For centuries we’ve been riding horses, as of today there are 350+ officially recognized horse breeds globally from the small Falabella to the massive Shire. I first started riding when I was seven, I had terrible equitation, I was extremely cautious around horses and I never realized how big horses are. To this day, sometimes the size of a horse stops me in my tracks, but I mostly just wanna ride the tall ones. My first ride was on my cousins horse Dandy, a paint whose foal bit her tail short during birth. I had always loved horses, but being able to actually ride was amazing. I rode western all my life until high school when I got into some English lessons at Paddock Riding Club in LA, which I adored. I had barrel raced, dabbled in pole bending and some other basic gymkhana over the summers growing up along with trail rides with my mom, but I had never tried English riding. Barrel racing and pole bending were some of my favorite disciplines western wise, I gained a lot of horse knowledge from all my western experiences, but those were the most fun. I never competed and I only took a few lessons here and there one year doing Western so the ability to take English lessons opened a whole new world for me. However, not having a rigid lesson program to develop good habits impacted my knowledge when it came to making the switch to English riding. I have a bad habit of pitching forward, pinching my knees, letting my legs float a little behind me and not maintaining good balance in general which led to me not even cantering on my own off the lunge line. I can do basically anything bareback and in a western saddle from racing to jumping, but my transition into English was like a step back. I can perfectly tell you how things are supposed to look while riding, I can tell you where my leg is supposed to be, how my hip angle is supposed to be, which diagonal I need to be on but keeping it correct in the moment is hard. As a seasoned equestrian I can say the achievement of keeping your leg in place, maintaining your hip angles and perfecting your diagonal changes makes the sport for me. Learning from my mistakes and bad habits help make me a better rider. I started interning for JudgeMyRide in 2015 as a social media intern. I got a shift once a week to run the company Instagram. JMR critiques submitted riding photos to provide aid for riders globally. As an equestrian being able to submit a riding photo from anywhere and hear feedback on things I could work on from professional judges is amazing. Technology has changed the way horse sports work today with apps like PandaHaus, ThePonyApp and more. I can’t wait to incorporate these apps into my daily life one day. The impact horses have had on me led me to be an equine study major, a future barn manager and farrier hopeful.
Enough about my riding story and how much I love it, the perks of riding seem endless to me so here’s the benefits. Horse sports teach you so much about trust, responsibility, training and physically the effects of riding are beneficial. Horses rely on us for everything which is why caring for them instills responsibility in all of us equestrians. Riding provides a great amount of exercise, balance and stamina as well as the exercise from the lifting you do to prepare for your ride. Caring for horses is hard work from mucking, grooming, bathing, training, boarding etc because of this riding regulated my sleep pattern while I was doing it consistently. I struggled with insomnia, I tried everything from melatonin to Emergen-Z to crying to sleep, horses knock me out no problem at night. Horses are used in therapy for autistic children and veterans with PTSD as well as others so their benefits for your mental health are clear. Horses, dogs and similar animals are great for helping those with illnesses like depression, anxiety and more because of their ability to show how much the adore you, your company and all the treats you no doubt brought with you. Unless you’re competing all the time, no one cares what you look like when you go to the barn, and I can assure you, you’ll be too swept up in horse duties to even have a worry about outside life at the barn. Around the time I started riding English my parents were going through a rough time and the ability to hang at the barn and not have to be a part of that was really great for me and so many other equestrians feel the same. Having a place like the barn to go to when things get tough is important, things happen at home and sometimes you can use the escape the barn gives you. Regular riding is so important because it creates structure, with that structure comes the mental and physical health benefits and if you’re fortunate enough to own your own horse you have a loving companion for life.
I can’t write enough to persuade you to ride and love it, you have to do that for yourself. What I can do is tell you all these things, recommend you try it and if you do, I know you’ll be just as hooked as me from the beginning. Happy Riding, Follow Us (@grey2bay) & Keep Chasing the Blues!!
Grey2Bay 