Horse riding is one of those activities that move quickly from being a hobby to becoming a real passion. Horse activities have been shown to benefit children, people with disabilities and those who need to gain confidence in their athletic abilities. It provides a social venue as well as an intensely satisfying human-equine relationship, that affects personal discipline as well as relatedness and tends to make people happier and more functional in other areas of their lives.
In this article I will give you a few basic tips to bear in mind when enjoying your horse riding:
First of all you really need to get to know everything about your horse - your horse personality, likes/dislikes, etc.. One of the most important things is to make a bond with them. You need to be able to trust your horse, and your horse needs to be able to trust you. Therefore spend lots of time with your horse, just to be around her - groom her, go into her stall and just pet her for a while, or whatever you feel comfortable doing. This basic connection is important because the horse then will be able to trust you later on, when you are riding her, and the horse will be more willing to work with you. It also allows you to bond with her, and get to know what she's actually like. Just spend every day with her for a while like this.
After you and your horse know each other better, you should start some ground training. You need to be able to get respect from your horse on the ground before you even hop onto her back. Try some simple exercises such as making your horse back up, move forward, and to the side with just a push of your hand. Lunge your horse, making sure she obeys your commands the minute you give them to her. Do some kind of ground work every time before you ride, so she will trust you when you get on her back.
When you have the trust from your horse you are now able to begin your riding training, and here are some basic Tips about your horse riding:
1. Rule number one in horseback riding is keep your heels down, because this make you much more secure.
2. Rule number two is.... keep your head and shoulders up and sit straight up and down or lean slightly back, because this puts you in a secure position for riding.
3. If your horse is going strong on the forehand or is lazy, you might want to try leaning back a little with your shoulders behind the perpendicular. This will make your seat stronger and push your horse forward into better movement.
4. My last tip is properly the most important advice about horse riding…..I definitely suggest that you right from the beginning start to take riding lessons with an instructor. Riding instructors will teach you proper riding techniques, ground handling, etc... that will benefit you very much, so you don’t from the start build in bad habits with your horse riding.
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Have Fun with your Horse and Horse Riding.
About the Author
Morten Hansen has been focused on the Horse area for several years and is mainly writing about subjects, that make it easier for people to work with and enjoy Horses. For more details about different kind of subjects relating to Horses visit our website www.HorseTips4you.com
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