The Reins: 5 Tips to Improve Your Use (How to Start a Horse Book 6)

Essential horse riding tips for your first tour, gathered from a challenging week in the mountains of Montenegro. I took a dozen lessons before I rode a horse in the wild.

• Flawless flatwork: Getting started | Horse and Rider.
• The Christmas Child.
• Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Outdoor Industries/Horse Husbandry;
• Fondamenti Di Psicologia Dello Sviluppo (Italian Edition);

While this provided enough experience for day trips, it was not sufficient for longer trail rides in a pack. I would advise on taking twice that number before considering a multi-day ride. With private lessons, you receive an hour of individual attention; in a group, you may receive just 10 minutes meaning you would have to take six times as many lessons to accrue the same amount of personal tuition. Tell your instructor that you hope to book a multi-day ride and ask about the specific skills you will need to ride in a pack.

This is one of the most important horse riding tips for your first tour. Start working on your fitness at least a month before your trip.

Horseback Riding

Work on your calves, thighs and core to build up a level of stamina. Horse riding tour operators will specify a level of skill against each of their tours. Be realistic about your skills and level of fitness. If you book a tour far above your skill level, you will short-change more experienced riders as they will have to come down to your level. Most operators will try hard to accurately rank their tours, but a good rule of thumb is to assume the ride is a little harder than specified.

This will ensure you book something inside your comfort zone. During my lessons, I tacked up a horse only twice and forgot everything in the ensuing years. While this was true, we were still expected to understand how the equipment works together and to make basic adjustments like taking the bridle and bit on and off, shortening or lengthening the stirrups and tying the quick release knot. In hindsight, I was markedly under-prepared my first horse riding tour. When I first met my fellow riders, I noted that they were all dressed casually in jeans and sweatshirts.

I wondered if I had overdone it with my backpack full of polo shirts and jodhpurs. Fast forward to the first riding day and I found myself surrounded by immaculately dressed equestrians — jodhpurs, gloves and gaiters galore. There is a practical reason for dressing the part: It is important to take layers on multi-day horse riding tours. The weather can change and differences in altitude or landscape can dramatically affect the temperature and conditions.

This can go both ways. Conversely, on day five, after days of perfect weather, I was tempted to free up some space in my saddle bag by removing my waterproof jacket. This is the most important of all the horse riding tips for your first tour. Always wear a helmet. Choose one that fits snugly and always buckle your chin strap. You may find that some experienced riders go without a helmet, or wear a cowboy hat instead, but this is a completely unnecessary risk. Honestly, after my recent fall, I shudder to think that I went riding in Ecuador without a helmet — on an unruly buck to boot!

It is considered best practice for a horse to have an annual checkup, usually in the spring. Some practitioners recommend biannual checkups, in the spring and fall. All horses and ponies have a parasite burden, and therefore treatment is periodically needed throughout the horse or pony's life. Some steps to reduce parasite infection include regularly removing droppings from the horse's stall, shed or field; breaking up droppings in fields by harrowing or disking; minimizing crowding in fields; periodically leaving a field empty for several weeks; or placing animals other than horses on the field for a period of time.

If botflies are active, fly spray may repel insects, but needs frequent reapplication to remain effective. A small pumice stone or dull knife may be carefully used to scrape off any bot eggs that are stuck on the horse. Bot eggs are yellow and roughly the size of a grain of sand, they are clearly visible on dark hair, harder to spot on white hair.

However, worms cannot be completely eliminated. Therefore, most modern horse owners commonly give anthelmintic drugs wormers to their horses to reduce these parasites. A horse's teeth grow continuously throughout its life and can develop uneven wear patterns. Most common are sharp edges on the sides of the molars which may cause problems when eating or being ridden.

For this reason a horse or pony needs to have its teeth checked by a veterinarian or qualified equine dentist at least once a year. If there are problems, any points, unevenness or rough areas can be ground down with a rasp until they are smooth. This process is known as "floating". Solid feeds are placed into three categories: If a horse is working hard and requires more energy, the use of grain is increased and the percentage of forage decreased so that the horse obtains the energy content it needs for the work it is performing.

Horse halters are sometimes confused with a bridle. The primary difference between a halter and a bridle is that a halter is used by a handler on the ground to lead or tie up an animal, but a bridle is generally used by a person who is riding or driving an animal that has been trained in this use.

