08/25/2025
Defensive riding is no longer generally taught. You can still find eventing instructors who teach it, but defensive riding is for all riding. The top images are of Brazilian show jumper Nelson Pessoa in 1970, a Silver and Gold Olympic Medal winner. Back then all riders rode defensively because it was practical and safe.
After the 70s, when the military instructors were gone, how horses were supposed to be ridden changed from practical to being about appearances with poses and other superficial techniques that are potentially dangerous.
The images below show the use of the "C" position, a staple of military horsemanship. Because horses can trip, stumble or collapse on landing a jump, riders, at the top or apex of a jump, move their feet ahead of the girth so as to be able to counter the forward inertia in their body when and if a horse slows or stops quickly in a bad landing.
If the rider's goal is to please a judge by leaning on their horse's neck over a jump, moving their legs forward ahead of the girth for the landing becomes impossible. This is one reason why riding for appearances is dangerous. Furthermore, because today's off balance forward, up on the neck crest release has become the standard jumping position, dangerous poses can be seen everywhere, including in fox hunts today.
Defensive riding is for -
Training young horses
Retraining older difficult horses
Riding young untrained horses
Riding horses you don't know
Riding challenging terrain
Going over or through obstacles
Or any other time you feel that an extra degree of safety might be a good idea. Defensive riding is not just for eventing and jumping.
