How to Ride a Difficult Horse: The Basics for Beginners

Once you have mastered these horses, you will feel even more confident than you did on the old faithfuls. It feels good to know that you can control a horse that is testing your skills and that you aren't nervous about these horses anymore.

Everyone gets nervous when learning to ride a new horse; that's natural. Just remember: your instructor knows when you are ready, and they will never put you in danger. They want you to succeed as much as you want to!

Step 2: Learn How Your Riding Affects the Horse

Once you have mastered the more challenging lesson horses and proved that you are an assertive

rider, you still have to keep moving up the ladder. In my program, the next step is to ride a safe horse, but one that is a little less refined. In other words, it may need reminders to stay at a certain speed or help with balancing. It might be a horse that likes to get crooked and you have to work on straightening, or a horse that needs work on picking up the correct canter lead.

This is when you begin to learn about how your riding affects the horse, for example, how we correct basic problems like crookedness or maybe a dropped shoulder here and there. Your instructor will be talking you through how you can use your body and position to correct whatever the horse is doing wrong. So now, not only are you refining your own position and riding skills, but you are also learning training tools. You will learn what exercises help with what particular issue the horse might have.