Kids Horse Riding - lesson 1 (Beginners Basics)

So this is part one of our series of teaching children horse riding. Hope you enjoy! Alright, so first things first, let's get to know our horses. Alfie! He is, and well done for going... Maddox, you're going to help me to put Alfie's head collar on. Okay? So this is the head collar, nose goes through here, and that bit goes behind his ears. This is the rope. And then we're going to take him up to the top and get him ready for a ride. Okay? So first thing he's going to do is throw the rope over his whizzer. This pointy bit that's on his whizzer. Okay? Perfect. And it just keeps the rope out of the way. And then, can we see how Alfie's eating the grass at the moment? Alfie loves to eat grass. He eats grass for about 16 hours of the whole day. He'll just eat, eat, eat all day long. He's feeding! Take this bit here, and you throw that behind his ears. That's it, yep. And then you pop it through there. Slide it up, very good. Slide it up a bit more. And then we do a special kind of knot, because if we just tie it randomly, any old knot, that knot could get so tight that we might not be able to get it undone again. So we're going to make a capital D shape like this. Can you see how that's the post? And that's the D. Can you see? And then, this bit tucks behind like that, and you put it through. It doesn't matter how much he falls on this, we'll always be able to undo it. Just quite simply like that. So how about you have a go at doing that? Perfect. Behind there. Perfect. And through. I'll try coming through here. Through this hole. And through. Excellent, well done. See if you can get his attention, so you can bring his head up. It's okay. It's alright. It's okay. Good boy Al. So now his head's up. We've got his attention. We're going to walk, and we're going to go right over here. So if you boys go stand back there a bit. Walk on. You can look at what I'm doing. Your turn next. Me and Alphys. Come on Maddox, you have a go. How to do a quick release knot. We have a long, long rope. I talk a bit like a tail. Fold your tail in half. Make a loop. Pop your loop through the bailing climb. Now we've got a very long piece of loop. Fold up. Into your loop. And again. Fold up into your loop. Now you can actually do this at home by tying a shoelace or a skipping rope. You can do anything. And then having a go at doing the quick release knot yourself. Alright, here we go. Let's see Maddox have a go. Here goes Maddox with the quick release knot. So we go through the bailing climb. Then we get our long tail. Yep, that's it. Very good. And then we get our tail again. I've done as much as it can be. Perfect. Okay, give it a pull. See if it comes undone. Hey! You did it! Before we ride, we have to get Alfie nice and clean. Why do you think he has to be clean before we ride? Because the saddle will fall off. The saddle might fall off. Yeah, that's right. Do you think there's any other reason? No. When we're brushing him, it's a really nice way to say hello and make friends. So he knows who you are before you get on his back. Okay? We're going to start on his body first, at his shoulder. We're going to use a very hard brush. Feel the bristles? Ouch. That's hard, isn't it? There's a soft one for his face. Feel that one. That one for his body. So hard bristles for the body, soft bristles for his face. This is for his feet. That's right, that is for his feet, isn't it? So we'll do those ones next. Maddie, tell me some rules about being around horses. Don't go behind them. What would happen if you went behind his butt? They'll kick you. Yeah, that's right. Don't risk it. Another big rule about horses as well. Do they like very loud noises? Yes. Do they like screaming and shouting? Yes. Be nice and calm and relaxing. Maddie, if you stand in front of his foot, what might happen? Stand here, what might happen? So the best place and the safest place to be for our little feet is just a little bit far away from his feet. This is his shoulder. There you go. In the field, horses say hello to each other by scratching on the shoulder. Yeah, with their teeth. That's right, they use their teeth. We're only going to brush this part, Maddie. Because if we brush his body over here, he's a bit more sensitive. Well, he does know you, but he doesn't know you. Now you've done his shoulder. Body! And he's nice and relaxed. You can do his body. Show me how to do his back. Reach up and do his back. Because if there's any dirt up there and we put a saddle on, it'll rub and it'll hurt him. So for our lesson today, we're just going to brush his saddle area. Show me the correct way of going behind Alfie without getting kicked. Very good girl. Why didn't you do his shoulder? He gets sensitive. That's right, he gets sensitive on his belly. Can you tell everyone what this is? Well, it's feet. For his feet, it's called a hoof pick. I'll show you how to do it today. And then if you feel comfortable, you can have a go. But if you don't, then