Q. I own an Appaloosa/Thoroughbred gelding. I’m riding him in a D-ring snaffle with copper rollers. Most of the time he is very good at this bit, as he has a very soft mouth. He’ll turn at the slightest touch of the rein, and he halts well, too. But sometimes (like at shows) he gets…
Q. I’ve never fallen off before, and the thought of falling in the ring scares me a bit. A. Ask your instructor to teach you how to fall off correctly. There is a technique known as the flying or emergency dismount that I firmly believe all students should learn. It will teach you how to…
Q. I have been riding since I was 7, and I’m going to be 14 very soon. I just started jumping, and I had a bad jumping lesson on the 4th of July. I fell, and it hurt a lot. I hurt a previous injury to my tailbone, and I was wondering if there were…
Q. I take riding lessons, and when I try jumping on one particular horse, he usually runs out. What can I do? A. First and foremost, do as your riding teacher instructs in this situation. (S)he is the only one who knows both you and the horse and sees exactly what’s happening in your approach…
Q. I have been riding for about three years now. It has been all in dressage. But now I think I want to try a bit of jumping for a while, and I asked my instructor. Jumps do scare me, so I was wondering, what are the major differences when riding and controlling? And what…
