(upbeat music)
- When you first get a new horse
it can be a little bit daunting and scary.
Everybody's got a different opinion
and it's hard to filter through the information
and know what is the best decision to make
and what should I be doing with my new horse.
So today I wanna share with you five things
that have helped me to make my riding safer
and more enjoyable in my work with my horses.
And hopefully they'll be a help to you as well.
(gentle music)
(bell dings)
Tip number one is finding a good saddle.
Your saddle is one of the most important tools
that you use when riding your horse,
and it has the power to be a great help to you
or a potential hindrance.
I remember when I was a little girl,
I got my first pony
and I was so excited to go to my local tack store.
I found the saddle that I thought
was the perfect one for me.
(bell rings) (door creaks)
- Ah, it's so beautiful.
Even though I felt like my first saddle was beautiful
and perfect, it probably wasn't the best fit for my pony.
And it wasn't until years later
that I started to learn the importance of saddle fit
for improving my riding.
If we have a saddle that doesn't fit our horse,
it can cause pain resulting in behavioral issues
like bucking, rearing, spooking, bolting, and many more.
And it can also cause physical damage to the horse,
even resulting in lameness.
When it comes to having a saddle that doesn't fit the rider,
it can put the rider ahead of the motion
or behind the motion
and make it difficult for that rider to stay in balance
and work with the motion of the horse.
So to prevent these issues from arising,
you want to contact a professional saddle fitter
in your area that can come out and look at your horse,
evaluate their confirmation, how they're moving
and find a saddle
that's really gonna be a great fit for them.
A good fitting saddle is gonna distribute
the weight of the rider more evenly over the horse's back,
protect his spine and ligaments from any pressure
and is going to allow you guys to be able to work as a team,
together, comfortably and efficiently.
It's also gonna help you as a rider
to have a good saddle that fits you,
to communicate more clearly to your horse
and enjoy your riding more.
(gentle music)
C'mere Crosby.
Good boy.
Tip number two, is working on the ground.
Many of us, when we first get our horse,
we're excited to ride, but to me,
working on the ground is so important.
It's where I really build a stronger relationship
with my horse and get to know them as an individual.
Our horses each have unique personalities
and they're different every day.
So Crosby, today it's raining outside,
and he's a little bit tense and nervous.
And if you have a day like this, for example,
with Meg, where they are a little bit worried and tense,
then taking some time to work the horse on the ground
can help to set you up for a better riding experience
and really help your horse to connect with you mentally
and feel more confident in the work.
(gentle music)
The other area where groundwork is really important
is for our safety.
If we have a horse that we're working with
and they're tense and nervous,
even under saddle sometimes,
we have a horse that gets excited,
that excitement is escalating,
I found it to be helpful, sometimes, to get off the horse,
work with them a little on the ground,
get their focus back on me,
get them to a relaxed state and then get back under saddle
so I can end on a positive note.
(gentle music)
Great job Crosby, it was a really nice ride.
So my next tip is having realistic expectations.
When we first get our horses, we have a lot of goals
and a lot of things that we want to do with them.
And those goals may be something a little bit broad,
like having a wonderful relationship with our horse
and enjoying our riding,
or they might be really specific like riding out on trail
or cantering by the end of the year.
Whatever your goal is,
there's a lot of ups and downs along the way
when we're first learning.
And when we hit those patches of frustration
or things go kind of south on us,
it's important to remember
that there's these three different components
to riding with our horses.
And that is there's the mental,
the physical and the emotional.
So to give you an example of this,
let's say we have a rider named Susie
and Susie has difficulty slowing her horse down.
(horse whinnying)
She's seen other riders slow their horses down
and it seems like it should be pretty easy.
So what's going on here with Susie?
Susie has a lack of knowledge,
which is the mental side,
physically she's falling forward with a lack of strength
and that's causing her horse to rush more
and emotionally she is anxious or afraid.
So all of these things are contributing to this problem
of her horse running off.
(gentle music)
My next tip is all about optimizing your riding.
And that tip is physical fitness.
Many times we think of physical fitness
and we think I don't have time for this.
Is it really gonna help me in my riding?
So I wanna share with you three ways
that this has helped me in my riding.
Here I have an arched back
and inward rotation of the pelvis
due to tight hip flexors.
And you can see how this is causing me
to ride really stiffly.
As a result of this, Crosby is also walking really stiffly
and reflecting me.
So your horse reflects your body.
Here I'm riding in a neutral position,
on my pelvis with a nice relaxed, open hip flexors.
And as a result of this, Crosby is walking more forward.
(gentle music)
The second reason working out can help you in your riding
is it improves your communication.
Your body is your main form of communication when you ride.
Finally, it improves our balance,
allowing us to work with the motion of the horse.
(gentle music)
So I just finished up at Sand Hill, here,
and my final tip for you guys
is finding the right people to work with.
When we work with horses,
there's a lot of different people
that help our work with our horses to be positive
and us to be able to progress towards our goals.
When we think about this, we have our horse
and our relationship with our horse in the center
and then we have these various professionals
that support that relationship.
People like our vet, our farrier,
massage therapist, or chiropractor,
our saddle fitter and our trainer and our barn manager.
All of these people are helping us to further our goals
and enrich the riding relationship,
or the relationship with our horse.
So it's really important when we look for professionals
that we have someone we can communicate with,
that their views and their philosophies align with ours
and we feel like when we inevitably hit the ups and downs
of owning horses, they can help us through
some of those rough patches.
If you have a professional that you are working with,
that you feel like you can't communicate with,
they're not open to you or your goals don't align,
I found in my journey that it's really worthwhile
to look for someone else to help you.
When it comes down to it, we really wanna make sure
we have people surrounding us that support us
and that share our values.
I hope these tips were a help you.
I know when you first get a new horse,
there's a lot of things to take in,
and hopefully this gave you some ideas
to set you on a path of success
and enjoying your horse.
Remember, to enjoy the journey.
Congratulations and I look forward to seeing you
in the next video.
(gentle music)