Choosing a Horse to Suit You

There are three main criteria for judging the suitability of a horse for you: confidence, dominance, and sensitivity.

Confidence

Confidence can sometimes be described as bravery. It’s largely a product of environment, but horses are all born with different amounts of confidence. Some horses can build confidence more easily than others, and some are more easily intimidated. All breeds of horses can be either extremely confident or extremely skittish. Because environment and upbringing are directly related to a horse’s confidence, it’s important to socialize a horse from a young age. Introduce horses to as many things as possible such as tarps, umbrellas, bridges, water, hoses, clippers, trailers, poles, flowers, trails, radios, cars, and other things that are noisy, moving, or different from everyday experiences.

One easy thing you can do to help build confidence is to change things in the paddock or working area bi-weekly. Add a new toy; add coloured Bristol board to the arena/fence wall; rearrange jumps/ flowers; put a barrel in a field; or do something different so that the horse can become comfortable with change on a regular basis. Horses easily fall into routine and if a horse is used to being worked in an area that is set up a certain way, it can be quite nerve-racking for him when it’s changed. For example, if in an arena the jumps are always placed and/or stored the same way, then the horse may become anxious when the jumps are removed or changed for a special event. Changing the set up of the ring either bi-weekly or as often as possible will help the horse become more welcoming of change.

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