10/03/2025
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Teaching Horses Emotional Control
In horse training, it’s not our job to protect a horse from ever feeling pressure, stress, or emotion, it’s our job to help them learn how to handle it.
A horse, just like us, is going to experience moments where emotions rise. They’ll feel uncertain, frustrated, worried, or even scared. If we never expose them to pressure and never give them the tools to work through it, then when life inevitably presents those moments, they won’t know what to do.
Our role as trainers is to guide them through emotion, not erase it. That means:
- Teaching them ways to dissipate their energy in a safe and productive way.
- Helping them learn to regulate when pressure shows up.
- Allowing them to feel, but showing them how to respond instead of react.
Avoiding pressure doesn’t build resilience, it builds fragility. Purposefully introducing challenges, and then helping a horse find release and peace on the other side, creates confidence.
The same is true for people: growth doesn’t come from avoiding what makes us uncomfortable. It comes from learning how to breathe, focus, and find balance when life gets loud.
