PART THREE
DO YOU FEEL in control when you ride? Not knowing whether a horse will listen to you once you’re in the saddle is sure to give even the best riders a bit of a wobble. The solution is to establish yourself as the leader of your partnership, and the best place to start this is on the ground by replicating how horses communicate with each other (Your Horse, Spring, Training/Hacking Confidence Clinic).
“Whoever controls the other’s feet is in charge,” says today’s trainer Emma Sharman, addressing the attendees at the BHS Suffolk Hacking Confidence Clinic at Boyton Hall Equestrian Centre. “You need to be your horse’s leader — you’re in charge of both your own and your horse’s safety — and to do this you need to control his movement and your own.”
Today a group of nervous riders is taking part in an arena desensitisation session designed to arm them and their horses with transferable skills to get them hacking without fear.
“If your horse is alert and moving around you it’s because he’s nervous
