A Balanced Horse Riding Seat

April 10, 2012 By Leave a Comment

What is the single most important contribution you can make to a safe, comfy ride for both you and your pony? A well balanced seat, that’s what; your sitting posture impacts your riding capability, big time. The correct sitting posture achieves 2 benefits: it helps you stay on your pony, and creates a smooth motion between you and your pony. Bad posture could cause back stiffness for you and also your horse.

You’ll have to spend a bit of time practising sitting properly, but at the day’s end your efforts will pay off. I’ve got some ideas below for you on how to position your body while on horseback: what to do with your limbs, your head, your body and your shoulders.

The seat

Begin by breathing deep. Deep breathing relax you and helps you straighten up. You should be seated plumb in the saddle’s centre, with your weight bearing down thru your seat bones. Seat bones, what are they? You can find out by going through this little exercise: sit on your butt and rock forward and backward. You will feel your weight grinding delicately on two bones that feel like a rocking chair’s curves. You have just found your seat bones.

Now that you are done with that, let’s get back to the saddle. Sit straight. Keep taking deep breaths, and you will feel your back stretching and your rump settling down deeper. Keep your head balanced loosely over your shoulders and permit your legs to dangle. Give it another check to make certain your weight is centred on the saddle, not off one way or another.

The feet and the stirrups

Confirm your stirrups are hanging at precisely the right height. When you sit with your legs hanging loose, your stirrups should touch your foot just beneath the ankle bone. You will will be pushed backward in the saddle by stirrups that have been fitted too short, while very long stirrups will have you

bouncing along

merrily.

Insert your feet into the stirrups such that they push up against the balls of your feet. Your toes should be aligned with your knees, while your heels should point down. Your toes should not be markedly pointing outward or inward. You must also ensure your feet aren’t pushing in; they should lightly rest on the stirrups.

The legs

Your legs should be resting against the horse’s sides as well as the saddle. They shouldn’t be loosely in contact, nor should they be tightly gripping the saddle or the horse’s sides. You need to aim at a firm constant contact. Your inside calves should be brushing against the horse’s sides. If you’re sitting correctly, your feet should be immediately underneath your seat.

The head and the eyes

A lot of people think that their rumps are the balancing factor, and you may excuse me if that makes me giggle, because it’s your head that influences your balance. And I have more news for you: your eyes are what keep your head in control. It is in general best to look out over the head of the horse. You should not take your head down or on the side too much, as this will play havoc with your sense of balance.

It may appear a bit strange, but your horse appears to have a kind of 6th sense about where you are looking. He turns his head that way, too. This could lead him to take an unplanned turn. You should prevent this kind of thing from occuring by looking at targets in line with your intended direction of travel.

The shoulders and arms

Keep your shoulders loose and relaxed. They should bend without rigidity. You must keep your arms close to your sides, with the elbows a touch bent. Keep your hands low, with your forearms and knuckles pointing towards the horse’s mouth and your thumb on top of the reins. Your heel, hip and shoulder being in a straight line.

Horses are Heather Toms passion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of articles with other horse lovers, like things about barrel saddles for sale

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How To Get Your 1st Horse Ride Right

April 10, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The 1st time a human being gets onto the back of a horse, he experiences mixed feelings. For some of the people, fear is dominant. Others feel thrilled. Maybe there is the category of person who wonders what the fuss is all about, but happily I have not yet met this kind of person.

For the majority of people, a first-time horse ride can be breathtaking. It’s my experience that most people feel contented about riding horses; even those that are initially nervous get over it. If you’re riding a trained horse for the 1st time, you’ll generally find that he’s happy to be ridden. It’s this characteristic of the horse that leads to such deep bonding between humans and horses.

Before going out on a pony for the 1st time, try and create some accord well before you even saddle him. Pet him, feed him some treats, speak with him, try and make him feel comfortable with you. It you succeed at setting up a good understanding right away, you are never going to have a problem with that pony when riding him. You just have to keep in mind the pony is a prey animal and in the initial stages, will be more suspicious of than receptive to a stranger.

