Additional Information
If you're interested in riding horses, saddle up and get experience. Many
clubs, such as Pony Club and 4-H, offer excellent programs that teach children
and teenagers to ride and care for a horse.
Take lessons. Learning to ride a horse with perfection takes years of practice.
Teachers also offer clinics and camps.
After taking lessons, enter in competitions such as dressage or three-day
eventing. Find out if you have what it takes to compete against others. Another
place to get experience is on the show circuit. Horse shows have English,
western, jumping and flat classes.
No formal education is required to become a professional rider, but it
goes without saying that an equestrian has to spend many hours in the riding
ring perfecting the sport.
Some young riders break into the professional riding scene by working at
a farm, with an excellent teacher. They pay for their lessons by cleaning
stalls and feeding and grooming the animals.
"Students do a full-time workload in exchange for training," says rider
Jim Graham. "It's long hours, and people coming into this business should
realize it's no bed of roses."
Some high schools offer horseback riding as part of their education, and
some universities have riding teams and offer equine education.