Riders are not passengers; they are partners. If you’ve ever seen a horse shake a tiny patch of skin to rid herself of an irritating fly, you realize how sensitive horses are.
Every move the rider makes with his or her seat or legs is felt by the horse, and the bit and reins accentuate hand and upper body movements. Whatever your riding level, consider your impact and influence on your horse and strive to improve your communication—something you’ll both be thankful for.
Your horse should be responsive and well schooled in the arena or around your property before you venture out on trail. She should walk, jog, lope, stop, turn, back up, and side-pass on cue, and she must stand still without fidgeting when asked. If she lacks this basic training, consider working with an experienced riding instructor or trainer in your area.
Your horse isn’t the only one that will need to be well schooled. To ride safely on trail, you’ll need a steady position, good balance, and practiced aids—legs, seat, hands, and voice. Your legs and seat influence your horse’s speed and direction; your hands can help guide her head and front end and reinforce cues given by the legs and seat. Voice is an often-forgotten aid that can lessen your reliance on your legs, seat, and hands.
Although your equitation, or proper riding, won’t be judged on trail, it’s imperative for your comfort and safety, as well as your horse’s. A well-balanced rider is easier for the horse to carry and can ride longer with fewer aches and pains. In addition, this rider is less likely to tumble off should the horse bolt, buck, or spook.
Assess your position in the saddle by first checking your alignment. There should be a straight line running from your ear, through your shoulder and hip, to your heel. Think of your body parts as building blocks, each block supporting the next. When your legs are underneath you, they’ll help support your weight, absorb concussion, and keep you centered over the horse’s movement.
Astride a Quarter Horse, this rider demonstrates the proper riding position: a straight line from the ear to the shoulder and from the hip to the heel.
Your heels should be lower than your toes, but never force them into a locked position. Keeping your heels down will help anchor you in the saddle, and keeping your ankles loose and relaxed will help absorb shock. Adjust your western stirrups so there’s only a slight bend in your knee. English riders generally adjust their stirrups so the irons hit their anklebones when their legs are hanging and relaxed.
Your toes should point forward, allowing your inner calves, knees, and thighs to rest against the horse. This will help guide her and keep the lines of communication open. If your toes are turned out, your knees will also point out, and you’ll lose contact with the horse. Remember that you want to keep her channeled between your legs.
Horses are trained to move away from pressure, so you can use your legs to move your horse over, speed her up, or bend her. Always start with the mildest cue possible, such as a gentle squeeze from your calf. Use both calves to channel your horse straight and encourage her to speed up. Always keep your heels down when using your legs. It’s more effective to turn your toe out and heel in than to bring your heel up.
If you want your horse to move a shoulder, use one leg at the girth to push the front of her body in the direction desired—left leg to move right, right leg to move left. To move her hind end, use your leg just behind the girth. If your horse doesn’t respond to a gentle squeeze, increase the pressure to a firm squeeze, then a tap, and eventually a firm kick. You want to teach your horse that if she listens to a squeeze, she won’t get a kick.
Always release the pressure from your legs the minute you get a response from your horse. Some riders develop “nagging” legs that constantly squeeze or bump the horse. This will dull your horse’s sides and teach her to ignore your legs because they don’t mean anything. Your horse’s reward is for you to stop squeezing, bumping, or kicking, so release the pressure the moment your horse responds to your cue.
Check your leg position frequently. You shouldn’t be able to see more than a glimpse of your toes in front of your knees. Many riders make the mistake of putting their legs out in front of them in a “chair seat.” This position takes your weight off your seat bones and puts it onto your pockets. It also makes it impossible for your legs to take some of the weight and concussion.
Your seat is a valuable communication tool. With your body aligned, your two seat bones will make light contact with the saddle. Riders often make the mistake of sitting on their “pockets,” which causes them to round their backs. Sitting on your seat bones makes you sit straight, and your hips can follow the motion of the horse as needed. If you’re not sure where your seat bones are, lift your knees up in front of you so your thighs are parallel to the ground—this will drive your two seat bones into the saddle—then put your legs back in the correct position, maintaining soft contact with your seat bones.
