hi it's Josie and today I'd like to give you five tips to help keep you safe when you're
riding your horse tip number one is keep your nose behind your belly button when things are going
pear-shaped I ride a lot of Young Horses I start horses under saddle and in my first few rides I'm
always reminding myself to keep my nose behind my belly button and why do we do that because
ours it's behind our center of gravity and if our horse takes off see if I can get Rebels to
do it I'm sitting back here sorry mate so I don't get tossed forward my center of gravity is over
his center of gravity if I'm leaning here now my center of gravity is not over his center of
gravity if he takes off that way where do you think I'm going Ka pow straight out the front
door it's called the ejector seat position when I see people leaning forward and I have to tell
you that if you do it you may find that it's a bit of a reflex because as human beings when we
get nervous and worried we want to curl up into this position and I think you'll find it's like
a bit of an instinct to protect all of our vital organs so you do need to it's a thing that well
I had to teach myself anyway I couldn't just do it but to put my nose behind my belly button so
if I was sitting dow if I'm riding down here and I'm finding that things are like Rebel feels like
he's going to do something I feel him get tense the first thing I tell tell myself to do is nose
behind the belly button and I'll literally sit back it has saved my life a lot of times that
one and try not to be stiff in it because when the horse takes off if you're actually
relaxed you will go with him if you're stiff you'll bounce around and often get pinged out
thank you
tip number two never ever ever ever ever block your horse in front with both reins I'm not going
to do it but if you're hanging on to both reins and you're you're pulling on them your horse will
more than likely feel like he's going to rear on his hind legs stand up because he's trapped and
there's nowhere else for him to go except straight in the air this is particularly with young green
horses when I'm teaching them to move off my legs they'll often go to go forward there instead of
sideways like Rebel does and I have to say no shut the front door because that's not where I
want them to go but you must do it very carefully and I often just use squeezes of my ring finger
if I ever it doesn't mean I won't close both see I can close both reins here Rebels learned to go
backwards when I do that good boy but if you ever feel like your horse is threatening to rear for
goodness sakes throw both reins at your horse or at least throw one I'll often give them one
because I'm usually trying to teach them something but yes if you block your horse in front good
chance they're going to stand on their hind legs I think I'd rather a horse Buck than rear I truly do
when I was a child because the horse reared and I was hanging onto the reins I pulled it over on top
of me and it scared the Living Daylights out of me so yeah if your horse is going to rear throw
both reins grab some mane if they go up and try to lean forward and not pull on the reins
so tip number two brings us to tip number three learn to disengage your horse's hindquarters learn
to get him to turn his hindquarters like this and why do we want to do that well there's a couple
of reasons we want to do that a horse that is stepping across like that cannot rear Buck or
bolt because he doesn't have two hind legs on the ground to do that now you think about it for him
to rear he needs two hind legs on the ground for him to Buck he needs two hind legs on the ground
and for him to bolt he needs two hind legs to push so we teach our horse that for that reason
so if my horse was going to rear and I really thought he was going to do something or even if
I just thought that he was about to do something because I could feel the tension rising in him I
will just ask them to disengage their hindquarters and you do it guys with you need a soft rein here
it's no good if they're pulling on your rein but you teach him this on the ground before you ever
do it under saddle the other reason we like them to disengage their hindquarters is when they're
in this shape to put their inside now disengaging their hindquarters is putting their inside so the
one that's on the hind leg that's on the inside of the bend in front of the outside hind leg no
good if it's going behind because I'll see if I can make Reble do one behind I don't know if I
can if it's going behind the horse is straight which makes him stiff what we're looking for
in disengaging the hindquarters is to soften the horse's body he has to use that hind leg to step
underneath his center of gravity he pushes his rib cage out of the way he comes soft through the body
which will soften his mind if he's really anxious you teach them this and it helps them release
their anxiety so learn how to do that if you're interested in this stuff I do teach it in basic
horse training academy there is a link in the description if you want to know more about that
so tip number four is learn how to do a one rein stop please learn how to do a one rein
stop one rein stops are an emergency brake they are only used in an emergency situation it's
not something that you should be doing every day with your horse definitely not you teach
them this and then you save it for an emergency situation what uh and a one rein stop is exactly
what it says it's one rein only you don't need the other rein so basically I'll just I'll get
Rebel going and we'll just I I won't do a one rein stop on him but I will show you a video of
one so when the horse is going and something's happening you literally just sit and bring your
horse down to a stop with one rein like this you don't pull on the outside rein you don't
need it it's one rein only so what it does is it disengages the horse's hindquarters so if he's
going to bolt off somewhere because he's had a fright you would disengage his hindquarters it
also does exactly what I said before it bends the horse down it helps to soften him it helps
him to come back into his body and it helps him to relax his mind but again it is something that
we teach the horse before we need it you can't just go and get on a horse it's never done one
and do a one rein stop it won't work they they won't understand what you're asking from them
it needs to become a reflex for you so that you can do it I can ride the horses down the
track and and I'm on a long rein and what I do is if I'm like this and something happens and
it happens like in like a reflex for me Rebel can you just straighten your nose up please
whoops thank you is before I even know her I've lifted this rein up because I need to grab down
there and bring this here you don't do your one rein stop leaning forward to grab it why not
think about tip number one keep your nose behind your belly button okay
so you lift grab shorten without tipping your upper body forward thank you good boy
I need to pat her and not be
there you go there you go there you go good girl now her heart's beating a million miles an hour
there good girl you're all right so I'm just holding her in this position until she relaxes
and tip number five guys to keep you safe and this one I really want to reiterate to you if
you feel unsafe on your horse get off don't let anyone tell you you're weak don't let anyone tell
you you're letting the horse win get off your horse your safety is Paramount get off your
horse there's multiple reasons that you might want to get off your horse you might be trying
to teach him something he doesn't understand it he gets upset you need to get off so a nervous Rider
will never make a horse calm okay if you're uptight horses will pick it up and you're going
to make them worse get off learn some groundwork go on the ground do a bit of ground work with
the horse pop back on better still learn how to train your horse what you're trying to do so you
actually know what you're doing I'm not being rude you might but I see a lot of people doing stuff
and just with what they're doing I know they have no idea and if you don't know what you're doing
how does the horse know what you're doing so that's my number that's my number five tip
and I want you to know that it's okay to get off your horse if you're feeling uncomfortable I do
I break horses in or start horses under saddle for a living if I'm on the if I'm on a young horse and
he's had a few rides and it's not going right I get off usually because the horse is confused and
so I get off and I explain to him what I want and then I get back on but no one can tell you
that you're a wuss or that you're ruining your horse do not listen to them anyway I hope you
enjoyed my five tips to keep you safe I'd love for you to tell me in the comments which one's your
favorite one uh which one's my favorite one hmm probably the one rein stopped because seriously
that and keeping my nose behind my belly button have saved myself so many times they are my faves
and that means that I get another day to train these beautiful horses thanks for watching [Music]