Basic Direction of the Horse for Beginners

by Veronica Hamilton

Riding horses is a lot more complicated than most people think. When you first get on a horse, your tendency is to perch up on its back clinging to the saddle and just trying not to fall off. While it may be harder to pay attention to directing the horse while also paying attention to staying on the horse, directing the horse is almost more important. In case of emergency, you need to know how to safely gain control of the horse and the situation, but you can’t if you’re clinging to the saddle and trying to stay on. Just remember when you ride that it’s more important to direct the horse than to hold on, even if you feel like you may be slipping off, because if you focus on holding on, the situation may just get worse, but if you manage to get the horse under control, you’re pretty much safe.

That said, I’ll enlighten you a little bit on the basic methods of directing the horse you’re riding. Methods vary depending on the horse, but some things are almost always the same. On a trail ride, horses tend to follow each other nose-to-tail, and during these times, you really don’t need to be directing them at all. When they’re standing still and not moving around or drifting off is another time when you don’t really need to be directing them. The default way to hold your reins when you’re on a horse is both reins together in one fist, with some loose slack, but not too much, as the horse could step on his reins or get his feet caught in them.

Often, you may be holding your reins loosely and have to pull back very quickly, and you’ll find your hand way up by your head as you’re trying to pull back. This is a very uncomfortable and hard position to control the horse in. If you can’t put pull on the reins without bringing your hand that far back, then your reins need to be shortened. To do this, just use your free hand to help the other, and slide your rein hand down the reins towards the horse’s mouth, while still keeping the reins together, and hold them that short.

Horses work off of pressure and release. Pressure and release is when you give a horse a command, continue and perhaps intensify that command, and then stop giving that command as soon as the horse follows the command. For example, to make a horse stop, you take your rein hand and pull both reins back towards your belly button with a steady but light pressure. If the horse continues on, pull back a little harder, and continue pulling back harder and harder until the horse stops. The moment the horse stops, put your hand forward and let the reins go loose again. Telling the horse to begin moving has the same pressure and release method. With both your heels at the same time, exert pressure against the horse’s sides. Be sure your heels are making contact with the horse’s sides. If the horse does not go, squeeze harder, and then begin to kick. You cannot hurt a horse doing this with regular shoes, so don’t be afraid to kick hard if your horse isn’t obeying you. Once the horse begins moving forward, stop kicking.

Reining a horse is a little harder to catch onto. Sometimes you need to be able to tell a horse which direction to go. When telling a horse to go one way or the other, it’s much easier to do it while the horse is moving forward, so get the horse ready to go forward with some squeezes or kicks with your heels. Keep your fist forward, but move it to the side you want the horse to turn towards. Moving your fist to the side will make one of the reins put pressure on the neck on the opposite side from the say you want to turn. The horse will move away from this pressure, and towards the way you want it to go. If the horse is hesitant, you may need to take a more direct approach to guiding him. Say you’re attempting to turn right, but when you pull the reins across his neck to the right, he refuses to turn his head that way. Hold the reins in your left fist and slide your right hand down the right rein so you’re holding the right rein very short in your right hand. Pull the right rein out and around towards your right knee, as if you’re trying to bend the horse’s neck and pull his nose towards your knee. Remember that a horse’s neck is usually almost as big as you are, and it has very strong muscles in it. You will have to use your muscles to bring the horse’s nose around in the direction you want it to go. Once the horse has turned, you can release the rein and hold them both together again. Be sure one rein is not tighter than the other. They must always be the same length, or the horse will think you’re pulling on one rein, and will always be trying to go that way.

Those are the basic directions for guiding a horse. As I said before, they may vary depending on each individual horse. If you’re horse is not responding to you, ask someone who knows the horse what you can do to make the horse respond better. Trail rides are fun and relaxing when you are properly informed about how to ride your horse. Happy trails!