As you ride, your body will move with the horse’s motion, but refrain from exaggerating these movements. When you want your horse to stop or slow down, stop moving with her and increase the pressure in your seat by relaxing into the saddle. Horses are very sensitive to your seat and will begin picking up on these subtle cues.
Although it may seem impossible to maintain a correct position while being relaxed, you can achieve this desirable combination with some practice. If you feel stiffness in your heels, shoulders, hips, elbows, knees, or any other part of your body, concentrate on relaxing that part.
Practice sitting the jog and lope at home. Bouncing on your horse’s back will cause you both pain in the long run. Even if you consider yourself a western rider, master posting in the arena as well. Posting is rising up out of the saddle and sitting back down again with the motion of the horse’s trot. The trot is a great, ground-covering gait and very economical because your horse uses both sides of her body equally. Many riders also use the trot to get their horses in shape and improve their conditions. For these reasons, you may want to trot on trail when conditions permit.
The trot is a diagonal gait in which your horse’s left front and right hind move together, and the right front and left hind move together. Posting requires you to rise with the horse’s motion each time one of her shoulders moves forward. In a circle or arena, you will rise with your horse’s outside shoulder (in an arena, this will be the shoulder closest to the fence rail), and thus be on the outside diagonal. As your chosen shoulder moves forward, your horse’s natural movement will help you rise slightly up and forward out of the saddle—how far forward and up will depend on how “big” your horse’s trot is. Learn to let her motion help push you up and forward, rather than pushing yourself up solely with your knees and legs. This will take practice. When posting on the trail, make sure to alternate diagonals periodically to keep from putting more pressure on one side of your horse’s body than the other.
If possible, find an experienced instructor to help you learn a confident seat and practiced aids. Taking a few longe line lessons can be priceless for learning the posting trot, as the instructor will guide your horse while you focus on posting. Your horse will appreciate this because many riders learning to post unintentionally wiggle their hands and legs. Mastering the basics in the safety of your home arena or paddock, or under the watchful eye of an instructor, will help ensure safe, enjoyable trail rides. (See Chapter 1 for more information on selecting a riding instructor.)
You can ride with one rein in each hand (two-handed) or with the reins in one hand, which is traditional for western riders. However, riding with a rein in each hand will give you more control over your horse’s movement, so you may choose to ride two-handed all the time or when your horse needs extra guidance. To hold the reins two-handed, take one rein in each hand, with the rein coming from the horse’s mouth, up and through the bottom of your hand. The extra rein will come out the top of your hand. Your knuckles should point forward, fingers in and thumbs facing up. Each thumb will rest on the extra rein to keep the horse from pulling the reins through your hand, and your fingers should remain loosely closed.
When riding two-handed, cross the excess rein over while keeping your thumbs up and gently resting on the excess rein, as shown here.
To turn your horse’s nose, simply close your fingers tightly, as if you’re squeezing out a wet sponge. Squeeze the fingers on your right hand to tip her nose right, left fingers to tip her nose left, and both hands to slow her down or ask her to stop. If this isn’t enough, move your hand back an inch or two toward your hip. If you have to pull your hands all the way back to your hips to get a reaction, it’s probably a sign that you are holding the reins too loosely.
If you ride single-handed, with both reins in one hand, your horse will need to know how to neck rein, which means that she turns left when the right rein touches her neck and turns right when the left rein touches. You can hold the reins two different ways one-handed.
Say you choose to hold the reins in your left hand, split-rein style: Put the right rein in your fist between your pointer finger and your thumb. Hold the left rein between your pointer finger and your middle finger, and let the excess of both reins fall out the bottom side of your fist. Keep your knuckles facing forward, fingers loosely closed and facing down or with the thumb slightly up.
You can also hold the reins in a loose fist, with the reins coming up from the bottom of the hand and out through the top. Hold your fingers lightly closed, thumb on top of the excess reins. If you choose to hold the reins this way, keep your thumb up, holding your hand as if you were holding an ice cream cone. Avoid twisting or tipping your hand or wrist (and spilling the ice cream).
