are too hard with their hands. I'm trying to make my aids less and less strong, so I really don't like that. Plus, I think it's simply cruel.
I had my friend ride my horse a few months ago, he tried to buck her off. Seriously. He never ever bucks! I thought that this was a clear message: you're my rider and no-one else. You should know that he was a school horse from age 2,5 with as much as 6-8 rides a day. I worked hard to give him back the confidence in humans and fun of being ridden. Since I'm the only one that's riding him our communication has become so much better, there is so much trust now. I don't feel bad at all when I'm telling people that sorry, but I'm the only one who rides him.
Yeah finding someone who you like their style is key!
DeleteProfessionals yes. Other than that I am hesitant. I had such a bad experience I'm hesitant to let anyone jump one of my horses again.
ReplyDeleteI would die if Henry picked back up his stopping habit.. idk if I can go through that again!
DeleteDepending on the horse - most of mine are really "special" so no, I don't let just anyone ride them because they would probably get set back...but Parker is easy going so I let people ride him - just not school him or try to teach him anything lol
ReplyDeleteFinding a great rider who is willing to just hack/stretch your horses legs and not school them is invaluable! :)
DeleteI don't let anyone ride my horses really. My mom will sometimes jump up on my now retired show horse and my 20 year old mare... but my current show horse, no. The first two are very quirky so I'm hesitant to let people ride them. Plus I'm just weirdly protective over my horses. :)
ReplyDeleteRight!! I am weirdly protective over Henry too and all the HARD work I have put into him!
DeleteI don't think it's just you. I don't share well either. And I'm not even a good rider. I've let the odd friend ride him but he's my horse. I don't need a reason to say no
ReplyDeleteVery true! He's my horse!
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