A dreaded; tips for building a horse's confidence

LaurenM

LaurenM

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Hello everyone,

I feel a little silly for posting but does anyone have any ideas for building a horse's confidence whilst hacking? He's 15 and I've had him for 10 months now.

He is slowly beginning to trust my decisions when ridden, but I wondered if there was anything more that I could do as I feel that I am always planning my rides to avoid things rather than to just relax!

Post is also in CR :)
 
Have you done any ground work with him? You could do agility type stuff, introduce him to plastic bags, exercise balls, umbrellas etc from the ground - when he trusts you with that, he might be more confident hacking?
www.horseagilitygb.com
 
my horse was fairly nervy when i got him, but if i don't react and i loosen my reins and stay clam, then he tends to be fine. i started a game on him now where i'l try and bring him up to strange things to build his confidence, and the more he sees, the better he is. it was a huge change in my head to see challenging this as 'fun' instead of dreading them. once i did that he improved a lot. a lot fo the stuff was me anticipating what would freak him.
 
If you avoid things- he'll never get used to them....

It sounds like you are lacking confidence too....and your horse will take a lead from you. My previous horse was a spooker, bless him....the more I avoided situations and anticipated a spook- the worse it got.

Then, for several reasons, I was riding OH's mare and daughters pony more- both are totally bombproof and I just stopped expecting the worst whilst riding.....this in turn made me ride my horse differently- if I was less tense, so was he.

Its a vicious circle really. Could you do some relaxation techniques to help you to help him maybe?
 
The best way to boost a horses confidence is to boost YOUR confidence :) If you have transport can you get out and do some different things like clinics and lessons (especially at first as having an instructor there really helps). Good luck - it's not easy especially in this weather!
 
He has knocked my confidence but when I first rode him I felt so safe. I've planned on having a riding lesson with him after Christmas as I think this would help loads. I don't have the use of a box and he is quite bad at boxing so will have to see how that goes.

I was riding in company for a few months but then decided to send him away for reschooling due to him napping into the middle of the road and tanking off when there was something scary. This has now changed and he seems to trust me more.

I just feel that I am not able to comunicate with him easily as I alsways tend to visualise an incident happening before I have even entered the situation..if that makes sense?
 
I can empathise with the visualisation thing because we have a bridge on our farm where a horrible horse accident happened and I was first on the scene. I can never get my horse over the bridge when I'm on him, I have to lead him, I know he can tell me tensing up as soon as we approach it and there is nothing I can do short of hypnotism to get rid of the memory of what happened. The rest of the time hacking he is pretty much fine.

I think you have a similar problem but for more every day things and I think you maybe just need to spend some time, thinking through the things that are worryiing you and rationalising to yourself that they are ok and nothing to be scared of or worry about.

Also, I don't think this approach is ideal for everyone but personally I think sometimes you need to push your boundaries/comfort zone so that when you return to the humdrum day to day things it doesn't seem so big and scary. I think some lessons, maybe jumping etc if you don't do jumping might do you some real good, push your boundaries a little and build a bond between you both. When you think "wow I can't believe we did that yesterday" it makes you see that other things you thought were scary are easy!

You have only had him 10 months which isn't that long in the grand scheme of things. I think you will probably look back in 2 years time and realise what a great trust you have between you. So I would say, just be kind and patient and do everything you can do to meet new challenges together, whether it's lessons, jumping, ground work, doing tricks with him etc etc.
 
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Thank you :)

If my first lesson goes well with him (i.e. getting him to load) then I'll be looking to have a few lessons. I'd love to take him to the beach but I'm waiting for the warmer weather!

I was reflecting earlier today as he's started to come up to me in the field, where previously he would evade me for 2 hours each night. So we have formed a bond. He's a food orientated horse though so to a degree he knows I'll have some form of food with me!

I have done alot of ground work and he trusts me on the ground. It's just getting me to change my perception of things in order for him to feel safer with me riding.

After reading everyone's comments, I'm sure we will get there :)
 
it sounds like you are feeding his anxiety with your own! planning rides to avoid things is your anxiety. try working him in the school, lots of transistions circles etc making him listen to you. a few lessons would help your confidence and control. some shoulder in exercises would help as you can use this to get him past what you dont like/think he wont like. really work on getting him going forward. lunge work will help with voice control. and a good hacking companion will help too, and more fun to hack in good company too. you need to be the alpha in this relationship and you need to be firm fair and confident, and dont let him get away with anything. horses are so clever at reading a rider. you could ask a condfident good rider to hack him a few times for you to iron the niggles out. Good luck.
 
Thank you :)

Think I will stick to riding in company for the majority of my rides and take him out 1-2 times a week on his own. Can't wait for time off at Christmas now!

Getting someone else to ride him isn't an option really as he has just returned from reschooling and the trainer got him going so nicely that I wouldn't want to confuse him. The trainer has suggested leading him past scary objects (headcollar underneath) if I feel that the odds are stacked against me but he will walk past most things now with alot of reassurance.

It's mainly bin men, tractors etc that I try and avoid but hope that he'll settle with tractors as one is used to put the haylage out so hopefully that is de-sensitising him.

Can't wait to look back on all of this! I keep telling myself how amazing it would be to have a nice ride around the village together.

Since he's been back I've managed to hack him through the forestry which I wouldn't have been able to do before, so we are getting there. Baby steps I guess :)
 
Update; took another horse out today who hasn't been ridden for 2 years and is for sale. He gave me so much confidence although unfortunately he stood on my toe and broke it. :(

I'm hoping that by riding this other horse, it will give me confidence that I can then use with mine..fingers crossed!
 
I agree that riding out in company is a good idea but if you want to hack on your own, I suggest leading your horse round the route you will take. Then you will know that he isn't frightened of the sights and sounds you come across. As soon as you get back to the yard mount up and off you go. Or lead to a point mount up and ride back the way you have just come. This should give you the confidence to pass things that you have just seen and when you don't tense the horse is less likely to.
 
Take your boy out inhand all over the place. It's a great way of build a relationship and it's much easier for you to be confident. Plus it'll let him go out and see the world as much as possible.

I have a very stressy anxious pansy who ws terrified of the world and would literlly spook at his own shadow (still does :rolleyes: ). I spent the 6months of 'breaking' him just walking out inhand. He'd spent 5yrs never so much as leaving his field and I didn't have the facilities to break him using a school so it had to be done hacking. He's now a sensible quiet confident hacker.
 
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