To lunge a horse properly means that your horse moves around you in a controlled manner in a circle on the end of a special lunge line. During the lunge session you’re leading your horse in a circle around a small enclosure. Lunging (or longeing) is a very useful exercise and can help you and your horse to improve your horse’s balance and slow gates such as walk and trot. It is...
Do you need to train your horse to ride bareback or you can just ‘get on and hold on’ without any ground work? Many generations of equestrians around the world have and still do ride bareback. In ancient times, people had to learn to ride bareback first because back then they did not have saddles or even stirrups. Domestication of horses was naturally a very lengthy process which lasted probably for thousands...
People who consider taking first horseback riding lessons often ask how you get the horse to walk or to stop. To answer this question you need to learn basic horseback riding commands before you first start to ride. First things first. To get the horse to do something you will usually use a combination of your legs and the reins to communicate commands to a horse. These basic horse riding commands (aids...
If you have a sudden fancy to become a horseback rider at an older age, you are in luck because it’s never too late to learn to ride a horse! When you turn 50 years old, 60 years old, 70 years old (or older), the chances are that you probably have good mental stability, self control, self-management and ability to listen attentively to your instructor. All this can help you to start...
There are some benefits to grooming a horse. First off it’s a great time to bond with your horse between horseback riding lessons, secondly your horse looks obviously really good when you’re done grooming her. It’s a great way to be able to check for wounds or injuries on your horse because usually you won’t be able to see it from the surface but you can feel it when you’re grooming them....
When it comes to your first ever horseback riding lesson there are 10 tips which could help you to start easily. If you decided to be a new equestrian and already found a riding instructor or teaching stable (riding school), be aware that it is extremely important to be prepared for your first horseback riding lesson in terms of clothes and behavior around horses. Prepare suitable clothes for a horseback riding lesson....
In the beginning, horses were wild untamed animals. But on the day when a first human jumped onto the back of a horse and observed the world from that height, the timeline of horseback riding history was changed forever. Humans and horses have a long, interrelated history, yet no one is truly certain when and where horses were first domesticated and ridden. The history of a horse goes back 50 million years,...
Your equestrian outfit should include a helmet, riding boots, comfortable pants (jeans or breeches) and a long sleeve shirt. In this article I’ll try to explain what to wear for a horseback riding lesson or how to choose suitable Equestrian outfit.When you for the first time decide to take some horseback riding lessons, bear in mind that the clothing you wear or your equestrian clothes around horses affects not only your looks...
Are there any significant therapeutic benefits of horseback riding? Can it be used in therapy? The short answer is yes, benefits of horseback riding therapy can improve your condition, strength, motor skills, reflexes and increase chances of recovery from some diseases. Overall it can help you stay in shape, considering other factors as well, of course. Depending on the disability, benefits of horseback riding therapy include improvement in joint mobility, balance and...
To ride a horse fast usually means you have to perform a full speed gallop (25-30 miles per hour or 40-48 km/h) which is very dangerous for beginners. Slower gate is called canter (if you riding English) and lope (if you riding Western) (10-17 miles per hour or 16-28 km/h). So the gallop (or run) is much faster than cantering (loping). So you need to determine what horse speed is fast and...
Hi! I’m Alex and this is the place where I nerd out about horseback riding. As an avid equestrian I love getting out in the fields and riding trails for hours. On this blog I share all the things I learn about horseback riding as I go.
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