How to Build Confidence in Your Horse

Every year I hold a special camp at my James Creek Ranch called Purpose Camp. The saying goes variety is the spice of life and that is the thought behind this camp. By incorporating lots of variety into our lives with horses we create purpose. Purpose gives meaning to the everyday exercises that if overdone can make a horse sour. But with variety and purpose we and our horses can both build confidence and have a lot of fun!
At Purpose Camp we do everything from cow work to trail savvy from dressage patterns to cross country courses. The idea is to expose the horses to lots of different things. This not only creates purpose but also prepares the horses for things we might run into when we are out in the world.

You never know what you will encounter when you ride and it never ceases to amaze me what horses choose to worry about a rock on the trail a bag hanging on a post or maybe a dog. But by setting up situations for our horses we can help raise their confidence in themselves and in our leadership and therefore lessen the chance that they will get nervous when something new or strange comes up at a show or on the trail.
A great exercise I always do with my horses is to see if they can take one step over the log and stop so they are halted with just one front leg over the log. Then I ask them to take one more step and halt so the log is between their front and back legs then between their back legs and so on until they can stop at any point over the log and even back up.
This exercise is great for improving your technical skills because you
have to focus on the exact placement of your horses legs. At the same time your horse learns to wait even when things around him whether a log a bush or anything else might be close to touching his legs.