Avoid these frequent blunders on your horseback riding journey and you’ll have a great time.
Until someone breaks a safety rule, horseback riding is all sunshine, rainbows, and horse feces. Our rules for horseback riding exist for a purpose, and it’s to guarantee that you have the most enjoyable ride possible while staying safe! That being said, be aware that if you break our regulations, the barn girls are considerably tougher than that one severe high-school hall monitor who everyone assumed probably ate children. So please pay attention to our horseback riding instructions.
Most Common Mistakes While Horseback Riding:
- Wearing the incorrect garment
- If you don’t show up on time (or 15 minutes before), your trip
- Not following your guide’s instructions.
- Attempting to ride past someone on horseback
- Texting and riding!
The most essential guideline is to be cautious! It’s even our first and most vital rule! It’s the main thing we strive for every day!
Wearing the Incorrect Garment
I’ll remind you: be cautious about what you wear. From falling off (flip-flops and hats) to billowing gowns, there are a lot of clothing items that could go wrong. Do you want to make sure you don’t do this mistake? Pants, a t-shirt, and shoes are all you need!
WARNING: Shorts may look good until you leave with lobster thighs. There’s no way to avoid chafing, so stick to pants!
Being Late
We require a 20-minute ride time from our pick up location to your destination, so we advise everyone to be 15-30 minutes early for their trip. Why so much time? Because getting on a horse takes time. So does filling out paperwork and going back to the car four times because the rest of your party keeps handing you things they don’t want to bring with them and you drove so you have the keys. The point is that this buffer period is crucial for ensuring that every one may receive the entire tour we promise.
When we say a trip departs at 1:00 p.m., we mean it, and if you miss it, you miss it like when a plane takes off from the runway. We don’t have federal police on hand to arrest you if you try to chase our bus after it has departed.
Not Following Your Guide
So, as the hall monitor once again, remember when you’d get caught walking around during classes and the hall monitor would catch you and you’d get sassy and snarky, ending up in the principal’s office for all of your lip? No? That was just me? REALLY! Well regardless, listen to your guides; they’re there to ensure your safety and that everyone has a good time. They’ll remove you from your horse if you pose a danger to yourself, our customers, or our horses.
There Will Be No Passing
This is quite crucial, so no jokes please (okay, maybe one.) Do not allow/make your horse walk beside or go past another horse. While our boys are all excellent, horses are herd animals that are used to following the butt in front of them. If this pattern is disturbed, a slew of possibilities opens up for things to go wrong. We don’t want anything incorrect; we want everything to be right.
Being Distracted
I’m not sure what prompted me to write this article, but I’m glad I did. When you’re out and your phone rings because you’re actually skipping work and they want to know how your cold is progressing…you’ll try to pull out your phone. You’re completely engrossed with both hands off the saddle at that point when the ride becomes considerably more hazardous than it needs to be. Phones aren’t the only ones who do it; we’ve seen everything from hats blowing off to some people staring at deer herds. The list goes on and on.
