My best/most memorable experience riding a horse..

will do mary...will let you know how i get on after the weekend away :-)

[Quote Sarah: NO, will NOT think like that, will be positive and enjoy it all the way :-)]

Note to Sarah:......remember what you´ve said there....THINK POSITIVE!!!!! (LOL).

xxxx

such a shame about your local beach mary. i think there are few beaches down my way where you can ride so i´m definately going to bear in it mind and keep it as my goal. mayble i´ll aim for it next summer - get a few friends together and go on a weekend riding break or something and do it then :-) am having a weekend hacking break with a friend at the start of july and am hoping my nerves hold up for that - might be just what i need, to get out in the air and remember why i started riding in the first place...either that or i´ll be terrified, lol! NO, will NOT think like that, will be positive and enjoy it all the way :-)

I´ve done beach riding...it´s heavenly but sadly our track down to the beach is completely now unsafe for horses due to natural erosion of the cliff´s and the beach too has become very rocky and very much changed from what it was.....there are not many other beache´s near to me where horse rider´s are allowed to go or can get easy access too which is rather a shame...but if you do ever get to have the chance of beach riding Sarah..then do go for it...it´s lovely!!.

oh rachel and mary, your remembered occassions sound blissful! have always wanted to do a beach ride but worry now that my nerves would stop me...ONE DAY i will do it :-) there...that´s going to be my new dream / ambition to work towards...all the advice i´ve had on confidence issues suggests you have one so thats it :-)

I´ve had many many ride´s also BUT I guess my most memorable experience was actually driving out my Chif Chaff in a Gig.

I used to love harnessing her up and putting her to the Gig...then laden with a picnic in the box underneath our seat,we´d trot off and leave the Nature Centre and make our way to a lovely country pub on the Balcombe Road just outside Crawley...we´d stop in the car park and have our picnic and perhaps a non-alcoholic tipple,then we´d head back.....that was great fun and we got many a look´s and smiles from car user´s as they passed us by.

We don´t have the Gig anymore and Chiffy is now a veteran at 27 years,so isn´t used in such a manner anymore....a gentle ride around the field´s is all she does now on a nice day but basically she´s retired and spend´s her days grazing away! (LOL).

one ride sticks out in my mind that i will never forget!i was loaning my friends arab gelding taz after one of my accidents!to get my confidence back,he was sooo well behaved and easy to ride i formed a big bond with him immediatly,i just finished work on a georgeous,sunny blue skyed day,me and taz hacked quietly through the countryside down to a 4 mile stretch of golden deserted sand and took off at the speed of light!!the wind in our hair feeling totally free and as one.there is nothing in this world even close to feeling so ectstaticly happy and like the rest of the world doesnt even exsist,an amazing way to forget all your troubles!

crikey! i actually don´t know where to start! having been riding for so long, on and off over the years, i am quite lucky in that i´ve had quite a few great memories :-) i remember the first pony i truly fell in love with (rocky and 13hh shaggy beast at my first riding school), i remember my first gymkhana, i remember, when i was just learning, watching the more experienced riders galloping off round the stubble fields while i was lead down the centre of the field to practice points of the horse and "round the world" and thinking, "i WILL do that one day" and i did :-) i remember long hours hacking after finishing my exams at college, just me and the head girl from the stables i was helping out in at the time. we would just saddle up and take off for the day round the fields or through the woods, jumping the odd small ditch or fallen tree. i remember my first riding holiday a few years back at longfield equestrian centre and meeting gemma (the horse in my profile pic) and thinking she was just about the most perfect horse in the world for me and just longing to be able to take her home with me! we just clicked. she could be a bit mareish in the stable (but so can i, lol) but when i rode her we just got on well. she was about 15.2hh thoroughbred but while she had a tb´s agility and lightness she didn´t seem too hot headed. she gave me so much confidence on that holiday and was a joy to ride.

i really do hope i can overcome the issues i´m having at the moment with my confidence because i dearly hope to make a lot more wonderful memories of horses over the years to come :-)