Northern Horse Blog
Horse Riding Tips
What kind of rider needs tips? Helpful hints will be different for different riders. It seems to me there are three types of riders that might have landed on this page:
- You’re just getting started with horses and haven’t committed to any particular sport yet.
- You already have some experience and have encountered some road block you want to get past.
- You’ve had an injury or some experience which has derailed you for a while and you’re ready to get back in the game.
Tips for Beginners
- Don’t commit to one discipline too early. The equestrian world is vast and specializing in any particular area costs money for equipment, lessons and competitions. If possible, spend at least a year on the basics. Go to as many different types of shows and competitions as you can and simply get a feel for what they are all about. Read as much as you can about riding. You want to be a sponge and soak up as much information as you can.
- Wait to get a horse of your own! Instead, find a share situation that lets you get experience without costing an arm and a leg. A horse is expensive, and if you’re lucky, will be around for a long time. You should at least wait until you have decided what kind of riding you want to do, then find a mount that will let you pursue it. Don’t forget, although you really want to ride now, riding may not turn out to be the sport for you after all. Its a lot easier to get out of a part-lease than it is to sell a horse off. Another reason to recommend a share is that tack, blankets and other expensive stuff are usually part of the package. This can save you a bundle while you get your feet wet.
- Start building your library of horse books now with the money you’re saving by sharing a horse. If you get good books you will read them over and over. There are many good books out there. Check out the horse riding page of this site for a few recommendations that will form the core of you library.
Getting Back in the Game
Starting to ride again after an injury or long interruption of any kind can be difficult. This is particularly true for coming back after an injury or trauma of some kind. Most of the advice you will receive about this is not helpful and seems to all hark back to the old folk wisdom about getting back on the horse. Folks, that is only true immediately after a fall. If some time has passed you have mental and physical defences built up and their sole purpose is preventing you from getting back in the saddle.
Because the blocks you are experiencing are both mental and physical, you need to address both areas in your recovery efforts. You need to find a good, understanding coach if at all possible. In addition to this in-person guidance you can benefit a lot from reading. There are two books I can really recommend. One is Ride With Supreme Self-confidence. The techniques revealed are derived from NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) which has become the main source of psychological coaching for sports. The second book is Centered Riding by Sally Swift. Using the material Sally has developed will do wonders to get you riding again and you will ride better than you ever did before.
I did an in-depth look at Sally Swift’s teaching a couple of months ago. You can find out more about her there.
More information about these books is available on our horse riding page.
The final tip I can give you is to study some form of Natural Horsemanship. This could be achieved by going to a Parelli clinic or simply having an experienced hand teach you basic round pen techniques. Although these are ways of training horses both of them will train you as well, and what they will teach you is how to get into your horses head. When you have learned how to do that, a lot of your problems will fall away because you are simply more comfortable anf confident around horses. You should try to spend around three times as much time just hanging out with horses as you do in focussed sessions that address a particular problem you may be experiencing.