Beginnings of Horsemanship

  Another month has come and gone which means it's time for another Beginnings post.

  When it comes to any equine sport, horsemanship is important. You can't just ride around without having any sort of communication or understanding. It just won't work.

  Here are a few things to help you improve your horsemanship:

Watch a herd of horses

  I know I've mentioned this many times, but it's true! Horses will teach you a lot about how they communicate with each other when they are with other horses. Watching a herd of horses from a distance will help you learn how to communicate more clearly to your horse because you'll be learning his language.

Learn from others

  Whether you admire someone's horsemanship skills at your barn or elsewhere, don't hesitate to watch them work with horses. Compare how they communicate to the animal with how you do. This also opens up the opportunity to ask questions that can help you improve.

Give yourself time

  Having good horsemanship is a skill that takes time to develop. You need to allow yourself the time to learn and improve. Spending some time one on one with your horse and trying things out is good place to start. Why not try putting him loose in a round pen and see if you can get him to move without any artificial aids. Can you get him to approach you in the same manner?

Take it to the next level

Once you've grasped the basics of horsemanship, why not challenge yourself to go further? The beauty of horsemanship is that the more you learn, the more you understand their language and become closer to your horse. When you see other people doing liberty work with their horses, it's not impossible for you to do. It just takes the time and the desire to get there.

  I hope this post has given you some things to think about and has encouraged you to improve your horsemanship skills. Just like horsemanship, we can never master and know everything there is to know about horses. All we can do is challenge ourselves to keep learning in hopes to one day finally understand the horse entirely. Until that day, learning the way they communicate and improving the way they are treated are great steps in the right direction.

  Thank you for reading and I hope you have a great week.

  Until next time, happy riding!