As you get set to mount your horse for the first time, your body language will have a major influence on your subsequent experiences. You need to broadcast confidence as you approach to mount. Don’t try to mount without assistance if you’re standing at a lower level, especially if you are short in height. Utilize a mounting block, there is no shame in it. A mounting block helps you keep your physical and mental equanimity as you get onto your horse’s back.

Custom is to mount the pony from its left, but you need to try out both sides. It is vital that in the first days, you work with a horse that’s trained to stay absolutely still when you’re mounting. If your horse does have a tendency to move a bit, get help holding him still while you mount.

Position yourself beside your horse’s shoulder as you get set to mount. Be very careful of how you use your hands. Don’t do dumb things like grabbing the saddle horn to leverage yourself up. Try and keep your movements smooth, so you do not upset the horse’s poise and equilibrium.

Learning how to ride like a champion

Don’t rush your pony into motion without making sure everything is in order, and you are seated comfortably. Start slow but particular. Stay receptive to any communication your horse is sending out, don’t make him do things that would discomfort him. Build up your riding speed slowly. Never lose control, never panic. You’re the ship master.

You can have plenty of highly enjoyable rides if you keep trying to fortify your bond with your pony. If he does something wrong, be patient about correcting him, and keep at it until he does work it out. Don’t lose your cool.

When riding a pony for the first time, try and do so in an environment that offers no distractions to the pony. If other horses are present, for instance, your horse may focus more on them and less on you, and that would imply loss of coordination.

Be a pro-active rider. Try not to be a total dead weight on horse’s back. Remember, you need to use your weight to work with or against the horse’s motions. When you are in the right type of coordination with him, you will make his life a whole lot easier and your ride a whole lot more pleasurable. This type of coordination incorporates practice, so don’t expect to be a miracle horse rider the 1st time out.

Horses are Heather Toms passion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of articles with other horse lovers, like all things about mini chaps

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What Comprises Natural Horsemanship

April 10, 2012 By 1 Comment

Natural horsemanship is pretty much what the words suggest: a natural gift for working with horses. I have lived with horses for almost all of my life, and I had frequent occasion to be amazed by the almost smooth bonding some riders seem to enjoy with their steeds. I used to hear others expound about natural horsemanship, and while every one of them appeared to put their own slant on it, the basic talents that constituted natural horsemanship couldn’t be anything except the same for everybody. A lot of trainers claim to be in a position to install something akin to natural horsemanship in their students, but if you were to observe closely, you would find that every one of them have different approaches to the same basics. That isn’t intended to be a disparaging remark, because lots of the trainers I know are totally devoted horse people, who take pride in implanting good horse sense in their scholars.

I would outline the main characteristic of natural horsemanship as the capability of both rider and pony to speak with each without resorting to oral or body language. It struck me all of a sudden one day, while I was mucking around in my horse’s stall, that natural horse sense is in a way a divinely inspired horse sense.

I imagine it was based on my church-going youth, and my remembrances of Gen.1:24-25, which discusses God creating horses; Gen.1:26 that deals with God’s creation of mankind and Gen.2:19-20 where God allows man to name the animals.

What makes folk identify with horses so much? What makes some people such smashing horse persons? Why do some people have the capability to train horses and human scholars just the way in which they desire, like they have some kind of a direct connection to the brain rather than to the ears and the eyes?

I believe the divine part comes because of these assets: the abilities to speak with our God and God’s creatures, including the horse. My relations with my horses have given me such a lot that is precious in life, and have taught me a lot about life and divinity and the need to constantly improve myself.

At the end of the day, it reduces down to this: God works to build our trust in him and we work to build our horse’s trust in ourselves. God puts us thru stress (seldom above what we will handle); when we have had enough, we surrender to him and look to him to steer us. As a pony trainer, I too put my horses under pressure of learning (seldom testing their toleration level) till they surrender and learn how to let me guide them.

