No, You Can’t Waterski on a Horse

Although I have been riding horses for quite some time, I’m still working on my riding technique on my young horse. I need to be consistent in my signals while he’s learning them. Truth be told, he learns much faster than I do. But one thing I’m still having the most trouble with is something I shouldn’t be doing in the first place, “waterskiing” on my horse.  

How (not) to Waterski on a Horse

As a new rider, I sometimes fall back on bad actions. For instance, pushing down and forward on the stirrups is not the right way to signal a stop, although it feels natural at times when riding a cantering horse. I’ve also seen that maneuver in Westerns… Of course, now that I’m learning how to ride, I see a lot of bad techniques in Western movies.

The woman supervising us said to “stop water skiing!” Yes, I can see how it looked like I was water skiing. Pushing forward and down on the stirrups actually forced my body up out of the saddle with a straight, but tilted-backward back – just like I was water skiing. If I could water ski. I tried it a couple times, but as a child, my only option was circle boarding. Instead of skis, I had a round piece of wood. I was actually pretty good on that board. I could even move it outside the boat’s wake and back again. That’s hard to do without embedding the board lip into the wave.

Of course, the talk around the arena now is “don’t water ski your horse like Elaine does!”

An Earworm of Inspiration

On the way home, I was thinking about waterskiing, and a song popped into my mind. Wasn’t there some lyrics about water skiing in a buffalo herd? No. The song I was misremembering is actually Roger Miller’s song “You Can’t Roller Skate in a Buffalo Herd.” Close enough, right? The main concept of the song is “But you can be happy if you’ve a mind to.” This is a philosophy I’ve tried to live by.

You Can’t Roller Skate With a Buffalo Herd (Lyrics Summary)

Song by Roger Miller 

You can’t roller skate in a buffalo herd

You can’t roller skate in a buffalo herd

You can’t roller skate in a buffalo herd

But you can be happy if you’ve a mind to

You can’t take a shower in a parakeet cage

You can’t take a shower in a parakeet cage

You can’t take a shower in a parakeet cage

But you can be happy if you’ve a mind to

All you gotta do is put your mind to it

Knuckle down, buckle down, do it, do it, do it

Well, you can’t go swimming in a baseball glove

You can’t change film with a kid on your back

You can’t drive around with a tiger in your car

You can’t go fishing in a watermelon patch

You can’t roller skate in a buffalo herd

And now you know, you can’t water ski while on a horse’s back either!