Ready to Ride

I've been busy starting young horses over the winter and gotten a little behind in my blogging! But, with that on my mind I thought I would do a short excerpt on how to know if your young horse is ready to ride. It's easy to get too excited and just hop on but that can end in disaster and create a negative experience for both of you. In my opinion, ita always better to overdo the groundwork then underdo the groundwork.

Here is a checklist for knowing when your horse is ready for the first ride:

-Your horse respects you on the ground. If your horse doesn't respect you on the ground they won't undersaddle. You can tell your horse respects you if they give you 2 eyes and you can move their feet forwards, backwards, left, and right with minimal pressure. They are responsive to your verbal cues and body language.

-Your horse will flex and move off of stirrup pressure. Being able to flex the neck off of minimal halter pressure is key. This is your 1 rein emergency break. The horse needs to be soft here. They also need to be soft and sensitive to stirrup pressure. This simulates your leg. If they are resistant or grumpy towards the stirrup they won't accept your leg.

-You have tried to get "bucked off" on the ground and failed. This takes desensitization. Get the horse used to you sacking it out with random objects, making noises, jumping up and down, rubbing it all over. And putting obnoxious pressure on or around the saddle (ie: slapping the saddle, jumping up and down in the stirrup.) Your horse should stand quietly and relaxed for all of this. Try to find the oh no spots before you go to get on.

Hope this is informative and helpful! It's always fun working with young horses because in the beginning they progress in leaps and bounds. Now that spring is just around the corner its time to prep for the show season which is very exciting as well!