Equitation

Regardless of age, experience, gender or financial status there is always something to learn from a horse. Sharing a safe successful ride is the objective and we believe that work starts on the ground. Learning how to lead, command, and control a horse is an experience that creates lifelong memories and motor skills. These unique leadership skills serve not only your abilities as a rider but actually factually make you a better human overall.

Riding a horse as it makes a jump is an exhilarating experience. While many people pursue this as a sport or for competition, that’s not the type of jumping that we focus on at Top West Ranch. 

Horse jumping was born out of necessity as riders would be either on a trail ride or participating in a traditional fox hunt. While we’re not really into hunting foxes, we do encourage capable riders to learn how to jump a horse when it makes sense to do so, such as on a trail ride. 

When it comes to Horsemanship, we practice a style commonly referred to as “Natural Horsemanship”. This is differs in some ways from the “Showmanship” commonly practiced in competitions. 

At Top West Ranch, we follow other horse trainers who practice that guide the rider to be assertive, not aggressive. We teach riders how to lead their horse to a successful partnership working from the ground up. 
See also our Riders Guide.