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3 Signs You Shouldn't Ride Yet

Don Jessop

I watched her horse hold still just long enough for a giant leap to the saddle. Good thing she was agile. A move like that would send me home with a torn muscle, if I even made the landing. Once up and riding, she tried a few homemade tricks to get her horse stopped and settled long enough to ask me what our lessons was.

"So , what should I do first," she asked.

"First... get off." I responded.

She looked confused. Not because of my tone. My demeanor was soft and fun. Confused because she had just got on. It's the same look I get from a novice rider learning to canter when I tell them to walk immediately after the transition up into canter. As a professional horse trainer, I've always found it interesting how novice people always bypass the quality of the transition and commit to their new experience despite the poor transition. As a trainer, it's the transition itself that matters more in the long run.

Mounting is a transition, and this young athletic rider bypassed the quality for the riding time. Our lesson began when she got off and headed back to the mounting block. What probably seemed like an eternity to her, took less than twenty minutes in real time. Her horse committed to standing patiently, regardless of any stimulus from the person on the mounting block. A few seconds later she was on again. Standing perfectly still and we had another forty minutes left in our lesson. I praised her for her commitment to quality and we began our riding exercises.

Not standing still for mounting is one of the top three reasons not to ride yet. It's a sign from your horse, saying "I'm not ready." The other two signs are: Your horse is hard to catch. And you're walking on eggshells around him, trying to be quiet as to not upset him.

Take a moment and analyze those two with me.
Hard to catch... If your horse sees you coming into the paddock with your halter and lead and then turns away from you. Don't ride today. Not yet anyway. Take your time, put your halter on. Give him a rub or treat, then take the halter off and leave. A few minutes later come back and do the same thing. Do the catch and release game until he stops turning away as you come toward him. It may take several cycles of catching and releasing and leaving through the gate before he finally commits to staring you down as you enter and approach.

Like the mounting, or the cantering derived earlier, catching is a transition, don't accept a poor transition. I can tell you, it's all too easy to think you have it right because you finally convinced him to stand as you wrap your rope around his neck. But don't be fooled. You have to release him, leave, then come back and test the new approach. It needs to be his choice to stay, not yours. If he turns away and you catch him and go saddle up, you're just reinforcing the problem. You're riding against his will. Not a great idea, even if you're in a hurry. Catch and release practice is something everyone should do even if they aren't planning to ride. It's an easy activity worth its weight in gold because you'll be training your horse to agree with your ideas rather than disagree.

The third sign you shouldn't ride is your tendency to avoid certain sounds, sudden movements, or quick touches. We call this "walking on eggshells." If that's you, don't ride. Not yet anyway.

I've seen many riders, including me in my early career, softly climb on a horse that was nowhere near ready. I survived, obviously, but just. I have my injuries that paid for that mistake.

The truth is no one wants to upset their horse. I know I don't. But I learned and I hope you take this to heart as well, that if your horse is that up settable, he's not ready to ride.

In my horsemanship clinics we practice something called chaos training. We teach our horse to tolerate and accept strange things. We usually start up close with a tap, tap, tap of our hands, all over the horse's body. Then we advance to squeezes and bumps, thumps and jumps, all followed by rewards and resetting the horse back to ground zero. Before long, my students are climbing clumsily all over and around their horse while their horses stand quietly, no longer fearing the odd things. Over the course of an hour we cover, strange tactile, auditory, and visual stimulus, ultimately lending to a horse that can handle a strange human.

More importantly however, I'm secretly training my humans to stop walking on eggshells to protect their fragile horse. The rule is, if you can't make a sudden noise, flash a sudden flag, or bump a heavy saddle on his back without a reaction, he's telling you he's not ready for a rider.

Next time you ride, consider those three signs he or she is not ready to ride: 1. Hard to catch. 2. Easily triggered. 3. Won't stand for mounting.
If one fails, fix it before you ride. I would. In fact, one day, you may ask me to ride your horse at a clinic. On that day, you'll discover how committed I am to the horses experience and my safety. It takes more or less time than you might imagine, but it's time worth taking. After all, you can't call yourself a horseman or horsewoman and bypass the transitions or forsake the horse's experience. You can call yourself a rider, but riding is defined as simply staying on. I can ride. You can ride. But can we do right by the horse too?

Take it to heart and win your horse's heart too. Thanks for reading. Don

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Hi! I'm Don Jessop

With Mastery Horsemanship

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