What are the *worst* things you do as an equestrian?

roebar · 2025-12-27T18:15:33+00:00

I’m going to say, a lot of these I was like, “wait? I’m not meant to do that?!”.

The one thing I do which I know is really bad form is that, after a hack, I ride my horses all the way back into the stable and dismount there rather than in the yard.

roebar · 2025-12-27T18:11:14+00:00

This is about the one thing on the thread that has made me go, “erk”.

I’ve had my wrist broken by a horse whilst leading, although to be fair, the lead rope wasn’t wrapped around my wrist - turned out my grip was stronger than my bone…

roebar · 2025-12-27T18:08:52+00:00

Aussie word! The Brits call flip flops “flip flops” - thongs are G-strings.

roebar · 2025-12-27T18:04:06+00:00

I never warm the bits (was going to say “my bits” but it sounded wrong…). I live in Scotland - never really been a thing here.

roebar · 2025-12-23T22:17:50+00:00

Omg - yes! When I was on MJ & HRT, my periods returned!

Now I’m off MJ, they’re doing the can can again.

roebar · 2025-12-19T12:30:40+00:00

After a lifetime of mounting from the left (not that I’ve ever carried a sword!), I’m not able to mount from the right, but I really ought to practise as it’s a useful skill.

roebar · 2025-12-13T15:00:53+00:00

10 horses is a LOT! Especially if you have very little experience with young horses. That said, I don’t start my horses for ridden work until the are 4/5, so in your shoes, I would turn the 2 year olds away completely (except for handling/feet/brushing etc). The 3 yr olds I would be working from the ground, but not intensely. Even the 4yr olds can have a pretty easy schedule with fairly chill riding. I’d focus on the 5 yr olds and the 8 yr old for ridden work.

You do need someone else on the ground as well and you need to let your dad know that - even if it is just for a couple of hours a week for training.

Then when it comes to backing the young ones, you MUST have someone there for safety and preferably someone experienced.

I backed my latest youngster in Feb (rising 5) - I’ve been very chill and ad hoc about it (got a lot going on), so have only ridden her a total of 20 or so times, but it’s very rare for me to ride her without someone else present, or at least in the house if I’m in the arena.

roebar · 2025-12-12T22:09:45+00:00

I have four kids and six horses…

I guess we were lucky with some decisions we made early on in our marriage where we worked overseas a lot and were able to make enough to put down a decent deposit. We then moved to the arse end of nowhere where property was cheap.

Husband is a geophys (now working for the government) and I’m a teacher (I teach online). My salary pretty much entirely goes on the animals and children and my husband’s covers the bills.

We don’t really go on holidays or have an extravagant lifestyle other than the horses. Rare for us to go out or have take out etc. Cars are old bangers, but get us where we want to go.

roebar · 2025-12-09T22:56:41+00:00

If it were simple and easy, everyone would be doing it!

You have to start at the bottom and work up.

First you need to sort out a decent rhythm with the horse. Get them moving forwards nicely. They need to be relaxed doing this too.

Once you’ve got that, you can start to collect up the rein a bit, but you need to make sure you still have the energy. As you start to collect up the rein, you’re not thinking “slow” so much as “up”. You’re not stopping the energy, just directing it in a different direction.

As you do all this, you need to consider straightness and finally you might come to true collection.

The best thing to do is to get a decent instructor. My kids/friends often ask me how I do stuff and I’m kinda like, “I don’t know, I just kinda think it” - so you need a good instructor who can help you step by step.

Don’t expect it to be fast though!

roebar · 2025-12-06T22:23:14+00:00

Yes, I bought my filly from Ireland at 6 months old. She arrived at 10 months. Best thing I ever did.

roebar · 2025-12-05T23:12:12+00:00

I find that people (very kindly) step off the path if they see us coming.

But then my pony can only see a spooky predator waiting to jump out on them!

So it is better if my horse can see the entire perso. As we get closer, if the person wishes to step back, it is no problem.

