Most of the time our bodies say one thing and our emotions another.
You ask a horse to go over a higher jump than you’re used to. You try to convince your horse (and anyone watching) that you’re very confident and relaxed about the whole thing. But inside your thoughts and feelings are a whirlwind. Nervousness, whether physically expressed or not, is still nervousness.
There’s nothing bad about it! About a year ago I wrote an article about fear and how sometimes it can be a really good thing to listen to. So it’s not about not being nervous. It’s about working with that until you can truly be confident for yourself and your animal. So maybe don’t take that huge jump until you’ve worked yourself up to it and can take it confidently.
Our animals can sense our nervousness or other emotions we may be “hiding” and naturally think, “If she’s nervous… how nervous should I be?? Is there something dangerous about this?”
Trying to hide feelings around animals is useless. It doesn’t make a difference, so you might as well be upfront about it. They can sense and smell everything. When you feel an unwanted emotion, take a break and ponder why you feel that way before continuing your training.
Unknown photographer.
I own no rights to this photo.