23/10/2025
What’s going on behind the ears?
Training horses takes a lot of time and effort, as well as a fair bit of trial and error. But how do we keep our mindset and work towards our goals? Let’s look at three tips to help with our training mindset when working with horses.
1. Take your time
The old saying is Rome wasn’t built in a day. And the reality of training horses is that each day brings its own challenges. Some days everything will be going the way you expect, others not so much. Take your time and appreciate the efforts being made by your Horse to understand what you are asking of them. Some horses understand rider really well others are still learning to speak rider. Give them time to process what you are asking and understand that when they give you the wrong answer it isn’t always because of them but sometimes because of the way we are asking
2. Where is your mood today?
Before we start working with our horses, we need to consider where our mindset is today. If we honestly look in the mirror and think are we positive or negative in our own emotions we can better understand how our Horse reacts to our behaviour. If you have started with a very positive mindset and a finding that the work is becoming frustrating for you just imagine how frustrating it must be for the Horse. Frustration begins where education ends. If you find yourself or your Horse becoming frustrated with a new part of training it may be helpful to take a couple of steps back and do an exercise that will be more easily achieved to create confidence in the Horse. Three steps forward one step back is normal and totally ok, progress isn’t linear.
3. Small wins lead to big wins.
 success Breeds success, small goals or a bigger goal that is split up into achievable pieces will help you to stay motivated. Trying to tackle a big goal means a lot of effort that may not be reciprocated. Give yourself a goal for each ride depending on the day, if the day looks like it isn’t going well maybe that goal might be just to trot a circle and that is enough. Try to set yourself and your Horse up for success. It’s exciting to have a big goal but it can be very disappointing when it isn’t achieved. Setbacks are normal and a part of life. But try to focus on what you can achieve in this small amount of time each ride or session with your Horse rather than the big picture because eventually like a jigsaw puzzle all the little pieces will start to fall into place and you will get your big picture.
Want help to reach your big picture? Or just some help with the little pieces of the puzzle? Contact us to see how we can help you reach your goals