How to Ride a Horse

Horse Riding and Riding Injuries

Horseback riding is one of the most enjoyable, yet physically challenging pastimes known to humankind. There are few experiences that compare with a brisk ride in the countryside on the back of a magnificent steed. However, in order to get the mot out of your horseback riding experience, you must first be properly trained and equipped for the occasion.

Proper training means that you know how to mount, dismount and ride the horse with confidence and ease. It is also essential that proper attire be worn, starting with a properly fitted riding helmet and moving down the body to comfortably fitted shirt and pants that are not at all loose fitting, leather riding boots and riding gloves with non-slip palms. Handling, riding, and driving horses has a number of health benefits and risks. When mounted, the rider's head may be up to four meters from the ground, and the horse may travel at a speed of up to 60 km per hour. The majority of horseback riding injuries range from very minor injuries to fatalities.

Giving everyone quite the scare, Madonna was rushed off to a New York hospital after falling from a horse while in South Hampton, NY on Saturday (April 18).

All horses move naturally with four basic gaits: the four-beat walk, which averages four miles per hour; the two-beat trot or jog, which averages 12 to 20 km per hour (faster for harness racing); and the leaping gaits known as the canter or lope – a three-beat gait equivalent to 20 to 30 km per hour, and the gallop, which averages approximately 40 to 60 km per hour. The world record for a horse galloping over a short, sprint distance is 90 km per hour. In addition to these basic gaits, some horses do a two-beat pace, instead of the trot. Several four-beat "ambling" gaits are approximately the same speed of a trot or pace, though they are smoother to ride. These include the lateral slow gait, rack, running walk, and trot as well as the diagonal fox trot. Ambling gaits are often genetic traits in specific breeds, known collectively as gaited horses. In most cases, gaited horses replace the standard trot with one of the ambling gaits.

Horse Riding Safety

Injuries are always a concern when considering riding a horse. While safety is a major concern, other more subtle injuries can occur if riders are not cautious. The idea that riding a horse could injure a woman's sex organs, including damage to the hymen is an old wives’ tale. In female high-level athletes, trauma to the pelvic region is rare, though worthy of attention on the part of female riders. The type of female trauma most associated with equestrian sports has been termed "horse riders' perineum", a numbness that could interfere with the natural urge to push during child birth.

Sports related injuries in men, are among the major causes of testicular trauma. In a small study of 52 men, testicular injury was significantly more common in equestrians than in non-equestrians. The difference between these two groups was small, however, compared to differences reported between extreme mountain bike riders and non-riders, as well as between mountain bike riders and on-road bicycle riders. Horseback riding injuries to the scrotum and testes were well known to surgeons as far back as the late 19th Century and early 20th Century. Injuries of this type generally occur as a result of sudden impact with the pommel of a saddle.

It is strongly suggested that these very rare chronic injuries could be avoided by riders’ use of caution when mounting and dismounting and developing the habit of using proper riding techniques at all times.