As a rodeo queen you will find yourself riding unfamiliar horses more often than you ride your own!  Hopefully you will find yourself in nothing but safe situations with trusty horses to ride.  Even in the best of situations there are certain precautions you should take while riding someone else’s horse that is very unfamiliar to you. 

Safety first, recognize warning signs the horse is gives you.  If the situation is tense where the horse is acting up in the arena before the rodeo, listen to your gut.  If you feel unsafe, don’t be afraid to tell someone.  Don’t get too casual, even if you are comfortable with the horse.  Treat every new horse you ride like a colt - you never know what might spook them, you don’t want to be surprised.

Be respectful of the person’s horse.  They went out of there way (most likely) to provide a horse for you.  Be thankful and courteous.  Send a thank you note to them after the rodeo, offer to help saddle, unsaddle, feed, etc.  Clean up after yourself and leave everything the way you found it.  For example, if you do unsaddle - make sure you put the saddle back where you got it. 

Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , , ,