What To Wear To Your 1st Horse Riding Lesson

Getting all set to realise a long-held dream: ride a pony? This forthcoming first experience of yours probably has you otherwise nervous, anticipative, anxious, jubilant. You can get over a large amount of your nerves by simply ensuring you make all of the right preparations.

Start by guaranteeing you’ve got the right attire. Your attire should be selected only on consideration of comfort and safety. Leave the bling for later on the more advanced stages in your pony life.

One thing you just can’t do without is a helmet that is properly certificated. Most riding schools do let you use one of their helmets for the opening few learning sessions, in the expectation that after you make up your mind to keep on you’ll get your own helmet. You should bear in mind that a borrowed helmet will have been utilized by countess other hopeful riders, and even while they’re routinely disinfected and sprayed in front of you, you may still prefer to go along with your own helmet.

Note that helmets to be used with bikes are inappropriate for horse riding because they are made to different standards of impact measures and safety. The better riding facilities will not allow you to use helmets without ASTM/SEI validation, so be sure not to let some silver tongued tack shop man charm you into getting a barely suitable helmet. Do some homework, learn all about the coolest brands, get a helmet with a correct label, your riding school will most likely be doing some inspection of its own on the 1st day you turn up.

Your next procurement should really be composed of a pair of boots with square heels and smooth soles. You can think about cowboy or jodhpur boots when you purchase them, but don’t splurge just yet on real riding boots. Just settle for a good pair of ankle boots with smooth soles and square heels. Preferably, your boots cover and support the ankles. Sneakers, military boots and dockers are absolutely not acceptable. Army boots come with very thick treads, and your foot could well get caught in the stirrup if you tumble, with the chance of bad injury ensuing. By the same rule, footwear without square heels let your feet slide right thru into the stirrup and again, this may be perilous. Remember: boots without treads, with smooth soles, with square heels.

Your next call is on suitable pants for riding. A lot of new riders find this choice a bit of a dilemma. Denim pants often fit loosely and have prominent seams, which can badly scrape your legs and knees and perhaps your calves, as well. Jeans also have a tendency to ride up the legs, exposing your calves and letting them get chafed by the stirrup leathers. Most leg wear for running is rather slick on the exterior, which may make you slip while you are in your saddle. All of this means you need pants that don’t have thick seams, don’t rub and do not ride up. You might try jeans with pantyhose beneath, don’t giggle, I’ve known masses of men to use this combination , or you need to use thick tights. Instead of panty hose, you could use long johns with jeans, but this will be workable only in winter. If you use long johns, ensure you tuck them into your socks, so they won’t ride up. In winter, thick tights usually work fine with leg warmers, which have recycled into fashion. Ultimately, you need breeches or riding tights. You could also try out jeans especially made for riding, which are made from stretch material and have no inner seams.

You are all set: you have got your certified helmet, correct shoes and approved attire. It’s time to get onto that horse and have some fun!

Horses are Heather Tomspassion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of articles with other horse lovers visit HorseHorses