Few things compare with the privilege of building a relationship with a horse. While riding horses is not the only way to connect with them, it’s a unique form of teamwork and a centuries-old art form that has profoundly shaped human existence. Here are some of our favorite quotes about riding horses to remember the next time you mount up:
“There are only two emotions that belong in the saddle; one is a sense of humor and the other is patience.”
– John Lyon
“Riding: The dialogue between two bodies and two souls aimed at establishing perfect harmony between them.”
– Waldemar Seunig
“When you are on a great horse, you have the best seat you will ever have.”
– Winston Churchill
“In riding a horse, we borrow freedom.”
– Helen Thompson
“Riding never gets easier. You just get better.”
– Unknown
“Where you end your ride on a horse is so important. It’s a little bit like when you were young and you were dating—that last two minutes of the date can be a real deal breaker. With these horses it’s the same thing…You got to quit on a good note.”
– Buck Brannaman
“I’m still on the move. I’m getting better because I’m still studying. I still want to be a better horseman.”
– Buck Brannaman
“When riding a horse we leave our fear, troubles, and sadness behind on the ground.”
– Juli Carlson
“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”
– Confucious
“Sometimes you have to ride through some bad to get the good.”
– George Peters
“There is no better place to heal a broken heart than on the back of a horse.”
– Missy Lyons, Cowboys Don’t Sing
“The wind of heaven is that which blows between a horse’s ears.”
– Arabian proverb
“Make sure that every time you take ahold of the horse, you have a point; you have a legitimate reason for doing it rather than it just being accidental or you not being aware.”
– Buck Brannaman
“The essence of preparation is to position your horse to where the one thing that he’s most likely to do is exactly what you had in mind…which makes it a perfect time to ask him.”
– Buck Brannaman
One can get in a car and see what man has made. One must get on a horse to see what God has made.
– Author Unknown
“There is something about riding down the street on a prancing horse that makes you feel like something, even when you ain’t a thing.”
– Will Rogers
“I don’t think the struggle for confidence ever goes completely away, for any of us. But it’s how you handle that struggle, how you choose to approach the difficult times, that matters.”
– Erin Taormino, “Rise of a Cowgirl,” Horse & Rider, May 2016
“No hour of life is wasted that is spent in the saddle.”
– Winston Churchill
“Horses lend us the wings we lack.”
– Pam Brown
“A canter is a cure for every evil.”
– Benjamin Disraeli
“When I bestride him, I soar. I am a hawk: he trots the air; the earth sings when he touches it; the basest horn of his hoof is more musical than the pipe of Hermes… He is pure air and fire; and the dull elements of earth and water never appear in him, but only in Patient stillness while his rider mounts him.”
– Lewis the Dauphin, Henry V by William Shakespeare, Act III, Scene 7
“The horse, with beauty unsurpassed, strength immeasurable, and grace unlike any other still remains humble enough to carry a man upon his back.”
– Amber Senti
“A man on a horse is spiritually, as well as physically, bigger than a man on foot.”
– John Steinbeck
“Learn from each and every horse you ride. Every horse has something to teach you, and sometimes you don’t realize what that lesson is until years later!”
– Carl Hester
“Riding a horse is not a gentle hobby, to be picked up and laid down like a game of solitaire. It is a grand passion.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
“A good rider can hear his horse speak to him. A great rider can hear his horse whisper.”
– Unknown
“You can sit in a ‘perfect’ position and still be incorrect—because you’re out of true connection with your horse. You look the part, but you’re like a pretty statue.”
– Lynn Palm, “Sit Better, Ride Better!” Horse & Rider, January 2016
“Collection is not compression: it is the balance where everything is easy for the horse to do.”
– Dominique Barbier
“Riding is constant progression and development, and it’s never “done.” But isn’t that what makes it wonderful? Isn’t that one reason horses enthrall us in the first place?”
– Katie Carter, “Why You’ll Never Be ‘Done’ Learning to Ride,” Barn Rats United, February 2024
“When you don’t have a confident position, it’s saying to people you don’t believe in yourself.”
– Robert Dover
“Every time you ride, you’re either teaching or un-teaching your horse.”
– Gordon Wright
“Don’t be the rider who gallops all night and never sees the horse that is beneath him.”
– Jelaluddin Rumi
“Reins and legs can never compensate for an incorrect placement of the rider‘s weight!”
– Kurt Albrecht
“Every transition you ride should be a good one, because this is your foundation.”
– Charlotte Dujardin
“Horsemanship is the art of mastering our own movements, thoughts, emotions, and behavior. Not the horse’s.”
– Charlotte Dujardin
If you have another favorite quote to share, please contact us! We’d love to include it.
