# Learning to ride



## AustinAndPenny (Jul 21, 2012)

Just learning to ride westerns with no horse, no trainer, no one to help me but books and strangers off of the internet.

Is it possible?

I have the concept of riding down, how to stop them, how to turn them, to slow down/move up.

But what I'm really trying to ask is, is it possible to really know how to ride without actually riding?


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

First off, howdy and welcome to the forum .

It's not really possible to learn how to ride without actually riding. In that respect, riding a horse is a lot like doing open heart surgery. You can read all the books you want and watch all the videos in the world, but actually _doing_ it is a whole other ball game.

You can learn the ideas and the reasonings behind certain methods/movements, but there is a lot of muscle memory and reaction memory that must be built up through performance. It's not really like riding a motorcycle, where it will react the exact same way as the one you saw in the video. Because horses are their own thinking beings, handling them well takes a lot of practice.

Heck, I've been handling/riding horses for about 25 years and I still don't know everything I need to handle every situation that comes up.


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

NO. I do not think it is possible. It' like saying, can you learn to ride a bike without riding one? No, it is muslce memory and you must experience the actual riding. If you have experience riding in another discipline, then you can learn a lot in books prior to starting the actual ride and be more advanced than had you not read at all, but I do not think riding can be learned via books. It must be done.


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## AustinAndPenny (Jul 21, 2012)

Haha, I know some people who have horses and have actually handeled them, done the grooming when they needed me to ect, but I haven't riden them. I have a neighbor who has horses, and rides them western, but quite frankly, my property and theirs combined till thier driveway, is about a 20 acres and I don't have thier phone number. I wouldn't drive up there just to ask about that either. Maybe next time if they don't decide to sell off the horses.

Then there's always a friend but I don't have her number either and she lives maybe 20-23 miles away from me and has actually offered to let me ride her I forget the breed, but her 16.3hh very light grey gelding, Austin. It would be english but, I'd probaly in some ways prefer that better, but I'd actually like to barrel race, And you can't exactly do that in an english saddle. She has also offered to give me severely reduced lessons, for ten dollars a lesson, one lesson a week.


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

$10 is a pretty good deal for a lesson. At this point, with you wanting just to learn how to ride the horse, english or western won't really matter much. Any time spent on a horse is better than no time at all.


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## AustinAndPenny (Jul 21, 2012)

Yes. But, that's about a 40 mile trip there and back once a week. And there's no garuntee I can haul my butt up into the saddle, much less get my leg up high enough to put my foot in the stirrup. I'm 5' even. Austin is a little over 6'. If she had a mounting block, and she doesn't I might be able to get up on him. We're even contemplating(sp) leading him over to a fence and I can climb up enough to get on.


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

A fence can work quite well.

If you have never ridden, there is A LOT to learn. IT's not nearly as simple as you might think. If the girl is willing to give you a lesson, and she has some skill at that, then I'd do it. OR, look into a local riding school and take lessons on school horses, which in many ways is a better idea for first learning.


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## Prismis (Aug 18, 2012)

40 miles isn't that far... Heck I drive my kids to school further then that everyday lol once a week is worth it for $10! Cheapest I can find around here is $25
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Hoofprints on my heart (Apr 27, 2011)

Wish I could find lessons around here, cheapest is $25 and the trainer sucks and they told me im "to expierenced"


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## Prismis (Aug 18, 2012)

Hoofprints on my heart said:


> Wish I could find lessons around here, cheapest is $25 and the trainer sucks and they told me im "to expierenced"


Maybe you should start doing the training then lol teach them something?
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## SlideStop (Dec 28, 2011)

AustinAndPenny said:


> Yes. But, that's about a 40 mile trip there and back once a week. And there's no garuntee I can haul my butt up into the saddle, much less get my leg up high enough to put my foot in the stirrup. I'm 5' even. Austin is a little over 6'. If she had a mounting block, and she doesn't I might be able to get up on him. We're even contemplating(sp) leading him over to a fence and I can climb up enough to get on.


I commute 40 miles round trip to school. Usually takes me about 35-45 minutes. I know people who keep there horses that far away from them. I'm short and heavy so I need a mounting block but one always isn't available. Trucks, fences, stumps, milk crates, benches chairs also work great as mounting blocks!  worse case bring you own stepping stool! $10 is a MORE THEN FAIR price for a lesson and I think you would be silly to pass it up. At least go and try it, worst case its not for you!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## SlideStop (Dec 28, 2011)

I'm sorry, not round trip. 40 miles one way.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## DancingArabian (Jul 15, 2011)

Figure out the cost of gas and add it to the cost of the lesson. Compare that figure to what it would cost to take lessons someplace closer.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Tazmanian Devil (Oct 11, 2008)

AustinAndPenny said:


> Just learning to ride westerns with no horse, no trainer, no one to help me but books and strangers off of the internet.
> 
> Is it possible?
> 
> ...



I was tempted to agree with what others have posted. You cannot learn to ride a horse without riding a horse. This is true for just about any skill.


However, since you DON'T have a horse... Then yes, you can learn everything you will ever need to know about riding without actually riding a horse. You can use and perfect all the concepts you have learned while continuing to never actually ride a horse.

Just don't expect all that experience to transfer if you do actually get on a horse.

As the saying goes - "No plan survives contact with the enemy." In other words, theory is great, but is very different once put into practice.

Stay safe.


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## wild old thing (Jun 15, 2012)

AustinAndPenny said:


> Just learning to ride westerns with no horse, no trainer, no one to help me but books and strangers off of the internet.
> 
> Is it possible?
> 
> ...


You can understand and embrace the concept, but the execution is not possible without a horse.

Horses are thinking creatures. And this is why it's important if you really want to learn to ride - to actually ride. Because they think. And act. Sometimes they think but don't act or don't do what you think they will and do something entirely different. And worse, sometimes they act without thinking. Horses are very intuitive. And surprising and independent. They will amaze you. And they will confound you, too. Nothing like telling a horse, "Horse, I'd like to do "***"" and the horse telling you..."well, I'd like to do "***", and because they're bigger, they'll probably keeping doing "***" if you don't know how to tell them otherwise.

Because there's the act of riding: if you're lucky, you and your horse will eventually know each other and come together - two thinking feeling individuals that become a partnership, even if it's only for a minute or two. THAT MOMENT is FANTASTIC!! When you press and ask and they give! Dear Lord how wonderful is that????!!

There's the balance end of it. There's what you think you know and then what you will instinctively do when you are pressed or frightened or excited, like lets say pulling back on the reins and that's what you've seen and been taught by a million movies, yelling out "WHOA WHOA" while yanking back on the reins! 

There are a million reasons why you must ride a horse to learn to ride a horse, but primarily two - there's you. And the horse. You may know some things but the horse, the enormous presence of the horse, that physical reality of sitting on one's back and feeling their body shift beneath you will change how you feel about them. And what you know. 

You must learn the horse to ride the horse. (It doesn't hurt to have the horse learn you, too even if it's just to know you know what you're telling them.)


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