We all want a horse who tries for us.

The Question I hear all the time is;

“Can you teach your horse to want to try more?”

The Answer is YES!

Q- How do you teach ‘try’ in your horse?

A- By allowing them to make mistakes.

So what exactly does that mean in the training sense?

You are going to ask or show your horse what you want from them, how to carry themselves, how to move forward, etc. Whatever it is you are working on with your horse.

When your horse responds, you stop helping them, you don’t want to always be holding, cueing or helping every step.

You have to ask your horse, stop asking,

and allow them to try and do it on their own.

This means instead of lifting, lifting, lifting and keeping your horse from dropping its shoulder….. you would lift your horses shoulder, then stop asking.

Allow your horse to try and keep their shoulder up on their own…..

then allow them to drop their shoulder to make the mistake,

and then lift them to correct and show them where you want that shoulder and body.

That is just an example of one way to ask, then stop asking, and

allow the horse to do it on her own

and figure out how to take responsibility for herself.

By giving a horse the opportunity to try on his own without you always keeping him from making the mistake, the horse begins to try and do more on his own.

That is how you create try…..by allowing your horse to try.

A quick note though….don’t correct hard when your horse makes a mistake (unless it is a naughty or dangerous mistake). You want them to feel comfortable trying and making a mistake sometimes, as long as they are trying.

This is especially important when introducing something new to your horse.

Give them the time and opportunity to figure out what you are asking by allowing them to try and make mistakes.

This Training Quick Tip will help instill trust in you from your horse….

as well as instill more try from your horse.

Reward try with a walk break, or scratch.

Let your horse know you recognize when they try to do something harder for them.

Practice this Training Quick Tip in your rides
and you will begin to feel more try under you.

This is only one of the exercises we teach to help you create a confident mindset in your horse,
and yourself as the rider, in The HorseGirl Riding Academy Click here To Learn More