Experienced riders- Would you ever allow an inexperienced rider to lope/canter for fun?

No, I don't approve.

It always made me wince when my father told me his old boy scout stories when they were thrown onto horses in Montana and took off at a gallop...that couldn't have been pretty. Nothing like a group of 15 year old boys bouncing around like a sack of potatoes, jumping logs at a full gallop in a western saddle. *shivers*

It probably took me a few months before my instructors at the time let me try to canter (more of a lope on the horses I was riding). Even after months of riding, I could barely make the horse go. I recall being very behind...I kind of looked like I was riding a motorcycle. My first fall was during the up transition when learning to canter.

After remembering how awful I was at cantering, I see places like you described throwing people in the saddle and slapping the horse's @$$ and say, "just hold on to the saddle horn!"

It's not that I don't want people to have fun, it's just that I worry for their safety and of the horse.

Just making sure that I understand correctly. You own the horse, and are partially leasing him to the 4H barn? You are getting a break in the cost of the board in exchange for allowing them the use of the horse in lessons? If that is the case, then you could certainly cancel the lease agreement. Your horse will lack exercise during the week, but may be more tractable (have less energy) for your daughter when she is riding. I can see that there may be more than one issue. The first would be that your daughter is not able to ride as often as a horse needs to be exercised, so if other people are riding him, his training is (potentially) progressing faster than hers is. So when she tries to ride, he is reacting to cues that she is unaware that she is giving, or alternatively, he is not reacting to cues that she believes she is giving. it is possible that her level of ability as a rider is less than the horse's level of sensitivity, and he is reacting honestly. The interpretation by people is almost always that the horse is at fault and is misbehaving, when the reality is that the horse is doing what it is being asked to do. (Whether you mean it or not!) The second would be that the horse is being over-used and is turning sour. It is not necessarily true that 'the more he is ridden, the better he will be'. Horses need time off every week, just like people do. They need to be used for a certain amount of time in a day, and not longer, and they need work that does not just irritate them. Not all horses have the disposition to be lesson horses. So if your horse is being ridden five or six days a week, one or two times, that would be ideal. Sometimes, three times is fine. I don't mean going three hours in a row, either, I mean a morning, afternoon and/or evening training of between 20 minutes to 60 minutes per time. Having said that, it is rare to never that a very experienced rider cannot convince a 'sour' or overworked horse to do what it is asked. The solution for the sour horse is to determine what its current workload is, and then make a more reasonable schedule. Thirdly, there is the possibility that the 4H barn instructors are not very good, and the riders are not being taught properly, and they are damaging his training or attitude. They may be riding too hard, using wrong bits, spurs, who knows? There is the possibility that they are 'ruining' your horse. In which case, you will have to insist that they do not use him for lessons. It would be a good idea to find a rider who you are happy with to ride him during the week when you cannot come out. Has he changed for the worse since you brought him to that barn? Was he different before, and how was he different?

Hi,

Im a Certified Riding Instructor, a Trainer for 25 years, And a rider of 35 years.

That is VERY unsafe, NO you are not being Grumpy, I have never allowed children to Even Trot the First day on a Horse, The child could get hurt very bad, as well as the horse..

Children need to Gradually Make their way up to a Trot, and YES once they master the Trot they go to a Lope....

It all depends on the rider and the horse. If one of my brother's (not-so-horsey) friends come over, and they are mentally stable, over eighteen years old, and I put them on a trained horse...maybe they could try loping a little. If a six year old beginner rider comes over even if he's on a good horse then no loping. Now no one in their right mind would put a little kid or an inexperienced teen/adult on a crazy unfinished horse but if they did--still no loping! Well if it was a crazy horse then who knows what it'd do!!!

Personally I wouldn't try it with someone on their first day it should at least take 3-4 days to teach some one to lope a horse properly. It can be the hardest gait to manage for a beginner rider and a lot of times if you push them to far too fast in their riding they will fall off and possibly get hurt.

But remember those horses at the dude ranches are often, you know, bombproof (not saying accidents couldn't happen) but the staff are well-experienced and the absolute last thing they want is for someone to get hurt it would ruin their reputation. I wouldn't worry about it.

Another thing, it was TV. The land where cars fly, mice talk, and skittles come from rainbows. They might have taught the kids to ride before filming or maybe they taught them between the shots. MAYBE. Maybe not. Just saying, they could have. Or maybe they had riding lessons/experience before ever coming on the show at all.

it depends on the attitude, suppleness and natural balance of the rider.

I had a small French boy come with his class mares for a ride. He was tiny in comparison to his peers and loved riding. He hadn't ever even touched a horse before let alone ridden one.

Eric then missed school and would be at the stables every day and he just didn't care what he had a go at doing.

Yes, I let him canter and when he and another boy, who could ride, wanted a gallop I told them to wait until I had reached a certain point with the rest of the riders and they could gallop to catch up.

They cam charging along, disappearing from my sight for about 100 yards - the pony Eric was riding appeared minus Eric and the other boy was nearly falling off from laughing so hard. Eric had tried to stand in the saddle - at a gallop - and had of course fallen off. He was fine and was running like a greyhound to try and catch the pony.

