When dealing with horses, one quickly learns that trust is a crucial keyword. Without self-trust, nervousness is just a hairbreadth away because you doubt your own abilities in the saddle. This is explained by Monty Roberts, who is perhaps the closest thing to a genuine horse whisperer.
"To have a good relationship with your horse, you must first have a good relationship with yourself."
– Monty Roberts
Do you know the feeling that any moment now, your horse might explode? Run away, jump to the side, throw you off? Do you know what it's like to overanalyze what could potentially happen in a situation where you are in the saddle while your horse reacts? It didn't happen, but you managed to think a thousand thoughts and perhaps even became quite nervous before you dismounted from your horse. If you recognize these scenarios, you have likely lost confidence in your abilities – and you need to take a few steps back and look at yourself before you can move forward.
Your horse is designed to communicate with you. It wants to be led, not dominated. In other words, it must see the sense in you being the leader, and you being the one it should follow. If your confidence has faltered, you cannot be the leader for your horse that you want to be – and that you should be. If you do not believe in yourself, the horse can feel it, and instinctively knows that you are not good to follow right now. Fortunately, it's never too late to work on trust, but it primarily requires that you are able to introspect and act on what triggers you as a rider. Is your horse perhaps a bit too much to handle for your temperament? Or is there an old, unpleasant experience that you haven't processed? To have a good relationship with your horse, you must first have a good relationship with yourself.
"Fortunately, it's never too late to work on trust, but it primarily requires that you are able to introspect and act on what triggers you as a rider."
- Monty Roberts
If after some thorough introspection you've concluded that you and your horse are a good match, and it's really just you who has lost faith in your abilities, you can start building trust from the ground – literally. Train your horse from the ground, groom it for a long time, or take a pleasant walk in the forest with it. Show it that you can be trusted, and that something good comes out of its trust in you. And remember, your horse never does anything wrong just to annoy you. It simply moves according to your nonverbal language. Once your horse can feel you – because you can feel yourself – then you are ready to move on with riding.
"To be able to listen to the horse, you must listen to yourself."
– Monty Roberts
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