Q: Although my horse is normally very well-behaved, after a freak fall, I’ve found myself very afraid to ride. What can I do to overcome this fear?

A: Falling off a horse not only hurts, but it also often causes a confidence problem. If your horse is nervous or fresh, it’s best to let him get that extra energy out through lots of turnout. Sometimes you’ll need to longe him before riding. If a horse scares me a bit, I longe him to see what type of attitude and how much energy he has that day.

Fear is a tough thing to cope with as a rider. We all deal with it differently, but you have to get back to riding and working on that confidence. If you’re afraid to lope right now, start out just walking and jogging. Make up transitions: walk-jog-walk, jog-stop-jog, jog-stop-back-jog. See how your horse’s attitude is, and then make transitions from walk to jog, then lope a half-circle and transition down to a jog and then walk. Stay in a big circle, about 20 to 30 meters. Next, try jog to lope transitions, keeping the lope to half the circle. When you’re comfortable with that, go one full circle, keeping the exercise to jog-lope-jog transitions. This keeps your horse busy and facilitates guiding him and maintaining control.

When horses spook and bolt, sometimes it’s the result of fear, and sometimes they are just being naughty!

In any case, make your horse work a little harder by using transitions to keep him busy in a job. I would also use figure-eights, making transitions in the center of the eight: Do jog-lope-jog, jog-walk-jog, and lope-walk-lope transitions. This keeps your mind off fear and focused on riding.

Liked this article? Here are others on dealing with fear:
Get Your Head Together
Show Nerves: Fixing the Fear Factor

CARLA WENNBERG is an American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA), National Reining Horse Association and National Snaffle Bit Association judge, as well as an AQHA Professional Horseman and a Certified Horsemanship Association master instructor.

This article originally appeared in the December 2014 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe.

The post Fear of Falling appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

A: You will have to work this horse among others in an arena in order to address the behavioral issues she has developed. Ask a few friends with calm, well-trained horses to help.

One at a time, have your friends pass by your mare. Be sure they keep at least one horse length apart for safety. Each time she demonstrates the aggressive behavior, bring her to a walk or stop, let the other horse pass, and then put her to work. Do a circle at the walk or jog, and give your mare a job to do whenever she decides to lope off and aggressively take on another horse. This process will take her mind off the other horses and bring her attention back to you. Consistently give her more work when she is naughty. You don’t have to overdrill and do 10 circles, but you must ask for transitions or ride figures to make her listen to you.

Practice transitions and figures such as walk, jog, lope, jog, circles, walk, lope, stop. Each time your horse is good, ignoring the other horses and paying attention to your cues, do a downward transition to give her a relaxing reward. If not, go to the lope and make circles, stop, back, then lope again. It’s important to stay consistent so your horse begins to understand that when she misbehaves, she has to work harder; when she is good, life is easier. This should help improve her behavior at shows as well. Giving your horse a job and having her listen to your aids is what training is all about.

Liked this article? Here are others on problem solving for horse shows:
Handling Bad Behavior
Keep Your Green Show Horse Calm and Focused

CARLA WENNBERG is an American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA), National Reining Horse Association, and National Snaffle Bit Association judge, as well as an AQHA Professional Horseman and a Certified Horsemanship Association master instructor.

This article originally appeared in the February 2014 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post Ask the Expert: Bad Behavior at Horse Shows appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.