How to properly ride a horse?

When you are up to ride a horse for the first time, you will be excited and nervous at the same time. It is truer if you don’t properly ride a horse. However, here we have a guide to help you with comprehensive details. So, look at the information below and learn the best ways to ride a horse.

Here we go:

Consider safety measures when riding a horse

It is important to feel as relaxed as possible when riding a horse. Following some essential safety rules can help you feel relaxed and peaceful.

Here are the safety measures that you need to follow before you go to ride a horse:

• Always wear helmet 

Before getting on a horse, ensure to wear an appropriately fitted horse riding helmet. It will be life-saving in case of any unplanned dismount.

• Don’t get distracted when you ride a horse.

Staying alert is also an important safety measure to ride a horse. When you are learning how to rise a horse, it is easier to get distracted, even with small things. The horse is a living animal that may behave unpredictably at times. Learning the horse talk is a matter of later. However, staying alert and aware of the horse and your surroundings is a must to stay safe.

•  Protect your feet properly

Wearing appropriate footwear to protect your toes is a must. If you are a first-timer, it isn’t necessary to buy horse riding boots instantly. Instead, choose a pair of boots that protect your feet from your wardrobe. However, once you have progressed in the skill, you can consider investing in riding boots.

How to ride a horse properly

Here are the keys to considering riding a horse properly:

1. Wear all the riding equipment

Regardless of your preferred style of riding a horse, wearing proper riding equipment is necessary. Long pants with a pair of boots are necessary for horse riding. Close-toe shoes can work best for horse riding. You should always choose low-healed shoes to avoid slipping through stirrups.

In addition, avoid wearing purses, long scarves, or other accessories that risk getting tangled in bushes, saddles, and reins.

2. Greet your horse to establish a good relationship.

Always remember that the horse you will ride is a living animal. Controlling it at your will can sometimes get hard. It may be because the horse is tired, nervous, or scared of a new rider. Greeting the horse at the ranch during the introduction can help establish a good relationship.

Extend your arm and let the horse smell your hand’s back. The action is familiar as a horseman’s handshake.

3. Mount the horse with confidence. 

A horse can feel your nervousness and will become uneasy as well. Typically, horses are trained to be mounted from the left. The guides usually hold the horse’s head when you are mounting it. Even if this isn’t the case, get help to keep your horse from moving when mounting the horse.

Here is the right way to mount the horse with confidence:

• Lift the left arm into the stirrup.
• Use your left hand to hold both reins.
• Now use the right leg to propel your body upward.
• It is always better to move upward as smoothly as you can.

Avoid pushing the horse downward with your hands. It may harm the horse. However, you can only place your hands on the horse’s back to maintain balance.

4. Sit up, relaxed and straight.

Horse riding is tiring both mentally and physically. Feeling tired is pretty normal when you ride a horse. Still, it is necessary to maintain your posture and sit up straight and relaxed when riding a horse. Catching on to this elementary riding posture isn’t hard; you can get onto it quickly.

Control the reins using your legs and apply pressure on the horse’s body only when necessary. Place your back and shoulders in line particularly. Keep the elbows at 90 degrees.

5. Make the horse begin walking.

Once you are set to ride a horse, change the pressure on the reins slightly to make it start walking. Always remember that reins have direct contact with his mouth, so you must avoid pulling these hard.

Keep your focus between your horse’s ears while using your legs and reins to control its movement. Let the horse have a little freedom of movement by keeping the reins loose.

6. Stop the horse appropriately.

Regardless of how enthusiastic you are to learn how to ride a horse, all riding lessons have time limits. Once you have completed that time, slow down your horse instead of stopping it quickly. Horses don’t have brakes like your other vehicles. So stopping them surprisingly will scare the horse and make it react abruptly.

*Important notice*

As a beginner rider, you must be well-balanced on the saddle while stopping the horse. If you feel uncomfortable, get help from your trainer.

7. Dismount your horse once done.

When you start to learn horse riding, mounting and dismounting the horse won’t be harder anymore. To dismount the horse, stop your horse first and both reins should be in your left hand. Now pull your feet from stirrups. After that get forward and swing your right leg over your horse’s back.

Slide to the ground carefully, losing the reins. Pulling these hard can harm your horse.

Common mistakes to avoid to ride a horse properly

Here are some common mistakes that you must avoid when riding a horse.

• Don’t use reins for balance. Applying more force to these can harm the horse. If you need something for support, it would be better to hold your saddle strip but not reins.
• Often the horse you are riding is calm and needs some encouragement only to move forward. Don’t kick your horse hard; it can make them distressed or furious.
• It is always good to stay relaxed when riding a horse, but it would be better to avoid slumping. Leaning your head and shoulders forward can add a lot of pressure on your spine and neck. It will ultimately disbalance you and make it harder to look ahead.

Overall, learning how to ride a horse requires a lot of practice. You need to learn horse riding by being patient, following the information enlisted above, and avoiding rushing.

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