Ultimate shoulder rides

frenk5080 · 2012-11-14 00:07:33

Just posted two video's on YouTube in which you can see me riding my Swedish friend on one of his regular visits to The Netherlands.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mipcaBR-LqM (New Window)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMTtiGi6r8g

equidum · 2012-11-14 10:04:48

A SIX minutes ride !!! Great ! I believe that it is only when it really lasts that SR reaches its full meaning, both as regards pleasure and usefulness : Frenk enjoyed a nice ride in the country, which the clip clearly illustrates by showing the woods and meadows that make up the scenery around, while the "horse" underneath enjoys his dark pleasure, basically made of effort and pain, there again illustrated by the clip showing us what the whole world is dramatically reduced to for the horse : The heavy thighs of his rider alongside his face, a pair of dangling feet and the hard pebbles of a treacherous track ... That's all what a horse can, and has to focus on, in his equine role, keeping all his "power" to keep going on, and on, and on ...

Going on and on, for, say ....12 minutes next time ? Then 24? ...

Congratulations for this great clip, Frenk ! I hope you can upload dozens of such artistic clips on the theme of human pony riding !

THANK YOU

Equidum

frenk5080 · 2012-11-14 14:45:47

The first of many rides on a 4 hour hiking trail. Not only did he have to carry my weight, but also the backpack filled with food and drinks for a lunch, our jackets and electronic equipment. It brought the total weight around 90 Kg. No problem for this strong guy. Even on steep hills he managed to provide his rider very comfortable and enjoyable rides. If memory serves me right, I've ridden him 15 times that day, on average 3-5 minute rides. Our record stands at 11 minutes.

equidum · 2012-11-14 15:42:46

CONGRATULATIONS AGAIN !!! That's exactly the type of shoulder-ride I love, where a careless rider just enjoys and relaxes, while the horse carries a big load, including the rider's luggage, useful, or just for fun ! The horse must really feel like a true beast of burden ! Carrying his 90 kg load for hours on all terrains < especially on those terrible steep hills !!! > must be a tremendous, although exhausting, experience, perhaps even better than that of the happy rider !!! I am not an adept of MoM rides, and I have carried Female riders only so far, but for THIS type of ride, I could change my mind ...

It's a pity you were not filmed by a third person !

Thanks and congratulations again

Equidum

gunde · 2012-11-14 16:37:52

Thank you for posting the clips Frenk. I noticed, that it´s Shouldertaxi you are riding. Maybe Shouldertaxi would like to share his thoughts too?

It´s always a pleasure to see, that sr friends really do meet and ride each other.

equidum · 2012-11-14 18:51:48

I was wondering .... I noticed that you neither tuck your feet behind your horse's back, nor hold his head in any way ... So, the only way to keep your balance and thus remain "in the saddle" is to squeeze your mount's head ? Is that true ? If yes, isn't it too demanding for our "poor" friend Shouldertaxi ? Wouldn't you be more comfortable if you had your feet firmly tucked on his back ?

frenk5080 · 2012-11-15 00:41:35

You are right Equidum, I almost never tuck my feet behind his back. In my experience it makes the ride far less comfortable. Especially if the ride exceeds 5 minutes, the muscles in my legs start to protest. It's far more relaxing to let my legs hang free. Only on very rough terrain I put them behind his back to secure my balance, otherwise I just sit back, relax, enjoy the ride and let him do all the hard work.

Careless is the right word to describe my riding attitude.
I have complete trust in Shouldertaxi, if he's not 100% sure he can carry me safely due to obstacles in his way, he will let me know. Even if there are low hanging branches hanging over the trail, he will choose another path to follow if possible, so I even don't have to bend my head down to avoid them. Besides that he sits very well, like a lazy chair, this is also what I mean with comfortable rides.

I've been riding al kind of horses (frequently bareback) for over 20 years, many of them very young and not used to have a rider on their back, so that's perhaps the reason that I have a good balance when I'm "in the saddle". I don't need to hold on to his head and I don't have to squeeze his head either, I just sit and let my body compensate for any unbalance without thinking about it at all. This only works well if the rider is allowed to fully relax and has trust in his riding skills and his mount ability to carry him.

