A discussion on my four fundamentals to horsemanship–responsibility, balance, independence and adaptability. Anyone interested in beginning to ride should watch this!
Horses are VERY big animals. Few of them are deliberately mean, but a sorry horse doesn’t make up for squished toes! Knowing how to move safely around a horse is a good way to protect those little piggies. This video walks you through the basics of moving around on the ground with a horse, as well as showing how to properly ask a horse to move for you.
As a quick taster, I’ll try to describe the goals of different horse sports in 12 words or less each. Here goes:
1. Dressage: look pretty (it’s figure skating on horse back).
2. Stadium jumping: go fast, don’t knock down any jump rails.
3. Cross country: go faster, jump “natural” things (water, ditches, stone walls).
4. Eventing: Do it all–dressage, stadium jumping, & cross country.
5. Show hunter: You and your horse look good while jumping.
6. Equitation: Look good yourself, either jumping or not.
7. Jumpers: Get over the fences, fast as you can–but don’t knock rails!
8. Rodeo: be a proper cowboy (lots of events)
9. Pole bending: Go fast through a line of poles (like slalom).
10. Barrel racing: Go fast around three different barrels. Don’t knock them over!
11. Calf roping: Lasso a running calf from horseback.
12. Reining: look pretty (it’s like dressage).
13. Cutting: Use your horse to get one particular animal out of a herd.
14. Western pleasure: Ride better than all the others riding with you in the arena.
15. Fox hunting: Stay on, follow the leader. Jump the hedges if you want!
16. Polo: Hit the ball (not your horse!) with a mallet through the goal.
17. Polocrosse: Throw the ball through a goal using a pseudo-lacrosse stick.
18. Driving: Control your horse perfectly while he pulls you in a cart.
19. Trail riding/endurance: Finish the ride at the right time, as calmly as possible.
20. Horse racing: Be the fastest!
If this list has you interested, please subscribe to our site and get a free pamphlet with a much more thorough explanation of horse sports!!!
Don’t worry, I don’t spam–subscribing is just a way for me to know who’s interested and for me to let you know when I post new stuff. Thanks!
I always wanted to be able to talk to animals. I’m no Dr. Dolittle, but it turns out there are ways to talk to horses! In the horse world, you use something called “aids.” An aid is simply something we use to ask or tell a horse something. There are two groups of aids: natural aids and artificial aids. The natural aids are your voice, your seat, your hands and your legs. Artificial aids are spurs, whips or crops, bits and pretty much all the other physical objects used in riding. Here, I’ve gone over very quickly what these basic aids are.
