Understand your goals.

One of the most important things to understand when improving your horse riding skills is your goals. You need to ask yourself some key questions:

• What are my goals for my horse?
• What are my goals for myself?
• Do I want to be able to ride a certain distance or at a particular pace? Or am I simply looking for something more social and fun with my friends, family, or significant other? These are all valid reasons for why someone would want to take up horseback riding.
• How do I want this experience with my horse to make me feel as a person, both now and in the future? This is also very important because it will help guide how you approach everything from training methods down through daily care routines after getting home from lessons each day.

Know your horse.

• Know your horse’s personality. Before you can ride a horse, it’s important to know both their physical and mental strengths and weaknesses.
• Know your horse’s physical strengths and weaknesses. Horses have certain characteristics that make them more suitable for certain tasks than others, so knowing what those are allows you to make better riding decisions when deciding which type of task would suit your horse best.
• Know your horse’s abilities. Knowing what type of terrain is difficult for a horse increases safety while riding in that area; the same goes for different climates (elevation changes), road conditions (wet vs dry), etc…

Dress properly.

You’ll need to wear appropriate footwear. You can learn more about shoeing here.

If you have a hat or helmet, it’s a good idea to use one when riding your horse. If you don’t have one, consider bringing along some gloves for the same reason: they protect your hands from getting hurt by the horse’s mouth or hooves (as well as preventing blisters).

Your clothes should be comfortable and washable! Avoid wearing heavy or bulky clothing that will make it harder for you to move around while riding your horse—and make sure they’re not too loose, either; otherwise they could get caught on something with disastrous results! Also avoid dangling jewelry like necklaces or earrings—they can become tangled up with reins during a ride and pose serious risks of injury if they get caught in anything sharp enough that it might slice through human skin (like metal rings).

Speak your horse’s language.

• Speak your horse’s language.

Horses are very sensitive to body language and will pick up on subtle cues from you, even if you’re not aware of them. When we’re communicating with our horses, it’s important to keep this in mind. Horses will respond better to us if they feel like their rider understands them and knows what they’re trying to say through their body language. So, let’s take a look at some ways that body language can be used when riding a horse:

• When things are going well between you and your horse, the two of you should have good communication with each other—which means using lots of eye contact as well as calming signals such as stroking or patting the neck gently while speaking softly in soothing tones.
• If your horse is spooked by something (like another animal or person), try using calming signals such as stroking/patting the neck gently while speaking softly in soothing tones; this should help ease any anxiety on behalf of both parties involved! But make sure everyone else stands clear because this kind of situation might also cause confusion among riders nearby who aren’t paying attention…so just keep calm no matter what happens!

Create a bond with your horse.

Now that you have a basic understanding of how to ride a horse, let’s talk about how to improve your horse riding skills. As an avid rider myself, I have noticed there are many factors that contribute to being an effective rider. One of the most important aspects is creating a bond with your horse.

A good leader establishes trust, builds rapport and earns respect from their followers. This is just as true for horses as it is for human beings! You can establish this connection by getting to know your horse and spending time together before heading out on any rides or trails.

Spend some time at home working on things like grooming and feeding together so they become comfortable around you as well as each other!

Become a good leader for your horse.

If you want to become a good leader for your horse, then you need to be calm, consistent and confident. Your horse will follow you if they see that you know what you’re doing and they can trust that they’ll be well cared for. Here are some examples of being a good leader:

• When you get on your horse, stand up straight and use the reins gently. This shows that the reins aren’t going to hurt them or make them do anything uncomfortable.
• If your horse starts behaving badly or gets scared, keep calm and talk calmly with them until it passes so they know everything is okay again before continuing what ever task was being done before this happened.

In order to ride well you have to have a relationship with your horse based on trust and respect

To be a good rider, you need to have a relationship with your horse based on trust and respect. Your horse must trust you and respect you in order for them to do what it is that you ask of them.

This means that the horse should want to do the things that you ask of it, even if they are difficult tasks or maneuvers that may scare the animal at first. The only way for this kind of relationship to occur is if both parties are on board with each other’s ideas and actions, so it’s very important not just for riders but also their horses as well!