Ride Your Horse – Facing Fear

Banish the fear and put the fun back into riding.

Almost every good rider has an accident at some point during her riding career. While some riders see accidents as a part of the sport and get right back in the saddle, so to speak, other riders lose their confidence and even experience gripping fear. Some riders are so afraid that they ask themselves whether the time and money they spend on their hobby is worth it after all!

Here’s the deal: unless you enjoy riding, then you shouldn’t be doing it. If every time you get on a horse you experience a pounding heart, dry mouth, and crushing anxiety, then I would ask you why you continue to torture yourself in this way. Especially considering that riding is an expensive, time-consuming hobby.

However, many riders continue to torture themselves in just this way. Why? Because they remember what it was like, before the unfortunate incident, to love to ride. And they want to experience that feeling again.

If you are still going out to the barn and trying to get on your horse despite having huge fears, my guess is that you want to return to the time when you loved horses. The good news is, there’s no reason why you can’t. If you take it slow and put yourself in the right situation, you can love riding again.

The first step is to figure out what is getting in the way of your enjoyment. For many people, they just can’t relax on their horse. They relive their bad situation, and this makes them tense. Knowing that you have a hard time relaxing is the first step in learning how to relax on horseback. Once you learn to relax, you’ll enjoy riding.

Of course, you can’t relax unless you are confident and comfortable. Being confident and comfortable are the cornerstones of relaxation. So how do you get confident and comfortable? By riding the right horse, and by taking lessons from the right instructor. That’s right, I said instructor. If you are so fearful of horses that you want to throw up every time you get in the saddle, it’s too much to ask that you conquer this on your own.

A good instructor is patient, kind, never demeans you, and understands that you’ve had a bad experience and need to move slowly. Since there are many riders who have faced fear, there are also many riders who help their students overcome it. To find the right instructor, ask others who have had similar problems for a recommendation. An instructor who is right for you should be downright enthusiastic about helping you get over your issues.

You’ll also need the right horse. A calm, confident, and bombproof schoolhorse is the best choice if you’ve been frightened. Even if your riding skills are good, you need to remember that the goal here isn’t to improve your riding skills. The goal is to ride without fear. The right horse will give you good experiences, and the more good experiences you have, the more your fear will recede. If you really love riding, face your fears but take it slowly. With a good instructor and the right horse you’ll be happily back in the saddle in no time.

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By Ron Petracek
Published: 5/16/2007

Determination and a persistent attitude are the keywords for horse training. Read on to know about some basics of horse training. 

Training any animal requires a whole lot of effort and patience as well. When it comes to horse training, the issue does not become anything different! Horses are beautiful and energetic creatures that have a short spell of memory. Maybe now, probably you would realize why horse training remains to be a tough task! This would mean that horse training would require special effort and training methods for your efforts to translate into results. There are certain issues that you would have to consider for horse training apart from the fact that they have a short term memory and no matter how many times you lose your temper, this is definitely not going to help you in horse training. If you simply love horses then check out some of the horse training tips that are discussed below.

Horse Training Tips:
Animals as per their natural instinct would be scared when approached by humans. Horses would also tend to feel bit intimidated unless you have really spent a long time with the horse. The first and foremost about horse training is making the animal comfortable in your presence. This would obviously be a gradual process.
How you treat your horse is the base of horse training. Here you would need to treat the horse like a child, it needs to be told which actions are to be performed for a particular instruction. There are two things you would need to consider for horse training, either the horse agrees to do it or blatantly refuses the same! There are certain ways to go about this process. You need to make the horse get used to your commands at a steady pace everyday. A change in routine can be possible when the horse acclimatizes itself to the entire training session.

The first step in horse training would be to teach him about longeing also known as ground training. This should be done once your horse is old enough to begin training. This kind of horse training is done with a long rope. The line is attached to the horse and it can travel in a large circle of movement.

Young horses need to be taught lead training as well. It is not just about the ropes that would train a horse. Here’s a simple method of horse training. Hold the rope and walk the horse around. Take some moments in between where you would need to wait and give the command of ‘stand’. Repeat the procedure a few times. This would help the horse to understand this command. This horse training tip can be used for a young foal as well.

Neck rein training is also a very important factor of horse training. Here you would need to teach the horse what is expected from it and how it should respond every time any function is required from the horse. Always remember that you should not use too much pressure with your hands. When you sit on the saddle, bring your legs together in a tight squeeze. Use the reins to communicate the direction. Let your horse take a few steps. Then make it stand. Reverse the direction. You would need to keep doing this exercise so that your horse understands fully what you are expecting from every action employed by you.

Your horse should also learn to walk besides you when it is on a lead. Here, with the help of a lead, you can train it to stop and walk as per the signals given by the horse rider. With simple training methods, you can get your horse to understand every signal given.

Always ensure that you warm up the horse before every training session. This helps the horse as this practice helps to warm up its muscles.

When you use the reins, remember to do so with care. The direct rein is the one with which you can pull its mouth and the indirect rein is the one which is used to press the neck. Always remember to use this with care. The pressure can be increased if you do not get the desired results.

Timing is very important in horse training. When the horse has completed its task, reward it! When it does not act the way it is supposed to for a particular signal, you would need to correct it immediately. Having a correct timing for the horse training will also help you to get better results.

Remember one thing about horse training; you would need to keep practicing the exercises and help your horse to understand what is expected. Keep repeating the procedures and remember to enjoy your horse training activity; this is the best way to get better results for any task.

By Kashmira Lad Published: 3/13/2008

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