Gain Horse Riding Confidence
Many times I am asked “how can I get confident when horse riding?”
It is a little hard to answer the question satisfactorily when you have been brought around horses from babyhood. Confidence is a state of mind and being raised with horses it just was normal for me to be with these lovely animals.
Now, I realise that for many people it can be a bit daunting when faced with a seemingly huge creature which may snort and stamp its feet and move about. That is just horse fidgets, we all fidget and horses are just the same. The only way to gain confidence is to be around the animals, stroke them and talk to them. Horses will respond to a gentle voice and a soothing hand amazingly well and as they build their trust in you, you will also gain a feel for them.
Horses as I have said before are social animals, they like company and they do appear to see humans as part of the herd. One factor that this does bring into play is that as a herd animal they have a highly sense of social feeling and if you are relaxed then so will they be, if you are nervous or hesitant then they will pick up on that and react accordingly. So treat them as you would a friend and they will do the same.
To get confidence in the saddle you have to practice, practice and practice. Learn how to sit correctly for each stage, walking, trotting and cantering or loping. our teacher will advise you on this so take heed and it will become natural after a time. One piece of advice I heard which made complete sense to me is “Your stomach is an accordion” which when you think about it describes perfectly how it should be, let your body move to the horses rhythm and it will become the most normal and relaxed feeling in the world.
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I started riding about 11 years ago. It took me a while to get more comfortable around them. And learning to canter took quite a while! The arena we had to ride in was a bit small, so I felt like I would fall off when we had to turn at the corner of the arena when trying to learn to canter. Then one day when my 4-H group was at the fair, I was in one of those horseback game events, and I had to canter back, across a long long arena, and it just clicked. I think because I had a long distance to be able to canter in a straight line, and I was able to find the right position to sit and keep my balance.
Take deep breaths, and when cantering, you want to be leaning slightly back. I used to end up leaning forward when trying to canter, which throws you off balance and makes your legs rise up.
Lean a little back and stretch your legs down into your stirrups before you start to canter.
Just keep working at it!! Good luck!!!