# why is horse riding so hard?



## kaitlyn76 (Mar 15, 2015)

hi all 
I was wondering, why is horse riding so hard for me? I swear, I can never get anything right, I always give the wrong command and have my feet flopping all over the place. I have a hard time getting horses to stop and go. Like If I'm on a trail ride I'm always the one who cant get their horse to stop and stuff. I can't do the rising trot. so yeah idk. I always say I'm gonna start lessons again and go on another camp but I get scared because I'm that bad. Last time I rode my cousins pony I got bucked off. I don't know what I did wrong. I'm thinking maybe it could have been because the pony was like 13hh and I'm like 5'9-5'10? Idk can someone correct me? (I'm a beginner)
Do you think I should keep trying or is 
horse riding just not my thing ? (please be honest I won't be offended)
I haven't ridden since last year (june)
I'm 15 btw


----------



## DraftyAiresMum (Jun 1, 2011)

Just like anything, with consistent practice and helpful guidance, you can do it. Lessons, I think, would be immensely beneficial for you. Some people are naturals at it. Others have to work hard for it. If it's something you really want to do, you'll put in the work. Will you ever be Olympic level in your riding? Probably not. But, you can progress to the point where riding is less work and more fun.

As a non-horsey example: I cannot draw to save my life. I have moments of genius when something I draw actually looks like what I intended it to look like, but usually, it's more like looking at an ink blot: it's all about interpretation. :lol: Could I work at it and get better? Sure. Will I? Probably not, because it doesn't really matter to me. 

You have to decide how much you want to ride. If you want it badly enough, you'll figure out a way.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## SlideStop (Dec 28, 2011)

Horseback riding is a life long learning experience. You'll find even your trainers have trainers. 

Get yourself a trainer who is really going to drill the basics into your head instead of push you to go faster or jump higher. Once you get a good foundation the rest will come so much easier!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## TXhorseman (May 29, 2014)

Learning to ride horses well is like learning to do anything else well. There is an element of skill involved. Some people seem to have natural skill which helps them. But most skill can be learned with study, guidance, and practice.

You should not be reluctant to take lessons. One does not take lessons because he is good at something. One takes lessons because he wants to become better at something. And, one can always improve.

Learning to ride well requires a combination of understanding theory and as well as practice, practice, practice. Some people seem to learn quite well through simple experimentation and observation. Taking advantage of other people's centuries of experimentation and observation, however, can save much time and frustration as well as open one's understanding to a much broader comprehension of the horse's nature and how man might best interact with this wonderful being.

When attempting to ride, it is important to balance efforts to attempt the right thing with relaxation in the knowledge that it takes time to learn to ride well and that many things will go wrong along the way. Take disappointments in stride and persevere. Eventually, you will prevail. This does not mean you will ever fully reach your goal. You will, however, begin to more and more enjoy the journey.


----------



## bkylem (Sep 21, 2013)

I've taken lessons for the past two years and my emotions run the full circle.
Some days I feel like I've broken through to a new level, while other days I just feel broken. Believe it or not, that is one of many reasons why I love to ride. It's a challenge and never boring. I had no desire for merely a carnival ride when I began this pursuit. I wanted to be a rider and I knew it wouldn't be easy, but I did know it would be rewarding. It is. I go to the stables an hour early and stay two late every Saturday just to clean, muck and walk fence lines. I'm leaving the the house in the next hour to spend the day doing the same. I don't get paid as I feel it's a gift to be around the horses. My present to me. 

Relax, ride and enjoy your life !


----------



## piglet (Oct 2, 2012)

Why is riding so hard?

Learning to walk was really hard , too.

Your muscles have to learn to react in a different ways. Many beginners squeeze with their legs to help cling to the horse. This signals the horse to speed up, which leads to more clinging, maybe even grabbing with rider's heels, which can make the horse buck.

The best thing is an understanding instructor who likes teaching beginners, and a kind horse, usually one that's not young.

Do YOU want/need to ride? It can be a lot of work. There will AWAYS be riders MUCH better than you.

I ride because something in me NEEDS to be around horses.


----------



## Chasin Ponies (Dec 25, 2013)

Why is it so hard? Well, let me see. You are on top of a 900-1000lb animal with a mind of it's own and no way to communicate except with your body. 
You are not yet trained in the proper way to use your body to communicate, therefore you need lessons. 

