How to Start a Horse by Keith Hosman

Author:Keith Hosman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Keith Hosman

Day Four: Pre-Mount Work

Yesterday we desensitized the horse to the saddle and related gear. Today we get him familiar with the actual mounting process.

Here's an entire "day" of exercises that you may not even know you needed to do. You may have simply assumed that you'd go from "all the other stuff" to stepping on the horse and riding, and, at first blush, that might seem logical—but nope, we need to add a few more steps. I hazard to guess that if you're doing the riding yourself, you'll welcome these necessary delays. The interim steps described below will ease your horse into accepting a rider and teach you what to do before actually crossing your right leg over the horse's back and committing yourself. Beyond "What to do," there's also "What to do if..." the horse tries to kick, moves off, bucks, et cetera. (Never fear, these things are covered in "Day Five"). Moving forward, we'll keep it simple here today and repeat steps often to build up much-needed muscle memory.

Note: Keep active in your training after you complete the material in this book. For obvious reasons we're hyper-careful the first time we get on the horse—but tend to grow complacent and take unnecessary risks on our tenth and eleventh rides. So, in the days that follow, before you push your horse to ride past barking dogs, trumpeting stallions, rushing waters or blaring car horns, continue to take trainer John Lyons' advice: "Ride where you can, not where you can't." Don't begin with your goals. If you'd like to ride past the flapping flags, work your way up to it by getting your horse solid in a mildly provocative area, then gradually strengthen your ability to ride past distractions or hazards.

But I digress... You should begin this mount-up process when both you and your horse are having a good day. See, I firmly believe that, while we can't really calm our horses by being calm ourselves, I know for a fact we can make a calm horse nervous. (Or make one mad if we're having a lousy day.) If he senses you to be unduly tense, it'll set off bells in his head—and then you'll have real reason to be on edge. Force yourself to go work out at the gym everyday, but don't force yourself to ride your horse just because it's on the schedule. Next admonition: Wear a helmet and have a friend keep an eye on the two of you. If you've seen the accidents I've seen, this'd be a no-brainer. (You should always have your cell phone, too.) Finally, find a reasonably quiet place to work; you don't need distractions like a baby foal in the next pen or some instructor screaming at her student to throw you off your game. You can lunge beforehand if it makes you feel better (some say it takes the edge off the horse) but I don't often bother and you shouldn't be fooled into complacency if you do: They'll

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