This is a critique part in two questions and my first lengthy post here, so bear with me
Part 1: I've been riding since I was a kid (I'm 25 now), but only a year of formal lessons in English from ages 12-13. I have ridden whenever given the chance, trail rides, family friends' horses, etc. I leased a mare about 2 years ago, and that was a blast. I'm confident in my horsemanship knowledge, comfort around horses, etc, and I thought I was somewhere around an advanced beginner rider. Well, reality check today. I went to ride two horses I'm considering leasing, and I am SO rusty. It's been well over a year since I've been on a horse, and it shows. With the first horse, I did just fine at the walk and trot (both sitting and posting), but when we were cantering I completely lost my seat and my feet slipped out of the stirrups both times I cantered. With the second horse, his trot was so bumpy that I lost my stirrups there as well! I'm basically looking for suggestions/exercises that I can do on horseback that will get my basics solid again. I hope to be riding at least 2-3 times a week soon. I think my hands were fine (no pulling on the mouth, good line from bit to elbow, etc) but my seat/legs just feel completely unsettled, which is frustrating.
Part 2: As I mentioned in my only post on the boards, I'm looking at horses to lease to get myself into riding regularly again. I finally got out and saw two today, and wanted some input on which might be a better situation for me. Horse #1-Mare, 25 years old, incredibly well trained, well mannered, a little underweight after the winter, and a wee bit out of shape but nothing serious. She's going to be leased by another girl as well, who's mostly going to be doing trail rides with her. She's located about 30 minutes from my house, but I work almost 50 minutes from where she's boarded, so I could manage only one week day ride and 1-2 weekend rides. Horse #2-Gelding, 5 years old, a little on the pudgy side, hadn't been ridden in 3 months before today, and while his owner dotes on him, she obviously doesn't ever come exercise him. He's been trained to ride in a Parelli hackamore, goes English/Western, responds incredibly well to leg cues and is a big teddy bear. He's very out of shape (he was blowing pretty hard after walking/trotting {minimal trotting} for 10 minutes), so he would need a lot of conditioning to get back in shape. He needs more training, definitely, because she has barely cantered with him at all, period, his trot is very bouncy and all over the map and his owner said he's still a little unbalanced. He's as calm as a cucumber and she has ridden him bareback a lot in the past. I would be his only lessee, it's twice what the mare would cost a month, and he's located about 20 minutes from my work, so before/after work would be much more feasible.
Based on Part 1 of this post, which horse might be better for me? Maybe neither is. I really liked the gelding's disposition, and he's gorgeous. I think we could learn a lot from one another, and I love his un-flappable nature. The bareback riding is very appealing, because I could work on what I feel my huge faults are. The facility there is great too; lots of horse people, they have shows there, etc. The mare is kept on a dairy farm, so there's one riding area and lots of trails. She's great too, because she's very balanced and could help me get my fundamentals back.
This was incredibly long, but any and all feedback (and further questions for clarification) welcomed. THANKS!
Part 1: I've been riding since I was a kid (I'm 25 now), but only a year of formal lessons in English from ages 12-13. I have ridden whenever given the chance, trail rides, family friends' horses, etc. I leased a mare about 2 years ago, and that was a blast. I'm confident in my horsemanship knowledge, comfort around horses, etc, and I thought I was somewhere around an advanced beginner rider. Well, reality check today. I went to ride two horses I'm considering leasing, and I am SO rusty. It's been well over a year since I've been on a horse, and it shows. With the first horse, I did just fine at the walk and trot (both sitting and posting), but when we were cantering I completely lost my seat and my feet slipped out of the stirrups both times I cantered. With the second horse, his trot was so bumpy that I lost my stirrups there as well! I'm basically looking for suggestions/exercises that I can do on horseback that will get my basics solid again. I hope to be riding at least 2-3 times a week soon. I think my hands were fine (no pulling on the mouth, good line from bit to elbow, etc) but my seat/legs just feel completely unsettled, which is frustrating.
Part 2: As I mentioned in my only post on the boards, I'm looking at horses to lease to get myself into riding regularly again. I finally got out and saw two today, and wanted some input on which might be a better situation for me. Horse #1-Mare, 25 years old, incredibly well trained, well mannered, a little underweight after the winter, and a wee bit out of shape but nothing serious. She's going to be leased by another girl as well, who's mostly going to be doing trail rides with her. She's located about 30 minutes from my house, but I work almost 50 minutes from where she's boarded, so I could manage only one week day ride and 1-2 weekend rides. Horse #2-Gelding, 5 years old, a little on the pudgy side, hadn't been ridden in 3 months before today, and while his owner dotes on him, she obviously doesn't ever come exercise him. He's been trained to ride in a Parelli hackamore, goes English/Western, responds incredibly well to leg cues and is a big teddy bear. He's very out of shape (he was blowing pretty hard after walking/trotting {minimal trotting} for 10 minutes), so he would need a lot of conditioning to get back in shape. He needs more training, definitely, because she has barely cantered with him at all, period, his trot is very bouncy and all over the map and his owner said he's still a little unbalanced. He's as calm as a cucumber and she has ridden him bareback a lot in the past. I would be his only lessee, it's twice what the mare would cost a month, and he's located about 20 minutes from my work, so before/after work would be much more feasible.
Based on Part 1 of this post, which horse might be better for me? Maybe neither is. I really liked the gelding's disposition, and he's gorgeous. I think we could learn a lot from one another, and I love his un-flappable nature. The bareback riding is very appealing, because I could work on what I feel my huge faults are. The facility there is great too; lots of horse people, they have shows there, etc. The mare is kept on a dairy farm, so there's one riding area and lots of trails. She's great too, because she's very balanced and could help me get my fundamentals back.
This was incredibly long, but any and all feedback (and further questions for clarification) welcomed. THANKS!