7 SCARY THINGS HORSES DO—AND HOW TO HANDLE THEM

I don’t know any rider who likes to be afraid when she rides. If your goal is to be a happy rider, you need to figure out how to avoid situations that make you nervous. It seems pretty obvious, right? I mean, who wants to ride scared?

But in real life, too many people do ride scared, and in most of these cases, their anxiety is rooted in one of the following situations:

1) They are riding a horse that has scared them in the past.

2) They are riding at a level beyond their comfort zone.

3) They are riding a horse that scares them at a level that is beyond their comfort zone.

Horses do a variety of things that can make riders fearful. One day, I asked my 100,000 Facebook followers this question: “What is it that horses do that causes you anxiety?” From the hundreds of responses I received, some common themes emerged. Here are some of the most normal causes of fear they cited: rearing, bucking,