Horse Class Logo Image

3 Exercises to Help Nervous Riders Relax and Sit Up

As riders, when we get nervous or anxious, our first human instinct is to lean forward, grip with our knees, and clutch the reins (or the saddle horse, or the horse’s mane!). 

This is not a very secure, let alone effective, position for riding. 

What I want to do today is to give three exercises to help you feel more relaxed, balanced, and able to give clear directions to your horse. 

The order of these exercises is not random as we will be following the Structure Your Ride Formula I introduced in last week’s video. 

We will begin with a Warm Up exercise to release any tension or gripping, then do a Rider Skill Building Exercise to teach you a specific movement to counteract leaning forward, and finally I will show you how to ride a classic training exercise for your horse, and why this particular exercise can be so calming. 

Let’s get started! Hit play below!

p.s. These exercises are from my new book, Stay in the Saddle, 67 Exercises for Horse and Rider. If you need a great gift idea, there is still time to order before Christmas and you get instant access to the digital version and online portal while your printed version is shipped!

Click Here to Get Your Copy

Bring fun and purpose to every ride

with my Book - Stay in the Saddle - 67 Exercises for Horse and Rider

Your information is safe with us, learn how we use and process data in our Privacy Policy.

Better riding in 7 days (FREE Mini Course)

Daily exercises for an immovable seat, steady hands, and a happier horse

Your information is safe with us, learn how we use and process data in our Privacy Policy.

Related Courses

Stay in the Saddle

Instructed by: Callie King
Our popular book + video program. Includes 67 Exercises for horse and rider to bring fun and purpose to every ride.
Learn More
Enrollment is now closed.

Balanced Riding Course

Instructed by: Callie King
A comprehensive program on horse behavior, training, and riding. Ride with balance and learn to communicate effectively with your horse. Learn riding in a completely new way!
Learn More
Next Open Oct 2024

Effortless Rider® Course

Instructed by: Wendy Murdoch
Find solutions to your riding challenges and bring ease to your riding through understanding the mechanics of movement.
Learn More

Related Posts

Search

Comments

6 Responses

  2. I have already purchased the book. It is excellent. Descriptions are well done and esay to follow. Xouple of questions: is the book available unbound. It would be great to be able to take pages out and be able to slip them into plastic sheet protectors (put then into 3-ring binder) to keep them clean while out in the arena. Also, with the exercise of wrapping stirrups to help with using proper pressure, I am assuming the stirrup length would need to be lengthened to compensate for the thickness of tne wrap, yes?
    Thank-you for all of your help.

    Reply

    1. Hi Debra, thanks for your comment! I’m so glad to hear you are enjoying the book so far 🙂

      At this time, the book is not available unbound. I would suggest purchasing the individual lamination sheets from a Staples or office supply store and you could put them on the pages!

      And yes, you are correct about the stirrup wrap. Enjoy the ride,

      -Julia, HorseClass Support

      Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Join Our HorseClass Social Community

I signed up for the Balanced Riding course after watching Callie on YouTube. I’ve learned so much from this course. As you start riding when you’re young, you learn the fundamentals, but then you drift so far away from them in different skills that you’re learning that you sometimes kind of forget or don’t appropriately utilize those fundamentals anymore. And she’s really brought me back to that level of understanding specifically how to ride with the seat. And I think that’s kind of the most powerful thing you can learn to do as a rider, is to sit your horse appropriately, not have to rely so much on your reins. So that’s been huge, just completely changed the way I ride.
- Amanda
- Amanda
I just want to say thank you to everyone for all the comments and positive comments I have read while on this site. I have taken many of the free courses offered by CRK training over the past few months and it has help with my confidence. I actually rode my daughter’s horse for the first time outside in the ring since she came home from a free lease September. I have practiced many of the lessons and watched many videos. It was just at a walk but I felt confident with every thing I have learnt so far, plus I have learnt that I am not the only one who gets nervous and that it is okay to be nervous and thanks to Callie’s lessons I have learnt to take one day at a time and work though the times I feel nervous.
- Tammy Lynn Wright
- Tammy Lynn Wright
As a new horse owner and rider I wanted a training series that would walk me through each step of equitation for a beginner. That is exactly what I got with the CRK Balanced Rider Series. Callie King is a talented horse trainer and accomplished rider and it shows through each of her videos. She is clear and concise when discussing her insider knowledge of horse care, training, and riding.
- Jennifer addy
- Jennifer addy
As with all of the work Callie does, this program is informative, thoughtful, evidence based. The course provides good resources on horsemanship, managing fear, developing confidence. The videos of “how to” help your horse manage his fear were particularly good (in that) helping my horse manage moments of fear, helps me to manage mine.
- Corinne
- Corinne
This is why I so enjoy your videos and webinars. Your approach is so positively based and therefore so kind and gentle while still being very effective. You work with the horse and not against him. THANK YOU!
- Rosanne Wellmaker
- Rosanne Wellmaker
Horse Class Logo Image

Coming Soon!