Riding for a Lifetime

Riding is different than most other sports. If a person is taught to ride correctly they can continue this sport for a lifetime. I've known many people who continue to ride in their 60s, 70s, and 80s and a few who have continued to ride in their 90s. That's something that you're not apt to see happen with soccer or tennis or even golf. Riding is not limited to the young.

With the development of indoor riding arenas, all weather footing, water proof tack and insulated riding clothes, riding, unlike so many of its counterparts, is not a seasonal activity.

Contrary to the opinion of some instructors, riding is not only for the physically gifted, the thin, or the athletic person either. It is a sport that has the ability to add quality of life to every body type, lifestyle and age group. Our sport provides opportunity for exercise, fresh air, individual activity, team activity, companionship, competition, humility, grace and accomplishment to all who participate. Riding is a universal sport.

If more of our youth learned to care for a horse and to ride it correctly, we'd see fewer kids hanging out at the malls. If more adults rode with the confidence that results from good basic instruction, stress levels would drop and health would improve. Winston Churchill wisely coined, "There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man."

A good riding instructor has a thorough understanding of the basics of horsemanship. She pays attention to detail and has a strong desire to see his or her student improve. The good instructor has the patience to explain the same principal over again, perhaps in a new way. She helps her student reach their goals.

Developing excellent basic skills doesn't require that a student compete, although many people like to try a horse trials or schooling show. Competition must always be a test of the rider's progress and should never be the end goal. If competition becomes the end goal and winning becomes our only desire, then we resort to short cuts, gimmicks, and tricks. In the end we're riding for a prize and not the love of the sport; we rob ourselves of the pleasure of riding for riding's sake, and of enjoying riding for a lifetime.

Barbara Fox, riding for a lifetime