Cantering over Crossrails

          20% Time Project Proposal

Name: Hannah Farr

Project Title: Horses In The Meadow

Project Start Date: November 7^th

Project Completion Date: May 14^th

Mentor’s Name: Mrs. Browning, http://michaelyani.blogspot.com/2011/03/how-to-ride-horse.html

Brief Description: For my 20% project I will be showing the basics of how to ride and take care of horses.

Overview of Project Proposal

1) Project Objective: I will be showing people how to learn the basic skills of riding and taking care of horses. So I ride horses and I want to help people that want to ride but don’t know how. So I will be showing the basics of grooming, saddling, bathing, and riding.

2) Project Rationale:  I am doing this project because I love horses and helping out with tacking and grooming. I want people who love horses to ride them if they want. When I started riding I wasn’t good at all but I progressively got better. There were kids that would come into the arena and help my instructor. I knew from then on that I wanted to help out at the barn and in the arena and it has been fun ever since. This is valuable to me because I have always loved horses and sometimes other kids need to do something they love so they aren’t as stressed because doing things you love can be like therapy.

3) Project Steps:

1. Introduce myself on my blog and explain what I’m going to talk about.

2. Talk about the basics.

3. Show some videos on how to ride or groom or tack up a horse.

4. Keep up the good work!

4) Timeline of Activities:

·         I feel like I should start off with how to groom the horse.

·         Then tacking.

·         Then washing.

·         Last for now riding

 

5) Available Human and Material Resources:

·         My instructor

·         The owner of the stables

·         My grandmother

·         Also blog posts like http://michaelyani.blogspot.com/2011/03/how-to-ride-horse.html

6) Possible Road Blocks:

·         Not knowing what to talk about next.

·         Not being able to explain what I am trying to say.

7) Research Questions:

·         How do people know where to look to find my blog?

·         How to fix the money problems?

·         How do you keep track of a horse’s health?

 

Beginner ride!

So when you first start having lessons you will have to have some assistants with the grooming and saddling.  So when you get on the horse you have to do a few exercises. Once you finish that you your instructor should lead you down to the arena. When you begin you want to warm up the horse. Your instructor should tell you what to do so you will start off by walking the horse while you stand up in your stirrups.

After that you will speed the horse up a little. When you are speeding the horse up you must kick the horse and cluck to her/he. To stop the horse you pull back on the reins. Then when you want to turn the horse you pull the rein that is the direction you want to go. So if you want to go right you pull on the right rein. The instructor will instruct you to walk around the arena and stop for 5 seconds. Then you will then walk around the arena and in the corners you will make circles. Then last but not least you will weave through the cones to work on your steering. That's what the beginners do in there first lesson.

Tacking up

Today I want to show you the basics of tacking up a horse. What you need is a saddle, saddle pad, stirrups, bridle, and a girth for the horse. The rider needs a helmet, riding pants, riding shoes, half chaps, and a crop. First you want to grab the saddle pad and put it on the horses back above the withers because when you put the saddle on the saddle pad will side down with the saddle. Then you put on the saddle gently.

Then you attach the saddle to the saddle pad. After that you need to get the girth and attach it to the 1st and 3rd billet strap. You need to tighten the girth enough so the saddle won't slide but not to tight. After that you want to grab the bridle and there is this metal little bar that called the bit that has to go in the horses mouth. If the horse doesn't open its mouth for you to put the bit in horses don't have teeth in the back of their mouth so you put your thumb back there and they should open their mouth.

Then when the bridle is on you need to tighten the noseband this is so the horse won't open their mouth. After that you need to tighten the chin strap but not tight at all so the horse has room to swallow. When done you take the forelock out from under the bridle. Last but not least you grab the reins and your ready to ride!

Basics of Grooming

Today for my 20% project post I will be telling you the basics of how to groom your horse. So what you will need is a grooming box to carry all of your equipment. You will need a curry comb, hard brush, soft brush, comb for mane and tail, face brush, and a hoof pick. when using the curry comb you go in circular motions against the hair and this is to get all of the dust and loose hair up this can only be used on the neck, back, belly, and hindquarters. Then you get the hard brush and  you go with the hair and get up the dirt that has come up from using the curry comb.

 Its the same for the soft brush but you can use it for there face instead of a face brush. When you are combing the mane and tail you start from the bottom and work your way up so you don't pull out and hair. Don't worry if it pulls when brushing the mane horses don't have any nerves there so it wont hurt them. With the face brush just be careful around there eyes. With the hoof pick to pick up a horses hoof you stand next to that hoof facing the hindquarters and run your hand down their leg and squeeze their leg or put your weight on their shoulder and they should pick their hoof up.

 Then when you look at a horses hoof there is a v shape in the center that is their frog it is very sensitive you don't want to pick that it will hurt the horse. You want to get all of the rocks and dirt out because if left in their hoof can cause problems and hurt the horse. You do it with all 4 hoofs. Grooming is for cleaning your horse and checking for any wounds. Now that's all for grooming hoped you liked my tips!

Basic Skills

This is my 2nd blog for getting better at riding horses. Today I got to go to horse and we worked on the basic stuff. We trotted over poles, cantered, post trotted, sit trotted, and stood up in our stirrups. Next time I should be able to wok on cantering over jumps. I also learned that when a horse puts there head down the rider should squeeze with your legs and pull up on the reins. That is all for this blog s until next time!

Step 1 For Horseback Riding

In class we are doing this project its called the 20% project. What I am doing is working more on riding horses. So I am cantering over jumps right now at my stables and I want to get better at it. I like going out there to watch other people ride to so I can learn from my mistakes. Like if you fall off you want to get back on and get onto the horse so they don't do it again. So this is the end of my first post. Bye!