The horses, as well , have taught me lessons. They have taught me that if you don’t have man made blinkers on, you will be in a position to see all human beings as equal to one another, regardless of race, colour, wealth, education or any other aspect. As far as horses are concerned they see only humans, they don’t see white homo sapiens or coloured homo sapiens or rich homo sapiens or poor human beings. I haven’t known a horse to carry a grudge for more than a day. Even after a pretty serious argument one day, the following day the pony is back to basics. Horses have no needless ego and are always game for another try at a relationship.

Horses are Heather Toms passion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of articles with other horse lovers, like all things about riding hats

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What Real Horse Training Is Actually About

April 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment

I don’t think anyone with the slightest notion of horses and horse craft will deny the end objective of horse training is to allow the rider to exert total control over the horse. This is what dressage and all the “arts of riding” philosophies are all about.

But how would you define “control”? I hope you will agree with me that control should not be interpreted to refer solely to physical mastery over the pony.

I can recollect reading some article somewhere about the right bit to use with the right halter to get “total control” over a young colt. It looks to be a horrible idea with tinges of Big Brother.

I have two hypothetical, and maybe not so hypothetical, eventualities for you in relation to control.

The first eventuality imagines a show pony with rolling eyes, standing in the aisle of his barn in cross ties. You might say the pony is under control? It will not be able to bolt from the barn.

The second scenario is about a cowboy who opens a gate, leads his horse through, drops the reins and closes the gate, and all the while the horse stays still. Now that is another sort of control altogether.

I once knew a cowboy who sited his horse such that it might turn the cattle the cowboy on his 2 feet was shooing out of the corral. What do you think about that sort of control?

I ponder at riders who resort to heavy bits to exercise more control. I’ve one question for them: how much control would they have exercised if their horses threw them off? Potentially with some physical damage?

You aren’t going to achieve the best kind of complete control with tools and gadgets. If he is really feeling mean, your horse will just run thru a bit or whatever other tool you employ. And if all else fails, you pony can always give you a hard and sudden landing on the ground.

My viewpoint of control is that it is a state of mind that is based on your focus as well as that of your pony; the coaching you imparted to him and the trust you mutually enjoy. I have lost count of the amount of times I’ve seen riders who were using lead ropes to pull their horses, or were barely clinging on while astride. I never missed the chance to tell them,”You shouldn’t be with that horse, because you don’t seem to be able to control it”.

I think that when you lead your horse, he should follow you with head dropped and slack in the lead rope. If he is not doing that, you have a little problem which is most likely going to reach maturity in a major disaster.

I repeat: control is a condition of mind that reflects the quality of coaching the pony has received plus the standard of the rider and the trust between horse and rider. I’m content to be well placed to say everytime I approach my horses they all crowd near eagerly. Occasionally, my stud sulks because the mares have been leading him on, and at such times, he may intrude on my private space. I just have to give one look to set him right. And since he responds immediately as I need him to, I give him a little bit of scratching to show there aren’t any hard feelings.

Horses are Heather Toms passion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of articles with other horse lovers, like all things about western show clothes

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Training Aids Will Improve Your Horse’s Lunging Work Rate

April 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment

You’d be better advised to look upon the activity of lunging your pony not as an inescapable chore, but as an opportunity to enhance your pony. It’s a useful activity, whether or not it is summer or winter. When made a routine part of your horse’s exercise, it keeps your pony from getting bored and makes him alert. A lot of advance has been made in the quality of lunging gear and other equine coaching aids during the last few years. A lot of new coaching aids have popped up in the market that are of positive help in improving your horse’s techniques.

You get coaching equipment (with different variations) that go round the hindquarters of the pony. These rigs are helpful for encouraging a horse to go under and to realize more efficiency in hind leg usage. Other coaching rings position the horse right away, rather than getting him to find the correct position for himself. Pony rigs that work on propelling the hindquarters can get the horse to work and stretch more at the neck and the back, features that are awfully desirable regardless of what discipline the horse might be employed in. These rigs operate on the classic principle of preparing the horse’s “engine” first, which would then help him accomplish perfect self-carriage.

