Those of us that have been riding since the age of about three chuckle at this, there is no doubt it is easier to learn to ride when you are young, particularly as there is that weird phenomenon that ground increases in hardness for each decade you get to. Also, as a child you are completely unaware of 'what might happen' and you haven't yet got to the stage where as an adult you are completely in control of your own life, but you are never fully 100% in control of a horse. Learning that you need to work with a horse and become part of it, a bit like two dancers moving in a foxtrot, or maybe an Argentine tango when it comes to jumping, comes hard and it is a skill that some people never learn, that is the difference between a rider, and a good rider. Technique can be taught but feel is harder to achieve.
I know of four men that have learnt age 30+ two of them in their 40/50's so it can be done, what it takes is a good teacher, a good horse and in the early stages a pair of well padded jockey shorts. Nowadays you can start to learn on a mechanical horse, people may laugh a bit at this but for the sake of a horse I think it is a great idea. My friend Sally works in Hyde Park and regularly sees the new police and army recruits learning to ride in the park, this seems like far too much an expanse of grass for my liking. Sally says she can tell when it is going a bit wrong as the riding master gets them all to circle a tree while they get back under control. If they get to the next tree and start circling again it's really not going well. It's not unusual for the new recruits to be riding an hour and not get past three trees.
John had his first lesson yesterday at Cullinghood in Pangbourne, Cullinghood has a Racewood simulator, these are the people that make the simulators the jockeys use for technique and fitness. Theirs is a dressage model which I also think is good, get the foundations correct before pulling your stirrups up, if your foundations are good you should be able to ride any style. Cullinghood's simulator is a deluxe model, it is a cross between a simulator and a Wii game, the horse has sensors so it can check whether you are sat central in the saddle and how you are using your legs. It also has a neck that flexes so you can steer and it shows how much contact is on the reins, and any uneven contact. When you have a lesson you can have automatic mode, where the horse is set to move in a particular pace (walk, trot or canter) or you can have manual mode where you apply the aids and you get what you ask for. John had some trot to halt and a couple of times possibly extended trot with an inadvertent application of a leg, it also has a mane that is great to hold on to (we've all been there John, there is no shame!).
John had a 30 minute lesson and by the end of it was quite red faced and sweaty, he rode in all three paces but not surprisingly it was the rising trot that proved tricky. Personally I would have dropped his stirrups down a couple of holes, it will also be easier when he is wearing riding boots, chaps and jodhpurs as this will help the position of the iron on his foot and also stabilise the lower leg a bit. I reckon he needs at least four sessions on the simulator before being introduced to a real horse. It was a very positive start however and plan is now for him to knock up some hours on the sim before getting on a real horse and going out for a little pootle with an instructor. The yard is near Yattendon forest so there should be no shortage of trees should the need arise.
No comments:
Post a Comment