how to ride a horse ?

Question

how do i stop myself from bouncing up and down when the horse is running ? i was on a trail ride somewhere in wisconsin dells and i asked the lady how do i stop from bouncing around and she said to put alll the weight to my ankles. i dont unserstand what she means ! give me every detail about how to stop bouncing around and other good tips . THAnks ! :]

Answer 1

To put all your weight in your ankles means to sink your weight down the back of your leg to your heels so that you are using your stirrups to support your weight. But only about 60% of your weight (at canter) should be in your stirrups.

To keep yourself from bouncing you must sit on the soft part of your seat where the pockets of your jeans are or would be. Keep sitting tall and your upper body still while allowing you hips to rock with the motion of the horse.

Best wishes!

Answer 2

For trotting, you can try posting. This is where you put all of your weight into the stirrups and actually lift your butt off the saddle according to the up and down rhythms of your horse's gait. This actually takes all of the bounce away since you are actually bouncing yourself up and out of the saddle. This generally works best for trotting though. If you don't like posting, the best way to not be bouncing up and down during the trot is to completely relax your thighs against the horse. Your stomach muscles should be tightening and relaxing to the rhythm of the horse.

For cantering or loping, I would just suggest riding your horse alot and practicing. Your butt should shift slightly forward according to your horse's rhythm, and then should set back down repeatedly throughout the canter. It has alot to do with balance and knowing your horse's rhythm. Try riding bareback (only if you are experienced enough to do this). You can use a bridle if you feel that a halter will not give you enough control of your horse. Practice walking and trotting, and once you feel comfortable enough doing these, try loping. Bareback is an excellent way to stay in touch with your horse. Just be very careful with your legaids and body movements, as your horse will be able to feel all movements and weight shifts. Doing this can really help you with your balance and can bond you with your horse.

Hope that helped! Good luck!

Answer 3

Mustang Tuck had the right answer. While loping(running) on a horse you need to have all your weight in your butt not in your stirrups as many of these people have said, that pushes you up out of the saddle every time the horse takes a stride. While sitting the lope you cant just sit still like in a chair. Your horse is moving so you have to also. You have to lean slightly back in the saddle, not so far you feel like you are going over backwards. As you ask your horse to begin to lope you need to follow the horses movement with your hips. They will roll from back to front in a circle. When your hips are at the front of the circle you should feel like you are slouching a little, at the back of the circle you should feel like you are sitting up straight. Taking you feet out of the stirrups will help alot, then you cant push yourself out of the saddle. One of your hips will feel slightly ahead of the other as the horse reaches further ahead with one foot than the other. This is called the horses lead. The easiest way to learn this it to have someone lunge your horse while you ride then you can relax and concentrate on what you are feeling. Find a horse with a really slow easy lope and they are much easier to learn ride at the trot and lope. I have had a few horses that I have had a hard time sitting to their trot an lope because they were just to rough and bouncey. Then you have to resort to the tacky glue. ;) A few lessons with a good trainer or a training video is ideal. Also if you have any horse shows in your area go watch a few. I still pick up new things even after riding for 30 yrs.
Good luck I hope this helps.

Answer 4

I rode horses a lot in my teens and into my 20's. The best thing you can do if you really want to learn how to ride is sign up for some lessons. Decide if you want English or Western, shop around to a few stables and then take it from there. It probably would cost no more than about 25 hour per 1 lesson and they have the horse.

Answer 5

Personally i think its easier to hand gallop or canter bareback with a pad. But i have been riding four years almost every day. Dont put your weight into the horse. Generally doing that your asking the horse to stop. A well trained horse that knows its comands will stop by just shifting your hips down and put your weight into them.

Dont have your heels up. Your going to lose balance and fall on your face. Heels down as far as possible. If you ever wear spurs you will need to know this. Talk to a instructor.

Answer 6

Well if you're bouncing while riding you're just plain sitting there as if you're relaxing in a chair. Riding horses takes some muscles, especially leg muscles. While your feet are in the stirrups push down into them, sort of if you were sitting in a chair but you lift your heels up from the floor. I've learned that if you push down into the stirrups you can actually get into a flow with the horse, while it's trotting you can get into a rhthym up up up down, up up down pattern. Once you get the hang of it, it's fun. I'm sure the horse appreciates it as well. Makes for a happy horse and rider.

Answer 7

Well, you need super strong legs. You have to put most weight on your heels, I'm not too sure how to explain it. You put your heels down....You also lock your whole entire leg onto the horse. As you do this you should stop bouncing. Also, the horse may speed up a bit so use the third finger.

Answer 8

You will need about 10 lessons until you know how to do that. There are 2 ways:
1. You press your legs on the horse's body, and stand on the stirrups, and go up-down at the same pace as the horse, but you go up-down on your own, so you don't bounce.
2. the complete opposite: you try to keep constant contact with the saddle. You keep trying to lengthen your legs, without standing on the stirrups, and try to sit deep, down-down-down, with every step of the horse, so that you keep being stuck on the saddle and don't bounce.
Both methods need a technique, you need to have a teacher, follow her instructions, and get the gist of it gradually. Patience and effort is what is needed.

Answer 9

I usually go with the horse. You can push with your feet into the stirrups (where your ankles are) and try to get into the rythm with the horse so that you're not bouncing around like a rag doll. :)

Answer 10

Well if you ask ME how to ride a horse, I would say "Prayerfully!"

The Bible says, "A horse is a vain thing for safety!"

No clue, actually, I only rode on "old Bill" and a mule, but after reading all the good tips above, I seem to recall that Stirrups are adjustable, so they have to be right. Too short you gotta ride with bent Knees, That's a nix. Too long, you can only touch the Horse with your weight. But the right adjustment, you can shift your weight. 'Sat make sense? Yipee-ki-yo-ki-yeaa! --Sionarra