Congrats on your new baby and welcome! You'll find that everyone here is warm,welcoming and eager to answer any questions you may have. 

Hey, you're further along than me. I've had about a month's worth of English lessons and had to stop for a while because of my husband's medical issues. I hope to pick it up after the new year.I'm so glad you decided to buy yourself a horse. I think it's one of the best things you can do for yourself. I'll probably get a stuffed one this year, and then a real one the next!

Take care and welcome to the family! You'll love it here.....

suzanne

Hello and welcome. I am 37 and have been riding for 5 years. I started out with a lesson a week and then moved up to leasing a horse to ride 4 times a week and then this summer I bought my first horse which is a 2 1/2 year old blue roan/shire who I am in the process of training. I love riding and you see how quickly you get addicted. I wish you well and don't let little things get you down. I have come to realize that you will have good days and bad days but as long as I am around horses, the bad days are few. Welcome!

 Cantergirl,

 I couldn't agree with you more...as long as the bad days are around horses they are Oh So Few!!!  They are addicting!  Congrats on the new horse, blue roans are so pretty.  How tall is your Shire at 2 1/2?  

 Welcome Cruizing Clyde!

I'm not a saddle expert by any means but I bought a Wintec dressage saddle for mine because the gullet can be changed.  When I bought my horse he was WAY overweight (he looked like a pregnant mare ready to foal....TODAY!) and one of my goals was to help him get into shape.  I didn't have the money to buy multiple saddles for different sizes so I ordered mine from a website after talking to the online tack store.  It has worked very well for us and I've changed the gullet as he lost weight.  My cousin has had horses forever one of her guys is difficult to fit.  She told me she has purchased off of eBay with some luck and recently bought a Reactor Panel saddle (www.reactorpanel.com) .  I've never used them so I don't know anything about them.  The bottom line is that if you can get someone knowledgable to help you do it.  I would think that many tack stores have both new and used saddles and can help you determine what will work best for your horse.

Donna

Hi everyone,

   yup, I'm bitten by the "horse bug," too! I am a 45-year old female university student who has signed up for a credit course in horseback riding (pleeeeese don't tell my parents who will pay my $400 "grocery bill" it's really the additional horse-course fee!!). I've had a checkered history with all things equine (we all have our stories! ;) ); despite the past, I am determined to learn what I can about horses and succeed this time. So far, I've bought grooming tools, a hardhat, and now am trying to get in shape to ride. I have access to a well-equipped gym; what sorts of exercises/workouts would make me a better rider?

   Sorry if this all sounds dorky; this is my first post. I'd rather flounder online than flop in the saddle!

Suzanne,

I have to point out that you have a big advantage for getting started:  if your husband is into fly fishng, he understands expensive interests  I'd like to suggest a great way to combine those interests (and possibly get your husband interested in horses). 

My husband & I used to do a good bit of backpacking/camping in our 20's.  As we got into our 30's & could afford it, we shifted to bed& breakfasts & day hikes.  A few years ago my husband got into fly fishing & then started looking into coll places to travel to for fishing.  I had always been interested in going a long-distance horse back trip (although I had not ridden since I was in high school).  One of my husabnd's fly fishing buddies described a week-long trip he had taken in Montana - a horse packing trip in some of the best trout fishing waters in the US. 

 We have now taken 2 pack trips of over one week in the Bob Marshall Wilderness & are planning a third trip this summer.  It was wonderful for both of us - typically 4+ hours/day of riding w/ great fly fishing right in camp & breathtaking scenery.  I do some fly fishing, but my interest is only lukewarm.  I have to saythat even I enjoyed the fishing on these trips.  My husband's interest in horses is about the same as mine in fishing, but he defeintely appreciated riding up & down mountains rather than walking - and more importantly having mules to carry all of our stuff instead of having to carry it ourselves in a backpack.  Havign a cook & wranglers to take care of things in camp was nice too.

Our first pack trip inspired me to get back into riding, which I had ridden english for a few years in my early teens & then stopped for financial reasons.  Now that I can afford it I ride regularly & lease a horse in the summer months.   I enjoy local trail riding even though in Pennsyvania we don't have the number of trails or as dramatic of scenery - the time w/ teh horse is the fun part.  I was in much better riding shape for our second trip , which my poor knees appreciated!

 If you are interested in seeing what these trips are like, check out the 2 outfitters we went with:

http://www.triplejranch.com/

http://www.richranch.com/

Kim

Kim,

Thanks for the reply. I haven't been able to ride since Oct.( my husband had to have surgery in late November).Well, actually that's wrong. I haven't been able to take English riding lessons since Oct. My doggy does field trials, and while the dog courses an open field for the bird, the humans follow on horseback( western saddle). I didn't know a thing about Western riding, but I'm learning. I hope to return to lessons in the early Spring. I'm glad that you and the hubby can pursue your interests and support each other! I think it's very important to feed the horse habit if you can..... Do you think instructors would be open to trading out barn work for lessons? I don't know if they would do it for an adult.I miss my weekly lesson!

