As Easy as Falling Off a Horse: Learning to Ride

OK, the correct phrase would be "as easy as falling off a log" but I hope you will forgive my poetic licence, as learning to ride a horse is about as easy as falling off, which is not actually all that easy. If you are properly saddled and seated then it's really quite hard to do, so please don't let thoughts of that sort of thing put you off learning to ride. In fact, in my several years of horse riding I've only ever fallen off once and that was because the horse (with good reason) decided it really didn't want me there anymore!

Firstly, the key thing you need to understand is that learning to ride a horse is a bit like dog training in reverse. Dogs need to be taught a series of signals (verbal and non-verbal) and how to respond to them. Although there may be 'correct' signals (remember Barbara Woodhouse's famous "si-t") the fact that each dog tends to be paired with a single owner means the dog can learn the owner's signals and these need not be the same for any particular dog-owner pair. The owner or person who trains the dog can then teach the other members of the family how to control the family pet and hey-presto, we have communication, but not necessarily in any common language that any other dog would understand.

With horses it's different because horses (especially those used with beginning and casual riders) are often ridden by lots of different people and it's a little bit unreasonable to expect them to learn a different set of signals for each new rider. This means the one that needs to be trained is not the horse, it's you.

When you first get on a horse, it's likely to be a horse intended for beginner or casual riders in which case it will most likely have a docile manner, be quite forgiving, be relatively calm and unexcitable and (crucially) will ignore all and any signals it's not used to without fretting about what you might have meant. In fact I have known horses that seem to interpret ambiguous signals as meaning "relax and go chew on the nearest nettle."

A common misconception, perhaps due to too much 'showy' riding in Westerns, is that commands are given by yelling at the horse and/or by flapping or pulling on the reigns. While you must hold the reigns correctly and it is true that voice commands are used, you also need to follow your trainer's instructions about how and where to sit on the saddle and how to hold you legs (keeping your heels down) as well as what to say. All these things communicate something to the horse. For example, telling a stationary horse to 'walk-on' while sitting with your backside towards the back of the saddle (which generally means slow down and stop) will probably not get you very far. Similarly, yanking on the reigns (which is probably interpreted as turn left and right at the same time!) is never a good idea and doing this when you haven't moved towards the back of the saddle gives a very mixed signal. Pull the reigns hard enough (i.e. you assume the horse is wrong, not you) and you will cause the horse enough pain that it's tantamount to animal abuse.

Despite all this, riding a horse is not that difficult, as long as you listen to what you are told to do and start by assuming everything you thought you knew about horses and horse riding was wrong. In fact learning the 'language' of horses and learning to ride is a hugely rewarding activity. There's nothing quite like the sense of command and cooperative action you get once you've learnt enough to let the horse know what you want. Generally the horses really want to work with you so a little bit of correct signalling can produce an awful lot of pride and sense of achievement for both you and the horse.

There are also some great benefits to horse riding in terms of seeing the countryside. I still remember the first time I walked my horse through woods about 5 feet from a foxhole outside of which a vixen sat unconcerned and watched her three cubs playing. Had I been on foot they would have been nowhere to be seen but the foxes knew the horse was no threat and me being on it made me safe for them as well. This is typical of the kind of thing you might come across when horse riding in woodland or even open country. Wild animals and birds tend not to register a ridden horse as a threat so you get to see things that would normally have hidden long before you came into view.

I hope the above has encouraged you to have a go at horse riding if you haven't already tried, as it's a really rewarding and enjoyable activity that I think everyone should experience at least once in their life.

Just to clear up the one occasion I was thrown, this was by a mare called Domino, one of my regular rides who seemed to be a bit cantankerous and lazy that day. I was trying to get a bit more life out of her despite her clear protests when she suddenly leapt into action, cantered across the field for a few yards, then leaned forwards and dug her hooves into the turf. As you can probably imagine I cart-wheeled straight over her right shoulder and on to my back, landing on the soft patch of long grass that she had kindly selected for me. She even gave me a quick nuzzle to make sure I was ok before she trotted back to the stable. Why did she do it? About 9 months later she gave birth to a beautiful and healthy foal so I guess you could say she was suffering from morning sickness and really didn't want the exercise. That's reason enough for me.

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For horse riding experience days including hacks in the New Forest, cowboy trails and learning to play polo, check out our horse riding page.

Thursday October 01, 2009 | Richard | Articles