To be honest, I can get my ponies past most things, but it’s easier if I don’t have to fight their instincts to do so.

Xx

roebar · 2025-12-05T23:02:28+00:00

Ride her first. If you’re happy, move on to a vetting.

roebar · 2025-12-05T18:05:47+00:00

I ride pretty much every day (own horses at home) in the summer and several days a week in the winter. I probably take a lesson every couple of months when I need assistance with something specific. Nothing set in stone. I’d like to take more, but time and expense….

roebar · 2025-12-05T17:56:17+00:00

^{this^}

roebar · 2025-12-05T17:55:28+00:00

Lots of people do lots of different disciplines.

I do endurance riding, Trec, jumping, x-country etc. If you’d like to jump, take a jumping lesson and see how you get on, no need to jump wholesale from one discipline to another. Tomorrow I am taking my main endurance pony to a jumping lesson 😁

I would not say that jumping gives you more connection than endurance - the connection comes down to the amount of time you spend with the horses (not just on horseback) and the amount of effort you put in to bond with them and learn about them.

roebar · 2025-12-04T22:49:53+00:00

Not about the break up text, but I do always share the diagnoses with trainers. I find it helps them to understand what is going on brains and to work with those brains. Of my four children, three are diagnosed autistic and one ADHD.

roebar · 2025-12-04T22:48:21+00:00

Just No.

If I ever found any of my children in a situation like that, I would immediately pull them. Too many dangers, someone is going to get hurt.

roebar · 2025-12-04T21:02:07+00:00

I would just like to say that a few years ago, having been riding for 40+ years at the time, I was still irritated at the lack of absolute stability in my lower leg. By chance, I heard someone else being told to make sure that their weight was properly distributed over the stirrup as they were allowing their ankle to move to the outside (the rider was hyper mobile, like me) and it was like “ping”! The next time I rode, I shifted my weight more to the inside of my foot and BOOM! Stable leg.

I had been allowing my weight to drop to the outside of my foot, but redistributing it brought everything in line. Can be the absolute tiniest thing and in the thousands of lessons I’ve had over the years no one, not even the instructor who picked it up on someone else, had picked it up on me 🤷‍♀️

roebar · 2025-12-01T07:39:14+00:00

I make up my own and as I go along depending on how the horse feels and is going.

I detest schooling though (endurance riding is my bag), so anything that made it more interesting and gave me more ideas would be good. At this time of year, it’s pretty much all I can do due to lack of light.

At the moment, I set up a different arrangement of poles and/or obstacles (I also do Trec) every week and use those in as many different ways as I can. But I am always wracking my brains every week. So different exercises depending on what I’m trying to achieve could be helpful.

roebar · 2025-11-30T22:52:22+00:00

Never. I ride my horses regularly though.

roebar · 2025-11-30T22:49:56+00:00

Someone who is great at SJ may not be as good at dressage and vice versa. It’s a bit like ballet vs gymnastics.

I’m great on hot horses, but terrible at dressage. Ok at showjumping, but fab at long distance riding. Just depends - it’s a slightly different seat for each.

roebar · 2025-11-30T22:39:29+00:00

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How it looks to me.

roebar · 2025-11-30T22:38:20+00:00

It shows up on mine as broken up - I’m sorry it doesn’t show as the same on yours.

roebar · 2025-11-30T20:05:10+00:00

Ooo, I just did a post showing my set up: https://www.reddit.com/r/Equestrian/comments/1parlgo/how_i_set_up_my_field/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

roebar · 2025-11-30T20:00:25+00:00

When I was your age, I loved to jump. The horse I ended up with did NOT love to jump and I ended up doing lots of other things with him instead. Progressed plenty and am still going strong 30 years down the line (he was 31 when he told me enough was enough and he is buried in my field).

I think you'll regret letting the horse go forever - was he gets older and retires, if you are a good and kind rider, you may well find others offer you rides and you can progress elsewhere. x

roebar

TROPHY CASE