Excelcior's profile at Help.com

User Involvement

Last 2 Replies – All 2 replies »

• can you give me tips or advice on how to teach someone
  

  Are you familiar with riding English, then? I’ll just assume that you are. First, you need be using a western saddle, or it just won’t work. The concept behing riding western is entirely different. From your knees to your waist, you are one with the horse; never moving from your place on the horse. From your knees down, you need to keep your feet out of the way so they don’t ‘bump’ the horse and confuse him. In theory, you should be able to ride western with your hands tied behind your back. A great practice is to have somone lunge your horse while you are riding him, and ride while holding your hands straight out to the sides. A great deal of riding western is about balance and making yourself one with the horse.
  Next you need to look at the reins. You absolutely do not keep tension on your reins. Western horses are ’steered’ two ways: ‘neck rein’, and ‘check rein’ (or ‘barrel rein’ or ‘plow rein’). Neck reining is designed so you can steer with one hand and have the other hand free to rope, shoot, whatever. Check reining is for horses who are not as well behaved or trained. To check rein, you just pull on the rein on the sade you want the horse to turn. Easy enough. To neck rein, you take both reins in your hand, and with your hand as far up the horses neck as you can comfortably reach, pull *both* reins in the direction you wish to turn.The sense of the rains against the horses neck lets them know you want them to turn.
  While an obedient horse will move with a ‘cluck’, many horses have to be kicked to move. Just use our heels, and kick them lightly, right behind where your foot would naturally hang. While slapping them on the rump looks good in the movies, it’s usually not nessesary.
  And lastly, keep a good posture! Slouching is not an option. While jogging (’trotting’, for you brits out there), posting is standard. Many untrained do not know this, but posting actually originated in the states, and the brits thought it was a good idea ;-)
  And there you have the 15-minute-riding-lesson.
  Cheers!
  - written 1 year, 2 months ago

• BEFORE I DO GO IS THERE ANY THING ELSE I CAN DO TO BECOME HAPPY OR TO LET MY MUM AND DAD NO THAT I CAN SAFE,,
  

  Hi….. wow hun sounds like I’m not the only one who’s gone through that. y’know what? That means that neither are you. If you ever get on and read this…. please know that I understand what you are going through. I grew up my whole life that way, and after graduating I didn’t go to college because I didn’t want more of it. Work was just the same, but you know what? it gave me an opportunity to see what I was really missing. Standing next to somone who was talking about their friend turning on them and whatever, and going back to my flat for solitude… and getting to go online and find REAL friends. Folks that I’ve known now for years…. some of them 10 years or more. And y’know what? when you do have some friends who care about you…. you savour it more. The hard times are hard, but without them the good times wouldn’t be so good.
  I know that it’s not the greatest comfort in the world…. but hun it’s what got me through. I tried running away. I tried suicide. I tried becoming goth. I even tried druidism and nudism. NOTHING was a magic fix. But in the quiet times, in the solitude, I got to talk with God, and He helped me focus towards the future and what I could have if I stopped focusing on me, and started focusing on what is positive. Go for a walk. Go look at God’s handiwork. Admire the trees, the clouds, the flowers. He put them there for you. Why? To remind you that even though humans are jerks…. HE has an awesome future planned for you.
  When I changed my point of view, everything changed. Now I have friends, I have a good career, a nice car… and an awesome best friend who is always there to listen to me if I’m just willing to pray.
  You’ll make it through. I have faith in you. The same will to fight that made you respond the way you have will make you into a winner.
  Contact me if you want to talk.
  - written 1 year, 2 months ago

Excelcior's conversations are tagged:

ride, advice, friends, Love, happiness, Earth's atmosphere, life, Adolescence, Family, Month, school, girl, Western, tips