This journal has two purposes: on one hand, I want to document my personal experiences and have a record to look back to. On the other, when I was looking for other first-hand accounts of 'what to expect as an adult beginner' I didn't find as much as I would have liked. My hope is that I will end up sticking with equestrian sports and this will provide at least one account of the adult-beginner learning process from the perspective of someone interested in starting.
Minor note: For the sake of anonymity and to avoid accidentally commenting on anyone based on momentary feelings, names will be changed in this journal. Right now, I don't have anything particularly controversial or negative to say - but I want to be able to talk freely about my experiences should something come up so I'm starting this practice now.
Background
As of two days ago I was 32 years old and had never touched, let alone ridden, a horse. I had rarely even had opportunity to see one in person outside a few fleeting glimpses of mounted policemen, and the occasional Renaissance-Festival show.
My interest in horses emerged fairly recently. A few months ago I was out at an informal meditation retreat with some friends of mine in the Colorado Rockies. These friends included one long-time equestrian (who had owned horses since childhood) and who had gotten two other friends of mine involved just a few years ago (in their late 20s). These two more recent riders were now progressing to the early ‘looking at horse ownership’ stage and their enthusiasm and love was both palpable and infectious. All three were of the sincere opinion I would quickly fall in love with riding. These are people who know me - and have for ten years - so I’m inclined to take their opinions pretty seriously.
Another main drive was difficulties in my primary sport - rock climbing. Rock climbing requires a partner, and I lost one to moving cross-country and another to an unfortunate series of not-climbing-related injuries. This had made my climbing career for the past year and a half extremely spotty with no end to the health issues in sight. These issues had been both sporadic enough I didn’t want to move on and find a new partner, and persistent enough that I had made it onto the walls perhaps ten times in twelve months. All this was beginning to seriously weigh on my health (...literally…). You really can’t maintain all the weird little muscles you need for climbing when you’re going that infrequently - and that took my high-intermediate level climbing (at my best I was climbing high 10s and some 11As) back to what I would consider the low-intermediate level (10A/B).
Mind you, at no point would I consider myself terribly athletic. My technique has always outpaced my fitness - even when I did explicit cross-training. I also remained overweight for most of my climbing career, just peeking into the top of the ‘healthy’ weight range when I’ve been at my most focused. While I think I can say rightly that a fair bit of that was muscle (at my lightest and most dedicated I was 5’9” 150 lbs and comfortably a dress size 8) starting this particular adventure I am nowhere near that (currently a much softer 180 lbs and a dress size 14/16).
I also have been dealing with some periodic joint swelling which my doctors think might be the beginning of Rheumatism (which runs in my family). This flares up only rarely at this point and my doctors have 100% cleared me for all sports.
So health-wise I’d say I’m starting with a mixed bag. On one hand I’m not in ideal shape at the moment and I’m dealing with a few lingering concerns. On the other I have a background in another sporting activity that requires the building of specific muscles, technique, and mental focus. I’m hoping the latter outweighs the former, and am willing to go back to the gym to try to make that so.
Preparation
I wanted to seriously do my homework before committing to all this. Coming in from the outside with zero background all this was more than a little scary. Horse sports consistently outrank climbing on dangerous sport lists (yes, really). It’s also expensive (coming from one not cheap sport to another). From my experience in rock climbing I feared it would be very easy to waste a lot of money on useless gear and not-helpful endeavors before I understood what I was doing.
I also wanted to be sure that if I were to get into this I wasn’t going to plateau before I could even get off the ground. I mean, it’s one thing to pay a few bucks for lessons once a week - but I am looking into this as a sport and possible replacement for my multiple-session-a-week rock climbing. Am I going to take lessons just to end up frustrated? What exactly am I taking lessons in anyway?
Youtube was incredibly helpful here - better in my opinion than most of the written sources. On youtube I could actually see each discipline and get a bit more of a feel of how each looked and (to a lesser extent) the attitudes that prevailed in each sport.
