How often do we trainers hear these comments; “my horse never does this”, “this isn’t the horse I had yesterday”, “why was he stronger in the 2cd class”, “why was he slower in the 2cd class”, “he’s  heavy today”, “he’s bulging today”.

Get over it! Ride the horse you have today.

Riding is like life. No two days are the same. We aim for consistency (I tell my students that’s the name of the game), but you have to work for it.

Spend less time getting mad, thinking about the negative, and spend more time on how to fix it.

It’s all in the attitude.

You’re riding an animal that has a mind and emotions, not a car or a bike. Stop taking it personally. Your horse is not “doing this to you”. They are sensitive animals that will feed off your frustrations making the situation worse.

Take a deep breath and set your emotions aside. How you look at a situation, the attitude in which you approach it, will have a great effect on the outcome.

You may have to pretend you are riding some one else’s horse, that may help.

Then, start to ask yourself , how do I ride This horse. Today’s horse.

How exciting!  You can learn so many lessons on the same (but different) horse.  The more experiences you have, and learn from them, the better the rider you will become.

Making yourself keep a calm and positive attitude, will make all the difference in the world.

Have you ever been frustrated that your horse was different from one ride to the next? Do you make adjustments based on how your horse is behaving on a particular day? Tell us your experience in the comments below.