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How to Ride a Horse: A Beginner’s Guide
03/23/2009
With this guide, you can be sure that your first time on a horse is unforgettable-the right kind of unforgettable!
Many of us have an obsession with horses long before we ride them. Because we watch so many other people ride horses, it’s easy to assume that we know the basics of horse riding, even if we don’t. With this guide, you can be sure that your first time on a horse is unforgettable-the right kind of unforgettable!
How to Get on the Horse
Always approach the horse from the left side, and ideally from the front of the horse. Be sure you don’t approach directly behind, where the horse can kick you. As soon as you are within an arm’s distance, touch the horse, so the horse knows where you are. Put your left foot in the stirrup, and holding onto the lower part of the mane (known as the withers), pull yourself up. Then swing your right leg over the back of the horse, taking care not to kick the horse’s flank. Once you are on the horse, sitting up straight in the saddle, check your feet. Make sure that your right foot is in the right stirrup, and your left foot is in the left stirrup.
How to Stay on the Horse
Once you are in the saddle, you are “mounted”—as in, you have mounted your horse. If you are properly mounted, you can stand up in your stirrups without having your rear-end touch the saddle. You should also be able to sit comfortably, with your knees lower than your thighs.
There are some tricks to staying on your horse once you are mounted. One is to always hold your reins with both hands, and start your horse off with a slow walk, getting used to how the horse’s body moves. You will find that as the horse walks, your body bounces up and down. When your horse is walking, you can feel each horse hoof as it hits the ground, meaning your body is bouncing gently, but often. The faster a horse goes, the less often the horse’s hooves hit the ground, so you’re bouncing more energetically, but less often.
This means that even if your horse is going slowly, the most important part of staying on a horse is controlling how your body moves. In order to keep yourself from bouncing off the horse, try and squeeze your thighs together. This causes you to “cling” to the horse. Then, with each step the horse takes, make sure to gently bob in rhythm with the horse’s gait (footsteps). If you hold yourself loosely, you will risk being tossed from the back of the horse, or slide off the horse. Your heels should be down, as if you’re trying to stand. Your back should be straight, and your chin should be up. This posture makes it easy to keep your body tense, so you don’t flop around on the horse’s back.
How to Ride the Horse
Once you’ve walked horse-back, and gotten used to how to hold your body on a horse, it’s time to direct the horse (reining). You can let the horse know which way to go by tugging on the reins. Reins are the straps of leather that are tied onto the front of the horse, then looped around the horse’s neck. English reins have a bit (metal bar in the horse’s mouth), and can steer the horse when you tug gently in the direction you want the horse to go. Western reins are attached to the horse’s neck, and arranged so you need to tug a little harder in the direction you want to go.
When you want to stop, pull back on the reins, making sure you are applying equal pressure to both sides of the horse’s neck. You may need to lean back towards the rear of the horse. Once the horse has stopped moving, loosen the reins and give your horse an affectionate pat on the neck.
Once you have learned the basics of walking your horse, make sure to practice thoroughly before you advance to a quicker pace. It may take a week or two of practice with your horse before you’re ready to move onto a faster pace. It is very important that steering, stopping, and mounting your horse come as instinct to you.
Once you have mastered walking, you can move on to the trot. Trotting is the horse equivalent of a light jog. In order to get your horse to trot, gently kick your heels into the flank of the horse. You will notice that instead of feeling all 4 hooves on the ground, you will only feel two. It is very important to watch your body language during a horse’s trot. If you don’t move in rhythm with the horse, you can come down hard on your horse’s back at the wrong time, which can hurt the horse’s back and ruin the horse’s gait.
Once you get comfortable with a trot, you can spur your horse again to advance to the canter. Again, wait a few weeks to make sure you’re comfortable with the horse trot before you attempt to canter. A horse’s canter is more like a brisk jog, and only one hoof stays on the ground between strides. A horse gallop is like a human sprint, and none of the horse’s hooves are on the ground in between strides. Many riders say that galloping with a horse is easier than cantering, because the horse’s rhythm is less jarring, but it is an individual preference. Do note that it takes a long time horse-riding to advance to the canter or gallop stride, and once you do, small details such as how you stand in your stirrup can make all the difference. But as long as you have mastered the basics of starting, stopping, and reining, horse riding should be an enjoyable, safe experience.