Hearing it described, understanding the difference between Western and English sounded like it was mostly about the subtleties of the equipment used - but the sports available and attitudes are also very different. Videos like let me get a comparison of what skilled versions looked like side-by-side.
I also found quite a bit in regards to general horse instruction/lessons. A few favorites quickly emerged. CRKtraining provided me with a lot of foundations - most usefully a list of . I ended up watching almost half of everything on that channel. BernieTraurig likewise had some useful looking information - though I suspect these will be a bit more useful/meaningful to me a little later on in my progress. I also watched a bit of Think Like a Horse though I find him obnoxious it also helped me a fair bit in understanding basics of horse body language, and some of the pitfalls in working with horses to avoid.
Along with direct training videos, there were a lot of useful tangents. Watching was just freaking magical. Watching the began me falling in love with the breed (and feel I had somewhat of an idea of what OTTB really looks like and why people say they're not for beginners). Watching a was both somewhat saddening but also really helped me to understand the practice.
After a little bit, it became clear to me that what I was really interested in was English Riding. I did not yet (and still do not yet) know exactly what type of English riding. The thrilling fantasy version of things pushed me towards Cross Country. The detail-oriented and technical part of me was looking at Dressage. The realist in me realized I probably should try actually getting on a horse first and see if I could manage to stay on top of it before getting any crazy ideas.
Finding lessons also proved significantly more difficult than I anticipated. While there are almost a dozen lesson stables in the area, and most offer English riding lessons, almost all of them seem to focus exclusively on children. I’d send a web-form message… wait a couple days and either not hear back at all, or I’d get declined (usually with the explanation that either they didn’t have adult sized lesson horses or their adult sized lesson horses already had full schedules)... then find another one and repeat the process. Each round of this took about 3-4 days before I either heard back or gave up.
Eventually my longer-term equestrian friend told me I’d probably have better luck calling people. So for one of the places I really thought was cool I followed up my web message with a phone call (went to voicemail), and then sent off one last web-contact-form message to literally the last stable on my list.
I was starting to despair that I would need to wait until Spring and try again when I would be willing to drive a bit farther. Then, as I was about to give up I got a call-back. The trainer called during work, but I had been excited enough that I saved the number to my phone and actually picked it up mid-day. We set up an ‘evaluation ride’ for Sunday morning (this was on Thursday). I had no idea what exactly we were going to ‘evaluate’ - I had zero riding knowledge (beyond studying youtube) but eagerly agreed.
I verified that my internet-research had gotten me the right list of stuff I needed to buy (I had 0 equipment) - Breeches, Boots, Chaps, Helmet. She told me I could use leggings, any boot with a heel, chaps were entirely optional, and she’d actually prefer to fit me for a helmet if I had never bought one before.
Now, on one hand, I had no desire to spend a crap-load of money for a hobby I may not be as interested in after I first got into it. On the other hand, I know myself well enough to know that the last thing I wanted to do was skimp on something that could make me feel safer or more comfortable. I opted to seek out the most basic of basic versions of each of the 3 core pieces, with the expectation that I may well end up deciding any one of them wasn’t a good buy a few months from now. I also needed the equipment fast and couldn't find identify any good stores locally.
Amazon Prime came to my rescue. I essentially just looked for the highest-rated stuff explicitly labeled ‘beginner’ and picked what I thought looked nice. I ended up with:
I spent about $120 on those items and my hope is they’ll last me at least a year. Though I will probably need at least one more pair of breeches for winter in case I miss a laundry day and definitely something cooler for when it gets warm out.
Of course, right as I finished excitedly placing my Amazon order the last stable I had web-form messaged got back to me and also wanted to set up lessons - offering me several good time slots. I now feel kinda bad about that and am still not totally sure how to respond. I opted to wait until after my lesson to see if my new trainer and I got along.
Minor note: For the sake of anonymity and to avoid accidentally commenting on anyone based on momentary feelings, names will be changed in this journal. Right now, I don't have anything particularly controversial or negative to say - but I want to be able to talk freely about my experiences should something come up so I'm starting this practice now.
