The very first and most important thing you must take into consideration when trail riding is safety. If you think of safe practices first and have a good common sense, you will surely enjoy the experience without hurting yourself or your horse. These are really essential, especially when you decide to experience riding on your own. Also, you will not always be guided or helped by your instructor.
Here are the top 7 rules you should keep in mind when trail riding.
1. When trail riding, do not forget to tell someone where you plan to go and when you plan to return. This is important in case you encountered an unexpected situation. For example, you or your horse became ill, lame, injured, get lost, or get stuck. If you told someone about your plan, he or she will notice if you havent returned yet. And of course someone will come looking for you in the place where you said you will go trail riding.
It is not advisable for a child or an inexperienced rider to go trail riding alone. Experienced riders can trail ride alone. It is also recommended that riders always bring communication device such as cell phone that is fully charged. This will help them get help during emergencies.
2. Always bring a hoof pick and a pocket knife. If your horse gets a stone lodged into its frog, you can use the hoof pick to get the stone off its hoof. If you dont get the stone off and let the horse continue to walk, the horses hoof will get very sore. If your horse gets caught in vines or thick brushes, you can use the pocket knife to free your horses feet.
3. Do not teach your horse to become lax as they are not smart enough to discern playtime from work time. Trail riding may be a relaxing time for you, however, you must not allow your horse to become relaxed as well. Otherwise, you will be left without control and the trail is the last place you want to be without control.
You will be left without control when your horse decides to relax even if you do not want it to. For example, you are on the way to a show ring gate and your horse gets aggressive and plunge its head down at every blade of grass. This will happen if you allow your horse to grab bites of grass as you walk along the trail.
4. Always ride a respectful distance from the other riders without creating unnecessary anxiety among the horses. Remember that horses are always communicating with each other and they, at times, act violently against one another. So keep at least one horse length between you and the next rider in front of you. However, keep their herd instincts in mind and never make them think that the herd is getting split up.
5. Be cautious when trail riding on a terrain that is not familiar to you. When trail riding on an unfamiliar terrain, always be careful and do not run. You do not know if there is an overgrown ditch or a covered up hole along the way. It will not be good if your horse stumbles on one of them and get its legs hurt.
6. Horses get easily scared, so you must know what to do when this happens. Foreign objects it sees along the way might scare it. The best thing to do is to ignore it, so your horse will ignore it too. The idea is, the smaller the deal you make out of it, the smaller the deal it will be to your horse.
Do not force your horse to get used to something that scares it by going back and forth in front of the spooky object. Help it deal with what scares it by letting it look, walk slowly and sniff the spooky object. Then, your horse will eventually learn that the thing is not scary at all.
7. If you come across others on the trail, walk along your horse with comfort. This will make your horse react the same way you do. If you are friendly, it will be friendly too, but if it sees you are nervous, it will get nervous too. You do not want your horse to react violently, so ride calmly.
To get the most out of your horseback riding experience, follow these top 7 rules. These will keep you and your horse safe on the trail.
About the Author:
About the Author: Pat Brooks is an equestrian, an attorney and Arabian horse training and breeding business owner and operator. She hosts the Horse And Rider Radio Show in Atlanta, Georgia, where she discusses information relevant to the newcomer. For more information on horses go to How To Ride A Horse and Horseback Lessons.
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