Things to attend to

Sit deep and square into the saddle but on your seat bones… to feel your seat bones… start by kicking your feet out of the stirrups, lift your thigh flesh out of the way on each leg so the inside of both legs fit snugly against the saddle, rock on the saddle until you feel your seat bones at the base of your pelvis. Get into the habit of sitting on these.

Stretch your heels down as deep as you can, now lift your toes up moving your heal into an imaginary line joining your heal with your hip and your shoulder. Keep your shoulders square.

You are now in correct position and to maintain it you must flex your hips in sync with the horse’s movement.

Now check your hand position to an imaginary straight line from the bit to your elbow with your thumbs on top of the reins.

Relax!

Relax into the seat and practice doing so whilst keeping pasture until it becomes instinctive and perfectly balanced and natural.

The Greeks who are one of the first to exhibit horsemanship rode horses bareback. It was only during the Iron Age that the Moors in the northern lands of Africa began using padded armours for their horses. Since then, aesthetics and function evolved. The Assyrians of the Middle East and Scythians started adorning and customizing their saddles and soon enough, word of the saddles spread throughout the world.

The Two Common Types of Saddles

In present day, there are many variations of horse saddles. Among these are two main types of saddles that have been prevalent ever since two different horse riding styles were popularized.

Western Saddle

This is the most common saddle used by Americans. The Western saddle is associated with cowboys from the “Wild West”. You can easily identify a Western saddle because of its deep seat, high front and back. The horn is what riders hold on to for added balance and typically use just one hand to hold the reins. This saddle is normally a lot heavier than the English but disperses the rider’s weight beautifully to the comfort advantage of both the horse and the rider.

English Saddle

The English take their saddle history from military roots. The English horse riding discipline is more formal and elegant, as opposed to the rugged Western style.

The English saddle has a shallow seat with no horn. The English saddle is mainly used for Olympic equestrian events… riders tend to hold the reins with both hands.

Australian Stock Saddle

Though adapted from the English saddle, the Australian stock saddle comes with a deeper seat, a higher pommel and at times has a horn. This saddle is meant for riders who spend long hours on ranches tending to their herds.

Racing Saddle

Compared to other kinds of saddles, the racing saddle is small and very lightweight. Taking from its name, this saddle is meant for galloping and jumping over fences at high speed. The flat seat is not for the racers to sit on but to simply hover over while they vie for first place.

Treeless Saddle

This saddle is perfect for horses that are difficult to find saddles for and for riders who prefer a bit more freedom. A cross between bareback riding and riding with a full-on saddle, the treeless saddle unlike the Western doesn’t provide much security.

Horse owners reap the rewards of having their own pasture. Not only are the horses happier and healthier, they also perform a lot better in shows or races.

If you’re one who’s graced with a horse pasture, maintaining one can be one gruelling task. Keep in mind the following factors below so pasture management will not be as painstaking.

Always check the entire pasture.

Before you let your horse roam free, be sure to inspect the entire pasture first. Take your time in checking if there are any loose and pointed objects that may cause serious harm to your horse. Always remove wires, pieces of metal or glass and splintered wood or any other hazardous item as and when you see them.

Renovate poor pasture spots.

If there are bare spots in your pasture, try and renovate them by reseeding. If there are areas of the pasture that are worse, you need to fertilize, coat the surface with lime application and do constant watering.

When renovating your pastures, it’s important to fence off those areas under renovation to stop your horses from damaging them whilst they are recovering.

Clean the pastures daily.

Letting excrements lie around the pastures should never be allowed. Always make sure that droppings are cleaned on a daily basis. This prevents insects from swarming around the field and worms contamination. Worm eggs can stick on grass and can compromise the digestive system of your horses.

Regularly eliminate weeds.

Weeds only feed on the pasture’s nutrients so it’s always best to get rid of them. Definitely remove them before they reach the seed production stage.

Pasture management can be a lot of work to maintain good grass coverage, to regulate weeds, to prevent insect and worm infestation… subscribe to the principal of a stitch in time saves nine and merely do little bits daily to stay on top of it.

1. Boot the bucket: You need about 6 riders and 12 boots. Get the boots laid out on the rails at one end, and a muck bucket placed in the center of the arena. You can let the riders participate as individuals or as parts of teams. If they are in teams, they line themselves up at the ring’s far end and then each rider trots to the boots at the other end. They can canter, too, depending on their abilities. The rider picks up one boot, takes it to the bucket and drops it right into the bucket. Then the rider returns to where he or she started and tags another rider, who goes through the boot dropping process in turn. The individual or team that first gets all the boots in wins. If a rider misses at the bucket, he or she dismounts and picks up the boot, then remounts and drops it in again. (This part can be skipped if the riders are too young or physically small.)

This game teaches the riders about how to best approach the boot and the bucket. They do not approach the boot head on, because if your horse’s head is pointing at the boot, you are not going to be able to pick it up. Then the riders learn to ride up slowly to the bucket, instead of dashing to it. The faster they ride, the less their chances of getting the boot into the bucket. They learn all about anticipation, patience and steering the horse.

2. Musical horse chairs: this game resembles the old game of musical chairs. Get some ground poles set up in two parallel lines in the center of the ring. Each pole should be about 8 feet away from the next one. Your riders ride their horses to music on the rail. There should be one less pole than there are riders. The riders do whatever is asked of them – walking, trotting, cantering, halves, half circles, reversing, circling. The music is abruptly stopped, and each rider continues in the same direction he or she was heading (clockwise or counter-clockwise) and gets to the nearest pole as fast as he or she can. One rider finds himself or herself without a pole and is eliminated from the game. The next round starts after one pole is removed. Like with musical riders, one contestant gets eliminated with each round, and the last survivor obviously is the winner. The riders seem to love this game, and I have seen that even the horses get into the spirit of the whole thing!

3. Traffic lights: Riders are set next to each in a racing formation at one end of the arena and ride in a straight line to the other end. They are given commands and have to ride in accordance to those commands. “Red light” means walking the horse, and “Green light” means trotting it. Riders are penalized five backward steps for every mistake made. Obviously, the first rider to get across the finish line wins. This game is great for development of eye contact skills and body language, and also helps rider and horse maintain calmness and control.

4. Mounting and dismounting: I usually set up this game with four bigger players who are capable of mounting their horses themselves and four smaller players who need mounting blocks. Each bigger rider is paired with a smaller one. The smaller riders are placed at the ring’s center ring with their mounting blocks. Each smaller rider keeps a sharp eye out for his or her bigger partner. The bigger riders are on the rail and are asked to go through some commands with their horses. On the command “Halt” the bigger rider stops at the rail and dismounts. At the same time, his or her smaller partner comes running to his or her partner, is helped onto the horse by the bigger partner and races back to his or her mounting block and dismounts. The rider who is last in the team goes out. Now it is the turn of the smaller rider to take commands at the center of the ring. He or she repeats the process with his or her bigger partners: when the halt is called the bigger partner rushes over to the smaller one, who is dismounting at the blocks. The bigger rider mounts and the smaller rider returns at a run to the mounting blocks. Things get humorously chaotic as the bigger riders soon can be seen riding without stirrups and in the style of racing jockeys, with little riders’ stirrups. The teams raise bedlam, till finally just one team is left.

When it comes to training your horse, you’ll be amazed as to how music can contribute. You don’t only have a horse that knows how to pick up a tempo, you also have an equine who can definitely dance. So if you’re looking into developing your horse training, here are some tips that can help you through.

Choose the kind that makes you tap your toes.

Horses follow a good rhythm and tempo once they’ve gotten used to a certain type of music. Make sure that you choose a piece that has a good downbeat. This means that it should be a type of music that makes you bob your head or tap your toes. When the horse gets familiar with the piece you’re playing, you’ll see how it smoothly follows its every beat with its movements.

Start with a low volume.

When you introduce anything foreign to your horse, it will scramble away out of fear. Considering the sensitive hearing of your equine, you need to mindful of the volume. If you’re just on the stage of introducing music to your equine, make sure that you start low. You don’t want to startle your horse by suddenly playing the piece too loud. What you can do is to gradually increase the volume as your horse slowly gets used to the presence of music while training.

Incorporate as much as possible.

Your mount needs to get used to hearing music whenever both of you are in training. It’s highly recommended that you incorporate music on a regular basis so your horse will grow familiar and eventually comfortable. You’ll be amazed as to how well they can move– possibly far better than you can!

Record your session.

When you train with music, it’s also beneficial if you record every session. This will help you identify which areas need more development. On the other hand, you’ll also be able to see the strong points of your horse in which you can reward it for.

There are a lot of advantages you can enjoy if you choose to train your mount with music. Not only will development and growth become faster, you and your worse will be healthier. Music is said to regulate blood pressure and better function of blood vessels.

If you’re into dressage, canters, trots and gaits will be a lot smoother and graceful. Moreover, it will make your training sessions as lot more vibrant and fun– and who doesn’t want to work on a lively environment, right?

Training your horse shouldn’t be all about strict, boring and routinely sessions. You have to think about tweaking your strategies and make it more engaging and interesting. So go ahead and try something new with your horse today. Train it with music!