Training Your Horse (Horsemanship)
Riding horses is more than sitting atop a horse and having the horse move gracefully. Riding takes skill but having the horse understand one's cues is more important than your riding. Without the horse knowing what your legs and body are trying to tell them, one's communication with the horse will be useless as the horse will not follow your commands like one will be expecting them. Horsemanship is more than groundwork but covers ground training all the way to training them to be responsive while ridden. Horsemanship can also cover one's riding ability and how to ride well.
Groundwork is essential to have mastered before sitting atop a horse. Working with a horse as if it were being taught this for the first time, tends to be an excellent way of re-enforcing the basics of horsemanship. Everything from catching a horse to breaking a horse to the saddle is all part of ground training and horsemanship. These aspects of horseback riding must be mastered in order to progress to higher levels.
Once trained to be ridden, the first steps with a rider all the way through flying over a course of fences or performing a Grand Prix dressage test is all horsemanship. Everything can be done better and with more precision. Training the horse to respond properly to one's aids is important to have a bond with them and succeed in the show ring. Every move one makes in the saddle to the way the hands and legs move sends signals to the horse to do certain things. If there is a mis-communication between horse and rider the response one may be seeking may not happen because the horse is misunderstanding what their rider is trying to tell them.
Learning to ride well is horsemanship. Not one person has mastered how to ride the horse because horses are creatures that can be unpredictable. Learning to ride and communicate with the horse so there is not any mis-communication is horsemanship. If one did not know how to properly communicate with the horse without causing problems or injuries there would be issues with the riding which could lead to death. Every moment around a horse requires horsemanship, including petting a horse's body to leading a horse safely.
Without horsemanship and learning how to properly communicate to the horse what one wants issues would appear and put people in danger of injury and even death. Clear communication between both the rider and the horse is important to be able to ride at leisure or compete at a local schooling show. Horsemanship takes the level of communication to a higher clearer level so horse and rider can reach their dreams.
Groundwork is essential to have mastered before sitting atop a horse. Working with a horse as if it were being taught this for the first time, tends to be an excellent way of re-enforcing the basics of horsemanship. Everything from catching a horse to breaking a horse to the saddle is all part of ground training and horsemanship. These aspects of horseback riding must be mastered in order to progress to higher levels.
Once trained to be ridden, the first steps with a rider all the way through flying over a course of fences or performing a Grand Prix dressage test is all horsemanship. Everything can be done better and with more precision. Training the horse to respond properly to one's aids is important to have a bond with them and succeed in the show ring. Every move one makes in the saddle to the way the hands and legs move sends signals to the horse to do certain things. If there is a mis-communication between horse and rider the response one may be seeking may not happen because the horse is misunderstanding what their rider is trying to tell them.
Learning to ride well is horsemanship. Not one person has mastered how to ride the horse because horses are creatures that can be unpredictable. Learning to ride and communicate with the horse so there is not any mis-communication is horsemanship. If one did not know how to properly communicate with the horse without causing problems or injuries there would be issues with the riding which could lead to death. Every moment around a horse requires horsemanship, including petting a horse's body to leading a horse safely.
Without horsemanship and learning how to properly communicate to the horse what one wants issues would appear and put people in danger of injury and even death. Clear communication between both the rider and the horse is important to be able to ride at leisure or compete at a local schooling show. Horsemanship takes the level of communication to a higher clearer level so horse and rider can reach their dreams.
