Tips, Tricks, & Reminders to Successful Riding

Overall Reminders

• Fitness, fitness, fitness! It is not your horse’s responsibility to balance you, hold you up, or fix your body position. If you need assistance with additional strength and/or flexibility training please talk to Emily or Lauren to make a fitness plan. 

• Don’t annoy your horse. Try not to overdo or continue to work on something when the horse is doing it well. Reward when the horse is right or trying hard to be right (even when you are wrong) and let them be. 

• “Just one more” usually ends in disaster. Know when to stop. 

• Don’t get hung on time. If your horse does everything you ask well with no need to repeat and it’s only been 30 minutes. Great. Let them be. 

• Ride within your limits. 

• Focus on the ‘yes’. Never punish your horse for getting the wrong answer or saying ‘no’. Find the underlying reason and work on it. Big praises for the right answer. Ask for help if you need it. 99.9% of errors are because of the rider. 

  • Reasons a horse says no and how to get a yes 

    • Fear- you need to wait 

    • Confusion- you need to clarify 

    • Can’t- you need to adjust 

    • Won’t- you need to motivate 

• You will spend a lifetime learning and growing. There is ALWAYS something new to work on. Riding isn’t about being perfect but instead building a safe and confident ride for you and your horse. 

• Ask questions! There is no such thing as too many questions. The more you know and understand, the better the ride. 

• Be humble, be kind, and remember your horse isn’t a machine or a couch. 

Warm Up 

• Be conscious of your horse’s age, fitness, and any physical limitations or past injuries. 

• Walking is a gait. If you can’t do it (circles, leg yields, turn on haunches…) at a walk, you probably can’t do it at a faster pace. Practice your power walk prior to trotting. Length of time depends on you and your horse. 

• Warm up is more than just walking straight lines. Start with straight lines, then add circles, leg yields, transitions, etc to help your horse loosen up all their muscles at the walk and trot.

• Warm your horse up like you would warm up in gym class, in soccer practice, or before a big game. Just like you, your horse’s muscles can strain, sprain, and tear without a proper warm up. 

During your Ride

• Your session should build and have goals. Plan what you are going to do but be flexible. Remember it’s a conversation not a routine. 

• Turn! Riding around stuck to the rail isn’t riding. That being said, never yank your horse around tight turns.  Always practice turning using your outside aids first.  

Watch for heavy breathing, flaring nostrils, and fast heart rate. Give lots of breaks. 

• Cantering

  • A horse can only breathe on the downstroke of the canter. 

  • Ride a minimum of 10 minutes trotting prior to cantering. This does not include your walk warm up. There are training exceptions to this general rule. If you think your horse needs to canter closer to the beginning of the ride, ask. 

  • Don’t canter laps around the ring with no purpose. Have a plan prior to cantering. 

  • Your amount of cantering depends on your fitness and your horse’s fitness and balance. Ask if you aren’t sure. 

  • You won’t fix a bad canter at the canter. Go back to the walk or trot and rebalance, then try again. 

• Jumping

• Horses only have so many jumps in their lifetime, use them wisely 

  • In one ride, limit your jumps to no more than 15 unless otherwise instructed to do more by Emily or Lauren 

  • Consider your goals for your ride before you start jumping. If your goals don’t involve the act of jumping, let your horse have a jump free day. 

• Flat work, flat work, flat work! Jumping is a very small part of riding. If you want to improve the jump, improve the flat work. 

If you can’t think of something to do, ask. Here are a list of suggestions: 

• Power walking 

• Transitions (between gaits and within a gait, including halt) 

• Circles of different sizes 

• Square turns 

• Leg yields 

• Serpentines 

• Trot grids 

• Jumping position 

• No stirrups 

• Riding in pairs 

• Daisy chain 

• Figure 8s 

• Barrel pattern 

• Bareback 

• Poles (count steps between poles, practice adjusting)

• Turn on forehand/haunches

• Ride the quarter lines, stay away from the fence 

• 3 & 4 beat posting 

• Practice your balance on the barrel 

• Sitting trot (in short bits and after your horse has warmed up)

Cool Down

• Be conscious of your ride, your fitness, your horse’s fitness, the temperature, and your overall time in the saddle. Know when to stop for the day. 

• Make sure you take your cool down and hose off time into account when planning your time at the barn. A hot horse can take 15-20 minutes to cool down properly prior to hosing. 

• Walk your horse on a loose rein until he or she is breathing normally. Check their breathing by watching their nose and/or belly.

• When you dismount, immediately loosen girth, undo flash nosebands (if applicable), and remove splint/brushing boots (if applicable). 

• If your horse is sweaty and/or hot to the touch, sponge off with a bucket and sponge or hose your horse. Make sure to get all parts of your horse including belly and between the back legs. If the horse still feels warm/hot to the touch, sponge/hose with cold water again. Repeat until horse is cool to the touch. If your horse still feels warm, do NOT turn them back out until they are cool.

  1. If horse was wearing splint/brushing boots, apply cool water to their legs until cool to the touch. The tendons in the legs are very susceptible to heat damage.

• Be aware of heat-related complications, including colic and dehydration. If your horse has any of the following after a ride, get Emily or Lauren immediately: 

  1. Not sweating despite very warm temperatures (if you are drenched in sweat and they feel dry, they may be dehydrated)

  2. General distress, kicking at belly, trying to roll, or extreme lethargy 

  3. Breathing has not returned to normal within 10-15 minutes of hard work