The Wonder of Riding a Horse
Published by GHC • Jan 2nd, 2008 • Category: Junior Blogger Archives, Riding Adviceby horsejo, age 11
All girls at Girls Horse Club love horses. They love their eyes, they love their bodies, but most of all these girls love the horse’s sweet heart. No matter what size a horse it, the heart is always the same: sweet and caring.
Some people here aren’t as lucky as others. Some of us ride every week or even every day. Some of us have never ridden a horse in our whole life. That is the main point of the blog. It is for the people who do not ride, to describe how it feels to ride a horse.
As soon as you get on, the whole world seems taller for a minute. You warm up by walking for a few minutes, enjoying the horse’s long strides. When you trot, at first it seems fast. But after a while, you get used to it and you are bouncing or posting along with your horse.
In the posting trot, the rider makes an up and down movement each stride, going up on beat one and down on beat two. The rider should allow the horse’s movement to lift her seat a bit out of the saddle, then allow the pelvis to move forward and toward the front of the saddle, opening the hip angle. When coming back down, the seat should touch down lightly, rather than slamming down on the horse’s back, and the hip angle will close slightly. To get the movement more easily, the rider can count ‘one-two-one-two’ with the sound of the horse’s footfalls. The rider should post up on one, and down on two.
If you were riding western, you might have to practice running the barrels. The beginner would do it at a trot. As you go, you have to turn the reins this way or that way. It gets a little bit confusing but your horse will help you along the way.
If you are riding English, you might want to do a little jumping. You trot or canter up to the jump, get in two-point at the right time, and for a second your horse is flying in the air. Once you land at the ground and go off, you would wish you were still flying in the sky. It is such a wonderful feeling. You are soaring with the wind on your face.
After a lesson, when you climb off, you may feel small. Don’t worry, you’re not. The horse’s tall height makes you feel a little smaller than you really are. As you walk out of the arena, sometimes you feel sad. Why? Because your lesson is over, and you can’t ride again until next time.
Well, I hope I described the feelings of being on a horse. It is a magical experience that you can never completely understand until you have done it yourself.
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I think that this is a wonderful blog for girls who haven’t ridden a horse before. I take lessons and go once a week. It is an amazing experience. I was just thinking… YOU COULD WRITE A STORY ABOUT CANTERING AND GALLOPING! How neat would that be for inexperienced horse girls? ;)
Don’t forget jumping! That’s my defo fave thing to do. I also do adore galloping. And making my horses work on the bit and have a lovely out-line. Do you own a horse? I own a Friesian called Eclipse and a Lippizanner called Shadowstorm :)
This was an interesting blog. Even though I ride this still taught me a couple of things. I was never really clear on Two Point because the stables where I ride doesn’t teach jumping, because they think it’s way to dangerous. Plus some of the kids have to ride in western saddles because they are so petite and we don’t have any english saddles. Only endurance and western. So, yeah. But now I know what it is! Thanks horsejo!
Oooh, I LVOE the pic!!! It’s a wonderful blog too!!! Good job!!! :D
Great job Horsejo! It’s so kind of you to write such an excellent blog about horse riding for the less fortunate horse girls. It was really informative, and since I haven’t done jumping before, I could actually feel I was flying right here in my seat in front of the computer! A blog about cantering and galloping would be pretty cool as well. Maybe then I can confirm whether my feelings in dreams are true or not…
I love it!!! I know how it feels to walk, trot and canter but I’ve never jumped very high before. I love riding and couldn’t imagine not having my two lessons a month (it’s really expensive here, well it’s going to be in the middle of a city!!!). Well done! :)
Great job horsejo!
I havn’t sat english for a few months now, it’s gonna be hard adjusting to it again. I would just like to point out that in western the trot is called jog and canter lope. I prefer western and probably won’t even start barrels for another year, maybe more. And in riding you use your legs much, much more than your hands. Just thought I’d point that out. :D
I think this is your best blog, though! I love it!
…I gotta tell you, that this inspired me to do something. I found out more about riding, and I know I have to get back in the saddle (only ever ridden 2x) and am now seeing if I can exchange some service for lessons. :)
Amazing blog horsejo! Really inspiring, and it made me remember the first time I sat on a horse and how I felt on top of the world! Good job!
Thank you for all the comments.
Great! I (hopefully) will start my first riding lessons soon and now know what to expect. I think I will be doing a little of everything you have mentioned. ;;)