the next lesson you might want to try. We're going to pick his foot up and we're going to clean inside. There's a little knobbly thing on the inside of his leg called a chestnut. And when I touch it, it's on his feathers, which are these long, hairy bits. And then the hand that's got the hoof pick in, the inside hand comes in, swaps it over. You can use the outside hand just to dig in. Do you know what this triangle bit's called? A frog. So we're not allowed to touch down. That's the kind of sensitive bit, yeah. So we're just looking out for any stones because it's quite deep in that groove, isn't it? And stones can get trapped. And then when you're riding, that can squash his foot. Like if you have a stone in your shoe. So how about today I hold the hoof pick and you just have a go at the chestnut and picking up the feather, yeah? Hooray! You did it. High five. Well done. We've got Alfie ready, coming in from the field. He's got his head collar on and we've brushed him. And now we need to find the saddle. So Bjorni, have a look over here and show me where is the saddle? Can you show me which one's the saddle? That's right, that's the saddle. Maddy, can you show me where is the stirrups? It's okay for Bjorn, I can tell you. The stirrups are these bits that we've got our feet in. How cool is that? That's the stirrups. Okay. Maverick, do you know what this is called? A bodyguard. Yeah, it works the same like a bodyguard. It's called a saddle pad. Okay. Can you take the basket? Yeah. With your outside hand, that hand. And then use your inside hand to hold that bit. Are you ready to feel the weight of it? Do you hear the muscles? Yes. And together, we're going to go over his ribcage and pop this out. We're going to slide with his hair underneath, laying flat behind his shoulder. And it's not so far back that it's sitting on his kidneys. Perfect position. What are we going to use to hold it on? If we just sat on it like that and went for a ride, it might fall off. What could we put on? What do you think? We're going to put the girth on. It's called a girth. Oh, a girth. Girth. And the girth goes under his belly and it holds the saddle on. It's got buckles. We're going to put it on the first hole, number one. And you do this one. So it slides through here, through the back, and then poke it in. You do it. Yeah. Excellent. Very good. These are called the girth straps. And this is called the girth straps. Let's go around the back. Show me the best way to go around the back. Where's your head going to be? So this is going from the side. Remember where the place of your feet would be? Next to his feet. And then start to stretch. Good. Stretch. I'll pass it around to you. Very good. Perfect. And then before we ride, do you think it might be a good idea to make it a bit tighter? On the other side? On the other side, yeah, before we ride. Yeah. I'm going to go and get the bridle. So I'm going to show you and then you can have a try. The reins go over his head to the withers. Okay. Very good. Well done. So we've got the buckle in the middle and that goes here on his withers. We've got the headpiece, the headband and the noseband. It's the noseband. I'll show you and then you can have a try, okay? So I noticed when you put his reins on, you'd want it to go in front of him. To put the bridle on, we stand to the side. So we check our feet, make sure we're not too close. Open up the bridle by hurling onto the buckles on either side. So one hand goes on this buckle and the other hand goes on that buckle. So this arm goes under and guides here. Perfect. And then if you step back, I'm going to pop your beard through like a warrior. You and Alfie are going to go charging into battle together. Chasing a dragon. I'll pop your beard through for you. So this is called a bitness bridle. Right then, Maddy. So to walk forward, you're going to say, walk on, Alfie. Walk on, Alfie. Very good. Is it nice that you don't have to pull on the reins to ask him to stop? We're going to do perfect posture. So, very good. There's a little string coming out the top of your head, pulling you all the way up to the sky. And your shoulders come up to your ears. Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze. And roll them gently back. Lovely. Nice and loose under your armpit. So you can pretend there's tentacles under there. And then your elbows are tucked in. And they hang gently. You're quite perfect. Very good. So, bend. That's it. And then your tummy. Do we lean back? Do we lean forward? Do we go side to side? In the middle. Good. So remember that string coming out of your head. Very good. Very nice. Thanks for watching, guys. I hope you enjoyed our first riding lesson. And we'll be following up with lesson number two. And see how we get on over the summer. And how these kids progress. We've had a beautiful day in the sun. It's been lovely. It's been super nice. Yeah. Don't forget to subscribe. Yep. Like, comment, subscribe. Share with all your friends. Peace.