Thanks for your words of appreciation, if this type of riding changed your mind about carrying males let me know. Shouldertaxi and I are looking for new people in the UK, France, Belgium or Germany to meet next year, to share the pleasure of shoulder riding and have better opportunities for filming. Preferably another rider/carrier couple like ourselves, but another carrier just by himself will do as well. I've lost some weight, but you must still be able to carry 80 Kg. for an extended period of time.

shouldertaxi · 2012-11-15 17:40:43

Thanks for all nice words about my skills!
To carry Frank is easy. His balance is excellent. I have the skil to have good ballance to compansate for all things in our way.
That´s the reason that I had never drop´d a rider!! And the last 4 years I had carried guys for ~70 hours on shoulders! Maybe a record? Most ponys had drop´d there riders sometime! And there´s no pain for me. Always stop in time! Better to do many "shorter" rides then a few longer ones, that maybe makes pain. Frank and I do normaly near 3 hours of shoulder riding, during a 3-4 day meeting. When I come home after that, I have no pain or so. Little tired maybe, but can work normaly, and I have not a office-job! A dream for me is the same as Frank´s... to have more pony´s and riders. A pony in my class or better gives the rider continius rides...only change horse. Someone want to char this dream??

equidum · 2012-11-15 19:01:44

I happened to drop a rider, or more precisely, we fell together. Only twice if i remember well, and without any harm, fortunately. In fact when a pony falls, he puts his arms forward, which consistently slows down the fall of the rider, who ususally can also absorb the shock with Her/his legs .. But well, it's a shame for the pony ....

That being said, you are too modest, Shouldertaxi ! Carrying for hours a 80 kg rider when one weighs 77 kg is by all means a performance per se, even if you make a lot of breaks during the ride! I think that the challenge truely begins when the rider exceeds 50% of the horse's weight, and the difficulty probably increases by the square of the weight difference. Now, it is true that an expert rider will consistently help the horse's task, and Frenck is certainly a great rider! But you must be a very good mount too !

I would definitely fear the comparison with you, if I joined your team, as Frenck's second horse ..... .... !

shouldertaxi · 2012-11-15 20:45:31

You´r wellcome to enjoy us, Equidum! A ride on me for 5 minutes, then I rest when he rides you, then back again...

frenk5080 · 2012-11-16 00:16:50

Hi my friend,

Riding you both sounds very good! I don't mind mounting and dismounting every 5 minutes if it means I don't have to walk at all anymore. Even better: I've seen clips of demonstrations in the middle east on the evening news in which a rider switches mounts without dismounting at all. The rider simply creates a big gap between him and his first mount by sitting back as far as possible from the neck. The second mount closes in on the front guy from behind and simply sticks his head in this gap, and takes the rider on his shoulders. The front guy then sets himself free from the riders legs and takes a rest. It would certainly be fun to try this don't you think?

shouldertaxi wrote:
A ride on me for 5 minutes, then I rest when he rides you, then back again...

equidum · 2012-11-16 16:05:23

@frenck

One of the clips recently uploaded by zyperius in the video section shows exactly what you describe, a change of pony without dismounting, which allows the happy rider to ride for miles without "having to walk any more" ... However it seems the technique is slightly different from the one you explained : The rider doesn't even have to "create a gap between him and his first mount", in fact, in the clip, the second pony leans his head on the first pony's back, just under the rider's butt. The rider then just glides back on the neck of his second mount ... and the ride goes on !

I've been viewing again and again your great video, and indeed, it would be great if a second horse was there at the end to keep you riding ... And a side bebefit would be that the spare horse could film the ride !

equidum · 2012-11-16 16:11:16

shouldertaxi wrote:
You´r wellcome to enjoy us, Equidum! A ride on me for 5 minutes, then I rest when he rides you, then back again...

Yes, a very tempting programme, shouldertaxi .... If I was your age, I would consider it quite seriously .... I am a bit older alas ......

Wildfiregirl · 2012-11-19 00:48:32

Sorry to butt in to a nice conversation, I just wanted to say, Well done, Swedish pony & Frenk! thanks for posting!

equidum · 2012-11-19 15:30:31

Wildfiregirl wrote:
Sorry to butt in to a nice conversation, I just wanted to say, Well done, Swedish pony & Frenk! thanks for posting!

Hi Susan !

Oh please, please, please don't be sorry ! You're more than welcome in that open "nice conversation"! In fact I was just thinking that I missed You, as You hadn't contributed any post for already far too long, imho !
And yes, Frenk's and Shouldertaxi's clip is great indeed, but Yours wasn't bad either, and I'm hoping to see more of You very soon !

frenk5080 · 2012-11-19 15:57:01

Hi Wildfiregirl,

Feel free to join in whenever you want, your comments as a active member of this club are highly appreciated. I enjoyed the story about your meeting with Gregoryan and the footage you've made of it. I never rode a woman before, but I wouldn't mind giving it a go on your shoulders at all. It would be interesting to see if it feels different to riding males.
It's good to see that members actually do meet and have fun! Keep up the good work and thanks again!

equidum wrote:
Wildfiregirl wrote:
Sorry to butt in to a nice conversation, I just wanted to say, Well done, Swedish pony & Frenk! thanks for posting!
Hi Susan !

