Trail Riding Skills – Teaching Fundamentals

​

This page explains the thinking and experience behind our approach to trail riding, clinics, and long‑distance rides. It explains your responsibility towards your horse in training. It is recommended reading before you come to the Foundation Clinic

​

All training begins with the rider

Trail riding fundamentals do not start with techniques, equipment or exercises.
They start with the rider.

Trust is built through consistency.
Consistency creates reliability.
Reliability builds trust.

And trust is the foundation of security — for both horse and rider.

​

You are the horse’s limitation

The limits of our horses are often the limits of our own imagination.

We tend to restrict our horses through our fears, our mindset and our own abilities.
Everything that lies beyond our imagination feels unsafe — so we forbid it.

But horses are not limited by human thinking.
They are closer to nature, more balanced, and often far more capable than we assume.

They can:

• navigate unstable ground

• cross rivers and swamps

• climb mountains

• maintain balance where we struggle

If we trust them — and allow them to learn.

​

Communication goes beyond the body

We do not communicate with our horses only through aids and body language.
We also communicate through emotion and energy.

Horses read emotional changes with remarkable precision.

A rider who remembers a past accident carries that memory into the present.
The horse senses the tension and reacts — not to the object, but to the rider’s emotional state.

Change the picture in your mind, and the situation changes for your horse.

​

Obedience, lightness and true softness

Many horses learn obedience under known conditions.
This is often mistaken for reliability.

True softness goes further.

Softness means:

• the horse remains calm under changing conditions

• trust holds, even when the environment changes

• decisions are accepted without resistance

Softness is not control.
Softness is trust under uncertainty.

​

Security is the rider’s responsibility

At home, a horse finds security in its environment and its herd.
On the trail, that security disappears.

From that moment on, the rider becomes responsible for providing it.

​

Fear and your horse

Fear plays an important role in trail riding.
It sharpens awareness and helps us recognize danger.

But unmanaged fear is transferred directly to the horse.

Learning to manage fear — not suppress it — is a core trail riding skill.

​

Focus, simplicity and clarity

Horses are uncomplicated.
They focus on one thing at a time.

As riders, we benefit from doing the same.

Clear intention, consistency and immediate feedback create understanding.
Reliability creates trust.
Trust creates security.