Confidence within is my struggle. I am a barrel racer. Having trouble at the 3rd barrel. Need to go one step further, (so easy right) well no. I sit up to soon 50% of the time losing focus to keep riding. My horse will turn the barrel no problem there. She is a 1D horse with a 1D rider.

When you said the fear of what others think I was like Bingo!! That is me. Thank you for taking the time to do these. I know I need this soooo much.

Thank you for the lesson and sharing you insight into how to grow confidence with my horse and in other aspects of life. For me, the confidence to ride – especially to jump a horse over a vertical obstacle – is my goal. Although I’ve always been horse crazy and wanted to learn to ride, I did not begin until I was well into adulthood (I started at 53 years of age ) I do cherish my horse time but I find I sometimes get nervous when it comes to jumping. I’m looking forward to the next lesson!

This first lesson is really resonating as my courage within is where I am struggling . I have found a roadblock with my age and wondering about my riding ability. I am betting lesson two will speak to that.

Thank you for doing this. I have a wonderful support group of friends who have helped me tremendously as I came to the horse world late in life. Always loved horses, but never fit with my life until about 10 years ago. I also have a wonderful trainer now who is both knowledgeable and kind to both my horse and me. Took a bad fall years ago before I got my Cody. Have a hard time overcoming the fears of loping now. I do not want to be controlled by my fears. In my 20’s, I was a rock climber!… Read more »

For me it is multiple entangled issues that affect all points. Do I even have permission to wave a magic wand? What’s the point if I can’t have what I want anyway? I get internally anxious about failing and not being good enough. Add to that the feeling of not feeling support from the world around me, I am really quite afraid to try take any steps to having confidence working with others. Guess here and now is a good start, although that makes me nervous because you will fail me too. Wow, I was not even aware that that… Read more »

Thanks for lesson one! I’ll take with me the idea that confidence actually hasn’t so much or anything to do with skill level. Skills can grow but confidence comes from within. You can have it on day one or you can long for it after years of practice. It can be learnt but not through the skills. It is a different story. You need both the skills and the confidence.

Thank you this brought out many emontions in me some had to do with riding and others not at all. I do struggle with confidence within, will I be able to do what I want to do with the horse in a way that is pleasurable to both me and the horse. I also think about how can I safely meet my goals as an older rider. I am excited for the next lesson.

Hi Barbara! Thank you for offering this confidence series. What really resonated with me was the part about building relationships. I am active in showing cow horses, mostly in central California. But the funny thing is, although I love the shows and going into the pen to compete, its the relationships outside the show pen that I value the most. I am always wanting to belong to a group of like minded people who love horses and the horse journey as much as I do. I love going to clinic type lessons, rather than private lessons because that sense of… Read more »

Thanks Barbra, your first video is most interesting to me. As a retired therapeutic instructor I still help people out with their horse or riding skills. However, that confidence thing has always been a puzzlement to me as I have never had the fear or lack of confidence when it came to my horses but I didn’t know how to reach my riders that dealt with this issue. Thanks for the insight and how to overcome the lack of confidence and or fear they might have that would interfere with their bonding to their horse.