Novice Pony Riding Tales
Over a lifetime of association with horses, I have had my fill of horror stories, sob stories and shock stories concerning horses. A lot of them begin with words on the theme “I once rode a horse, a while ago, but” I am sure you’ve heard your share of such stories, too. Maybe you actually had a role in one of these stories. The tale sometimes begins with how a neighbour or some relative or a girlfriend or boyfriend offered his or her horse to the storyteller. Or maybe the lead figure wanted to take a ride and visited a nearby horse rental. After forking over a bit of cash, the storyteller was loaded onto a pony and told to come back before a set period of time lapsed. The ride started smoothly, and everything was hoity-toity well into the ride suddenly the pony makes a unilateral decision that he or she wants to get back to the barn, and starts returning to home base, even though the rider tried very hard to stop him. The pony prevails, and starts the journey back to the base. Typically in these stories, the rider gets thrown off by a low hanging branch or as the pony shied or bucked. When the rider stumbles back to the barn, he or she is accosted by a baffled owner who keeps repeating something to the effect that “that the horse has never behaved this way before”.
In the meantime, the rider, who hopefully has received more of a battering of spirit than of body, decides that horses are deadly weapons, and swears off them forever.
A very common and highly unfortunate aspect of this kind of story is that whatever went wrong, neither the rider nor the horse are actually to blame. The culprits are the owners and managers of rentals. I have two horses of my own, and look after about 20 other horses. I wouldn’t dream of sending a beginner out on any horse of mine without my supervision. I wouldn’t want the kind of results that are rather typically linked with giving your rather aggressive teenager kid the keys to your Porsche. Even apart from the legality angle, no 15 years old is going to be ready to resist the temptations of a Porsche. Irrespective of how much driving they have done before, they’re going to try to put that Porsche through its paces with their foot flat on the gas.
Actually , it is perhaps much more dumb and risky to let a novice rider get into the saddle with no supervision. If the pony decides it has had enough of its eccentric rider and starts heading back home, and if the rider finds that objectionable and expresses his disagreement strongly, something is got to give. The owner/lessor of the horse can count herself fortunate if the horse and its rider come back in 2 separate, entire and completely healthy pieces.
Horses mostly are gentle animals that do what is expected of them and usually enjoy doing it, as well. It is only when you reciprocate their positive spirit that you can make your ride a totally enjoyable experience. Don’t be afraid to don your riding clothes and get astride a horse, but careful about where that pony comes from.
Horses are Heather Tomspassion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of articles with other horse lovers read more
