Am I an intermediate level rider yet?!

I would consider that intermediate if you feel very well balanced in the saddle and have good control over the horse. I do not consider myself beginner-intermediate, but lower-ish intermediate. I've been riding for 2 summers and one year, and I am able do the same things as you, minus the cross country jumps, riding in fields... and I've never fallen (thank god ><). The highest I jumped was... one foot?

So yes I think you have the right to call yourself an intermediate rider. :))

Lol, I always though intermediate was when you actually helped finish a horse.... like you're able to ride green horses. Once you can teach a horse something, you're no longer the beginner.I dunno, might be different here though. How would you guys classify finishing green horses as? I think advanced riders are those that ride for a living, competing or training, but maybe i'm wrong.

I'm not sure but I have been told that an intermediate rider can walk,trot,canter with and without stirrups on just about any horse confidently. Also if you want to go in that area probably to jump or something to a degree.

Agree with that too Indigo, to a certain extent.
While I don't directly train green horses, I ride some of my barns young greenies in lessons every once in a while. The last one I rode was a small 6 yr old arab. She can sometimes be an angel and obey every command, but often enough she refuses to do anything you tell her. She has a very strong will and my trainer made me ride her last lesson because I have a good enough seat and that horse naturally pushes me to be tough with her. She does tiny bucks and shakes her head occasionally but she's so smooth and comfortable it's not hard to stay on. :P

However I consider an advanced rider to be someone who either rides professionally or has just a lot of experience up their sleeve and can ride any kind of horse with good control and perfect balance.

Don't worry about levels or labels or anything like that right now. Don't worry about other riders, either.

Just soak up all of the information you can and enjoy the ride, literally and figuratively.
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Very true. I have to remind myself that more often as well. ;)

True true :)

Thank you for the tips.
I can't ride green horses, mainly because were I ride, they don't have any green horses, just school masters :)

And same about the hight, im gradually getting higher tho :P

I think of it like this:

Beginner; knows virtually nothing

Novice; still learning the correct seat and how to ride the different gaits and

Lower intermediate; can ride all gaits and begins to be able to influence the hrose.

Intermediate: can ride all gaits, influence the horse and deal with many unexpected situations

Advanced: can ride nearly any horse , influence the hrose , and start to train a greeny

Expert: Can do it all with confidence and not by luck, can replicate good training and deal with many difficult problems.

I honestly think attempting to label people in the horse world is a colossal waste of time. There are SO many factors that go into it, that while it can be easy to identify a total novice/beginner rider, the lines blur a lot after that.

For example, I know a lot of girls who compete doing 3'0" courses and win. However, they are winning on push button trained horses, they have no idea how to actually train or ride, they get scared and freak out if the horse so much as flinches, they can't go for a hack and basically unless they're displaying flawless showring equitation, they are completely lost on a horse. Most people would label them intermediate to advanced based on a showring performance, but down to the nitty gritty they're still just novices when it comes to the entirety of the horse world. If their horse died tomorrow (heaven forbid), they'd be right back to learning walk trot all over on a new horse.

I would consider myself an advanced rider in terms of riding since I was born, doing a lot of training on youngsters and problem horses, having a lot of self confidence, able to get on virtually any horse and being able to easily recognize problems/issues and taking steps to rectify them. However, my equitation sucks and I would place dead last in most show rings because I've never been taught to ride PROPERLY. So vice versa, I am very much a novice in terms of getting a horse to perform without assistance in a specific discipline to any sort of standard that would have me winning a show.

Don't worry about levels or labels or where anybody else is at. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. The woman who is currently my trainer and coach gives me huge props for my bareback riding skills because she can't ride bareback - never really practiced and no confidence in her own ability to stay on. In the end, it's all relative and no rider ever stops learning or ever perfects everything, or even anything for that matter! Just work your hardest and be proud of your accomplishments, however small you may think they are!

^^ exactly, Great post! It can be incredibly decieving watching people ride, I've seen a lot of "pretty" riders that are just passengers on their horses and I've seen a lot of sloppier (strictly lack of a better word) riders that are effectively feeling their horses and are in constant communication and influence over their horse. Labels don't matter but if someone is interested in knowing what "level" they are at I don't think anyone on the internet can tell you that. For one thing the people I often see or hear asking are generally of a lower level (not advanced ect), so they may think that they have the skills to train a horse however they're instructor may think entirely different. If you're truly interested in knowing where you're at talk to your coach. I'd rather go over with my instructor the things I'm unsure of or simply don't know, reenforece the things I'm shaky on and make a plan to build my knowledge in the areas I haven't yet learned in a progressive and logical scale.
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