Q: Two of my non-riding friends keep telling me that horse riders don’t do anything, and that they just sit there. How can I prove to them that riders do something?
A: The problem you have is that the better the rider, the less they appear to be doing! That’s what every rider dreams of – giving such invisible aids that it appears to onlookers that the rider is doing nothing, and the horse is doing all the wonderful things by himself!
Of course it isn’t true. Horse’s don’t volunteer to walk, trot, canter and jump for us where and when we want them to. Riders have to ask them and it takes a lot of skill to be able to ride really well.
Ask your friends to watch any top sportsmen or women. Golfers seem to hit their golf balls into the holes with ease; it seems as those tennis balls aim themselves at the top tennis players’ rackets; how effortless does a top ice skater make his or her sport appear?
It is just the same with riding. The people who do it best are the ones who’s horses are responding correctly, yet the riders appear they are doing nothing at all!
