You should learn to ride horses safely with smart horse training.
First, look to see if your horse is saying Yes.
Essentially, your horse is saying yes when he says he trusts you.
Now the next question is this.
How do you know he says he trusts you? First, bond with the horse when you see him for the day.
Do it in a way that he knows you're the leader.
Second, do some take and give.
Get your horse to yield in a couple quick exercises to make sure he willingly yields.
Third, use the intimacy technique.
Basically, you will touch the horse in places that would normally be hard to do because being a prey animal makes him nervous.
But taught and done correctly, this is good test to see if you're in safe mode for riding.
In other words, if your horse lets you handle him in this manner, he's saying he trusts you.
Fourth, you'll have him do a little dance.
It's not "really" a dance.
But it kinda looks like it when you have him do this simple lunge.
After a couple easy circles, pull the lead rope to create a One-Rein Stop.
When doing it, you disengage his hindquarters and look for him to cross the inside rear leg in front of the outside leg as he disengages.
Once disengaged, ask for another bend of his neck in the One-Rein Stop fashion.
When he gives, loop the rope around his butt.
Gently pull and the pressure on his rear end creates a little discomfort.
He'll move out and away from that.
Disengage hindquarters again.
Ask for another neck bend.
There are more to do but this will get you started.
Be sure to check him before riding to make sure you'll be safe.