Lots of folks typically use side reins as coaching aids for lunging. These aids can work well at getting the horse to develop the neck and the head. Side reins are most helpful for horses that are tense and prone to resistance. The standard way to approach such horses is to utilise minimally elastic hardware with them, in order that they learn it’s better to relax and get forward. If there is too much give on the side reins, it causes the same effect as the human hand, permitting even if the pony is resisting. This will confuse the pony.

Old time training rigs like the Chambon and the De-Gogue are engineered to inspire horses to keep a chilled, low head carriage. These rigs can cause panic in inexperienced horses, and so it is a good idea that they be used either under the control of veteran trainers or by the trainers themselves. These rigs work on pretty much the same principle discussed earlier: release of pony resistance is equivalent to release of training aid resistance, which allows the horse to get to the best head carriage. As far as those coaching aids that work essentially with the head and poll area are concerned , the handler must keep his animal working through out of the rear: it is better to train the horse to keep its head in an acceptable position even though it is worked thru its body properly.

This article isn’t intended to act as a complete guide to everything procurable from the market by way of horse gear and coaching aids. Nonetheless I have attempted to give some valid features of the most typical aids, although a general majority of the more unusual aids use similar principles, it would be recommendable when procuring any new type of equipment to ascertain its exact action and so gain an idea of what you have to subject your horse to. Further, it’s also sensible that you get 2nd views from experienced trainers and yard managers. Whatever rig you use, make terribly certain that you break your horse gently to it; don’t hustle him, as that will hurt him, panic him and worst of all, make him allergic to the rig.

At the end of the day, it must be understand that mere apparatus is no real substitute for correctness of riding. You should take the trouble of comprehensively inquiring into any lunging aid you are planning to acquire, finding out how it operates and work it in the recommended manner. This will make your lunging sessions with your horse much more fruitful and give you both something helpful to work on together.

Horses are Heather Toms passion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of articles with other horse lovers, like all things about western clothes

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Understand The Way A Horse Thinks

April 7, 2012 By 1 Comment

If I’d had a dollar for each complaint I have heard in my life about a pony doing something it shouldn’t have, I would own the world’s largest stud farm by this time. I have heard folks fuss about horses shying at butterflies and about horses refusing to board a trailer. Judged from the human viewpoint, naturally, these may be inexplicable actions on the part of the horse. The human point of view is that butterflies aren’t dangerous, as are horse trailers, so what’s the horse’s beef all about?

Well, horses don’t have the same viewpoint on things that humans do, because they are a completely different species. Their viewpoints and reactions are definitely at variance from those of the human being. Homo sapiens are predators in more than one sense of the word and that’s why they have their eyes at the front. This means humans have a more confined line of sight. Horses are prey animals and have eyes on the sides of the head. This means they have got a wider range of vision, they have better lateral and rear vision. This is because that sort of vision gives them better chances of spotting predators early and escaping.

The natural reaction for a pony that feels threatened by something is flight. Fight is the response when flight is not practical. A pony fights with its legs and teeth. It is a moot point that horses in today’s world live in relatively safe environments. Their inherent instincts have been ingrained over centuries of wild life, and these instincts continue to lead their reactions.

The most extraordinary stimuli can trigger a horse’s flight or fight instincts. Even in a ranch setting, a particularly standard object that’s out of kilter can set off a reaction. I’ve had lots of experience with this, like when horses shied at a careless set down water bucket when led around corners. The built-in instinct dominated immediately until a closer look told the pony it was taking a look at nothing more than a bucket!

I recall a point when I was practising with a lasso near my pony. I planned to inure him to the rope in motion. My instructor taught me a new trick concerning a counter-clockwise whisk of the rope rather than a clockwise one. My pony reacted badly, and I had to go thru the entire process of getting him desensitized again. His survival instincts were kicked off by nothing less than a change in the direction of swing of the rope.

