Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

I disagree with Catfish about lessons not being the way to go, at least as 
PART of the overall picture.  If you can ride better, and feel more secure, you 
will be less fearful.  

One key point here is you said that "The tenser I got, the more he spooked."
This is part of the dynamic between horse and rider.  Your horse has to trust 
you when you are out alone, because he is a herd animal, and is looking to a 
leader to tell him when it's safe or scarey, unless he is one of those very 
dominant types who is scared of not much, in which case you wouldn't have 
written.  

Other suggestions Catfish made were right on the money, as far as 
desensitizing.  But here are a couple more suggestions for when you are out 
there alone 
and start to get "that feeling"-- Focus on your breathing, take slow deep 
breaths.  This works because it will calm YOU, and take your focus off his 
spooking.  Sing a rhythmic song, one that will calm you if that helps you 
breath.  

When he starts to get spooky take it as a cue that YOU are being reactive and 
looking to see what there is to spook at.  Try a centered riding exercise 
that involves opening your focus to look at the wider picture--the whole 
landscape.  I forget what this technique is called, but the point is that if 
your are 
looking at the wider picture, you aren't focusing on ONE spooky.  Look past 
spookies when you encounter them, or to one side.  In other words, be aware of 
them, but ignore them.  You are telling your horse with body language that they 
aren't important, aren't worth bothering with.

Horses are so much more adept at reading body language than we ever imagined. 
He can feel your tenseness and react to it before you realize it's 
happening.  If your work at controlling your body language by concentrating on 
your 
breathing and not focusing on scaries, it will help him relax.  

It won't happen overnight.  Ride with others, or go slower until you can 
control your reactions, and until the at-home ground training that catfish 
suggested kicks in.  And good luck.  You DO wear a helmet, right?  jeri
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By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is
noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience,
which is the bitterest.
~  Confucius

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