How to Get Better Balance While Riding a Horse
If you are new to horseback riding, you know that entering into a trot, canter or gallop can make balance a bit tricky. The better your balance, the smoother the ride. Additionally, with good balance you reduce your risk of falling and make the ride far more enjoyable. A few tricks can help you learn to get better balance when riding.
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Instructions
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Ride bareback to get a feeling of balance on a horse. A saddle offers stirrups a cantle and a horn, which are great ways to cheat learning good balance. Beginning with bareback will make you a far more capable rider when climbing into a saddle.
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Have a responsible trainer lunge your horse as you ride bareback. Start riding at a gentle walk, learning the motions of your horse and gaining your physical grip. Sit up straight with your heels pressing down towards the ground and your eyes looking forward. While you should use the muscles of your legs to grip the horse's body, you should remain as relaxed as possible, moving gently with the motion.
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Hold on with just your legs. At first, you may feel more comfortable resting your palms on your thighs. However, resist the urge to hold onto the horse's mane, as this will lead to bad mechanics and you will find yourself gripping the saddle horn later. When you feel comfortable, try opening your arms out to the side like wings.
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Begin to practice your balance at a trot and canter only when you are completely confident with walking and trotting. Once you have practiced these balancing exercises, you are ready to climb into a saddle. You will find that after practicing balance bareback, riding with a saddle will feel extremely easy.
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Tips & Warnings
When riding with a saddle, tighten the saddle as much as possible and then walk your horse a bit. After a few minutes, tighten the saddle again. A loose saddle is the best way to loose your balance when riding.
Whether riding bareback or in a saddle, always keep your heels pressed towards the ground to increase your centrifical balance.
If you find yourself overusing the cantle, horn or stirrups, take off the saddle and practice bareback once again.
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Comments
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well really since we are all built differently, different things will aid us. you just need to try everything till something works best for you. Thanks for the tip Author!
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equineink
Mar 23, 2009
Riding bareback is not a great way to learn proper technique as people tend to grip with their knees. Riding in a saddle that properly fits both the horse and rider allows the rider to stay in balance with the horse. Pressing your heels down down does not increase your centrifical balance. A neutral heel (not raised) is sufficient and it prevents riders from bracing against the stirrups and ending up behind the motion of the horse. I do agree that lunging is a great way to learn a better position but bareback is not. -
equineink
Mar 23, 2009
Riding bareback is not a great way to learn proper technique as people tend to grip with their knees. Riding in a saddle that properly fits both the horse and rider allows the rider to stay in balance with the horse. Pressing your heels down down does not increase your centrifical balance. A neutral heel (not raised) is sufficient and it prevents riders from bracing against the stirrups and ending up behind the motion of the horse. I do agree that lunging is a great way to learn a better position but bareback is not.
