Jul 28 • Building Confidence
Confidence Goes Both Ways
Many riders rely on their horse to give them confidence. And many horses are "confidence building types" with laid back personalities and a willingness to overlook a rider's bobbles. But the job of the rider is to direct the horse and for our horses to do their best, they need to get confidence from us as much as we get confidence from them.
I like to remind riders of this because in order to set ourselves up for long term success, we often need to work on ourselves before we can work on the horse. This means that you should set small goals for yourself and then, as you meet them, set a similar goal for your horse.
What does this look like? Let me give you an example:
If you're not feeling secure about cantering, don't worry that the canter is imperfect or your horse isn't staying in the canter for more than a few steps when you ask. Instead, focus on riding a good trot into the canter transition - and getting some help from a ground person or in the round pen. After you feel you can comfortably maintain the trot into the canter, then you can refocus on your horse and start to build more stamina in the canter. If you build up a little more security in your transition, you'll ride a better canter and your horse will feel more confident to build it with you.
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Confidence Goes Both Ways
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