Ride Your Horse Better with Equestrian Vaulting

In this video, I'll provide some tips on beginning to longe the horse and the tools you'll need. I'll cover the correct use of the whip as an aid. Longing your horse is a great way to develop your communication with the horse and to put some good ground manners and behavior on him. It's an excellent preparation for the young horse that you're planning to ride or drive, and a good way to help him develop nice gaits. I've longed horses for equestrian vaulting for several years and am training my Percheron Tobias (featured here) for equestrian vaulting.

With monthly dues generally under $150 and scholarships available from the American Vaulting Association, recreational equestrian vaulting is accessible to most children who long to be around, learn about, and ride horses.

In this equestrian vaulting exercise, the vaulter will let her body go like a "rag doll" and then "knit" her body back together in the correct position. By switching from the correct to incorrect position and back again, the vaulter learns to feel what where her body should be and how to use it correctly to maintain her seat. We're vaulting on Irish Draft "Shakespeare".

The Paint Horse competition is one of the more colorful of the many equestrian events at the Denver stock show. Here is a contestant performing for the judge and a large audience.