Start horseback riding?

Question

Hello fellow answerers. I am interested in starting English horseback riding. I am 13. Where should I start? I know a local barn that has lessons and a camp. I have no experience. I am hoping someone good give me basic info that will be helpful, how to do basic things, and what the different skills are. I hear people talking about dressage and stuff and I have no idea what any of those things are. Also, what should I wear (especially in the summer)? Thanks.

Answer 1

I am 15 and new to the english saddle and at first I had no idea what any of those things were. I looked up the internet and found out what they were. Here is a little info on Eventing  in English (which is show jumping, cross country jumping and dressage).

Eventing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eventing

There you go! I wont start riding English until around July. If you want more info, email me!

Answer 2

My advice would be to start taking lessons and your instructor will teach you about riding,tack and the different styles of riding.Once you start riding,you may have more questions,but just get started and go from there. Good luck!!

Answer 3

the best advice I can give you is t take lessons,ask many questions and listen to your instructor

English riding is composed of many different aspects of riding and is a lot different than western riding.

there is jumping

drassage

cross country

and you have to post instead of just sitting in the saddle so there are many different little pieces that go into it

No matter what style you ride, the most important thing is that you and the horse are in tune to eachother - this makes for a safe comfortable ride for both rider and horse

do a search on the net too - it is so full of information, I am sure there are some realy good sites

Answer 4

My advice would be to start taking riding lessons and to start with you can just wear wellies or anything with a small heal with skinny jeans or trackies. If you are interested in stable management or simply the basics of walk trot and canter i suggest that you buy a book and use this as your "horsey bible". That's certainly what got me through the tough times when I didn't have a clue what my instructor was talking about and even now I've been riding 7+ years but still find it helpful when dealing with new things around my pony.

Sorry I couldn't have been more help, hope your horsey Hobey is a long and successful one.