Ride with Purpose

Spending time in the saddle is the best way to build confidence. Richard Winters explains the importance of having purpose every time you walk into the barn and ride your horse.

- RICHARD WINTERS, ALLISON ARMSTRONG REHNBORG

When it comes to confidence in the saddle, there's no substitute for experience. If you don't spend lots of hours in the saddle, you can't expect yourself to get better. Gaining knowledge, owning knowledge, and applying that knowledge in practice is a huge part of becoming confident in the saddle. But you must put in the time to gather the knowledge in the first place.

It's a great time to be involved with horses today, because there are so many opportunities to gather knowledge. We live in an information age. You can go to clinics, and online resources and training videos are available at your fingertips. (Visit HorseandRider.com and On Demand.HorseandRider.com for more training resources.) There's this wonderful free flow of information within the professional horse community and the tools are available for you to use. You just have to reach out and find them.

Find Your Match

Before you even start to work on your confidence in the saddle, you need to make sure you're well-matched with your horse. The best way to build confidence is by spending a lot of time riding your horse. If your horse is too green, or needs a more advanced rider, you're not going to be very successful in the saddle.