Tips On How To Ride Your Horse

Being able to ride your horse is one of the most enjoyable aspects of owning them. There are some tips and guidelines you should be aware of if you are attempting to ride your horse for the first time. You want to make sure that you are calm and relaxed when you approach your horse. They can sense if you are nervous. It is also important to wear the proper clothes, including a helmet.

The way you approach your horse will determine how they respond. A horse will likely not try to hurt you on purpose, but you always want to be careful to avoid scaring the horse. Always have space you can move to quickly if the horse starts to panic. You want to look at the stirrups to make sure they are the right size. You can do this by placing your arm against the saddle. Take the stirrup and place it under your arm. It should be the same length.

Now you want to mount the horse. Properly mounting the horse will allow it to trust you. If you have never done this before, it may help to have someone hold the horse while you get on their back. Stand to the side of the horse, take hold of the reins and climb on his back carefully. After you have sat down on the horse, place your feet in the stirrups. It is important to keep your weight properly balanced. Now you want to walk your horse.

Many horses have been trained to respond to movements made by the legs of the rider. Because moving your legs can confuse your horse, you want to keep them as still as possible while riding. You should only move them when you want to send a command to the horse. To send a command to your horse telling him to walk you want to squeeze his sides with your legs firmly. If the horse doesn't move, give a gentle kick to the sides while making a clicking sound with your mouth.

When you go up a hill you want to lean forward, and when you move down a hill you want to lean backwards. This will keep the horse from becoming confused. To make the horse move to the right, you want to pull the reins to your right. To get him to move to the left you want to pull the reins to the left. To get the horse to stop, you want to firmly pull back on the reins. You never want to jerk back, as this could hurt the horse. Just pull back firmly.