Or you’re not sure if they would be suitable, don’t worry. There are BHS Approved Riding Centres throughout the UK that deliver challenge awards with their facilities and horses. There are two more things that I think are critically important for the confident rider. The first is that you should always act with supreme confidence around your horse. I have zero tolerance for arrogance, but your confidence communicates your leadership to your horse. When your horse feels led, he feels safe. As I have already said, we are working on it everyday and hopefully when the farrier comes, sooner rather than later, it will be a more happy and safe Once you’ve found a likely spot watch their face closely for a reaction. A happy horse looks loose, eyes partially closed, swaying, loose soft lip and relaxed ears. An unhappy horse looks tight or worried. If your horse appears unhappy move to a different area and continue the exercise giving them plenty of treats and positive affirmations.

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The key is in understanding their body language, which will help you make a connection with them and be able to read what they are feeling. Here are my favourite exercises that can help: An important thing to remember about this type of mental training is that you should always practice with a successful outcome in mind. Do not practice anything with a failure outcome. Ride through the scenario in your brain and visualize a successful outcome. When you practice success, you can experience success. Learning how to control your emotions in the saddle can help you become the confident leader your horse needs you to be. Develop Your Signature Drill You can achieve the challenge awards at your local Approved Centre where they will match you to a horse to ensure your lessons are suitable to your experience.

It is important to establish a dialog with your horse, get to know their body through massage and grooming and always listen carefully to any advice given to you by your vet or physiotherapist. However, I am obviously now lifting his feet everyday and he is much happier, and I can lift and clean, albeit not taking too long so yes we are getting there. The farrier cast a glance over his feet, but I think he was a bit relieved to be honest that I was not expecting him to mess around with them Take the time to know your horse physically and recognise their moods. Run your hands over their body, is there a spot they particularly enjoy being touched or an area that makes them tense up?

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Horses are very emotionally sensitive animals so whatever you’re feeling they probably already know, even if you’re not sure yourself! It is one of the reasons that horses make fantastic therapy animals. By using this service, you agree that you will only keep content for personal use, and will not openly distribute them via Dropbox, Google Drive or other file sharing servicesUnderstanding your horse takes time, and there’s no substitute for that. But just putting in the time is not necessarily enough. People can spend years and years with their horses and never improve their abilities or confidence at all. It’s how we spend that time, rather than how much time we spend, that makes the difference. When they come in from the field which parts of them are dirtiest; that usually means they’ve spent extra time rubbing that spot in the mud!