has to learn through hard work. The good news is that adults can learn to ride well. The bad news is that most Olympians did ride as children. There is a real paradox about riding. It seems that the way we live makes it more and more difficult to learn to ride well, yet horses and riding do take on an increasing importance in our dealing with the demands of life today.

     One more reason students often struggle while learning to ride is the horse they sit on. This horse must be a professional instructor, it must be kind and generous to the rider, it must obey the instructor and student alike, it must stay cool even though everybody else seems to get hot, and it must allow the novice to have a chance to sit. While it is very important that the school horse knows more than the student, it must not necessarily know the whole program. We all know that many great riders lack the patience and communication skills to be great teachers. Great show horses also seem to struggle with similar problems. Add to that the wonderful big gaits that often prove to be too much for the beginner or intermediate rider.

    Let me enumerate one more time the main reasons why so many riders seem to struggle with the independent seat although everybody agrees that it is of vital importance to good riding:

            1st - Lack of confidence, sometimes even fear.

             2nd - Movement deprivation of today's society to the point                       of being unfamiliar with out own bodies.  

             3rd - No, or poor instruction as a beginner rider and                                         development of bad habits.

              4th - Riding too much with the head, with stress, or physical                        pain.

              5th - The horse is not suited for the rider.

     Now that we know the most common problems with which beginner riders struggle, let us explore some solutions. Since most of us did not grow up with horses, we did not gain confidence in our ability to handle them playfully, and thus due to their size and strength they tend to intimidate us. That is good because horses can hurt us if we do not respect their strength and speed. As we then handle them and get to know them, we learn that if we know what we are doing and approach them without fear, they are quite safe to be around. In the saddle it becomes a different matter because now we are out of our element and sitting on the very animal that we are not sure we can control. What we need is a patient horse and a patient teacher. Fear is one of the strongest blockers of learning because it causes our muscles to contract and thus to stiffen our joints, and that is the opposite of what we need in riding. In riding the fetal position is the fatal position.

    Only confidence in your ability to control the horse and a trust in the horse will remove that fear and allow you to relax. You want to spend as much time as you possibly can around the barn handling horses and riding under supervision. Should you be at a barn where the ambulance shows up every other day, get away from there and find a safer place. Confidence is a conviction that grows from within and is the result of positive experiences. Reading or hearing about how safe horses are is helpful, but nothing is as convincing as experiencing it. If you are unsure or