I have been at a teaching impasse lately. I see riders with no feel in their hands and hurting the horse or not taking a hold of the horse and the horse getting conflicting signals.  It is taking forever to try and teach good hands.  I don’t want the horses to have to wait “forever”.  I’m a bit impatient these days.  Pregnant and impatient, that’s me.

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Fredi and I have been racking our brains how to help these riders have the “aha” moment. I finally realized what part of the problem is, I usually ride in on my lessons.  I ride with my students.  I cannot do that right now because I’m pregnant.  I can’t do much at this point because when I am pregnant, my body is practically useless around horses.  Fredi was staying on the ground too because I can hardly touch a horse anymore without getting hurt.  For some reason, one little pull or push and my back goes right out of place.

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Fredi is starting to ride during the lessons now to demonstrate which has helped. If you only see other riders ride incorrectly, how are you going to know what correct looks like?  But, it still wasn’t enough.  Then I had to think back to how I was the most successful at teaching a rider to use their hands effectively.  The way I did that was to sit behind them on the horse and take the riders hand into my hand and physically show them how it is supposed to feel.  I also used my leg over the riders leg if needed to get the feel of when and how leg pressure should be applied.  The rider often tries to use their hands with mine, but they shouldn’t, they should just feel and not interfere if they want the full experience.  Within minutes of using that technique, the rider will know what a horse’s mouth should feel like and what a correct response feels like.  They will know how much to pull with how much pressure, and when to release.  The largest rider I have done this with was 200 pounds.  We were on a big horse mind you, and the mare didn’t mind.

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I know that riding double is not best for a horse’s back, BUT what’s 10 minutes of discomfort on the back for years of light feeling riding in the mouth? I am not allowed to ride right now, so Fredi is the designated double rider.  We have a rather large saddle (19 inch) that comfortably seats two riders.  If your child is having trouble learning how to feel a horse’s mouth, this would be a great way to teach it.  Or, if you have a professional with fantastic hands, let them be your guide.  You will cut years off of your learning curve.  Just be sure you are on a horse that can handle the type of weight that comes with two riders.  Start out at the halt, then slowly begin the walk.  If it’s easy for the horse you can always add a jog.  From there the rider should have the “aha” moment and can practice the rest on his or her own and have their own Midas touch, where every horse you/they ride turns to gold.

1 Comment to Horseback Riding with The Midas Touch

Popstar(omg)
December 10, 2009

You can also do a jump rope to practice at home. First put the jump rope or any rope in fine around your feet and grab the to ends like reins. Your feet is to copy the horses mouth and feel the little movements on his/her feet by pulling as softly has he/she can like the movement of riding.

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