5 Easy and Proven Ways to Improve Your Horse Riding Skills

As most horse riders will tell you, there's always room for improvement, even the most advanced riders work relentlessly at improving their riding skills. Here are 5 great tips to help you improve your riding:

1. Watch Others: Watching other riders can help you differentiate between good and bad posture. Humans are usually visual learners and you'd be surprised how much you can learn by watching good riders at work. Try to attend a clinic or riding lesson and pay attention to what the instructor is saying and how he or she is critiquing the rider to pick up some horse riding tips. Observe how riders communicate with their horse and pay attention to how the horse responds, you can learn a lot by simply observing others.

2. Enlist the Help of a Trainer: Perhaps the best way to work on your riding skills and posture is to enlist the help of a professional trainer or instructor and take some equestrian riding lessons. Even professional riders use trainers to tweak their riding and posture. An instructor will be quick to pick up any problem areas in your riding and will be able to help you work on them. If you own a horse try to find a trainer who is prepared to work with the two of you, this is the ideal set up and you will find your riding skills improving dramatically.

3. Work on Your Balance: Balance is essential in any equestrian discipline, even if you just want to hack or trail ride. Keeping your balance not only ensures you won't fall off; it also assists your horse as well. To achieve good balance try to work with your horse without stirrups and reins and incorporate some bareback work. This is best done with the assistance of a friend or preferably a trainer as the horse should be kept on a lunge. If you don't have someone to assist then try to ride your horse without stirrups or bareback as much as possible.

4. Cross Training: Keeping fit is very beneficial not only for improving your riding, but it's good for you too! Pilates has become very popular among equestrians in recent years as it focuses on increasing the strength of your body's core. It is also among the very few forms of exercise that target the lower abdomen, and abdominal strength is very important in horse riding as it helps you maintain balance and proper posture. Most forms of exercise are beneficial especially exercises that increase strength and flexibility.

5. Practice: You've heard the saying "practice makes perfect" so get out there and start practicing! Clinics, exercising and observing others will only get you so far, you need to apply what you learn. Whether you're riding for pleasure or competing, the more you ride, the better at it you'll become!

Stal Amani offers professional training and retraining services at competitive prices to help address any problems your horse may have. Whether your horse is untrained or needs retraining, Stal Amani can help your horse reach his full potential through expert assessment and handling. Transport can be arranged for your horse and you will even receive fortnightly video footage of your horse's progress. Please visit http://www.stalamani.com