Saddle a Horse

Hi. My name

is Jared Nelson. I work on a farm were saddling and riding horses is a big part of it. Horseback riding is not only enjoyable but it also exercises and strengthens your muscles. I’m going to show you in 8 easy steps on how to saddle your horse and get it ready to ride. That way you can enjoy riding and not have to if your horse is saddled properly.

1. The first step you will need to do is

to is find a suitable horse. If this is one of the first times riding you are probably going to want a very well-trained horse. Green horses are not well broke (trained) so unless you have ridden quite a bit you’re not going to want one of them.

Next, you are going to want to brush the horse. Brushing before saddling is very important because it makes ure that there is nothing that will poke or stab the horse when you get it saddled. Brushing will also help calm a horse and can help you get more comfortable around the animal.

After you brush your horse you will need to find your saddle and blanket. Before you go riding you should check your saddle to make sure it fits you. You should be able to sit with room between yourself and the horn of the saddle the stirps should be adjusted to where your legs are a little bent and you can stand lifting yourself off the saddle 4 to 6 inches. The blanket should be at least 2 inches thick but not more then 4.

Following finding the saddle and blanket you are going to want to put the blanket on. The blanket should be placed at the base of the neck right. Although it should not go passed the front of the shoulders. On the other end it should end right in front of the flank of the horse.

The next thing to do is to put the saddle on. Be careful its heavy. To put the saddle on you are going to want to take what would be the right side the horn goes toward the front. Put anything that hangs down like the stirp the cinch and backstrap if you have one on the seat so its to not get in the way when putting it on. The saddle should sit on the blanket with about 2 inches sticking on the front and back.

Putting the saddle down you are going to want to tighten it. The cinch should have a counterpart strap on the left side you will run that strap through the end of the cinch a put it so it is touching the belly of the horse then pull just a little more. Now wrap the strap through the 2 loops of the strap and cinch. See picture below to see.

Lastly put the bridle on the bridle is what helps you control the horse. It should have a metal piece which does in the mouth then it should fit in around the head of the horse the picture will have more detail. The bridle which hold the bit should have the reigns on it which is what you “steer” with the should be long enough where you can hold them and they hang along the neck.