08/29/2025
Fear, Fear & Fear - Most of today's young riders ride in fear. I watch them and I see them braced throughout their entire bodies. Most have learned to ride in the Hunter Jumper discipline where unbalanced poses cause them to feel insecure on a horse. Unsuspecting parents think that is the way riding is supposed to be. It's not.
Injury and death from falls have become a possibility even in equitation classes. Today's biggest discipline, Hunter Jumpers, is not sustainable if this continues down its current path.
To counter this fear, there is a new business called the LandSafe Rider Fall Safety System. They travel the country giving clinics with a mechanical horse (that moves nothing like a horse) and loads of floor pads to teach young riders to fall off their horses safely.
Why aren't riding instructors teaching students how not to fall off? Why aren't parents demanding safer riding methods? Maybe because they don't know it is possible to stay on a horse by riding defensively.
The bottom left graph shows post views of my recent defensive riding post that so far has over 790,000 views. Link below. Who is viewing it? It's mostly, 41.9%, the 18 to 24 year old demographic that is only 2.6% of my page's Follower base according to the FB analytics graph on the right. With thousands of engagements and hundreds of shares, this means young riders have been sharing this defensive riding post with other young riders. Nothing close to this has ever happened on my page.
The level of fear in today's young riders is tragic. It need not be this way. I am 78 and I am now training two young horses, both 5 years old. One is an off the track Thoroughbred and the other is a 17.1 H Irish Draft/TB cross that knows as much as a 2 year old. Both are great horses. Am I fearful when I ride them? No, because I was trained as a boy by a US Cavalryman in defensive riding.
Working with me on these prospects is a 20 something rider, Laura, who learned defensive riding from me when she was a young kid. She is not afraid. She has been a Whipper in for a hunt with a very good pack. All young riders could ride like Laura if they had the training.
Parents and riders, you don't have to accept fear. You don't need Landsafe if you don't fall off. Defensive riding that includes the time tested British Horse Society emergency dismount is safer. We must stop accepting fear as part of riding. We must demand safer, more secure riding methods. Artificial poses, releases and all the rest are not authentic horsemanship.
I will end with a ray of hope. There is a new organization, the United Dressage & Jumping Club. www.udjc.org that is offering an alternative show series. I have not been to one of their shows, but their information is sensible. I think they might be a better alternative to the HJ shows we have now. They haven't had a show near me yet, but when they do, I'll be there. I am hopeful.
Defensive riding post -
www.facebook.com/BobWoodHorsesForLife/posts/pfbid035vSUVLD3kaJnZ1VRE7XfufrRUyB5ZiZucM2ufvAwYkYFVgCg737GpFu3hND4bprFl
