Lucy Hodges is a Junior here at Watauga High School. Lucy is involved in golf and is also an English and a western horseback rider.
Lucy says, ¨ I started riding because one of my dad's friends wanted to teach me and I fell in love with it.¨
She has been riding for about 12 years now. Over the years she has fallen in love with western riding. English and western riding styles are both pretty easy to learn but it just takes time to practice and get good at it. The basics of each are pretty similar to each other; one is no harder than the other; however, here the similarity ends.
Western uses a bigger saddle to help distribute the rider's weight across the horse for making things like roping easier to do. The type of riding really developed from all of the cowboys who would work cattle from horseback. The English saddle is much smaller and lighter to make sure there is nothing interfering with the horse's movement.This type of riding developed from the European military.
The type of attire for each style is different. The western is loose and comfortable fitting jeans and a shirt and you will often be seeing most of these riders with a cowboy hat. English riding attire is a traditional style hunt cap or helmet. A fitted jacket, shirt, jodhpurs or breeches and jodhpur boots or tall boots complete the English rider's outfit.
¨I measure my success in riding by my confidence level. I've never had much confidence in my abilities but whenever I do build my confidence up I start to perform better. Whenever I ride I try to take pictures and videos that I can look on later to try and improve from there.¨ Lucy says.
Lucy advises ¨You need to know that the most important thing is to trust your horse and that they will take care of you.¨ Horseback riding will teach you that you need to build a lot of trust with who or what you are working with and know how they react to certain situations.
The best advice Lucy has for riders is simple. ¨Look where you want to go. Keep your head up and your shoulders back. Just breath.¨
When you find something you really love it can help you get through anything. Lucy says,¨Riding has helped me overcome my stress and anxiety I get whenever I’m super busy it helps me clear my head.¨
Written by: Ella Pennell
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