My Riding Pet Peeves

I promised all my Instagram followers yesterday that I would make a Youtube video for them, but my camera wouldn't film a video longer than one minute long, so I have decided I shall convert the video into a blog post.

The Youtube video I was going to make was all about my riding pet peeves, so all the things that people do when they ride which simply annoy me! Well, first off I hate when people rise to the trot when it is unintentional. So if they are walking or cantering and the horse breaks into a trot, they start rising but that is basically just telling the horse that it is okay to break gaits, when it shouldn't not be allowed or tolerated. If a horse breaks gaits, then you get it back into the desired gait within the next 3 strides! That is basically my life motto, that everything has 3 strides to happen.

Another pet peeve I have is when riders smack their horse with a whip or their hand unnecessarily. I was watching a lesson a while ago and this girl was on a dapple grey horse called Alfie. I had ridden him the previous day, so I knew what he is like to ride and he is a bit behind the leg, but I only used my whip once. This girl was riding along and Alfie would be going the same pace, never changing and the would reach behind her and smack him. She was a bit of a beginner rider and I understand that, but that doesn't mean you need to smack a horse for going the right speed.

Another one of my pet peeves is something that is very common with beginners and I have seen with some more experienced riders as well, but it is when riders lift their hands quite high while riding. I was taking a lesson last week and there were three boys, two of them on faster horses and one on a slow horse and none of them even knew how to rise to the trot. All three boys were just trotting around the arena, doing as they pleased and I saw two sets of hands go in the air, so I said "Keep your hands down." Nothing happened. It took three tries and then me snapping at them before they listened but kept their hands down during the rest of the lesson, but this is one of the things that annoys me the most!

I think this is probably long enough now, so I won't delve into any more detail about any more pet peeves. I hope you enjoy reading this post and feel free to comment below if you have any pet peeves you feel like sharing!

Until next time
-KaimanawaKim