ugh - horse help!

[Miss Z]

wow haha that took me...7 minutes to read. I wish I could do half the stuff you told me to, but I would only ride him in a lesson, and then my trainer is telling me what to do.
Casper wasn't scared. I wasn't sudden or anything when I took the crop, it was when I turned back around and was reaching for is eins again that he snapped at me.
He didn't buck as we were going into the canter...it was when we were cantering.
Yeah I can see a stride, but with him, he never EVER gets the correct amount of steps. In a 6 stride line, with his owner riding, he'll get 7 or 8 steps. When I rode him, I managed 6 one time.
There's a big chance I will be riding on friday this week...and I'm really worried about having to ride him.
I don't like the big mean bits either. I know one horse who seriously needed one though. His owner is at college, so he's been used as a school horse, and with every single rider who rode him, he ran away at the canter. My trainer got on him (when I rode him) and worked with him a bit, but he still ran away with the students. Now he just bucks, but i prefer that much more to him running away.

Thanks a lot! And I'm really hoping I never have to ride Casper. I'd rather ride IO, the spazziest horse EVER.

Glad I could help a little. So, does your instructor not allow you to do your own thing sometimes? I have a great instructor who will have a general lesson plan, but if I ever want to work on something then she'll incorporate it into the schedule and help me with what I feel needs improvement. You, as the rider, after all, are the one who is feeling what is going on so sometimes it's good to help your instructor out a little, lol. They can't always spot everything from the ground. Maybe just have a chat with her and see what you can do.

I also thought that maybe add a little lateral work into the lesson, like instead of changing the rein K to M, say, use a 180 degree turn on the forehand instead (that is if you know how to do it, of course). Also down the long side ride a shallow loop or do some leg yield every now and again just to keep the horse occupied and interested. Watch their ears, the inside ear should flick back and forth if they are listening to you.

My greatest piece of advice is never say never. Riding difficult horses teaches you a lot. I used to often get confidence lapses and wanted to stay on the easier mounts all the time, but since I've learnt dressage, I feel like I can control horses the right way now.

I think that now I would be bored if I sat on the horses I used to ride a lot because they don't challenge me. Sometimes I want the horse to throw in a buck or rear or mess around a little just so it gets the adrenaline pumping, and I can put everything I've learnt into practice. It's a good feeling when it seems like you're teaching the horse instead of them teaching you. I've recently started to ride a newly broken five-year-old thoroughbred gelding, who has SO much to learn and gets very nervous and skittish (and has thrown sooo many people off in the past, but, as yet, has yet to throw me *touch wood*), but I just love him because you can connect with him easily as he is very reliant on his rider to tell him it's OK. I think Casper could be like this too if some of his behaviour issues are sorted out.

What height did you jump with Casper? I was just wondering as with his stride issues it would be best to take him over jumps under 1m metre for now. But then again, the highest I have ever jumped was 1.4m, so maybe I'm not the best person to give advice on jumping.

Whatever happens with your riding anyway, good luck!