Horse Riding Levels
Horse riding for Beginners
When starting horse riding for beginners, safety should be your first concern. No one wants to get hurt. We have experience over the years, our horses are trained for every level and we give a lot attention on giving you the best personal guiding.
We give you the most important tips to stay safe on your first trip.
Therefore we start always with a free instruction lesson at our center. We give you different tips to start and we check your position to get a safe and relaxed ride.
Basic tips
- Try to sit squarely in the saddle, moving your body with your horse. The more tense you are, the more you will bounce. Stay in tune with how he is moving. It will be less likely that you will be to be thrown off balance.
- Having your weight set further back will help keep you secure if the horse stops suddenly. Think of driving in a car without a seat belt. If the driver suddenly hits the brakes you’ll go flying forward. The same is true if you are sitting too far back on the horse, if he heads off quickly you’ll be left behind.
- Horses are very intuitive. They feel the slightest movements and are also great at reading our intentions. So look up and where you want to go and it will help you guide your horse there along with your leg and rein aids.
- The ball of your foot (the widest part behind your toes) should be where your foot sits on the stirrup. Point your toes to the sky while riding.
- How you hold the reins will vary whether you are riding English or Western. We use English saddles, altough we have some Western saddles (only for kids). You hold the reins in two hands, evenly and feel contact with horse. Beginner riders can tend to use the reins to keep their own balance by hanging on them, so try to avoid this by handing your hands together above the saddle and keep your balance with your feet.
- Breathe regularly and normally while you are riding, this will help your body to remain relaxed.
