Trusting my horse more - exercises to build confidence

Hi! What a lovely question! As you build up your communication with your horse, trusting each other becomes much easier too ☺️

Do plenty of groundwork. Go for walks and work on cues such as "stand", "back up", "slow down" and then a faster pace. Horses pick up a great deal from our body language alone, so never underestimate it. Once you have established these signals from the ground, they make communication far easier under saddle too, because you already know your cues work.

Try other forms of groundwork. Long-reining, loose schooling, trick training and lungeing all build your communication. Spending undemanding time together is also very effective. Stand with your horse in the paddock for a while, or put in some extra time grooming and scratching them.

Get your horse used to new things. You can use almost anything to make a horse more confident in different settings: umbrellas, footballs, tarpaulins, soft toys and so on. Working your horse around unfamiliar objects helps them stay calmer in strange situations, which in turn reassures you. Start simply and build up the difficulty gradually, so it is a good experience for you both ❤️

Let your horse have a say. It can be fun to let them choose, for example which route you take on a hack. Giving your horse a bit of choice reduces the risk of unexpected conflict behaviour brought on by frustration. Do this safely, of course, but it makes a nice change now and then.

Good luck!