When you ride one handed, close your fingers to ask your horse to slow down or stop. You may need to move your hand toward your belly button an inch or two. To turn your horse, shift your hand gently toward her ear—right ear to turn right, left ear to turn left. Moving your hand slightly forward and to the left will lay the right rein on your horse’s neck and cue her to turn left. As your hand moves toward the right ear, the left rein will cue your horse to turn right. If you’re out on trail and your horse isn’t responding to the neck rein, you’ll have more control by taking the reins two-handed and using direct pressure to guide her.
However you hold the reins—one handed, two-handed, split reins—keep your hands low and near the pommel or horn. Lifting your hands too high will hurt your horse’s mouth and break the lines of communication, as do hands that venture too far out to the sides. As with your leg cues, remember to release all pressure on the reins the moment your horse responds; this is her reward.
If you’re riding in a direct pressure bit, such as a snaffle, you can maintain light contact with your horse’s mouth. If you’re riding in a leverage bit, such as a curb bit, don’t exert constant pressure on your horse’s mouth; however, don’t hold the reins so loosely that you have to gather up a lot of rein or pull back several inches to have contact. When using a leverage bit, hold your reins so you can squeeze your fingers or move your hands only an inch or two and have contact with your horse’s mouth.
Whatever type of bit you choose, maintain an imaginary line from your elbow, through your arm, out your hand, and to your horse’s mouth. Your elbows will be bent, with your upper arms resting gently against your body. Avoid letting your elbows come out, which will encourage your reins to flop about.
Although the eyes are not considered one of the four main aids, never underestimate the power of looking where you want to go. Your body and hands will naturally follow your eyes, even if you aren’t aware of it; so keep your eyes up and forward, looking in the direction you want your horse to travel.
Voice cues will help you rely less on your reins and legs. Many horses learn commands for walk, jog/trot, lope/canter, whoa, back, and so on. Other riders use a kissing sound or a click or cluck of the tongue to cue their horses to move out. Choose a cue, then pair it consistently with your other aids—seat, legs, and hands—until your horse understands what you’re asking.
When you’re out on trail, you won’t have the luxury of a mounting block, and you never know when you’ll need to dismount and remount. Perhaps your horse will start limping, and you’ll have to get off to check her feet, or maybe there will be an obstacle in the path requiring you to dismount and move it out of the way. It’s important that you can mount from both sides, as well, because a hillside or bushes may prevent you from mounting on the left side, which is traditional. In addition, switching the side you mount on prevents your left stirrup leather from becoming stretched and puts even wear and tear on your horse’s back.
Practice mounting from the ground and on both sides in your arena or paddock first by following these steps (in this example, you are mounting from the left side):
Take the reins in your left hand. Hold them at a length at which there’s light contact with the horse’s mouth but contact that allows her to move her head slightly to balance.
Grab a handful of mane in your left hand, or simply place your left hand on your horse’s neck, in front of her withers. Even though your cinch, or girth, should be snug before you mount, putting too much pressure on the saddle while you pull yourself up will likely move your saddle to the side.
The most common position to mount from is facing the opposite direction your horse is facing. Use your right hand to hold the stirrup and place your left foot so the ball of the foot rests on the stirrup. Stay close to your horse’s body while positioning your foot.
Once your foot is in the stirrup, put your right hand on the pommel (front of the saddle, near the horn). You may need to “bounce” a little on your right foot to gain momentum, but avoid pulling on the horse or the saddle.
Swing your right leg up and over your horse without hitting her in the flanks or on the hind end. Don’t let your left toes poke into your horse’s side. Lower yourself gently into the saddle.
If you can’t mount unassisted from the ground, work on strengthening your lower body or try one of the various gadgets on the market. There are products available that allow you to extend your stirrup for mounting, and then bring it back into place once you’re seated. If you use a small stool that pulls up with a string, fold ups, and stores in your saddle bag, you’ll need to desensitize and train your horse to accept it ahead of time.
To dismount, reverse the mounting process, bringing your right leg over the horse’s haunches. When your feet are even—left foot in the stirrup, right foot beside it—kick your left foot out of the stirrup and slide down. That way, if your horse walks off while you’re dismounting, you won’t get dragged along with your foot stuck in the stirrup or fall over.