Oh please, please, please don't be sorry ! You're more than welcome in that open "nice conversation"! In fact I was just thinking that I missed You, as You hadn't contributed any post for already far too long, imho !
And yes, Frenk's and Shouldertaxi's clip is great indeed, but Yours wasn't bad either, and I'm hoping to see more of You very soon !

frenk5080 · 2012-11-19 16:26:55

equidum wrote:
One of the clips recently uploaded by zyperius in the video section shows exactly what you describe, a change of pony without dismounting, which allows the happy rider to ride for miles without "having to walk any more" ... However it seems the technique is slightly different from the one you explained : The rider doesn't even have to "create a gap between him and his first mount", in fact, in the clip, the second pony leans his head on the first pony's back, just under the rider's butt. The rider then just glides back on the neck of his second mount ... and the ride goes on!

@equidum

I don't have access to the video section as I'm not a Bonus Member. Could you therefore send me the name of the clip or the url in a private message so I can look it up on the net myself? Interesting to see a rider switching carriers like that. Perhaps one day I can try it myself!

gunde · 2012-11-19 17:55:48

frenk5080 wrote:
I'm not a Bonus Member.

You are now.

frenk5080 · 2012-11-19 18:35:26

Thanks Gunde! Much appreciated.

gunde wrote:
frenk5080 wrote:
I'm not a Bonus Member.
You are now.

Wildfiregirl · 2012-11-21 08:10:33

Thank you both Frank & Equidum, wow!

This is a generous offer to ride me as an experiment! If I were in Europe I would defintely want to meet you and your impressive swedish shouldertaxi.

I am not in a very populated area of the world, with the remarkable exception of Gregoryan I don't know anyone in Oz who is "into this stuff" and distances are big between cities. But the idea of a riders and ponies meeting with more than one of each sounds wonderful!

Have you talked to Checkmateguy & Ali, they seem to meet a lot... That is a meet up I know everyone would want to hear about.

I know what you mean about balance! Gregoryan is traditionally a pony not a rider, but the stuff he does to keep fit have given him great balance as a rider and I am sure it made things much easier. Wish now we had filmed the longer ride we did. But then really we would have needed a cameraman.

We are hopefully going to bump into each other again before the end of the year and plan to test that balance a bit with a new way of mounting we saw on a circus clip. How do you two most like to mount, from kneeling, or from standing/hanging on something high?

frenk5080 wrote:
Hi Wildfiregirl,

Feel free to join in whenever you want, your comments as a active member of this club are highly appreciated. I enjoyed the story about your meeting with Gregoryan and the footage you've made of it. I never rode a woman before, but I wouldn't mind giving it a go on your shoulders at all. It would be interesting to see if it feels different to riding males.
It's good to see that members actually do meet and have fun! Keep up the good work and thanks again!

equidum wrote:
Wildfiregirl wrote:
Sorry to butt in to a nice conversation, I just wanted to say, Well done, Swedish pony & Frenk! thanks for posting!
Oh please, please, please don't be sorry ! You're more than welcome in that open "nice conversation"! In fact I was just thinking that I missed You, as You hadn't contributed any post for already far too long, imho !
And yes, Frenk's and Shouldertaxi's clip is great indeed, but Yours wasn't bad either, and I'm hoping to see more of You very soon !

frenk5080 · 2012-11-23 16:28:02

Hi Wildfiregirl,

Whenever you have the opportunity to come over to this side of the planet, I will welcome you with open arms. It will be my pleasure to show you around my country and let you see all the perfect places for shoulder riding.

As you might know, I live in a tiny country compared to yours. I guess for Aussie's used to wide open spaces and long distances between cities, it must seem like we have just one big city with lots of green parks and not a country at all. Yet this lump of clay we live on with over 16 million people on it (and almost 20% is water) and excellent ways of transport between the populated areas, doesn't seem to house anyone else being interested in either shoulder riding or carrying besides me.
Sure, there are some who express their interest and like to mail or chat with me about it, but when it comes to meeting each other in person, they usually go into stealth mode and stay in their virtual reality world.

So, don't feel bad about your limited options for having fun. It's not much different over here. I'm very lucky to have met Shouldertaxi in January of 2009 for the first time and found a trusted stead in him. He visits me twice a year from Sweden and then stays for a few days to give me dozens of shoulder rides. Over the years he became a true friend as well.

