How to Tack Up a Horse English (STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE)

hey guys today I want to show you how to tack up a horse using English tack and we have a goal to get 1000 subscribers by April so go ahead and hit that subscribe button and give this video a like [Music] so the first thing you want to do when you go to tack up your horse whether it's English or western or bareback or however you want to ride your horse you want to make sure you brush them so there's a number of raising you brush your horse one reason is just to remove any dirt or debris that may be on them that could get caught under your saddle pad and be uncomfortable for them and so another reason you'll want to brush your horse is to see if they're sore anywhere usually if you're brushing your horse and they have a sore muscle they may flinch and that's a good indicator that they may be a little too sore to be ridden brushing your horse is also a great way to warm up their muscles before being ridden it's actually kind of like a massage to them and so it gets their muscles ready to be worked something else you should always do before riding and also pick out your horses feet that way you remove any debris or rock that may be causing them discomfort and you can also see if their legs may be having any problems as well so once you've brushed your horse it's time to put on your saddle pad so today I'm gonna use this nice leopard saddle pad to put on Tucker here so an english saddle pad usually looks like this or they also have shaped style pads which kind of outline the shape of the saddle this is called a full saddle pad before you go to put your saddle pad on you're going to want to make sure you know which end is the front end of the sell pad and which end is the back so the front end of the saddle pad will usually have this strap down here where your girth goes through and they may have straps up here and the tag will also be up at the front so that's how I know that this is going to go up towards Tucker's withers and the reason we use a saddle pad is just add a little comfort between the saddle and the horse okay and I like to put my setup pads up more on the withers because when I put this out on it'll usually slide back down to the place it's supposed to be so before I put on my saddle I like to make sure that my stirrups are rolled up and that way they just don't get tucked down near the saddle and uncomfortable when I go to put it on okay so once I have my saddle on my horse I'm gonna kind of reposition the blanket and reposition the saddle just to make sure it's sitting properly so when I put on my saddle on and I make sure it's sitting right the first thing I want to do is make sure that it's not interfering with the horses shoulder so the shoulder blade goes like this so I don't want my too far up that it's limiting the horses mobility or it may be causing discomfort for the horse another thing I'm gonna do is just adjust my saddle pad so that it's not hugging the horses withers like this and that can just cause them to pinch and be uncomfortable so I just like to pull that up in the saddle there now it's time to put on the girth when I put on the girth I like to start on the right side of the horse and I'm gonna use the non elastic sides of the girth so one thing that may be complicated to do is figure out how you're supposed to hold this strap up and attach your girth I remember being little I would hold it up and I would rest it on my head like this and to be honest I still do that sometimes but that's not what you're supposed to do so what you want to do is just push your flap up with your elbow and then I'm gonna use my hands to just attach these billets so I'd like to attach to the first and third billet I just try to find the billets that are the most even with where their holes are in that way there's even pressure for the girth all right so I'm back on the left side of the horse and this is where I'm going to tighten the elastic side of the girth and I'm going to tighten it up as much as I can a good indicator of whether or not your saddle and all your tack is in the right place is to look at where your girth is a lot of people and even myself at some point I thought the girth went right behind their elbow but that's actually incorrect because then you're messing with the mobility of the leg a good indicator for where your girth should fall on your horse is that you can measure four inches from the horse's elbow and the center of your girth should go right through where that four inches is so let's say that's probably about four inches so that way I know that his front legs have enough mobility to move and not be uncomfortable this is an English bridle and the way you can usually tell whether or not it's an English bridle is that it will have a nose band something I'd like to do before I go to put my bridle on my horse is I just like to check over everything and make sure everything is facing the right way so we actually have an entire video about putting a bridle on a horse so I'll put that link in the description and after this video if you still need help in this department you can go click that link okay so the first thing I do is I'm going to put the reins over his head and the reason you do this is just so you secure your horse before you take off their halter so once I do that I'll take off his halter here know that I have the reins over his head I'm ready to put his bridle on so you can stick your right arm under their head and you can hold the right on your right hand and then I take the bit in my left hand oh bit my finger there we go bit me mouth just over his ears adjust my straps here okay so once you have the bridle on you're just gonna want to check all your straps and make sure they're as tight as they need to be and that there's nothing wrong with them all right so check your cheek straps to make sure that there tie doesn't need to be looses they need to be a good indicator for how snug they should be is that there will be one wrinkle at the end of your horse's mouth and that means that the bit is sitting just right in their mouth and they'll be comfortable then you have your nose band here and a good rule of thumb is that you should be able to fit one finger between your nose band in your horse and going to the throat latch you should be able to fit four fingers between your horses throat and the latch and then your brow band I'm going to be able to fit my hand through there and then you also just want to make sure it's sitting just beneath your horses ears low enough so that it doesn't pinch them but high enough so that it's not squeezing their head or messing with their eyes alright so his bridle looks good to go and I'm ready to ride so let's head out of here before I get on my horse the last thing I want to check is just to make sure that my girth is as tight as it needs to be horses like to blow their out once they join their girth so that the girth gets loose and it's not as uncomfortable for them so I checked my girth and I tightened up a bit I just want to be able to fit four fingers in between the girth and my horse just to make sure that my girth is tight enough and that's how you tack up a horse using English tack so if you found this video helpful please give it a like and go subscribe to our channel for more weekly horse videos now I'm gonna go [Music] [Music]

Channel: Equine Helper

Views: 36,074

Rating: 4.9612536 out of 5

Keywords: How to tack up a horse english

Id: 9KaqrhNsZXo

Length: 6min 53sec (413 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 17 2020