A first ride on horseback is an exciting foray into the world of horses and horsemanship, leading to endless possibilities and adventures! Its a dream finally realized! But how does it start? It varies from stable to stable. Every program starts a rider out the way they feel is best. So how do we do it? Here's how!

We begin our program on the ground. In fact in order to start our program, a beginning rider must memorize the formal names of parts of the horse, understand grooming, meet certain minimal physical requirements. Then we spend time with groundwork. Learning to lead, learning to lead on trail, moving a horse in various ways from the ground with the lightest touch. Groundwork is very important with our program, as we feel it creates a greater understanding of how horses think, move and behave. It creates a more confident student on a horse. All of this is covered in our training manual and program.

Finally comes the first day of rider training! We've learned all about the gear, and now we're ready to ride! Finally being on a horse can be a little daunting at first especially if you've never been on a moving animal before! So we take it based on the comfort of the rider. We work on the rider training scale here so the first step in the rider training scale is... (anybody??)

Balance and Relaxation! Relaxation is one of the first step in the horses developmental pyramid as well. For those who may be new to the information, both horse and rider have a 'training scale' that was developed almost 100 years ago in Germany as a way to analyze at what stage of development a horse or rider was in their knowledge and training. It is developed on the premise that you cannot move on to another 'level' until you and the horse have mastered the previous level. In this way the horses muscles are correctly developed along with the horse and riders understanding.

You can see our rider scale in the picture below. Look for our Horse Training Scale in our 'book' section of our web site.

We require a basic starting level of fitness which gets you onto the horse(Discussed in our training manual) We begin with all basics we learn on the ground. Our most important first rider maneuver is the disengagement of the hind quarters. Its important that all students understand how to do this in the event of an emergency. They've already learned how to disengage the hind quarters during ground work, now they're learning on the back of the horse. Every student has their own timeline and we don't rush the basics. Our goal is to develop a confident balanced rider! (like our logo says!)

For those that don't know, 'disengaging the hind quarters' is a way to stop the most powerful part of the horses' engine (their legs!) It takes the power away briefly and allows for a moment of balance and relaxation. You can find many videos of this process on line. We discuss this thoroughly in our program.

Here, we show you one of our riders on their very first day of actual riding training and the very first time learning this maneuver. This student started out cautious but confident and has already moved on into saddle work.

In saddle training begins when a rider has mastered balance bareback at all gaits. We look for relaxation, rhythm steady soft hands and legs and understanding all the basics involved in each gait. This way, once a rider is under saddle, they a really ready for training and are working from a solid confident foundation of knowledge and experience.

There are so many ways of learning about horsemanship, how to communicate with horses for the best results, etcetera. The training here is a cumulation of the knowledge I developed over the years. Currently there are a variety of trainers and programs I suggest my students follow. One program I really appreciate for a variety of reasons, is the training of horses' and riders at the Wilson sister's facilities in New Zealand. You'll find them in social media. I really appreciate how they understand and continue to develop their communication with horses as well as how they work on rider development. Check out Kelly and Amanda as they work with the wild kiamanawa horses they recently mustered and turn them into amazing partners!

Until next time, see you here at Little Pine Stables!