is she having a laugh?

Question

i had a riding lesson today , but when we where cantering , my riding teacher made us sing a nursery rhym, we canterd in twos and we had to sing a rhym out , she says it helps the rider to realx and not make them feel nerous and the horse works better so called , she said she had to do it at college when they where jumping as they felt more realxed and the horses did not refuse the jumps , has anyone heard of this , or was she just having a laugh, because i felt stupid singing ride a cock horse to bramberry cross whilst i was cantering round

this is no joke . i had to do it, has anyone else heard of this

Answer 1

dont feel silly everyone else is doing it
yes it does help rider to relax and breath, as a nervous rider can hold their breath without realising it when doing something they are not entirely comfortable with and this causes tension through the hands and legs

Answer 2

heheheh been there done that and when you think about it were you nervous while cantering??? no cause you were worried more about how silly you sounded so it made you relax. I was humiliated the first few times my tariner had me do this years ago. Here I am on a big 16 hand gelding singing "Here we go round the mulberry bush" in an arena with about 10 others...... God I was mortified. After riding in these lessons where we sang a few more times I realized I was not aprhensive about cantering or anything at all. I actually have started using this same philosphy on my own horses. See I barrel race and a couple of my guys are really and I mean REALLY hot in the gate, rearing and backing out and acting silly as all get out going in. I find that if I sing to them going in the gate it 1 helps relax me and not make me make any stupid moves and 2 it in turn also relaxes the horse. I prefer to sing them You are my sunshine or Red River Valley. lol And I kid you not it works if I sing they walk in , if I don't it's a rodeo before I even get to pattern and they are so worked up that they leave half their energy behind. So no I don't think your trainer was having alaugh. I think she was actually helping you:)

Answer 3

Oh, yes. She is not funning you, she is trying to get you to focus elsewhere. I used to have to do all sorts of silly things and I paid well to do it, but now have a room full of trophies and ribbons to show for it. And horses work very well for me as they relax when I am relaxed, tense up when I am tense. Some are more sensitive than others, but all are affected by tense, serious riders. And the best time I ever had was in drill team, where we sang and rode to music. The horses were all with the program, too, so they must have been enjoying something, eh?

Answer 4

Yes I have heard of it, but I have never sang a song while I was on my horses back. I ususally sing to my horse when I lunge him at shows. It really comes him down.

Answer 5

Your teachers right. We used to sing along to songs she'd play on a cd player. I actually thought it not only worked but made our time more fun. She is right though, it gives you something else to think about and helps you relax.

Answer 6

This is weird, I have never heard of this before. So did it work for you and make you relaxed and your horse act better?

Answer 7

you probably don't have a problem with being nervous....but the girls/guys that do need to sing to focus on something else...and the horse works better because they are talking to them

Answer 8

Thats the best laugh I've had all day! Keep up the good work.

Answer 9

Cowboys sang all the time. LOL

I don't know. Hmmm...