For most horse owners, getting a horse to load on a trailer could be a exasperating experience. To homo sapiens, a trailer is merely a convenient means of transport. To a pony, the trailer is something dark and confined, and probably full of threats. Since the horse’s inherent instinct is to run, he isn’t going to be comfortable when he’s restricted to a tiny space between four walls that give him no chance of getting away.

It is thus necessary that as a horse owner you take pains to work on your pony so that he accepts the trailer as harmless, however grudgingly he may do so. You have to work on getting him to shed his claustrophobia. Here is how it’s possible for you to try out your horse. If he is uncomfortable when right next to a wall, when walking over a platform or when ducking under an overhead object, he’s probably not going to be ok with a trailer. You need to work on getting your horse comfortable with the wall, the platform and the overhead object first. You build his confidence up gradually and soon enough he’ll be getting into that trailer when you need him to.

You can’t resolve a horse’s problems unless you take the trouble of putting yourself in his place and looking at the world from his viewpoint. That’s the sole way his behavior patterns will begin to seem sensible to you. You aren’t going to get anywhere if you expect the horse to change his viewpoint from an equine to a human one.

Horses are Heather Toms passion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of articles with other horse lovers, like all things about country supply

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Horse Training Requires Immediate Rewards Or Punishments

April 4, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The most fundamental premise of behavioural science is that behavior patterns and performances are best influenced by rewarding positive attitudes and punishing negative ones. This necessary belief shapes the approach to the coaching of pets, and of more interest to us here, to the coaching of horses.

Somewhere else, I wrote articles about the significance of undertaking pony coaching with very clearly defined objectives. This will enable you as a trainer to immediately identify when your pony is lagging and when he has done very well. You respond with a penalty or a reward as appropriate.

You need to keep one thing in mind: timing is vital to ensure your pony learns his lessons well. Your reaction to your horse’s performance must be immediate. Horses, especially the younger ones, have limited concentration spans. We are talking about say 2 seconds here. Here’s where your horse would differ from your son. You can catch your child out in some misbehaviour just as you are heading off to the office, and punish him after you return while reminding him of his morning’s indiscretion. He’s going to remember the morning. You cannot do this with your pony, who will not remember and will look at you like you are nuts. You Need To reward or penalize him on the spot and straight after his accomplishment or non-achievement.

That takes us to the logical next question: what comprises suitable rewards, and what punishments are O.K.

Broadly outlined, you reward your horse with anything that pleases him. Each pony has their own preferred “treats”, even a good rub down or scratching can be rewards that are seriously appreciated, or perhaps a break from the grind.

Let’s get one thing straight: relentless corporal punishment is not in the “acceptable” class. Other than that, punishment includes anything that lets your pony know without any shadow of doubt that he’s being punished. Ideally, you should have several options of varying severity for punishing your horse in proportion to the severity of his blunder.

My voice is my favorite means of punishment. I find it to be the best and the least vicious. My voice gives me all of the variety I need. I can adjust my tone, my volume and probably a physical gesture to add the mandatory emphasis. Clearly, I spend some time teaching my horse the meaning of words, particularly words with a negative connotation like “No”, once that is done, the rest is simple.

You’ve got to do some home work before you set about coaching a horse. You really need to have mental inventories of what actions of your horse you would approve of and what actions you would censure. You need to be ready with the right reward or punishment on each instance.

Consistency is the key, naturally, to ensuring your pony learns his lessons well and for keeps.

Horses are Heather Toms passion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of articles with other horse lovers, like things about barrel saddles for sale

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How Your Negative Moods Impact Your Pony Training

April 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment

If you have ever noted a bunch of horses when they’re turned out, you will have spotted that they have terribly rigid social behavior patterns. Each horse is acutely aware of their position on the totem pole. You won’t be seeing anything surprising or peculiar. Horses live with a well developed sense of herd discipline.

And human beings screw it all up, as we do with many things natural. Whenever humans enter the picture, they create issues. When a horse interacts with a human, the pony expects consistent behavior, something like he is used to from the members of his own herd. Almost invariably, he is disappointed, and confused.

