Preparing a Horse to Ride

Getting a horse ready to ride is a lengthy process that involves making sure that the horse is clean and brushed up. Tie a horse correctly before brushing it and preparing it for a ride with helpful advice from a reining horse trainer in this video on preparing horses for riding.

I'm going to bring Sparky in here, we're going to get him ready to ride. And it's a bit of a process to get a horse ready. Before you ever put the saddle on, you've got to make sure that the horse is clean, free of any debris that could get underneath the saddle and cause a problem. You also want to be very, very conscious of the care of your horse. This gives me an opportunity to check out a lot of things. I can check his hair coat, see if it shines. That gives me some clues as to whether I might need to do some worming of the horse, or whether I need to give the horse a bath. Anything that looks out of the ordinary I can catch it now. I am also going to check out his legs, and I will show you what to do in a little bit. But I am going to take and tie Sparky up here, so that he can stand here by himself, while I go around the horse and get him brushed up and ready to ride. So I am going to use a cross tie here right now. The reason I like a cross tie, is because it allows a horse to be able to stay in one spot. I can work around him, without him actually getting in my way. I've got to be able to get past the horse, and around the horse in order to brush and saddle. So I need him to actually just stay in his space. You can also tie one to a wall, to a fence, anywhere you happen to be. But the thing I like about the cross tie is in an area like this, he can't just keep swinging around, and I don't have to chase him all over the place. Once I get him cross tied, I am also going to take the lead rope off, because I don't want him to paw and get it wrapped around his leg and cause any real problems there, he could get himself in trouble. I am going to take the lead rope off, and I am going to coil it up, and I am going to find a nice place to hang it, so that it's ready when I get done riding. I am going to hang it on a hook right here. Now Sparky is all set for me to go around him and get him cleaned up.