Background
As of two days ago I was 32 years old and had never touched, let alone ridden, a horse. I had rarely even had opportunity to see one in person outside a few fleeting glimpses of mounted policemen, and the occasional Renaissance-Festival show.
My interest in horses emerged fairly recently. A few months ago I was out at an informal meditation retreat with some friends of mine in the Colorado Rockies. These friends included one long-time equestrian (who had owned horses since childhood) and who had gotten two other friends of mine involved just a few years ago (in their late 20s). These two more recent riders were now progressing to the early ‘looking at horse ownership’ stage and their enthusiasm and love was both palpable and infectious. All three were of the sincere opinion I would quickly fall in love with riding. These are people who know me - and have for ten years - so I’m inclined to take their opinions pretty seriously.
Another main drive was difficulties in my primary sport - rock climbing. Rock climbing requires a partner, and I lost one to moving cross-country and another to an unfortunate series of not-climbing-related injuries. This had made my climbing career for the past year and a half extremely spotty with no end to the health issues in sight. These issues had been both sporadic enough I didn’t want to move on and find a new partner, and persistent enough that I had made it onto the walls perhaps ten times in twelve months. All this was beginning to seriously weigh on my health (...literally…). You really can’t maintain all the weird little muscles you need for climbing when you’re going that infrequently - and that took my high-intermediate level climbing (at my best I was climbing high 10s and some 11As) back to what I would consider the low-intermediate level (10A/B).
Mind you, at no point would I consider myself terribly athletic. My technique has always outpaced my fitness - even when I did explicit cross-training. I also remained overweight for most of my climbing career, just peeking into the top of the ‘healthy’ weight range when I’ve been at my most focused. While I think I can say rightly that a fair bit of that was muscle (at my lightest and most dedicated I was 5’9” 150 lbs and comfortably a dress size 8) starting this particular adventure I am nowhere near that (currently a much softer 180 lbs and a dress size 14/16).
I also have been dealing with some periodic joint swelling which my doctors think might be the beginning of Rheumatism (which runs in my family). This flares up only rarely at this point and my doctors have 100% cleared me for all sports.
So health-wise I’d say I’m starting with a mixed bag. On one hand I’m not in ideal shape at the moment and I’m dealing with a few lingering concerns. On the other I have a background in another sporting activity that requires the building of specific muscles, technique, and mental focus. I’m hoping the latter outweighs the former, and am willing to go back to the gym to try to make that so.
Preparation
I wanted to seriously do my homework before committing to all this. Coming in from the outside with zero background all this was more than a little scary. Horse sports consistently outrank climbing on dangerous sport lists (yes, really). It’s also expensive (coming from one not cheap sport to another). From my experience in rock climbing I feared it would be very easy to waste a lot of money on useless gear and not-helpful endeavors before I understood what I was doing.
I also wanted to be sure that if I were to get into this I wasn’t going to plateau before I could even get off the ground. I mean, it’s one thing to pay a few bucks for lessons once a week - but I am looking into this as a sport and possible replacement for my multiple-session-a-week rock climbing. Am I going to take lessons just to end up frustrated? What exactly am I taking lessons in anyway?
Youtube was incredibly helpful here - better in my opinion than most of the written sources. On youtube I could actually see each discipline and get a bit more of a feel of how each looked and (to a lesser extent) the attitudes that prevailed in each sport.
Hearing it described, understanding the difference between Western and English sounded like it was mostly about the subtleties of the equipment used - but the sports available and attitudes are also very different. Videos like let me get a comparison of what skilled versions looked like side-by-side.
I also found quite a bit in regards to general horse instruction/lessons. A few favorites quickly emerged. CRKtraining provided me with a lot of foundations - most usefully a list of . I ended up watching almost half of everything on that channel. BernieTraurig likewise had some useful looking information - though I suspect these will be a bit more useful/meaningful to me a little later on in my progress. I also watched a bit of Think Like a Horse though I find him obnoxious it also helped me a fair bit in understanding basics of horse body language, and some of the pitfalls in working with horses to avoid.
