Originally posted by slleipnir
Thanks, that helps. My instructor said he'd start me off nice and slow to get use to it. However, I can't see me getting on without being nervous. I know you need to get back up and ride after a fall. Infact, the horses I was riding that threw me into the wall did that too, he just decided he wanted to go a different way and basically slammed on the brakes I did get right back on, but my back hurt so much I couldn't stay on. I rode again shortly after and fell again which is why I'm nervous. Gah.

You're lucky to have the 'horse bug' or whatever you'd call it I want to be like that haha XD
That is very nice of your instructor! I really hope everything works out pretty good for you, of course their will be minor bumps- that's horseback riding for you, and you can get back in the saddle with 100% confidence!

Yeah, I have no clue how exactly I got the horse bug when I was little, but thank the Lord I did! I was 4 years old and just facinated with the huge draft horses- which were about 100 times my size at age 4- and I was never the least bit afraid of them. My aunt used to have 8 Belgians and I just adored to hang out with them. The horse bug is awesome, I wish I could pass it to you! I'll ship it FedEx, just gimme your address- LOL!

You always want the horse to know who is boss.
AY! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! ACK! I strongly dislike it when people say that ("you want the horse to know who's boss"). The rider is not the boss of the horse, they are a partner with the horse, they are the horses' guide. If anyone were to be the boss it would be the horse, not the rider, afterall, that is why they are throwing people from their saddles. If riders have the attitude "I'm the boss, you listen to me or else" they are not going to get very far and indepth with their horse and riding. Horseback riding is partnership, it's a team. The horse is constantly teaching you things: how to sit properly and align your spine, how to be graceful and fluid with your movements, how to use different aids such as seat, legs, hands, and voice. Horses teach control, confidence, self-esteem, and other benifiting factors. We teach the horse how to move gracefully, powerful, swiftly- not choppy, bouncy, sloppy, etc. We teach horses to accept weight on their backs which is assosiated with "danger" in the wild- a whole new game for them. Horse and rider are a team, no one is more controlling than the other, if anything, the horse teaches us more than we teach the horse. Yes, the rider can have more dominance at times, but the horse will come back with dominance 10 times higher than the rider to quickly gain back their spot in the team. When horse and rider are under the influence of teamwork, their movements are amazing, their coordination is amazing, everything about the team is amazing. When horse and rider are under the influence of "I'm boss, you're not" you get horses disobeying, riders loosing control of their tempers, riders giving incorrect commands, sloppy movement- you look like your riding a camel, etc. It's teamwork, it's partnership.

$0.02, no more like $0.10