Horse & Human Confidence
Confidence: A firm belief in your own abilities, trust in someone or something, or a feeling of certainty.
Confidence is something we discuss a lot as equestrians, firstly because having a horse related hobby usually includes engaging with a live animal, a sentient being, that usually averages somewhere in & around 550kgs. As my mother says ‘It’s not stamp-collecting’.
Maintaining & or developing confidence is an exercise in strategic planning where we firstly gather information, identify areas of focus, enact our strategies & finally reflect on their effectiveness.
Human Confidence
Our definition states that confidence is a ‘firm belief in your own abilities’, but how do you develop these abilities?
For me confidence has two parts skillset & mindset & both require equal attention.
We can have the skills to do something, but lack the confidence to attempt it. Equally, we can believe in ourselves but lack the skills or experience required to perform a task successfully.
Firstly, we have to have skills to keep ourselves safe, these skills are subdivided into two categories.
1. The ability to accurately read our horse’s body language & general demeanour.
Task: A task I recommend for developing this skill is taking some video footage of you & your horse engaging with each other, this can be any interaction grooming, groundwork, ridden etc. When you watch it back ask yourself how does the visual match with how you felt at the time. This is an excellent way to calibrate if what you are feeling in the situation is realistic or perhaps out of step with what was actually happening.
2.Tangible Skills that we can enact easily if something goes wrong e.g. bend your horse to a stop & get off, an awareness of exercises & patterns that helps your horse to relax & let go of tension, knowledge on how to set exercises up well.
Secondly our mindset influences how we interpret experiences, respond to setbacks & perceive our own abilities.
Self-Belief: Recognising that we are capable of learning, adapting & improving.
Reframing Mistakes: Viewing mistakes as information rather than proof of failure. Some of the biggest mistakes I have made with horses are now some of my strongest areas of skill.
Tolerance of Discomfort: Accepting that feeling nervous or uncertain doesn't mean we are incapable. This one is hard, but on the other side of discomfort is confidence & experience.
Self-Talk: Becoming aware of the stories we tell ourselves & questioning whether they are helpful or accurate, this has been life changing in my horsemanship.
Growth Mindset: Understanding that ability can develop through effort, feedback & experience.
A Beginner or Learner Mindset: Coming to our horses with an attitude of openness, curiosity & without assumptions. Accepting the situation for what it is & not necessarily what we would like it to be. This is a tall order, but living in reality actually keeps us safe & confident.
Horse Confidence
For your horse to feel confident they need to have a firm belief that they are up to the task or activity, physically, mentally & emotionally.
Physically – The belief that their body can carry out the task & that they can remain upright during the process. Horses being prey animals are highly invested in staying upright in order to avoid predators.
Mentally – Does the horse have a clear understanding of the task & what is required of them. If the horse does not understand the task break it down into smaller steps. When I study with my mentors I often see how they break things down into smaller steps, steps I may not have even considered.
Emotionally – How does the horse feel about the task? Do they have good or bad associations with what they are being asked? How can we help them in having a positive feeling towards the task or activity?
If your horse does not have a firm belief that they can carry out a task well under the above headings that’s ok, we can help them to feel better in these areas & this is normal when introducing a new task or approach, or rehabbing an issue. However, if a horse is to be truly confident in a task or area of development they need to have a grounded confidence under each heading.
It is also worthwhile assessing your horse’s confidence level under the headings high, medium & low confidence. Jotting down some notes under each heading is an excellent way to spot patterns, identify areas for development & it also gives us some notes to look back on when assessing progress down the line.
Consistency is a corner stone in building your horse’s confidence, consistency of cues, approach, body language, energetic disposition etc. Trust is born out of consistency.
My Story
Many of you will know my horse Sage maybe you have met her in person or seen her on my socials. She is an absolute babe & I adore her, but she has pushed the needle massively in terms of my development as a horsewoman. She came to me as a restart, she had show jumped & had become quite sour during the process, so as a six-year-old she found herself looking for a new home. Her owners very responsibly wanted her to go to an experienced home & they were very upfront about her issues. She is incredibly athletic, a deep thinker & quite invested in her way of looking at the world. This has caused me to come back to what I have discussed here time & time again. When things are not going great & there have been plenty of them, I ask myself, is this a skill set issue? A mindset issue? Or both? This keeps me straight & gives me something to focus on & get back to moving forward. Now don’t get me wrong there may be some wallowing for an hour or two, wondering was this a great idea at all, but I get back on the path again fairly quickly. Post wallow I assess whether I need more information, a better approach task wise or do I need to look at the situation differently.
I also strongly advise keeping a log of what you are working on, a few bullet points is all it takes. This gives me data to reflect on & also buoys me along on the days I may be feeling a little deflated. I have gone from fearing for my safety picking out her feet, saddling issues to bringing her to the beach & working on canter transitions under saddle & if that’s not progress I don’t know what is. I must save this for myself to read in the months ahead.
Conclusion
For both horse & human to feel confident ‘prediction certainty’ is required, meaning that both you & your horse have the capacity to accurately forecast what may happen & that what may happen is agreeable to both parties. All mammals are good at spotting patterns & our nervous systems often pick up on the pattern long before conscious thought does. As a result, we need to ensure the patterns are positive & confidence giving. Confidence is not about never being fearful, but rather about developing the skills & mindset to navigate challenges & trusting in your & your horse’s ability to learn & grow.
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