Yes, I've contacted Checkmateguy to see if it would be possible to meet with him and Ali in the U.K. or The Netherlands. Meeting another rider/carrier couple like ourselves, surely would be an exciting event. Unfortunately, it's not possible in the near future for private reasons. Hopefully, we'll meet some day.

To answer your question about different ways of mounting I can say that I'm usually lifted from behind. Meaning I stand with my feet on the floor/ground with my legs spread. The lifter then puts his head between my thighs and lifts me. Personally I prefer this other technique where the lifter crouches, I mount his shoulders, sit down and then get lifted. There is a lot of benches in the woods here, so if we ran into one, I stand on it to make the lifting easier for my mount. Never use a branch or something to hang from. It's hard to find branches which could support my weight safely anyway, and it just looks silly. And we don't want that, now do we?

Looking forward to your next meeting with Gregorius and hopefully the members of this club can see the new way of mounting you saw on a circus clip. What does it look like?

Best regards,

Frank

Wildfiregirl · 2012-12-04 03:16:59

How I'd love to have the opportunity to make it over to your side of the world one day. Thank you; If ever *you* happen to visit Australia, consider it the same for you; I'd be honoured to show you around!

We both have relatively small populations. Maybe that is why we have less of "us" who like a particular thing.

I am very glad you met Shouldertaxi and it sounds like you have a wonderful friendship and 'ridership' He must feel quite tired, but happy, at the end of each day!
It is a nervous thing, going to meet someone in real life, even if you have been comfortable in online talk. You feel shy and wonder if they will like you once they actually meet you face to face. Gregoryan and I both felt nervous in the lead-up to the meeting. For some, those nerves would be enough to send them back to 'stealth mode'.

Yes, it would be exciting! I also like checkmate's idea of a bigger group get together, it would be fun and maybe less intimidating/less 'pressure' for some, just to attend an event & see if anything happened.

I like the crouch down and being mounted method, but have not yet done it properly. I have been exercising since meeting Gregoryan last.
Our 'circus' method was inspired by the mount at the start of this Youtube clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBD1DOuAwsU (New Window)
Except instead of him standing on my shoulders, he would swing his leg over and sit on my shoulders. It sounds like a nice way of mounting! We haven't tried it yet, but I think we can make it work.

(If not, then perhaps it would make a good bloopers video, LOL)

Happy trails.

Ultimate shoulder rides

#1 2012-11-14 00:07:33

MoM outdoor shoulder riding

#2 2012-11-14 10:04:48

Re: MoM outdoor shoulder riding

#3 2012-11-14 14:45:47

Re: MoM outdoor shoulder riding

#4 2012-11-14 15:42:46

Re: MoM outdoor shoulder riding

#5 2012-11-14 16:37:52

Re: MoM outdoor shoulder riding

#6 2012-11-14 18:51:48

Re: MoM outdoor shoulder riding

#7 2012-11-15 00:41:35

Re: MoM outdoor shoulder riding

#8 2012-11-15 17:40:43

Re: MoM outdoor shoulder riding

#9 2012-11-15 19:01:44

Re: MoM outdoor shoulder riding

#10 2012-11-15 20:45:31

Re: MoM outdoor shoulder riding

#11 2012-11-16 00:16:50

Re: MoM outdoor shoulder riding

shouldertaxi wrote:

#12 2012-11-16 16:05:23

Re: MoM outdoor shoulder riding

#13 2012-11-16 16:11:16

Re: MoM outdoor shoulder riding

shouldertaxi wrote:

#14 2012-11-19 00:48:32

Re: MoM outdoor shoulder riding

#15 2012-11-19 15:30:31

Re: MoM outdoor shoulder riding

Wildfiregirl wrote:

#16 2012-11-19 15:57:01

Re: MoM outdoor shoulder riding

equidum wrote:

Wildfiregirl wrote:

#17 2012-11-19 16:26:55

Re: MoM outdoor shoulder riding

equidum wrote:

#18 2012-11-19 17:55:48

Re: MoM outdoor shoulder riding

frenk5080 wrote:

#19 2012-11-19 18:35:26

Re: MoM outdoor shoulder riding

gunde wrote:

frenk5080 wrote:

#20 2012-11-21 08:10:33

Re: MoM outdoor shoulder riding

frenk5080 wrote:

equidum wrote:

Wildfiregirl wrote:

#21 2012-11-23 16:28:02

Re: MoM outdoor shoulder riding

#22 2012-12-04 03:16:59

Re: MoM outdoor shoulder riding

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