Horseback Riding 101

Lesson 4: Beginning to Ride: Walk and Halt

The basics of steering

There are three main aids for steering: legs, hands and eyes. When you get more advanced, your seat and hips will also be useful. But for now, these three are enough to learn.

There is, however, one other crucial element to steering; decision. Decide where you want the horse to go, and half the battle is won.

Then use your eyes to look in the direction you want to travel. If you want to go to the right, move your left hand away from the horse’s neck, level with its proper position just at or slightly in front of the withers. At the same time, push against the horse’s side with your left leg. You pull him in the direction you want to travel, and push him at the same time. Keep your eyes on the place you’d like to end up. Your eyes will also move your head, and horses can feel quite well the movement of a human’s head, and will respond by wondering why the human is looking that way, and will also look that way, making it easier to get him to go that way.

Obviously, if you wanted the horse to move toward the left, you would look to the left, move your left hand away from the neck (this is called a leading or opening rein) and push against him with your right leg.

Do not ask for any of these directional movements until the horse begins to walk; if you do, you might compare it to turning a parked car, and you’ll get about the same results. That is, lots of work for virtually no reward.

So start the walk first, then, a few steps out, begin moving the horse right or left.

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