The first tip is an absolute must, yet often times I find myself in situations where I have to mount a mystery horse and all kinds of weird things happen, including horses that start to buck, kick, bolt or horses that don't take any cues and behave erratically; a ticket to mishaps and injury. No more! Thank you Amelia!
I love your videos, you are the only one on youtube I actually understand when explaining. I want to ask if you could please make a video on working with the rains and legs together? I mean in the very basic riding. Sort of how you would teach it all to a complete beginner.. Every video I find tells what the different aids does, but doesn’t actually show how to use them together or tells ‘now I’m using inside leg on girth, and outside leg bla bla bla’.. haha, I hope you understand what I’m trying to say. I’ve always ‘just’ been trailriding, but I want to get into dressage more, so I would like to learn the basics all over again on how to use the aids during the ride, because no one have actually told me in all these years while riding how to. I’m worried I got it a little bit wrong.. Big greetings all the way from Norway😃👋🏻
Kissing Life (Tina) I agree with your request Tina .. Amelia is an awesome teacher. Most equestrian you tube channels expect that people watching know all the equestrian terms and meanings . I find Amelia to be more explanatory for me being a new rider. I’m hoping she does a video showing the difference between connection vs collection.
Thank you so much for this! I’m going to be test riding three horses this weekend and am very excited but a bit nervous. Two of them are 5 and the other is 9! The tips definitely helped and I will be keeping them in mind during the ride. Thank you for this video!
I dont have my own horse. I ride a lot especially outdoor, in the mountain areas and very often I go for rides with a lot of canter on a horse that I dont know. It's stressful at the beginning but after a few transitions like trot - canter or walk-canter I develop confidence and stress disappears. Before getting on a horse that I dont know I ask a few questions about him like 'Is he temperamental or stubborn?' I love temepranental horses but at the same controlable ones. Definitely I dont like lazy or stubborn ones. Those afraid of everything around are also not my favourite. Your advice first to watch a horse working with a regular rider is very valuable. You have high skills and yet you dont take risk to ride a horse you completely dont know. I think I will reconsider my decision to ride any horse Im given in the future.
Great tips! Im always a nervous wreck when trying new horses especially the younger ones! Have learned a ton watching first and then getting on after the trainer! Thanks for sharing! 😊🐎👍
I recently ride a Hunter horse. When I asked him to go into the corner and tried to push his butt over, he went all wacko, lol, bless his heart! But it was super easy to move his shoulders. You could turn him without any reins. Good experience!
Besides watching someone else ride, it is so helpful to play with a horse on the ground. The canter transition on the ground is a similar body stance for a buck. Canter, no buck, could be good to go. Another buck check is to send horse over jump. Same reasoning as canter transition. Once on.. as a safety check, ask for some lateral bending. Always want to check the emergency brake! 😊
Another great video. If you start to ride at a riding school you get the benefit of riding diferent horses, you realise that there are subtleties to riding different horses even though the basic aids are the same. If you tend to ride the same horse you can ‘forget’ how to ride other horses and so it can become worrisome rather than an enjoyable prospect. I absolutely agree with you, if you’re not convinced a horse is safe to ride - DON’T GET ON. I always like to test the brakes when I get on a new horse; is it paying attention to my half halt? Is it with me from a subtle aid? Is it concentrating? All good stuff before going on to trot and canter. Thanks Amelia 👍
Using this video to help me with my brand-new horse; he's clearly trained but am working out what he knows. Thank you! Your channel is a 'must-subscribe.' :-)
Hi! Your tips are super good, but strongly related to competitive dressage world. I recently bought a nine years old mare, she is a Zirocco Blu's doughter, she flys on jumps, but actually she can't stand flat work, the problem is that I love dressage (!!!😫). At the moment I couldn't take part at a dressage competition or at a simple dressage lesson becouse when the rider is alone in the arena, and there aren't jumps inside, she refuses to do evrything, I am the only one who can make her work, but just a little. Last week a dentist visited her and cured some problems that surely made her suffer, and probably she is still suffering. I hope that the situation about her teeth and our flat work will chance soon. When I rode her for the first time no one showed me how to ride her, I jumped on and when we went in to the countryside I realized she doesn't fear anything: cars, busses, free dogs, trains, tractors....in all the situations she continues walking like nothing happen around. After the walk I worked her inside and she looked great......I followed your third tip, I asked her something new: half alt and flexion, she did. My friends, who have seen the video of my first ride on her and who see us evryday alive, think that in the video she was sedated! My vet visited her before the trade, but he couldn't see the problems hidden in the deep of her mouth. She continues to not fear anything during walks and she really loves jumps. Now she is my pet, she calls me when I arrive to the riding centre, she comes to me when she is in her paddock .....I hope that her refuse of the flat work would be related to her teeth and not to her mind.
Thank you for this informative video. I have been lucky to ride very different horses. Trainer has said that i am sensitive rider. I am not sure what it means, but i try to keep everything simple in saddle.
