Re: RC: <~~Scared of Horses...:'o(

[Reactorpanel@aol.com]

Hi Jackie,

I'm an instructor, and I work with lots of people whose love of horses is 
stronger (sometimes just barely) than their fear.  You need to be around 
someone very confident, but without aggression towards horses, who can help 
you feel at ease.  You need to be aware of the triggers for your feelings of 
fear, and the level of your fear.  You might need to create a scale where you 
rate how scared you are, and retreat from a situation which causes your fear 
to escalate.  At these times, you need to be with that someone -- whether a 
friend, another horse person with time and energy to spare, or an instructor. 
 Most important of all, take small steps.  Find something only mildly 
frightening to you, and do that step over and over until the fear diminishes. 
 Do NOT force yourself to do the hardest things (because you know logically 
that you should be able to).  If you force yourself to face a high level of 
fear, you could freeze, and a simple situation could become dangerous simply 
because you lose your ability to react.

I wish you lots of luck!

Carmi


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