10/10/2026
Wise words from the amazing Cara Klothe 🍁 🍂 🐎
Bravery vs Confidence
Bravery: The quality or state of having mental or moral strength to face danger, fear, pain, or difficulty
Confidence: A feeling of firm trust, self assurance, or the belief that someone or something is reliable and capable
As we come into “spooky season” I think it’s important to talk a bit about the difference of confidence and bravery.
For me I so often see riders put themselves into uncomfortable or scary situations without proper preparation. We would never do this to a horse. We would always take steps to build their confidence and set them up for success.
So why as riders do we think we don’t need the same? For me I feel like bravery is less tangible, it comes and goes, it’s a bit hard to grab onto and rely on. Confidence however is something that can get built block by block and become a tangible foundation you can count on. Your horse doesn’t need you to be brave, they need you to be confident.
How do you build confidence? Confidence is a skill we can practice and build just as much as a flying change or pirouette. It starts by getting comfortable being a bit uncomfortable. Start small, if your horse is silly about a certain corner don’t say “That’s it, I’m riding straight through this corner, nice and deep.” It’s probably not going to end in a positive outcome. Rather, each time through the corner ask the horse to step one or two hoof prints further into the corner, make the goal more digestible to you both.
If you are nervous hacking your horse out, go with a confident friend on a settled horse; don’t pick the windiest day of the fall, after the temps drop 20* and then go out alone. Slowly build up to hacking by yourself. Once your anxiety settles about being out of the arena slowly add more challenging situations.
The worst feeling in the world is getting to a horse show and having an overwhelmed horse and feeling as a rider that you don’t have the tools to help them.
I cannot stress enough how important it is to put yourself in situations at home that may illicit a response from your horse that you need to work through. It’s not only important YOU are confident in your ability to come through it, still on the topside of your horse, but it is essential that your HORSE builds his confidence in you to bring the two of you through a situation safely.
So while we still have a few weeks of good weather go out and start building the blocks of your confidence!
*picture is of a young horse hacking out for the first time. We first ponied her off of the older horse to let her see the sights without a rider, then we added a confident rider along with her older horse friend. This made for a very positive experience for her that we can build on. Riders are no different, build the confidence! Don’t just jump into the deep end a pray!