Along with direct training videos, there were a lot of useful tangents. Watching was just freaking magical. Watching the began me falling in love with the breed (and feel I had somewhat of an idea of what OTTB really looks like and why people say they're not for beginners). Watching a was both somewhat saddening but also really helped me to understand the practice.
After a little bit, it became clear to me that what I was really interested in was English Riding. I did not yet (and still do not yet) know exactly what type of English riding. The thrilling fantasy version of things pushed me towards Cross Country. The detail-oriented and technical part of me was looking at Dressage. The realist in me realized I probably should try actually getting on a horse first and see if I could manage to stay on top of it before getting any crazy ideas.
Finding lessons also proved significantly more difficult than I anticipated. While there are almost a dozen lesson stables in the area, and most offer English riding lessons, almost all of them seem to focus exclusively on children. I’d send a web-form message… wait a couple days and either not hear back at all, or I’d get declined (usually with the explanation that either they didn’t have adult sized lesson horses or their adult sized lesson horses already had full schedules)... then find another one and repeat the process. Each round of this took about 3-4 days before I either heard back or gave up.
Eventually my longer-term equestrian friend told me I’d probably have better luck calling people. So for one of the places I really thought was cool I followed up my web message with a phone call (went to voicemail), and then sent off one last web-contact-form message to literally the last stable on my list.
I was starting to despair that I would need to wait until Spring and try again when I would be willing to drive a bit farther. Then, as I was about to give up I got a call-back. The trainer called during work, but I had been excited enough that I saved the number to my phone and actually picked it up mid-day. We set up an ‘evaluation ride’ for Sunday morning (this was on Thursday). I had no idea what exactly we were going to ‘evaluate’ - I had zero riding knowledge (beyond studying youtube) but eagerly agreed.
I verified that my internet-research had gotten me the right list of stuff I needed to buy (I had 0 equipment) - Breeches, Boots, Chaps, Helmet. She told me I could use leggings, any boot with a heel, chaps were entirely optional, and she’d actually prefer to fit me for a helmet if I had never bought one before.
Now, on one hand, I had no desire to spend a crap-load of money for a hobby I may not be as interested in after I first got into it. On the other hand, I know myself well enough to know that the last thing I wanted to do was skimp on something that could make me feel safer or more comfortable. I opted to seek out the most basic of basic versions of each of the 3 core pieces, with the expectation that I may well end up deciding any one of them wasn’t a good buy a few months from now. I also needed the equipment fast and couldn't find identify any good stores locally.
Amazon Prime came to my rescue. I essentially just looked for the highest-rated stuff explicitly labeled ‘beginner’ and picked what I thought looked nice. I ended up with:
- TuffRider Women’s Starter Boots - These seem great. The elastic panels allow easy front-back movement without too much side-to-side movement. Reviews said they fit narrow, but I didn’t feel that was the case. They’re comfortable with little notches in the sole where the stirrups go. I think I chose wisely here.
- TuffRider Women’s Starter Low-Rise Breeches - I love these. They’re slimming, comfortable, and warm enough in the cooler weather we were riding in. Buying them the ‘correct’ size they were a bit looser than leggings would be but still right up against my skin. I got a pair in black and I am thinking of getting a second one.
- TuffRider Adult Grippy Nubuck Half Chaps which I really like and my trainer complimented me on. A note on those half-caps: As mentioned, I am 5’9” and the large fit me perfectly - right up against the very bottom of my knee. If I were so much as an inch shorter I suspect the size large would be too tall for me.
I spent about $120 on those items and my hope is they’ll last me at least a year. Though I will probably need at least one more pair of breeches for winter in case I miss a laundry day and definitely something cooler for when it gets warm out.
Of course, right as I finished excitedly placing my Amazon order the last stable I had web-form messaged got back to me and also wanted to set up lessons - offering me several good time slots. I now feel kinda bad about that and am still not totally sure how to respond. I opted to wait until after my lesson to see if my new trainer and I got along.