LATEST THOUGHTS
Confidence
The following is an extract from my ebook Elements of Horsemanship. I have included it here to help provide a feel for my writing and how the book might help you with your equine relationships.
Sometimes horsemanship can seem like standing at the edge of a thick forest with many paths leading into the unknown. It can be bewildering for equine owners to know where to start. With so many possibilities and so much to look at it is difficult to choose where to concentrate. This is where I hope you will find the 50 elements useful. I believe that the place to start with any horse/human relationship is to examine the personalities of the parties involved and for us humans to take a look at some of our own traits to establish if we need to learn and grow, before we ask the same of our horses.
Confidence
Confidence can affect the horse/human relationship in several ways. One way for this to happen is for the human to lack confidence and pass this on to the horse. This can cause the horse to have no confidence or for the horse to believe is has to take charge of a situation to survive. A confident human can allow the horse to succeed by expecting the best from them. An over confident human may ask to much of a horse and over face it, causing the animal to fail. The level of confidence a horse has in its self can also affect its performance. A confident horse will deal with difficult situations more easily and will be more willing to take on new challenges. You cannot make a horse confident, but you can allow them to learn to be confident. This can be done through safely and calmly exposing the horse to progressively more challenging situations and helping them to learn how to deal with their own fears. Do not make your horse deal with a scary object, but allow them to take their time to learn how to deal with it. Today, consider your level of confidence and the effect it might be having on your horses’ behaviour. Would your horse benefit from being more self-confident? Begin to allow yourself and your horse to learn confidence. Expand your comfort zones by slowly and safely creating new challenges, which allow you both to succeed.
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