One of the wonderful and at times frustrating things about horses is the never-ending journey to being an “educated horseman”. The education process is endless! And every rider has a different journey through their riding education. As such there’s no single right way to learn to ride but there are some key milestones riders must conquer to keep progressing.
If you can bear with me a moment and follow a brief rabbit trail – imagine a pyramid. The height a pyramid can reach is determined by the width of its base. When we reach the top of our pyramid relative to our own training foundation, we must backtrack to basics to build more foundation and work back up to the height of our new peak. When riders don’t recognize this and attempt to push past their respective peak, big accidents and injuries are bound to happen because they are trying to operate outside of their established ability. Accidents happen quickly enough; we don’t need to hasten their arrival.
Foundational Skills
Below is the general order of skills I try to teach in my own program. Of course, nothing is written in stone and sometimes we must improvise order, but ultimately these skills are necessary for successful, progressive, lifelong riding and I have placed them in order of skill level:
- Catch, lead, groom and tack your horse
- Mount & Dismount
- Start, Stop and Steer
- Sitting, Posting and Two-point positions at the trot
- Learn Diagonals at posting trot & Trot without stirrups confidently
- Begin learning about bending your horse
- Learning to canter in both seated and two-point positions
- Learning canter leads and cantering stirrupless
- Learn to lunge a horse
- Beginning point for more advanced lateral movement
- Applying these skills, give your horse a job!
Lesson 1 – Catch, lead, groom and tack
Sounds like a lot! And it is. I have placed this first on the list, not because I teach just this before a rider ever gets mounted – no one would pay for the many lessons of not riding to teach this completely first. But because handling a horse on the ground and preparing to ride should be learned right from the start in whatever increments are possible and safe. A person who can not handle a horse on the ground has no business on its back.
Lesson 2 – Mount & Dismount
Again, it’s not as though we spend an entire lesson on this information, but rather that these are absolute, must-know skills right from the beginning. Riders should always learn to mount on the horse’s left side, grabbing reins and mane in their left hand, then place left foot in the stirrup before mounting. I use the same procedure to mount either from the ground or a block. Grabbing the front of the saddle strongly risks pulling the saddle over, and not holding the reins risks not having a handle on the beast you are mounting. Aside from not checking the girth before mounting, these are by far the two most common errors.
Lesson 3 – Start, Stop and Steer
Seems pretty self-explanatory, right? You might be surprised at how often the most basic of information is so utterly neglected. To just briefly review, the source of a rider’s security must be in their seat. The rider’s lower legs and handling of the reins are used to communicate. Sometimes communication is firm but be sure you know what you are telling your horse, and that you’re accounting for the horse’s whole body. This is a subject I am adamant about and there will be a post delving deeper into what I mean here. Again, this is not a subject that is mastered in the first, second or even third ride, but that is where it should begin.
Lesson 4 – Sitting, Posting and Two-point at the Trot
Riding the trot is where most of our riding education mileage in the saddle happens. The trot has both clear rhythm and some natural energy and is fairly easy to control in most horses. The rider will learn to move with the horse’s movement and remain balanced while applying the skills from the previous three lessons I’ve outlined. Learning to adjust in the saddle to ride the trot all three ways is critical. Side note: In case you are more accustomed to old English riding vocabulary, posting is also called a “rising” trot.
Lesson 5 – Learn Diagonals while posting and trot without stirrups
As soon as a rider can maintain posting without missing beats often, I begin teaching diagonals. “Diagonals” refers to knowing which front leg you are rising and sitting with. When riding in continuous turns such as in an arena, rising with the horse’s outside shoulder is preferred as it allows the horse that slight freedom of movement to take the larger stride needed to turn. This allows better balance and fluidity. Even on the trail, diagonals are useful. Endurance riders routinely change diagonals to ensure they are working their body and their horse’s evenly to avoid one-sided muscle wear. I commonly find that learning to trot well stirrupless is linked closely to learning diagonals. A rider will become more aware of the horse’s movement through these activities.
Lesson 6 – Begin Learning to bend your horse
Once a rider is essentially secure at the trot and has established some balance and timing, it is helpful to begin learning about bending as it is critical for good cantering. Beginning to understand how to push the horse’s ribcage out of the way of their turn and get the horse’s whole body committed to the turn being ridden is important for most any riding endeavor. It also is a double-check that the rider now knows how to use their lower leg and seat separately. This allows the rider to choose to sit, post or two-point and still have use of lower leg for communication.
Lesson 7 – Learn to Canter both seated and in two-point
Your horse will likely dictate which position he prefers you in to first learn to canter. Whichever way keeps your horse calm and working while you learn to follow the motion of the canter is perfectly fine. Ultimately you want to be able to ride the canter with all the confidence you would ride the walk or trot, in whatever position, direction and speed you choose.
Lesson 8 – Learn canter leads and canter without stirrups
Much like the diagonals in the trot, canter leads are very important for balance when riding any kind of turns. Ideally, we should be on the inside canter lead, meaning that the horse’s inside leg stays further in front with each stride and is leading the action. This permits the horse to most easily adjust to any amount of turn in the direction of the lead he is on. The timing and method of when you get to cantering without stirrups will again be dictated by your horse. I recommend making sure you have good transitions and good ability to stop your horse (if you get into trouble) before attempting to do without stirrups.
Lesson 9 – Learn to lunge a horse
I save this groundwork for way down the list because it requires a bit of intuition and ability to read horse body language. By the time a rider can handle the previous skill sets already reviewed, we should have enough riding education to begin lunging and other groundwork that has to do with training a horse. Lunging is a fabulous tool for exercise, training and troubleshooting, and every horse should at some point be taught to lunge well. However, it is not a replacement for good riding. Our lunging should be done with a clear purpose each time and always working to build a common language with your horse rather than simply chasing him in circles.
Lesson 10 – Beginning point for Lateral Work
Lateral work is a general term for any motion of the horse moving purposely sideways. We could lump in, turns on the forehand and haunches, leg yield and side pass, as some of the most common maneuvers. In the extensive amount of horse time that it takes to accomplish all we have spoken about so far, a rider will learn much about horse and rider body mechanics. They may even experience some lateral movement from the horse almost by accident at times. This is because, if ridden properly, the foundations of lateral work will already be set, and it will just take a little focused effort to finish each maneuver.
Lesson 11 – Applying your skills, give your horse a job!
If you haven’t already been working at a specific job, you now have no reason to hold back. You are well established as a rider and your horse is prepared to take on the world. Look around at the greater horse world and pick something that excites you. Look around your more local community and see if there is an accessible outlet. Feel free to try different things and figure out what suits your horse. There are so many options, and they are not limited to competing in the show ring. Horses serve all kinds of purposes today, including as therapy animals, teachers (lesson horses), for farming, ranchwork, trail riding, as pack animals, in numerous show ring disciplines (both speed and finesse based) and as performers for movies, commercials and even just artistic muses.
Regardless of what discipline you ride, making each of these milestones and “owning” them will give you a solid foundation. You will find that working through the challenges these activities present will help your horse’s training as well. Our horse can only do things correctly at best for the same percentage of time which we do it correctly. Basically, if you want a horse to ride well then you must ride him well. And that is where the never-ending journey to riding education begins; the desire to do better for our horses.
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About The Author
Learning to ride is the process of learning to maintain effective position and balance through ever more athletic movements from the horse AND to maintain communication through ever more complex movements from the horse. The pursuits of athleticism and complexity cannot be separated.