When I tried my new horse last year,first I had his trainer ride him and it was lovely. Next my trainer rode him and the first 4 minutes were not smooth, but they quickly worked that out. If my trainer and the horse weren’t able to get comfortable I wasn’t going to try. Anyway when I tried him, I remember thinking WHEE ! This is fun !! But safe...and how cool is that. I thought “ this guy is going to teach me to be a correct rider”. And he is doing just that ! I’m a lucky girl for sure.
Hi Amelia! I hope you'll see this. Could you make a video on how to keep your lower leg still in the sitting trot? That would be super helpful as I'd love to attain that beautiful look and effectiveness of a very quite lower leg. And if you could also cover how to keep your legs in contact with the horses sides naturally and without gripping or other tension, it would help lots! Another problem I've been facing recently is that apparently I can't sit the trot on a "real", big moving dressage horse. I got to try and ride a horse that had so much suspension that I just couldnt keep myself still in the saddle without tensing up my legs (... which wasn't a good idea cause of course the horse shot forward as I did that 😂). I'd really appreciate your tips on these topics! Thanks for your channel, it has helped me so much with my riding! 😍❤
I know this is a great idea. I just always want to ride my guy as I'm always wanting to give him all my attention. However, knowing it may help my riding which would help me with my guy is more motivating. Thanks.
when I first rode my mare, I couldn't even make walk trot transition or circle... She was so nervous by the change of riders, that it was impossible to try her out really. But she behaved very well under her normal rider.
Hi I have a question. I have recently started up riding again and I was wandering how to get more confident when getting on a horse for the first few minutes especially if you dont know the horse because I ride in a school where it's common to get different horses each week and i get nervous before I even start my lessons because I dont know how the horse will react. But I tend to get more confident when I start walking around the arena and doing sitting trot as by then I've gotten used to the horse. But I was wandering if there was a way to get rid of that stress and nerves in the beginning as i feel it really ruins my rides sometimes as i am a very anxious person.
I don’t know if this is at all helpful for you or if you still do need tips, but here’s what I usually do: -make sure you’re feeling your horse. Just feel how it walks, feel it’s rhythm. Feel your horse move under you. -give your horse some good pats, talk to the horse, and most of all BREATHE! Feel like you’re breathing too much 😂 breathe a lot. -I like to do some simple walk to halt transitions to get the horse listening. Maybe do some little patterns like circles or a serpentine, just little stuff at the walk to get both of you thinking! Hope some of these help! I used to be a super nervous rider, every minute of the ride on a new horse especially id be a mess! These are some things that help me, so I hope they can do the same for you :)
Hey! I really appreciate your video! So, I'm going to be riding two different horses tomorrow that I've never met, to see if I want to lease either of them. I'm still beginner so I'm getting kind of nervous. The person in charge of the farm will most likely be showing me around and supervising, and they have multiple horses so I'm not sure if she's either of their "regular" rider. So, what exactly do you think is best for me to do in this situation?
Hey Audrey, Sorry I just saw this. Hope it went well! When ever I am about to get on a horse I don't know, I always test their reactivity to my reins and legs. How much of each do I need to start and stop safely.
I like to get to know the horse on the ground a bit. Are they pushy when I lead, do the halt when I stop walking, just the basics. But that may also be more where I'm confident. I took an unplanned break in riding and feel I've lost some skills.
I tried out a horse today. He was squirrelly in the cross ties and I thought I saw him nip at the trainer. I made her get him ready and brush him, so I could watch everything and I didn't like what I saw. Later my trainer rode him and he looked jerky and not smooth. I told her I didn't want to buy him. She insisted I ride him to test out different horses so that I could get a feel for what I do want in a horse. What a rough ride, but he didn't spook or anything. Just very jerky and I had to whip him to get him to trot. Not crazy about that. I didn't even ask his asking price. I feel bad for him, his last lease ended. After I rode him, my trainer advised me that I will be riding him for my lesson next week. I feel I made the right decision, but it's hard not to grab the first horse that comes along. Is there even a way to train a horse to ride smoothly? If my trainer doesn't look smooth riding him, how can I?
Great tips, but very different from the majority of my horse buying experiences. Bought a lot of horses out of really bad situations and then you really have to trust your gut, whether to get on or not. Buying like that is a gamble but if you have a low budget it's sometimes the only way. Now that I am older and wiser I would never buy a horse the owner won't get onto.
Great tips! Sometimes I like to go without a trainer first so I can ask myself, do u like this horse?’ If I do, I then bring trainer. I do this so the trainer doesn’t convince me of something before I am ready to decide! Thank u!
It sounds very attentive to details. With a bit of a glitch to look out for when handling animals your not familiar with, Luckily here English show horses are mostly already groomed/most of the glitches worked out of them. Providing a smooth and gentle ride. So many things to keep in mind while working with trained and untrained horses ...thoughtful video. Should have been a wooden declaration like the 10 commandments of riding :) on how to stay safe not sorry !
