Horse Riding: How To Start

First of all when you start riding a horse you should be instructed on how to sit correctly. As you can see, Jennifer here has got quite a lovely position, she is sitting up nice and tall but she is not stiff, there's still some softness through her back. She's got a nice straight line from her shoulder, to her hip, to her heel and she is going to make sure she has the same amount of weight on both sides and she's not tipping off from one side onto the other.


Then she's going to make sure she has a nice rein contact with the horses mouth and the reins aren't too loose or too tight. She's got to have a straight line from her elbow though to her hand and through to the horses mouth. By being in the correct position, she is making sure that the horse will be in balance and that she will be in balance and be able to move with the horses movements.


First of all she is going to sit up nice and tall. This makes her lighter on top of the horse and encourages the horse to move off. If you sit too heavily, this will make the horse feel a little bit uneven and unbalanced but also discourage him from wanting to carry your bodyweight.


So first of all, she is going to sit up nice and tall, this will signal to the horse that something is about to happen. Then she is going to gently ask the horse to either go off her leg from a tap, or a nudge, or a squeeze. It depends on how your horse is trained.


Chester goes off from a slight nudge so she is going to ask him to go forward. Then she is going to squeeze with the legs and channel him in a straight line, ensuring that he is going forwards and straight the whole time whilst keeping her body posture. Can you see how she stays nice and tall and she allows her hips to swing with the horse.


If you stay stiff and rigid on top of the horse, the horse will not be able to move underneath you, so she stays relaxed and goes with the movement of the horse at all times. .