Good luck to you!

Suzanne

Hi Suzlaub - glad you're having a chance to do SOME riding, even if not the English lessons you want.  I think most instructors who would be open to trading would be glad to have someone with a mature mind and a work history. 

When you get back to English riding again, if you're still having trouble getting the feel of the posting trot, you might try what I used to do with my Hunt Seat students.  Shorten your stirrups a hole or two from a dressage length and start by taking a two point position, while holding mane.  When you can keep it steadily at a walk, ease into a trot and just stay up in two point.  When you can think about something in addition to keeping your balance ( and believe me, if your legs get too far forward or too far back, you'll know about it immediately)  start saying to yourself "DOWN up, DOWN up, DOWN up in rythym (sp?) with the trotting strides.  Then start trying to do it in that same rythym.  You can even say it out loud - I used to have my students do that.  Pretty soon it'll be second nature.  And the work in two point will help strengthen all the muscles you need.  Then you lengthen your stirrups gradually to a dressage length again.  If you can do it on a lunge line, so much the better, you'll learn faster if you don't have to worry about controlling the horse and can concentrate on just position and rythym.

Good luck!  I think it's terrific that you've caught the horse bug.  I caught it at about age 4 and am still just as crazy about them at 64 as I was 60 years ago.  And by the way, a couple years ago I met a 70+ woman who'd started in her early 60's and had never been on a horse before then!  She was trail riding 3 times a week and loving it.  So keep at it and have a blast!

MaryM43

Congrats on starting to ride!  I didn't start until I was an adult as well, growing up in the city I guess I didn't realize that "normal" people can ride horses.  Now I ride not only horses but mules.  I remember that I had the hardest time posting, and then just when I thought I had it, they threw in the whole diagonal thing and rocked my world.  My instructor gave me two suggestions: 

1. Work out your thighs.  That exercise ball is a good way, or just straddle a dining room chair (one without arm rests of course) and bend your knees until just before your bum hits the seat and then stand up.  You can do this while watching TV, checking email, etc.  Building up your thigh muscles makes posting less strenuous, which then makes it easier to start thinking about posting. 

 2.  Don't think about hitting the correct lead, instead just pick it up.  When I would concentrate on the lead, I would always get it wrong and then have to fix it.  Then, she told me to just start the trot and then start posting.  Once I was posting she then had me check if the lead was correct.  Suddenly I found that I was getting the correct lead more times than not.  I guess all the worrying was psyching me out.  When I didn't think about it I was just letting it come naturally.  True I wasn't 100%, and I'm still not, but it definately helped me out.

Kristin

Great advice Kristin! I hope to resume my lessons in the Spring. I'll keep the posting advice in mind......good luck and glad to have you here!

Suzanne

Hi Cruizing Clyde,

I'm no expert, but my trainer always recommends buying Crates saddles w/full quarter horse bars, as they're made on wider trees and usually fit large horses pretty well.  I was able to buy a used one, and it's been great on the different-sized horses I was riding up until I recently bought my own horse.

As for the flex tree thing, from what I understand they may not hold up as well as a regular tree or give the horse the right kind of support.  Then again, there are folks who say they're wonderful. 

Congrats re your horse, keep us filled in re him!

Mary 

 Hi Suzlaub,

 I'm offering my suggestion for learning to post and improve your sitting trot as dorky as this will sound!!  I've been doing this recently and my riding instructor asked me how I made such an improvement lately.  Before I share my embarassing secret I want to say riding with a bareback pad has helped with my seat as well...okay so here goes, I've been practicing "trotting" while I'm driving my car...alone of course!!!  The goal is to move hips to match the beat of whatever music is playing on the radio (not too slow though).  However, I don't want every driver nearby to wonder what I'm doing so I have to relax my back (very important for sitting trot) so that the only thing that moves are the hips and abs.  It's a great workout for those abs.  Once I can match the beat of the music I play "7 & 7"  I count 7 sitting trot strides and then "post" for 7 strides.  It's a little like riding in that you have to pay attention to everything around you, watch where you're going and still stay relaxed and keep the beat.  It has helped with the muscle memory that I needed to ride the trot both sitting and posting.  I guess I'll have to start working on my canter soon!!

Well, that's a new one on me! Glad that worked for you....I haven't been able to ride English since late October, so I'll probably have to start all over again. I think posting is either something that you either pick up right away or you struggle to get there. Anyway, thanks for the reply, and good luck on the canter.

suzanne