jenn44uk
Member
Hi!
Long time lurker here but first time posting. I'm glad there's a new rider/owners section where I can post without seeming too out of my depth! Please be gentle.
Anyway I've nearly had my boy (see my avatar!) for two years, he's my first horse and I got him when I was 27. There's still so much that I'm trying to learn but I'm lucky that I have some good horsey friends at my yard, my instructor and websites such as this one (and Horse How To Academy).
I have started this thread to ask people what is the best advice they have received as new rider/owner and learning new things. Or not necessarily the best advice but something that you remember.
There are a couple of ones that really struck me but the one that springs to mind is this one that my instructor told me about trying to get my horse 'on the bit' (so using his hindquarters to push rather than his front end to pull himself - I didn't even understand the term 'on the bit' before I got him!).
Actually it applies to just commincating with the horse - I also had washing line reins. Anyway my instructor told me this:
You're trying to communicate with the horse via your reins (as well as your legs and weight etc). Think of the reins as a telephone wire and your hands are one handset and the horses mouth is the other. In order to speak to the horse and get him to listen you need to make sure your phone line is open - no sags in the reins, no pulling or blocking with the hands but gentle, clear and sometimes firm instruction and talk with the fingers, otherwise he won't understand what you're saying.
Love how it made things easier to understand for me. We're still a work in progress though!
I have some other tips and thoughts but will see if anyone has any other good ones, since I seem to have wrote a lot here.
Looking forward to seeing other peoples thoughts. Thank you for reading!
Jen
Long time lurker here but first time posting. I'm glad there's a new rider/owners section where I can post without seeming too out of my depth! Please be gentle.
Anyway I've nearly had my boy (see my avatar!) for two years, he's my first horse and I got him when I was 27. There's still so much that I'm trying to learn but I'm lucky that I have some good horsey friends at my yard, my instructor and websites such as this one (and Horse How To Academy).
I have started this thread to ask people what is the best advice they have received as new rider/owner and learning new things. Or not necessarily the best advice but something that you remember.
There are a couple of ones that really struck me but the one that springs to mind is this one that my instructor told me about trying to get my horse 'on the bit' (so using his hindquarters to push rather than his front end to pull himself - I didn't even understand the term 'on the bit' before I got him!).
Actually it applies to just commincating with the horse - I also had washing line reins. Anyway my instructor told me this:
You're trying to communicate with the horse via your reins (as well as your legs and weight etc). Think of the reins as a telephone wire and your hands are one handset and the horses mouth is the other. In order to speak to the horse and get him to listen you need to make sure your phone line is open - no sags in the reins, no pulling or blocking with the hands but gentle, clear and sometimes firm instruction and talk with the fingers, otherwise he won't understand what you're saying.
Love how it made things easier to understand for me. We're still a work in progress though!
I have some other tips and thoughts but will see if anyone has any other good ones, since I seem to have wrote a lot here.
Looking forward to seeing other peoples thoughts. Thank you for reading!
Jen