If your horse occasionally walks off during mounting or if you’re out on trail and she won’t hold still, try keeping the left rein (or the rein on the side you’re mounting from) tighter so the horse’s head is bent slightly to the left. This way, if the horse does move off unexpectedly, she’ll move around you in a circle rather than walking away. However, this inhibits her ability to use her head and neck to balance. If walking off is a chronic problem, work with her in the arena.
A horse that moves every time you mount may require a helper to hold her during the first part of your retraining, or you can point her head facing the corner of your enclosure. Practice mounting, pulling back on the reins, and saying “whoa” every time your horse tries to move off. You may get only your foot in the stirrup before she moves. If so, pull back and say “whoa,” trying again only once she’s standing quietly. Praise her verbally and with a scratch in her favorite spot when she holds still. With patience and consistency, she’ll learn that her job is to stand quietly until you’re in the seat and have picked up your reins.
Your position in the saddle always affects how your horse moves and balances: Think of how your movement and balance change when you give a child a piggyback ride. The child’s movement—leaning from side to side or wiggling—affects your ability to walk. When riding uphill, help your horse by lifting your seat out of the saddle. To do this, grab a handful of mane with one or both hands midway up her neck, then lean forward and stand up slightly in your stirrups to bring your rear end a bit up and off the saddle. Make sure your reins are not pulling back on the horse’s mouth as you do so.
When riding downhill, riders often mistakenly lean too far back. Instead, keep your weight centered over the horse. Although this may mean you lean your body slightly back on a very steep incline, your focus should be on keeping your weight centered. If there are trees growing on the mountainside, use them as your guide and hold your body at the same angle as the trees. Again, don’t pull back on the reins. Your horse needs enough freedom to use her neck and head to balance as she travels uphill or downhill.
In general, walk up and down hills. If the footing is good and the incline isn’t too steep, you may choose to trot up a hill as a fitness exercise for your horse. However, make sure she’s up to the task and don’t let her get in the habit of speeding up every time she encounters a hill. Many horses try to trot or run up and down every hill they come to, but remember that you’re in charge. If your horse speeds up of her own accord, take contact with her mouth, sit down in your saddle, and ask her to slow down. When she’s back at the speed you want, release the pressure and resume your uphill or downhill riding position.
As the horse moves downhill, the rider keeps her weight centered over the animal.
When faced with an extremely steep hill or one with loose footing that gives way easily, it may be advisable to dismount and walk your horse up or down the hill. Only attempt this, of course, if your horse leads well, and make her walk well to the side of you so you don’t get mowed over should she begin to slide or speed up.
You may encounter a number of obstacles on trail, including water crossings and fallen branches and logs. With water crossings, stay centered over your horse, giving her enough rein to navigate her course without compromising your ability to guide her as needed. If your horse has to lift her legs high to clear a log, it may help her if you assume a forward position, as you did while traveling uphill. Get your weight out of the saddle and place your hand on the middle of her neck, grabbing mane if necessary.
It’s always best to walk over obstacles. Unless you and your horse are experienced cross-country jumpers, jumping stationary objects, such as logs, can be dangerous, as they won’t give the way a jump rail in an arena would. Letting your horse run through or jump over water crossings can also be dangerous. If your horse rushes obstacles despite your attempts to slow her, practice at home (see Chapter 4). While on trail, insist your horse repeat the obstacle, if safe to do so, until she walks over or through it calmly.
Riding around obstacles, such as trees, bushes, and rocks, can be another challenge. Many riders have had their legs bruised or scraped by nearby objects. The problem is that your horse doesn’t always realize your body sticks out and up; she’ll maneuver herself safely past obstacles but forget all about your limbs! Riders often make this problem worse by turning the horse’s head away from the obstacle, which actually moves the horse’s body and the rider’s leg closer to it. If you see your horse getting too close to something such as a tree, turn her head toward it: this will bend her body away from it, saving your leg.