You don't take lessons because you feel that you are such a horrible rider. All the more reason to jump in and learn how *not* to be a horrible rider. *No one* goes into this lifestyle jumping magically onto to the back of a horse and riding softly off into the sunset (no matter what the silly horse movies imply!) and we *all* started out feeling (and probably looking) ridiculously out of control.

If this is something you really want to do, you will ignore your insecurities about what other people think, find a good instructor, listen well and practice. Then suddenly, everything will start to come together and you'll remember why you wanted to do this in the first place!


----------



## Saskia (Aug 26, 2009)

It's not hard it just takes time. 

It's something you had to learn to do, its not something that just comes naturally. 

People always over estimate the time they spend riding. People will talk about riding for two years, however if they ride once a week that's only 100 rides, probably 100 hours in the saddle. That's pretty much no time at all! 

Take lessons for a while, get 50 or 100 hours of proper riding experience and I think you'll find these will come. 

Also, frequency, if you want to improve you need to ride regularly.


----------



## ecasey (Oct 18, 2013)

Piglet has a great point. If you lost your ability to walk and had to start all over again, it would take ages and ages and be the hardest thing you ever had to do. Riding a horse takes totally different muscles working in different ways than you're used to, so it takes a while for your body to adjust. And if you don't ride consistently with help, you'll take a lot longer to get good at it because you could be starting all kinds of bad habits.

And yes, if you're 5'9" tall you're probably too big for a pony.


----------



## Jessabel (Mar 19, 2009)

It's hard even for the pros! They've just put in the time and effort to get good enough to make it look easy.

Emphasis on time and effort. Controlling a ginormous beast with grace and subtlety is not some magical skill that people are just born with. Everyone has to work their butts off to get there. Some people might have more of a knack for it, but anyone can learn to ride well enough to at least be comfortable on a horse. You better start riding again, girly! You'll get it.


----------



## Gossalyn (Sep 12, 2013)

all horses are different, and learning how to communicate w/ animals is challenging (let alone every individual horse w/ their different backgrounds, training and quirks...) I promise you, it's a humbling & rewarding sport. Don't expect to ever "master" it - just expect to enjoy the ride (literally and figuratively!) 

I've been riding multiple times a week for 2 1/2 years, and I still know I suck...  but I love it. Those good rides where you feel like you and your horse literally had a conversation and spoke - you were communicating so well.. it's the best high in the world. And I believe you can communicate with horses in a way you can communicate w/ no other animal. The relationship and trust between you and a horse you form a bond with.. there's nothing else like it!


----------



## AnrewPL (Jun 3, 2012)

Relax and don’t be so ****ed hard on yourself. Riding a horse is a hard thing to learn. I have just recently started working as a riding instructor and am teaching a lot of beginners and heaps of them have a hard time learning things like rising trot, and guess what; I have a hard time learning new stuff as well. I have been riding since I was 8, that’s now 31 years (I first rode when I was about 4 but that was only once in a while and I really don’t count it). I rode a lot from the time I was about 8 and about from the time I was 14 or so I gave up the silly Australian style of riding and learned to ride Californian style, with traditional hackamores and everything. Now that I am working part time as a riding instructor I am having to learn to ride “English style” following the standard for the German National Equestrian Federation, so yeah, it’s “English Style”. Anyway, it’s kinda different to what I always rode, though the principals of it are surprisingly the same as what I learned in the Californian way of doing it. And Guess what? Even after having ridden for 31 years, and much of that was as a ringer on cattle stations where I spent all day every day on a horse, including my own horses that I started and trained myself; spending more time in the saddle in one day than what some of the people I’m now teaching will spend in a year, I still find it hard. I didn’t do rising trot for years till I started working where I’m working now, and I had to kinda learn how to do it again. None of its easy. If it was easy anyone could do it any time with little to no effort and it would hardly be worth doing. So relax, enjoy the challenge and when it feels hard, remember that a) it is hard, b) everyone feels like its hard at some stage and if people tell you it isn’t hard it could be because they have never really tried to refine what they are doing, or are possibly lying to you, and c) it should be hard, everything in life that’s really worth doing is hard. Don’t feel down or beat yourself up about it. Just enjoy it, enjoy the challenge.


