Horses capture our imagination and are a symbol of strength and freedom. There are a lot of traditions and lore around horses. Yet, some of the information we hold onto may not be even true. Learning to ride a horse can be very exciting, but there are several things you don’t want to think or do when you are in the saddle.
Riding a Horse Is Just Sitting
Those of us who ride know that it takes much more than sitting to ride a horse. Sitting is something you passively do on a couch, but not on a horse. On a horse, you are using many muscles for balance and stability, and your brain for coordination. In other words, riding a horse is actively engaging many parts of your body and mind although from the outside, it may seem sedate. And that’s because the really good riders make riding look easy. The better rider you become, the more refined and inconspicuous your signals to your horse become.
Horseback Riding Isn’t Exercise
The typical goal of most exercise is to strengthen your muscles, increase your endurance, and improve your balance and coordination. Horseback riding does all of these things, and it uses a few muscles, like those along the inside of your thighs, that few other activities do. Lifting and carrying saddles, grooming and spending time in the saddle all contribute to your fitness. Riding is also good for your flexibility and range of motion, particularly in your hips and ankles and lower back. Even when riding at a walk, there are fitness and health benefits to riding.
Horses Are Just Like Dogs
Aren’t horses really just big dogs? No, they are quite different. Your dog and you have a number of common interests. You both like a warm bed, the same kinds of food (to an extent), humans and dogs can survive by hunting, and both humans and dogs live in ‘packs’. Horses are prey animals that hunters like to eat, but they are herbivores, and their social structure is quite different from dogs (and humans). Although many people believe their horses are companion animals, they are not the same as dogs.
Horses Aren’t Intelligent
This is something that lessons students often say about the horses they ride. Just because you can’t make a horse do something doesn’t mean it’s stupid. Perhaps it just doesn’t understand. It may mean you are not communicating clearly what you want. Horses quickly sense which riders are clear communicators and make their cues irresistible. They also know which ones can’t. Since horses aren’t naturally motivated to do what we ask them, they won’t if they think they can get away with it.
Horses Love to Jump
You’ll often hear something like, “My pony loves playing games” or “My horse just loved the trail ride.” It’s fun to think that your horse or pony likes doing the same thing you do. But your horse probably doesn’t share your enthusiasm for horse sports. When have you ever seen a horse run barrels, jump a course of jumps, or execute a perfect 20-meter circle spontaneously with no human prompting? A horse may have qualities that make them more suitable for a certain sport but that doesn’t mean it likes it more. Your horse definitely enjoys eating grass, hanging out with his buddies, and just being a horse.
Horses Communicate by Neighing and Whinnying
Horses do whinny and neigh to communicate. But they don’t carry on a conversation the way you sometimes see in the movies, with the constant stream of screams, squeals, and nickers. Horses are relatively quiet animals. Much of their communication with each other is in the form of body language.
Horses Hooves Are Solid Objects
The hoof on a horse certainly looks like a solid object like a piece of wood. But it is really a complex structure of different materials including keratin, blood-rich tissue, and bone. Read here for more information on why we need to clean horses’ hooves.
Trust Your Horse
Riders need to understand how horses think, and that our horse’s priority is not the rider’s safety and comfort but their own. As prey animals, horses are not programmed to be self-sacrificing. Riders need to understand how to convince their horse to trust them by always being consistent and good leaders. If you let a horse think for itself and trust it to make its own decisions, you are asking the horse to be a leader, and that can lead to problems. Being the leader is your job.
Not Trusting Your Coach
If your coach tells you to ride the bay horse, but you think you’d like to ride the pinto, keep in mind that the coach probably has a reason for picking that horse for you. The other horse may look like it’s giving its rider a really good ride, but that may be because that rider already knows how to get the best out of the horse because they’re a bit more advanced. Coaches are good at matching riders with horses. So, while it’s fair to ask, “maybe one day, can I ride that one?” for now, trust the coach’s choice.
Quitting
After your first ride, you’re going to realize that riding is much more than just sitting there. You’re going to have some sore muscles, and you may feel confused about some things. That’s because you’ve used your body in a way it is not accustomed to. When it comes to horses and riding, learning is a life-long journey. Don’t be discouraged if you weren’t able to ride off into the sunset the first time out. Like any skill, regular practice will increase your knowledge and ability.
