At 13:12:00 on 31.08.11, JessAndGrenville123 wrote:
I think this problem is a issue with your barn not you or the horse lol you have gotten so used to one horse that you now feel like you are in the totally unknown but you have to remember no horse is perfect but every horse is perfect in teir own unique way. When i was at the riding school before i bought grenville (and i was there for a long long time) we never got to ride the same horse 2 weeks in a row, we had a list of horses and our names and we would be matched with a different each week from the first time i sat in the saddle, now there was a pony called holly that i avoided riding for a long time (over 4 years!) but one day my instructor put me on her and i HATED her, she would plant and my legs ached because she was soooooo stubborn, but after riding her over and over i got used to her and figured her out and after that she was my favourite pony and she went from not moving to not stopping! She was the best pony in the world and she taught me so much. And although you don't like this horse now, he will teach you alot and you will improve, you dont have an instructor for no reason, she tells you when you need to step up you game in order to improve and as for the trot every horse has a different trot, grenville has a HUGE trot which throws you out of the saddle where as ponies i was used to has a smaller quicker stepping trot, but you adapt i bet when you first started riding you couldn't trot 3 steps without bouncing uncontrolably on any horseand just think how much you improved on that pony to where you are now, well this horse will help you improve again we have a couple of ex cart horses on our yard and guarenteed they have a quick peppy trot but when you are used to riding different horses you adapt quicker, however if you move to a bigger yard i think you might have a even bigger problem because you will be riding more that 2 different horses, probably more than 3 and the likelehood of it is that none of them will be like the horse you used to ride so you will have the same problem, i think you just need to get used to it, have fun, he is a beautiful horse and will teach you so much if you let him

At 13:46:27 on 31.08.11, kibby wrote:
I do agree with jess... riding as many horses as possible is the best thing for your riding. I am always taking on different rides just because it is good for me, it teaches you how to overcome different issues. solutions that work for this horse but not this one. but saying this if you really do not enjoy riding this horse to the point where you stop riding at all maybe you should change horses or barns if he is the only horse possible for you.

At 09:13:06 on 01.09.11, JaymeeLS wrote:
Agreed with Jess entirely. That horse hasn't caused your 'problems' the barn/instructor has for letting you get used to an easy ride for over a year. You've grown accustomed to that horse and it's gaits. I don't see how you can think your ability has lowered even though you can acknowledge he's a harder horse to ride. You even said more experience riders have a hard time with him! From you explaining this, I can't understand why you're putting your ability down! Yes he's a harder horse to ride, but you learn from him a lot what you didn't from your first ride! This is where I'm sceptical about riding schools that don't switch you around on different horses every couple of lessons. Even if they're all 'easy' rides, they'll all have different gaits and how they carry themselves which helps you to accustom to difference. I personally am not at a school, my aunt's teaching me so I've only got access to the one horse. She's not an easy ride though, steering, diving, napping, speeding off, spooking, she can't canter properly yet are just some of the issues I've had to deal with from day one. Don't get me wrong, she's safe as houses but she's hard work lol. If you really cannot pick up with this horse, it may be time for you to switch barns, have a look around, have a talk with the instructors about what they personally would do with a student in your position. If you like the sound of it, then give that place try. :) You CAN do it, no one ever stops learning! :) This is her trying to pull me over her head in our first few lessons! http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/252850_10150312348568056_682923055_9821453_1096892_n.jpg

At 09:22:19 on 01.09.11, JaymeeLS wrote:
Also, our last lesson, something my aunt said was very motivational. By any means I wasn't demotivated but I didn't feel as accomplished with that lesson as my aunt seemed to be with it. I questioned why she was so happy with it and that it was Saffie that was getting the canter, not so much me, she turned around and said 'she's getting it, because you are!' (She's only ridden by me and any of her schooling comes through my aunts instructions from the ground to me riding her) In terms of looking for a new place, go and sit in on a few lessons, as well as being versatile with the horses they put you on, see how they are in lessons whether they're praising enough for your confidence!