----------



## bkylem (Sep 21, 2013)

I have to agree with the majority of the responses here. It is a sport and if it were easy the challenge of achieving would be gone.
My best advice is to not compare yourself to other riders and I think it is an easy trap to fall in to. You see others doing things that you can't do nearly as well, if at all. You may not realize that many have been riding and taking lessons since adolescence. They have reached a level through years of hard work and dedication, yet they still want to improve. It never ends and no one really wants it to.

Relax, ride and enjoy !


----------



## MaximasMommy (Sep 21, 2013)

You were put on a bucking pony and taken on a trail ride when you aren't completely comfortable with a rising trot. That's not your fault! When you signal the horse to stop, you might be squeezing with your legs at the same time because you are nervous. My instructor won't let anyone go on a trail ride unless they can control the horse at a canter in the ring. 

No one can just hop on a horse and do piaffes and jump 8 foot walls, it's something that takes blood, sweat, and tears. lots!


----------



## loosie (Jun 19, 2008)

kaitlyn76 said:


> I swear, I can never get anything right, I always give the wrong command and have my feet flopping all over the place. I have a hard time getting horses to stop and go.


In addition to other's good comments(haven't read the 2nd page, sure there're more there), this bit jumped out at me. You don't know how to do it well, haven't had much practice or any lessons to learn how to get better, but you're beating yourself up about it & focussing on the negatives.

I'd consider your level of skill and keep that in mind when considering whether to ride a certain horse or do certain things on it - you're setting a young child up for failure if you tell them to read an academic paper or do algebra or such, and you're setting yourself up for failure if you make it too hard for yourself to manage. 

Instead, try to set yourself up for success - eg don't even consider riding friend's tricky ponies until you've had some lesson on 'easy' school horses - and focus on(& find an instructor that focusses on) the things you're doing well, and rewarding yourself for & practicing these things more.


----------



## kapbob8 (Mar 18, 2015)

Just keep persistent in it. For the first 5 years that I rode I would cry all the time because it was so hard for me. Then something clicked in my brain and I understood stuff and soaked up a ton of information. Now, riding is way more fun than work. I've been riding for 11 years and trust me, it isn't all sunshine and rainbows. Its definitely hard work and if you want it bad enough you have to be willing to work extremely hard at it.


----------



## rwurban (Sep 26, 2014)

Horse riding is not an easy sport but if you are not learning that well with a regular instructor it could be that your to tence on the horse try to relax spend some extra time with horses get to know how they react ... even if its sitting out in a feild and just watch them once you can kinda tell how they will react to other animals as well as yourself it may become just that little bit easier .......... as well as relax in the saddle


----------



## ecasey (Oct 18, 2013)

Lessons are the safest and fastest way to get better. You have to put in the time and the miles to improve, and it's hard to improve if you don't have someone who knows what they're doing watching you and giving you tips. Otherwise, you just keep doing the same bad things over and over instead of fixing them.


----------



## loosie (Jun 19, 2008)

kapbob8 said:


> Just keep persistent in it. For the first 5 years that I rode I would cry all the time because it was so hard for me. Then something clicked in my brain and I understood stuff and soaked up a ton of information. Now, riding is way more fun than work. I've been riding for 11 years and trust me, it isn't all sunshine and rainbows. Its definitely hard work and if you want it bad enough you have to be willing to work extremely hard at it.


This post IMO emphasises my point about finding an instructor who is a GOOD teacher & focuses on the positives. You are a VERY persistent person kabob, if it made you so miserable & yet you persevered for years! The point of hobbies is that they should be enjoyable, and if they're not, something's wrong with the equation - I suspect whoever your teacher(s) were in this sort of case. 

If say, a young child is learning music & they have a 'drill sergeant' type teacher, who insists on nothing but scales to begin with, expects perfection, punishes mistakes... then the child, if forced to endure, or if especially driven, will learn how to play, but if attention is taken to make learning fun & not just hard work, they'll learn AND enjoy it, AND feel good about themselves even when they're nowhere near perfection. If only my own teachers back when appreciated the importance of making learning fun & setting kids up for success, rather than making everything hard, boring, a punishment... I may have learned that school was worthwhile... I may have learned! Instead it wasn't until I left school & met a fantastic teacher as an adult & began to see science & stuff could be fun, easy to understand... then studied behavioural psych & learned how I could make learning fun for my students, 2 & 4 legged!


----------

