Riding Fear Free – Overcome Fears with an Equine Lifestyle

Overcome Fears with an Equine Lifestyle

By Laura Daley

 

Do not wait until you are at the barn, or preparing to mount your horse, to work on riding-related fears. Living with horses is not just a hobby it is a life style, one that can be used to help eradicate fear.

Because fear is an emotional issue, it is actually best to work on controlling those emotions away from your horse. Use goals and desires to help remember why you love horses to begin with and visualize something positive. For instance, when you see a photo or item around the house that reminds you of your horse, take a moment to remember a pleasant and/or successful horse-related memory. This could be from last week, or a childhood spent with horses.

While doing mundane household chores like the dishes, daydream about riding along the beach. Jog or lope around the house or on your way to your car after work. Do a sliding stop or a rollback as you vacuum the house. Turn your children’s toys into an obstacle course or sidepass up to the door to open it. As silly as these activities may sound, it is turning your mind toward the positive in your horse life and helps keep your emotions light and happy.

Change up your thinking about everyday experiences and look at them as opportunities to help you overcome your riding fears—you might be surprised how effective this can be. Incorporating horse-related mental exercises into everyday chores will not only help you get the housework done, but it can turn a boring task into something fun that is actually helping you move toward riding fear free.

Do you have a riding related fear or challenge you’d like Laura to address? Send it to editor@nwhorsesource.com.

 

Published in February 2015 Issue