Men have ridden horses for thousands of years. Yet, as you can probably remember from the first time you tried to ride a horse, there’s quite an art to riding.

There’s more to riding a horse than avoiding sores and aches and pains. The chief marks of good riding are ease and grace, combined with straightness of posture. When people are trained from earliest childhood, these things come naturally. The cowboys of the West usually get this kind of training, and they can ride without lifting from leather, which means they never bounce on the saddle.

The type of saddle that is used can make quite a difference in riding. In modern rodeos, the saddles used most often have a horn, or high pommel, and a cantle. A pommel is the knob in the front of the saddle and the cantle is the hind bow of the saddle.

The army uses a different kind of saddle with a medium-height pommel and cantle. On this saddle, the rider posts or lifts himself in the stirrups to avoid part of the up and down jolting of a trot.

At horse shows and for most pleasure riding, the English or “postage stamp” saddle is used. This is a light leather pad, with only the slightest suggestion of a pommel and cantle. It can only be used on well-trained horses.

With all saddles, the rider generally grips the leather with his thighs, allowing the lower parts of his legs to hang free in the stirrups. Just the balls of the feet are in the stirrups. The feet are held straight along the horse’s sides. The reins are held in the left hand, the left rein between the little finger and the next finger. The right rein is looped over the index finger.

Guiding the horse is accomplished first by pulling one or the other of the reins, or by kneeing or neck-reining. The horse must be trained for either of the latter two methods. The off-rein or off-knee (the one farthest away from the direction of turn desired is pressed against the horse’s neck or shoulder to signal the turn. Neck-reining is considered much better horse show style than pulling on a rein.

Of course, the art of riding a horse gracefully must be learned with much training and practice. Without it, you’re likely to discoverer that it’s not only painful, but you look quite awkward.