Horse Talk blog.

Getting on a horse

Getting on a horse

Does everyone know how to get on a horse properly?

You may think you do but is it 100% safe when you get on?

I see soooo many people get on their horse with a loose reign and if you go to do this on a young horse or a flighty energetic horse you are going to end up in a world of hurt.  So many things can go wrong.

  • horse can move forward quickly and you end up behind the saddle on the bum and the horse takes off bucking with you
  • you fall off and get kicked
  • horse jumps forward to trot off and you fall catching your foot in the stirrup and get dragged
  • and so on…

 

I see people sticking their whole foot through the stirrup so they don’t fall back down.  A huge no no.

So next time you get on your horse have a really good think about the what if!

Put the reins over the head with a rein drill making sure you are holding the left rein near the bit at all times for control. Straighten the reins and make sure the rein is not caught up on the other side and attached to the bit correctly.

Sliding your left hand from the bit to the right hand holding the outside rein then both reins in your left hand resting on the horses neck.

Inside rein slightly shorter so that if the horse does walk away will do a circle around you so you can hop on and not end up with their rear end facing you.

Holding the pummel with your right hand to get on and not pulling the back of the saddle down and hurting your horses back Throwing your shoulder over the horses centreline to prevent hanging on the stirrup on the nearside with the poor horse having to work every muscle on the nearside to stand up until you centre yourself in the saddle.  This is also risk of the saddle slipping.

Putting just the ball of your foot in the stirrup to get up not your whole foot so that if something happens you can easily jump down.

These are just a few tips of the day that could really prevent a serious accident.

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