Horse-Riding-Tips

Horse-Riding-Tip#1.....

No one can teach riding better than a horse....

Riding horses can take on all kinds of purposes. In the past it's purpose was that of transportation and a way to carry out certain jobs or tasks: going into battle, rounding up cattle, delivering the mail. Later riding for these purposes was supplanted by more modern inventions. But the enjoyment of being on a horse never could be substituted. Today riding is mainly done for pleasure or sports.

But bottom line, when you ride a horse your ‘purpose' is to move forward on the horse. Unless you are just looking for a photo op!

Horse-Riding-Tip #2.....

Riding is the art of communicating to the horse your desire to be carried from point A to point B (on his back)

How he gets there is just a matter of perfecting that means of communication. A good instructor can advance your efforts in riding by teaching you the "language" of communicating with your horse.

That language has been handed down through the centuries. Although some things have been added or expanded the fundamentals of communicating with the horse or the principals of horsemanship date back to the greek cavalry man Xenophon who wrote the treatise "On horsemanship" in 350 BC. Although prehistoric man, it is known, also rode horses, Xenophon's "On Horsemanship" is one of the oldest surviving Western works detailing the principles of training the horse in a manner that is non-abusive

This communication between horse and rider is not possible without the rider developing some basic riding skills. These skills can be described as:

Horse-Riding-Tip #3

Balance..Feel..Suppleness..Fixity

Balance: the ability of the rider to be carried by the horse without interfering with the horse's center of gravity or stability.

Feel: the ability of the rider to sense where the horse's balance will shift to (and why) and anticipate the action or reaction of the horse.

Suppleness: the rider's ability to stay on the horse whatever its reaction.

Pliancy: is the result of the riders seat going with the movement of the horse.

Fixity: is the absence of any needless or involuntary action by the rider.

I like the way Jean Froissard in the book "Equitation" puts this. Seat "is the horseman’s basic quality which permits him to stay on his mount whatever its reaction. The essential characteristic of the seat should be suppleness. Mark there is a difference between seat and pliancy, i.e. the difference between staying on ones horse and with ones horse."

And again these 4 requirements for learning how to ride are best learned on a horse from a horse. And the better the horse and the more trained the quicker you will learn.

Horse-riding-tip #4

It is easier to learn horse-riding- tip #3 on a trained horse.

a horse that through his training is

• Rythmic
• relaxed
• attentive
• supple
• Confident

and.....

a horse that has been taught some of the basic language of communication.

Quote for a Saturday

"A horse already knows how to be a horse; a rider has to learn how to become a rider. A horse without a rider is still a horse; a rider without a horse is no longer a rider.” Anonymous