You look down once you pick up your canter, and it's the wrong lead. You start to freak out and hope the judge doesn’t see your mistake that could cost you the whole class. You start to worry as you line up and hope that your mess up wasn’t noticeable. They announce everything from sixth place to third place, and you haven’t been announced yet. Then the speaker comes back on; “In second place is number 35.” It isn’t you. As you get worried and hope and pray that you got first, the speaker comes back on, one more time; “In first place is number 15.  Thank you all for a nice class!” You walk out and pat your horse as you think, you didn’t place, so upset at yourself for that simple little mistake.

     Horseback riding takes a lot of skill because you have to pay attention to a lot of the small things, like keeping your heels down and keeping your body straight so you look more professional and put together in the show ring. If you're riding English, make sure you’re on the right diagonal, which is when you’re posting (going in an up and down motion), and that you are going at the rate of the horse's outside leg. This takes a while to learn but varies based on each rider. You also need to keep your head up and not look down. And you need to send the right signals to your horse so then they can pick up the right lead for a canter, or just even pick up a trot or jog.

     You want to always keep your heels down when you are riding because you can lose your balance and fall forward if your toe is pointed down. This is also why you have to wear a heeled boot or shoe when you ride a horse. This can be a very hard thing to do when you first start out or even when you have been riding for years because this is the type of thing that is a part of muscle memory. It can be very challenging because some people take a while to finally get it down; for some people it only takes a few months to finally get in that pattern of remembering. It's very necessary for your riding, especially English, because it can throw off your balance when you post or stand up to jump because it throws you off balance if your toe is down and your heel isn’t down. 

     When you are in the show ring you want to keep your head up.  Judges want you to look more professional and put together and not like you have no idea what you’re doing instead of just scared and looking down. Another reason is to also know where you are going because if you’re just looking down you have no sense of direction, especially on a horse. Also, you can’t rely on the horse to know where to go, especially when you are jumping because you have to know where to go on the jumping course; the horse doesn’t know. 

     When you post during a trot, it can be very tricky when you first start to ride. This is because you have to be in sync with your horse’s outside leg. That means that when you go up out of your seat the horse's outside leg should be stepping forward. This is tricky when you first start because you have to remember to look down when you first start to trot and then see if you are on the right diagonal, which is what we call the syncing part. If you aren’t on the right diagonal then you have to switch it, and how you do that is you double sit, which is when you sit and feel two bounces. Then you start to post again, and you should be on the right diagonal. It can be a very tricky thing to learn because of having to sync with your horse and get it right. Even if it takes a while to learn, you have to keep going.

     Sending the right signals to your horse is very important but can be tricky. For example, if you want to pick up a canter (two paces faster than a walk) for my horse you have to lift you inside rein or arm, push with your outside leg and kiss to her to make her pick up a canter. Most horses are trained with the same signal but some aren’t. If you give the horse the slightest touch of the other leg or arm then the horse most likely won’t pick up the right lead. A lead is the horse's leg moving before or ahead of its opposite leg. A horse's correct lead is their inside leg that they have to lead with going around the ring, and this can take some getting used to when you start to ride.

     The skills that it takes to ride a horse are not easy, nor is it easy to learn simple skills that you need. These skills can take a while to learn even if you have been riding for years, but they take you far in this sport since they are your base layer. This takes a lot of skill, but is so much fun at the end of the day; you always can connect with these animals. When you improve it always makes it easier and makes you ready for the next step for something new for you to learn.

-Natalie B.