English Riding > tips

Question

HI, I am have ridden for 4 years ( western) I am starting my first english riding lesson tomorrow, so i was wondering if you could give me some tips, any advice would be great, and what is english riding like? thanks!

Answer 1

English  has shorter stirrups, one thing i do is pretend to touch your heels under your horse. this gives you a stable seat. keep away from being a "barbie on a horse" ( dont tense up) try to keep a strait line from your hip to heel, and bit to elbow. to do this you need your leg under you and your reins shouldnt be slack.

Good Luck, key: relax and enjoy!

Answer 2

oh wow how exciting!  I know exactly how you feel lol I rode western for about 6 years and then decided to switch to english and I love it SO much!  In my opinion, you feel so much more connected to the horse... but anyways... I found it helpful to ask the instructor to put me on the longe line during my first lesson so that I could get used to the completely different saddle.  This was also very helpful when I was learning how to post correctly.  You'll have to hold your reins alot differently also because in western you leave alot of slack in the reins and in english you need contact.  Not pulling but a feel between the horses mouth and your hands.  One final piece of advice is don't be discouraged if it seems really hard at first, because once you get the hang of it it's a blast!  Especially if you start jumping or eventing!

Answer 3

It will be very awkward at first.  You're used to a lot of saddle around you and you're going to have hardly any saddle at all.  You're not going to ride on contact right away, but you'll need to eventually.  When I first switched to english I felt like my legs wiggled all over the place and I had the hardest time learning to ride on contact... every time the horse put its head down it pulled me forward with it!

As for tips, when you first get on, do get into an english posture, you'll need not to sit so far back as you're used to.  You're used to sitting back on your butt.  now you'll need to rotate your pelvis forward a little.  Don't lean forward with your shoulders, but keep them right over your hips.  Try to keep your legs right underneath you.  You're probably used to them being out in front of you a little bit.  When you're posting, your legs will probably slide out in front of you, so be conscious of trying to keep them back underneath you.  If you've posted in a western saddle, you're probably used to posting with your stirrups more than your legs.  Instead of using your toes and stirrups to push yourself out of the saddle, try to use your inner thighs and push your heels down every time you go up into a post.

It will feel hard at first, but eventually it will be second nature.

If you feel a little unstable, don't be afraid to rest your knuckles on the horse's neck or even grab some mane and wrap it around your fingers.

Eventually, you'll come to love english.  Since the saddle is smaller and there's less leather on the sides of the horse, you'll feel more connected to the horse... your leg commands will work so much better than they did in a western saddle.  At first I felt really insecure in an english saddle.  Now I feel the opposite... when I ride western I feel like I can't feel the horse and I can't use my legs to hold myself on the horse.  English gives you a much better connection with your horse.

For the most part, riding english and western aren't that different.  You still ask your horse to go with the same cues.  The horses move the same way.  The only difference is that an english horse will cover more ground than a western horse.  The english stride is a lot longer... consequently the trot will be A LOT more bouncy and the canter will be a lot faster.

Your legs will hurt the day after your lesson because you'll use your legs so much more than you're used to, but it's natural.

Don't be afraid to tell your instructor if you're nervous about something.  Your instructor will take care of you and not let anything bad happen.  Just relax and have fun!

Answer 4

make sure you have contact with your horses mouth and squeeze your reins and release them, do the same with your legs to get the horse up onto the bit. keep your shoulders back and down, elbows near your 'tickle spots' but elastic to follow the movement. Look up and sit tall.