If there’s a tree branch hanging low over the trail, you have three options. Your first and easiest is to ride around it, but this isn’t always possible. Your next choice is to bend forward over your horse’s neck if it’s safe to do so. The only other option is to reach forward and push the branch out of your way—either up in the air or to the side. This is when gloves come in handy. Don’t attempt this unless there’s no rider behind you or the rider is far enough back that you can give a warning so that no one gets slapped in the head by a branch.
You may need to ask your horse to back up on trail if the horse in front of you is backing up or if you’ve ridden into a tight space. Unfortunately, not all horses are taught to back up using the same cues, so make sure this is one of the skills you perfect before heading on the trail. For most horses, you will close your fingers, pulling back on the reins slightly if needed, or using a gentle give and take while squeezing with your calves or tapping if you are not getting a response.
Some horses freeze and refuse to back up. If your horse does so, try “unlocking” her by using a give-and-take with one rein and tapping with the leg at the girth on that same side. Keep contact on the opposite rein at the same time. Although your horse may not back up straight, this usually helps get her started.
Side-passing is another handy maneuver. This requires your horse to walk sideways without going forward. Her legs will cross over one another when she’s side-passing correctly. You can use this maneuver to get your horse close to an object, such as a gate you need to open. Keep gentle contact on the reins to hold your horse relatively straight and keep her from going forward. It may be helpful to tip her nose slightly in the opposite direction you’re asking her to move. One of your legs will ask your horse to move over. For example, use your left leg to ask your horse to go right. Squeeze with your calf at the girth, tapping if she needs more motivation. If she moves her shoulder over more than her hip, you can bring your leg farther back to move her hind end over. At first, ask only for a step or two in each direction until you and your horse master the maneuver. Practice side-passing at home in the open first.
Although proper equitation will help keep you comfortable in the saddle, long rides are bound to make even the best rider a bit stiff. Dismounting and walking your horse for a few minutes when it’s safe to do so can be a huge help. If your horse is calm and you’re on a flat trail with few distractions, you can stop and perform some in-the-saddle stretches. Try these stretches at home in the safety of your paddock or arena before you attempt them on trail, as your strange movements may startle your horse.
The goal of these and any other helpful stretches is to change positions, giving your stiff joints and muscles a break from the traditional riding position. The leg and toe stretches will require you to take your feet out of the stirrups.
Stretch 1: Take one foot out of the stirrup, and stretch your toe down toward the ground as far as you can. Hold this position for a few moments, then stretch your toes up toward the sky as high as you can. Switch between toes up and toes down for several repetitions.
Stretch 2: Point your toes toward your horse’s front feet, leg stretched straight, and hold them there for a few moments. Next, point your toes back toward your horse’s hind feet, which will require you to bring your lower leg slightly back, too. Be careful not to bump your horse’s sensitive flanks. Switch between the two positions several times.
Stretch 3: Draw a slow circle with your toes—as large as you can, first in one direction, then in the other, keeping your legs still.
Stretch 4: With your feet in the stirrups, rotate your back and shoulders so that you’re facing to the right, keeping your seat in the saddle and your hips pointing forward. Put your right hand on the cantle, or back of your saddle, and keep the reins in your left hand near the horn. Hold this position for a few moments, then switch and face to the left. Repeat several times. This exercise stretches your back.
Stretch 5: Practice standing up in the saddle—at a standstill or a walk—to stretch your legs and give you a break from sitting. You can also “practice” this stretch when your horse stops to urinate to get your weight off her back and make it easier for her. Hold the horn or mane if you need to steady yourself.
Stretch 6: With your reins held loosely and your hands even and near the front of the saddle, squeeze your shoulder blades together, stretching your chest and relieving tension in your shoulders. Hold for a few seconds and then repeat.
Stretch 7: Maintaining the same hand position as above, squeeze your shoulders up toward your ears, relieving the pressure in the muscles between your shoulders and neck. Hold for several seconds, then pull your shoulders down toward the ground. Hold and repeat.
If any of the stretches cause you discomfort, or if you have a medical problem, do not perform them without consulting your doctor first.
Practicing proper riding position and techniques will pay off in added comfort for you and your horse, making your horse more understanding and responsive to what you’re asking.
