How to have a horse that feels relaxed in any environment!
What exactly can you expect in this free course? Tristan tells you in the video below 👇
Tip: grab your notebook and write down everything you don’t want to forget!
What to do on your first ride in a new place
Note: I started Bonita under saddle and this video is her first time in the outside arena. These are also the steps I go through when visiting a new environment with a spooky and tense horse.
When starting young horses, there will come a time where you go out to ride in a big, open-air arena for the first time.
Or maybe you’re entering a new and perhaps challenging environment with your older horse.
A situation that’s, while of course not entirely the same, similar to the one above. So, what is the best way to handle that?
At my stables, the outdoor is larger than my indoor, but also doesn’t have a wall to block the field of vision. The horses can look far into the fields that surround it.
And there’s a lot going on, with a tractor spreading dung on the field, cars rushing past and horses grazing in the back.
It’s a lot to take in for a young horse who’s only been in a safe indoor environment before.
It’s therefore important that you have the groundwork pattern established so you’re able to communicate with your horse in a way that he understands what you’re asking of him.
And, of course, also that he’s able to find a relaxed posture and he gets into relaxed mental state.
I also do the navigational pattern, moving next to the horse and covering the areas I want to cover when riding.
After the groundwork, I get on and move through the groundwork patterns to check whether I get the same feeling in the body and the same level of communication from under saddle.
That’s my first pilot check, following up on what my horse needs. I continue to do that the entire ride until I get a feeling that we can make some transitions to trot, can follow the track and make our way around the arena.
In the video below, I show on Bonita what following the track looks like and what to focus on.
Dealing with tension at competitions
Note: in this case it is about riding competitions, but you can also apply it to other stressful situations. Like training in foreign arenas, riding in the forest, etc..
Uncovering the myth
We all know the advice: ‘just go to more shows and it will get better.’ But is that really true? In this video I explain why it’s really bad advice and why it won’t help your horse. It can even make things worse!
The 3 mistakes
There are three common mistakes that we all make when we’re going to a competition and our horse gets tense. In this video I explain why these actions are mistakes and what you can do instead.
The right preparation
How can you best prepare your horse for a competition? And I don’t mean physically, but mentally! Because we often focus on the technical part, but forget the mindset. Let me tell you more about you and your horse’s mental state in this video.
Long term vision
We tend to live in the moment when we’re at a competition. We focus on a good warm-up, practicing the exercises and of course, getting good points. But we forget about the experience that the horse is having. And a bad experience will affect your horse’s behavior at the next competition!
‘TRT method helped me to introduce to my mare all that she was fearing or hating. With trt method she learned to control herself and found a way to feel comfortable and calm in her body, in any situation.’
– Heini
Every horse can change, so also
your horse can be confident and relaxed !
From all the years working with all kinds of horses, there hasn’t been a single horse that couldn’t learn to be relaxed in any situation.
So don’t think your horse behaves in a certain way just because ‘that’s the way he is’.
No, your horse simply doesn’t know there’s another way. And it’s our job to show it to our horses.
With TRT method I’ll guide you step-by-step to accomplish this. And to ensure that you can continue teaching your horse how to manage himself, I have a unique offer for you!
I hope you like it!