I have heard it said that pet dogs and owners who have been with each other for some considerable time start resembling each other. I have some truly handsome dogs at home, but that isn’t what I was leading up to.

I hope that the similarity thing applies to human beings and their horses, also , especially in terms of behaviour. On reflection, I do notice that I have seen lots of horses that behave exactly the same as their human owners. I am really not sure whether the pony influences the human or vice versa, but I do hope it is the former. Relaxed horses nearly always appear to have relaxed owners, while uptight horses appear to have nothing apart from uptight owners.

And eventually, here is the point behind all those first few paragraphs of this article: if we’re not very nice or consistent with our horses, we may most likely be influencing them to behave accordingly, too.

Look at it this way. One day, you go for your ride whistling, feeling on top of the Earth. You halter and saddle your horse and swing on with a hum. You’ve a great ride, during which you could just about swear you heard your pony humming, too. He definitely did seem to give you a wink after you had finished with the ride, the unsaddling and the grooming, and were saying your goodbye.

The very next time, you come for your ride in a nasty mood. You are silent and sullen as you halter and saddle your horse, and you catch him looking askance at you. You ride him without your heart in it, and he’s taking you on your ride like he would rather be elsewhere. He damn well knows you are grouchy, though he might not know why, and he may not care, either. He shows his attitude: he would rather be finished with the ride and back in his stall.

Now if this type of thing keeps going down regularly your horse is no longer going to be responsive to your moods, bright or sombre. He’s going to be fed up with your uncertainty and show his irritation. He is going to become inconsistent, too.

Consistency is most crucial at all times when you are handling a pet, especially when you’re coaching a pony. You are going to make a fine hash of the training if you’re gentle and patient one day and huffy the other. I would go so far as to venture that it would be better for you to be consistently touchy (if you can’t be habitually delicate and patient). That way, at least your pony knows where he stands with you.

Almost invariably, it’s been my experience that the most balanced folks train the most responsive horses. When the horse is not subject to any evil surprises, he is going to be absolutely focused on the coaching. He will not have to get rattled by wild mood changes on the part of his trainer. This kind of behaviour can take the horse’s attention away from the training to toward the coach, because the pony wouldn’t need to tread on the trainer’s toes, literally or figuratively.

There is only one answer to inconsistency, a conscious, perseverant effort at consistency. Failure usually leads to problems.

My concluding guidance is; if you are not in a happy mood, don’t go to train your pony. If you do go, don’t basically ride the pony, just give him a little time, brushing or scratching and not spoiling the environment by dwelling on your sorrows. Your pony may be puzzled, but he will accept it as a temporary aberration!

Horses are Heather Toms passion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of articles with other horse lovers, like all things about simco saddles

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Bridle Options

April 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Buying a bridle can be a testing experience thanks to the difficulty associated with choosing from the huge variety available on the market. Before you set out to actually purchase a bridle that bests suits you and your horse, you’ve got to have it clear in your mind what your specific requirements are and what sits well with your pony.

Begin by taking into consideration the uses you will put your bridle to. Clearly, that will depend to a significant extent on what the uses are that you put your horse to. Do you have a competition horse that looks exceedingly good with smart leather bridles? Are you into endurance, where the lightness of the bridle is more important than its stylishness? Are you the sort of person who is particular about buying products that give quality service over lengthy periods, like leather does? Or is your number one criteria the comfort of your horse?

When your bridle’s purposes are decisively entrenched in your mind, give some consideration to the style of bridle that you would like. Think over the personality and abilities of your horse. Does a snaffle bridle of the standard type, with nose band or without, suit you better or would you be happier with a double bridle? What sort of nose band will you use: the flash type or the grackle type? Or perhaps a simple cavesson? Perhaps your style is a little more showy, and you need something like a special occasion diamante design or a bitless bridle? Come to mention it, do you really need a nose band in the first place?

