Hold Your Horses – Applying the Lessons of Riding Horseback in Real Life
Hold Your Horses – Applying the Lessons of Riding Horseback in Real Life
Dogs may be known as man’s best friend, but horses are just as special. Sometimes, horses are referred to as a woman’s best friend or a man’s most loyal servant. But no matter how they are called by society, befriending horses are always a good way to spend your time.
If you’ve never ridden a horse’s back, then you’re missing out on half your life. That may sound extreme, but it really is saddening never to have ridden a horse at least once. You won’t know if it’s something that you’ll want to keep doing for fun or to actually learn the sport. You’ll grow to love it because horses are emotional animals that provide good companionship. Hold your horses – applying the lessons of riding horseback in real life.
Horseback Riding Teaches You to Get Back Up After Falling Down
Half the time you spend learning how to ride horseback, you will be spending it on the ground. But it’s normal to fall off your horse repeatedly as you navigate the rocky path to being an equestrian. You might get a few scratches here and there, but the important thing is that you get back up.
No matter how many times you fall flat on the ground, don’t take that as a sign to quit. Instead, use it as a motivation to ride again until falling is no longer an option. This can teach you a thing or two about perseverance and determination, along with dealing with the fear of failure.
This is an important takeaway that you can apply in your life as well. Just like how you never gave up even after falling over and over again, you should do the same when you face obstacles in life. Don’t be afraid of failing and falling because you can always get back up to try again.
Horseback Riding Teaches You that Practice Makes Perfect
Like any other skill, horseback riding is something that you learn with continuous practice, and it won’t happen overnight. You will need to exert effort into learning this sport, especially because it takes a specific level of familiarity and getting used to riding a horse.
Besides, knowing that you put in the time and effort to learn the art, which will eventually lead to mastering it, can give you the confidence to learn more skills in the future. Someday, when an unfamiliar skill seems daunting at first, a part of you will know that you can do it because you have done it before.
Horseback Riding Teaches You How to Build Mutual Trust
When you begin learning how to ride a horse, you will know that it isn’t as easy as how they make it seem on television. Horses are social animals, but they don’t warm up to strangers easily. To ride properly, you will have to foster a bond between you and your partner.
Horses can be very unpredictable, even when experts train them to be friendly. So you must build mutual trust with your horse, which can be done by treating it with respect and communicating with it like a human friend.
Learning how to establish a relationship with a horse will make it easier for you to build friendships with other people. Because if you can be friends with a horse that you can’t directly speak to, surely you can be friends with people who can fully understand you.
The trust you forge with your horse can also make you a more trusting adult. Trust is a crucial aspect of any relationship, whether it is with people or animals. If you can trust an unpredictable horse to keep you safe as you hold on to its leather reins, then you can trust people to care for you too.
Horseback Riding Teaches You the Importance of Overall Health
As mentioned earlier, learning the sport has plenty of benefits for your physical, emotional, and mental health. This is because you use your entire body to support your weight on top of the horse, which is in itself a challenge already.
This mere action can develop your core strengths, increase your muscle tones, improve your balance and coordination, as well as stimulate your whole body. Riding horseback has been known to relax the riders because being with animals gives people a serotonin boost.
Your mental and emotional health also benefits greatly when you’re with your horse and having a good time. Recreational horseback riding is a therapeutic experience that many equestrians enjoy, especially with the added calming aura of being in nature.
So if you’re looking for another way to pass your time, you should consider learning how to ride horseback. Even spending time with horses can positively affect your mood and perspective in life because they are emotional creatures. You can learn so much from spending time with horses.