At 10:17:02 on 01.09.11, NMH wrote:
I think this is all really good advice from Jess & Jaymee. If this horse is HARD you shouldn't be expecting yourself to cope with him. And importantly nor should the barn owners either- in an ideal world they'd admit they don't have the horses at the moment to nurture your riding skills & advise you to have a spell riding elsewhere. Given another 6 months of riding different horses you probably WOULD cope with him! But confidence is the most valuable thing we have & if you can feel it vanishing (well done for spotting that i time!) something needs to CHANGE to restore it & get you back on the positive curve you deserve to be on. Good luck & keep us posted. I guess you are the self-critical type, & as such can do very well in the right environment!

At 14:33:10 on 01.09.11, JessAndGrenville123 wrote:
It does matter but i still don't see why, from what you have said he hasn't been naughty just different (this it how it seems, correct me if i am wrong) and you are not used to the change, you are out of your comfort zone and it is making you uncomfortable but the fact you have switched to this horse and this horse only is also bad because you would get used to him and then if you had to change again it would be like woah and out of your comfort zone again, i strongly believe when learning to ride you need at least 4 different horses to ride alternate lessons on to widen you experiences with horses and prepare you for more difficult horses in the future, like i said i rode a horse i hated but i had to ride it again and again until i got over it and eventually i loved that pony the most! I reccomend big barns for learning simply because they have lots of horses for you to ride so you can't get comfortable with just the one horse and then if you moved onto a more difficult horse you would know how to adjust your riding to suit whereas you may be riding this new horse the same way you were riding the one you used to ride, i am in no way trying to be mean i am just trying to understand the situation and what you want. Do you really dislike riding this horse? Or are you secretly wishing it was the other horse which will after a year be close to your heart? Is that the problem? And would you be happy at another barn or do you really just want to go back to the horse you were riding and stay on that horse forever? It seems to me you are missing the horse you used to ride (understandably) but what im trying to say is it wouldn't be a problem if you had rotated horses from the word go which isn't your fault but i think to help your riding you will have to ride different horses even the ones you don't like or find difficult. Good luck

At 10:19:39 on 06.09.11, JaymeeLS wrote:
You haven't told us how his temperament is or how he acts towards you, just that he's stubborn which could be for many different reasons from testing you trying to get his own way to not knowing how to do what's being asked from him and using his natural evasive behaviour. The only problem that you described to us was that you can't sit/post his bouncy trot...

At 17:24:25 on 06.09.11, NMH wrote:
You don't have to like/love/get on with every horse... the most important bit it seems to me is your heading for the thread!! whatever is needed to rediscover your love/motivation for riding, this horse isn't ticking the box for you at the moment, so unless you want to give up, something needs to change , & please don't blame yourself! good luck

At 21:38:26 on 06.09.11, JessAndGrenville123 wrote:
I don't get it lol you have seemed to have changed from him not being a nice ride (with a bouncy trot which seemed to put you off) to you don't like the way he acts? What is it about the way he acts? Maybe he acts this way because you don't want to open up to him? He can sense what you feel and if you feel deflated about riding him chances are he will feel deflated about being ridden by you, if you changed the way you look at him he would probably do the same for you, horses (no matter how stubborn) are sensitive creatures and react like a mirror to our emotions and feelings and you speak about him quite negatively so this negative feeling will pass on to him. Its like my horse, i can guarentee pretty much everyone on this site would hate him in real life, he scowls and is totally grumpy and stubborn around new people and then they think he is a grouch and their perceptions and feeling toward him make him very very grumpy and unhappy but with me and a few other people he is a happy and curious horse that gets into EVERYTHING hehe, horses have different personalities too so if its not the riding maybe time out of the saddle playing games and bonding is the way foreward?

At 04:18:21 on 07.09.11, TwilightTango wrote:
Everyone jsut forget I posted this thread, it was a mistake I realise by now.