Then there is the important aspect of your budget. How much are you able to afford to pay for a new bridle? What about maintenance? Are you wanting something that is straightforward to clean off sweat and dirt after a tough day’s work? Or are you ready to spend time on cleaning and maintaining, but you have no desire to compromise on quality, and so you prefer leather? A good leather bridle is definitely more expensive than a good synthetic one, but the leather product will give you years of service and still look good with minimum upkeep, while the synthetic one may begin to show its age and get tarnished after a while. Leather is a way better choice for competition or showing, while synthetic material is the superior option when light weight is the critical criteria.

When you have made up your mind on the factors that decide your selection of bridle, go and start choosing. Tack shops in your vicinity may suggest bridles that suit your particular needs and your finances. You may also try shopping online. The web world hosts many tack shops that you can look thru. The Net lets you take your time not solely in finding what you want, but also in finding the best spots to get it for a bargain.

Horses are Heather Toms passion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of articles with other horse lovers, like all things about mini chaps

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Safe Pony Riding Is Today’s Norm

March 31, 2012 By Leave a Comment

I do not endorse riding with your intelligence full of scared images of falling off or meeting with some other sort of accident. I subscribe to the concept you can entice providence, and if you do so , providence is going to let itself be enticed.

All of that does not always mean, though, that you shouldn’t take precautions of the kind that will allow you to ride with a tension-free mind.

Precautions means getting your horse and yourself as accident-proof as you can. It suggests going through a pre-ride check list that covers items like condition of tack items, snugness of fit on pony, clothing sported by rider and the like. Talking about clothing sported by the rider, you’ll want to make it a routine to ride only with the proper riding boots or heeled paddock boots, not with the latest product in tennis shoes. You will also wish to ride with attire on that will not snag on any of the tack and a snug helmet.

I’ve known plenty of western riders to keep away from wearing helmets. It is simply not in perfect harmony with the “macho” picture of the western man. I myself took a long while to choose wearing one. Before I started wearing helmets regularly on ordinary rides, the only times I sported a helmet was at English hunter and dressage shows. I once found helmets hot, uncomfortable and expensive. I also found them most less than suitable from the viewpoint of fashion. In my early days, I didn’t bother reading much about riding injuries and how they might be prevented.

We no longer live in those times. More sense is prevailing nowadays. Developments like the internet have helped hugely, because info is now available freely and instantly on the high prevalence of head injuries in riding accidents. It goes without saying that head wounds afflict riders without helmet the most, and the level of experience of the rider doesn’t appear to make much difference. While fractured bones can be set and be corrected, though at the price of some time, head wounds can be far harder and can cause severe life-long difficulties.

Since I became aware about the benefits of wearing helmets while riding, I have taken some interest in horse riding accidents. I have come across plenty of folk, essentially I personally am one of them, who got direct hits on their heads while riding without helmets. I have also learned that the occurrence of significant head injuries is radically reduced when helmets enter the picture.

Because you are an expert pony rider doesn’t suggest you can successfully avoid falls. Horses can stumble or slip unexpected and tumble with their riders. They can also buck suddenly at some possible threat that suddenly turns up in their paths. I had a buddy who snagged her leg on a vine while riding and was dragged off as her unknowing pony kept going forward. Though she first landed on her buttocks, momentum took her down all the way and she banged her head on the ground. She was fortunate to get away with mild concussion and mild internal bleeding that hospitalised her for over 3 weeks. She had to keep away from work for some considerable time, Her incident give her limited absentmindedness, and she suffered the fate that makes most devoted pony riders shudder: she couldn’t bear the idea of riding a pony any more.

Helmets are no longer boring affairs of the same standard shape. They come in a massive array of looks, designs, cost and comfort. They are so well designed re ventilation they’re basically cooler than hats. They also protect the rider from the sun and from the most likely serious sequences of a fall. You should opt for helmets that are ASTM/SEI authorized. These helmets come in a stunning variety of colours and designs. They’ve a lot of covering, and are available for specific head configurations and dimensions.

When you take the right precautions, items like helmets comprise an asset you can use for a long time to come.

Horses are Heather Toms passion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of articles with other horse lovers, like all things about tack room


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