Personally I think there is to much health and safety involved in teaching riding nowadays. It should be first of all, fun. As long as the horse is not suffering then why not let a person who wants to canter, canter?

No, that isn't right. Boy, if that were me, I wouldn't let them trot, let alone canter! That kind of thing makes me so angry; I had to go through almost 6 months of riding lessons before I was aloud to canter!

It would be so easy for one of them (the horse or the kid) to get hurt! If the kid can't control it, what if the horse shies at something and runs off? It could get it's leg caught in a rabbit hole and snap! Horse breaks its leg and has to be put down and kid falls off and never wants to ride again or, even worse, blames it on the horse! Or what if the horse runs away with the kid and try's to jump a fence? Or the horses run into each other and start fighting? Or kids start being stupid on them? There are a million and one bad things that can happen when novice teens and cantering horses mix.

The thing we have to remember is that horses aren't machines; They have a mind of their own and, if we misuse them,someones going to get hurt.

However, it depends on whether it was a documentary or a movie. If it was a movie, chances are that these kids had riding lessons before hand. I mean, we all know what Hollywood's like. But what does this tell young riders these days? Jump on your horse, kick in in the guts and ride into the sunset? NO! You should be taught the basics before you even think of going fast.

I agree with you. That show is stupid and gives a bad name to horse riders, and sets a bad influence for people who are beginning to ride. As if there's already not enough people who think horses are animals you simply jump on and off when you feel like it! I hate these kinds of shows; They portray the horses as some kind of machine!

I hope that I answered your question.

>:(

In short I hate these shows.

JoCee

It is not that odd for western riding. The saddles seem to be easier to stay in and of course, when confidence fails, there is the horn to grab on to. Many feel that as long as the rider can turn or stop the horse, or old Nellie is a trusty steed, it is not a problem. And, to be honest, that was how I learned. Get on and go. If you fall off, get back on and go again.

To this day, I find loping or galloping easier to sit than any trot. So as long as the horse doesn't go galoping off into the sunset with the rider, it may not be as bad as you think it is.

As people are saying it really depends on the person who is riding and it really depends on the kind of riding they're doing. If I had someone out to ride my horses english, I would flip out and panic if they started cantering, I wouldn't feel safe for some time. I would feel comfortable with a trot however.

Buf if they are riding western I reallywouldn't mind, as long as they kept it slow. Especially when I'm out on the trails with people, the horses just follow after one another anyway, as long as the rider has been taught the one rein stop before mounting and you can see they have decent control over the horse and what they're doing, I don't see why you couldn't give it a shot.

It really does depend on how fast the person catches on though. I had someone out riding my horse with me there one time and my horse started cantering while they were trotting. She dropped the reins, grabbed the horn and started screaming, even though I told her that is the LAST thing she should ever do, and if she would've remained calm and pulled back on the reins my horse would've gladly slowed down. People like that I would NEVER let canter my horse the first time (and she's ridden horses before to is the sad thing). Whereas people like my boyfriend I took him riding for the first time, he had a very firm hand and did everything I asked, he was cantering and in complete control his first ride, and first time on a horse. It really depends on the person, as well as the horse. If the horse was seriously dead broke, what harm would it do? you ask a horse to canter, it'll canter, it'll go where you want it, stop when you want it. If a horse is green or highly spirited, hell no would I let someone canter it unless they knew what they were doing, who knows what the horse is capable off, if it starts bucking that rider isn't going to know how to handle it or balance itself to stay on.

But like I said, this is western only, and it depends on numerous factors, but I am not opposed to it.

Mostly I agree with you, people are ridiculous in that they'll allow someone who can hardly tell one end of the horse from another to jump on their horse and go at breakneck speeds. Not only is it dangerous for the rider, but for the horse as well.

But, I guess I'm a bit of a hypocrite because I let my boyfriends sister (13 years old) canter the second time she rode my horse. And she's not an experienced rider. She's had plenty of ground lessons with me (catching, tacking up, proper handling of a horse)

~~BUT~~

Before she was able to canter, she had to be able to catch the horse, tack it up herself, and correctly identify to me what tack she was using (western vs. english, bit vs. bosal, etc.). She was able to walk, sitting trot, and posting trot both in a western saddle and an english saddle, as well as walk and sit the trot bareback. She has complete control of my horse both on the ground and in the saddle. She is very good about keeping her heels down, legs in a correct position, hands low and quiet. She can get on and off a horse herself with me just holding her opposite stirrup for her. She was very focused and intent on learning in the first riding lesson I gave her, and picked it all up very quickly.

If she hadn't picked everything up so quickly, and done it well (not just some halfass sitting trot.. It was good), then there is no way in hell she would have been cantering my horse.

Yes I would, I cant imagine being told I could only walk or trot for months thats pathetic. It would end with a bored horse and rider. If you have a steady horse and someone experienced there to help out, if they feel comfortable and havent shown any signs of hurting the horse yet, why not. With western you can loop the reins around the pommel to stop them pulling to hard on the horses mouth if they freak.