A halter is safer than a bridle for tying, and in fact, a horse should never be tied with a bridle. On the other hand, a bridle offers more control when riding. A bridle is a piece of equipment used to control a horse. The bridle fits over a horse's head, and has the purpose of controlling the horse. It holds a bit in the horse's mouth. Headgear without a bit that uses a noseband to control a horse is called a hackamore, or, in some areas, a bitless bridle. There are many different designs with many different name variations, but all use a noseband that is designed to exert pressure on sensitive areas of the animal's face in order to provide direction and control.

The hooves of a horse or pony are cleaned by being picked out with a hoof pick to remove any stones, mud and dirt and to check that the shoes if worn are in good condition. Keeping feet clean and dry wherever possible helps prevent both lameness as well as hoof diseases such as thrush a hoof fungus. The feet should be cleaned every time the horse is ridden, and if the horse is not ridden, it is still best practice to check and clean feet frequently.

Daily cleaning is recommended in many management books, but in practical terms, a weekly hoof check of healthy horses at rest is often sufficient during good weather. Use of hoof oils, dressings, or other topical treatments varies by region, climate, and the needs of the individual horse. Many horses have healthy feet their entire lives without need for any type of hoof dressing.

Horse riding tips for your first tour | Atlas & Boots

While some horses may have circumstances where a topical hoof treatment is of benefit, improper use of dressings can also create hoof problems, or make a situation worse instead of better. Thus, there is no universal set of guidelines suitable for all horses in all parts of the world.

Farriers and veterinarians in a horse owner's local area can provide advice on the use and misuse of topical hoof dressings, offering suggestions tailored for the needs of the individual horse. Horses and ponies require routine hoof care by a professional farrier every 6 to 8 weeks, depending on the animal, the work it performs and, in some areas, weather conditions. Hooves usually grow faster in the spring and fall than in summer or winter.

They also appear to grow faster in warm, moist weather than in cold or dry weather. In damp climates, the hooves tend to spread out more and wear down less than in dry climates, though more lush, growing forage may also be a factor. Thus, a horse kept in a climate such as that of Ireland may need to have its feet trimmed more frequently than a horse kept in a drier climate such as Arizona, in the southwestern United States. All domesticated horses need regular hoof trims, regardless of use. Horses in the wild do not need hoof trims because they travel as much as 50 miles a day in dry or semi-arid grassland in search of forage, a process that wears their feet naturally.

Domestic horses in light use are not subjected to such severe living conditions and hence their feet grow faster than they can be worn down. Without regular trimming, their feet can get too long, eventually splitting, chipping and cracking, which can lead to lameness.

2. Greet your horse

On the other hand, horses subjected to hard work may need horseshoes for additional protection. Some advocates of the barefoot horse movement maintain that proper management may reduce or eliminate the need for shoes, but certain activities, such as horse racing and police horse work, create unnatural levels of stress and will wear down hooves faster than they would in nature.

Thus, some types of working horses almost always require some form of hoof protection. The cost of farrier work varies widely, depending on the part of the world, the type of horse to be trimmed or shod, and any special issues with the horse's foot that may require more complex care. The cost of a trim is roughly half to one-third that of the cost of a set of shoes, and professional farriers are typically paid at a level commensurate with other skilled laborers in an area, such as plumbers or electricians, though farriers charge by the horse rather than by the hour.

In the United Kingdom, it is illegal for anyone else other than a registered farrier to shoe a horse or prepare a foot for the immediate reception of a shoe.

The farrier should have any one of the following qualifications, the FWCF being the most highly skilled:. In the USA, there are no legal restrictions on who may do farrier work. However, trained and qualified farriers usually belong to professional organizations such as: There are many ways to meet this requirement. If you own a horse, you will obviously have ample opportunity to care for it for a week just make sure you really do , and don't just rely on mom, dad, or another relative to do it for you. But it is far more common to not own your own horse.

1. Glossary of equestrian terms;
2. Flawless flatwork: Getting started!
3. A Life Well Built.
4. Lunging: the most common mistakes?
5. Der Horrorfilm - Monster, Mythen und Mutanten (German Edition).

In that case, you will need to explore other options. If you have friends or relatives with a horse, they may welcome you to stay with them for a week during the summer in exchange for your caring for their horse. Unless they live very close to you, it is probably not realistic to commute to their stable and properly care for the animal. You really need to live on the farm to fully experience this aspect of the honor. Another option is to attend one of many available "horse camps" - summer camp programs dedicated to the equestrian arts. Many of these are set up specifically for girls only, or for children over the age of 13, etc.

However, they may be able to recommend another horse camp.