How to Safely Expand Your Comfort Zone 

Your vids are helping alot during quarantine

This was so good! I have competed in jumpers for over 40 years. I went on a trail ride on a Sheriff posse horse, and as soon as I got on, I could tell something was very wrong. He was on his tippy toes. In the blink of an eye, he was running backwards and flung himself over backwards on top of me. He was stuck on a pine tree thrashing and couldn't get off of me. When they finally got him off and got me to the hospital, miraculously, I was fine, bruised head to toe but fine. It turned out, on the trailer ride up to the ride, he had been bit by a Black Widow and was in extreme pain. I still had no problem jumping but going on trail rides has been a challenge!

My mentor had a line. "You've got to give something of yourself that you never gave to get something you never had." But he also said "You can't ride through something bad and expect it to come out good". It does no good to try to push people into doing something with a horse that they are afraid of doing. It could push them to quit. Just some thoughts.

I just finished your calm confident rider program. A few days later, disaster struck. 3 of us, all with confidence issues and naughty horses, went on a road/ trail ride - the first of the year. Long story short, ATV havoc ensued. Thanks to your course, I stayed calm, got my horse out of the way using quick appropriate aids and a deep seat, then did an emergency dismount (like you had me practice just the week before) to get to the rider who wasn't so lucky. The ride could be considered a fiasco, but thanks to the mental and skill work you had me practice, my comfort zone had improved drastically... I'm proud of myself and my horse and I'm ready to go out again! Unfortunately, my friend was injured, and despite decades of riding experience, her confidence badly shaken. Her nervous system has apparently done a hard recalibration. While she heals, I'll be sending her things like this video. Thanks for all you do! (Way to up your game on video artistry too!)

I had a very serious fall back in 2020, 13 breaks or fractures, punctured lung and a dislocated hip. It was May of 2023 before I even got back on my horse again (same horse...)! I have been doing what you said to do, incremental improvement, gradually expanding my comfort zone and some training with a local expert (racehorse trainer). Now I am a far better rider than I ever was before, especially in calmly dealing with "issues". I am not as young as I once was and riding safely, not getting thrown and not having situations escalate is now high on my priority list! I am currently dealing with confidence and expanding the comfort zone of my horse, she recently had an incident where she knocked a pole with her front shins during a jump and went from being able to jump 12 inches to not being willing to jump at all! At first, I tried to make her push through, but she just didn't want to do it, so I put the pole on the ground and had her walk over it, with me leading, over, and over, and over again! Then I tried doing it in the saddle, annnd... It was a "Nope!" So, it's back to the ground, walking over the pole, over, and over, and over again. We'll get there. I have empathy for her. She's come a long way, we both have, and we are getting better and better, every single day!

That is exactly what is happening to me right now. More I feel pushed on doing things because others are alredy doing it and more I feel uncomfortable. I had few bad falls that switch my brain and now I do my steps forward but I simply need more time than the others riders, sometimes it is hard to understand. Fear can literally paralize you for a very long time.

At the moment I'm struggling with being left alone while riding, because I don't feel myself enough to cope with an unusual situation. I'm trying to work on it, but every time I realize there's nobody who could help if needed, I just don't feel like risking a faster trot or a cavaletti. (sorry for my english but I'm Hungarian and not the best in languages😅) Love your videos, all of them are such an inspiration! ❤️

This exact process helped me get back into a canter after a bad fall from a moody horse. Today I took my percheron all the way around the rail at the canter- twice! Small victories, y'all. Don't push back too hard when you feel uncomfortable, and don't be afraid to ask for a calmer, more technical lesson when your anxieties are piqued.

When I was younger, I was learning to jump and had a few "bad" spills. While I learned the basics of how to jump, I never actually did jumping. I used to ride a ~12-13hh pony so even a 1.5' jump seemed like a huge deal. And she would only jump if you were balanced, otherwise she'd refuse. Ever since then, I much preferred flat work and dressage. I still practiced half-seat/2-point, but never really did much beyond 1ft jumps. Later in life, some of my students at a primarily-Western barn found out I learned English wanted me to show off jumping. So, I got on the horse (15-16hh) and jumped a jump that was probably about 1.5-2ft high. I was nervous at first, but it actually wasn't as bad as I thought, because to the horse, that was NOTHING. So, that helped me get my confidence back. I still don't really like it, but I'll jump if I "have to". Then, I was riding another horse who has some "uptight" and "anxiety" and "anticipation" issues of her own, and she accidentally reared up on me (I'll spare the details why, but I know exactly what happened and why it happened, and it was due to.... basically.... our own fault not reading signs/symptoms properly) and I lost my balance and before I could bail, the horse flipped over sideways on my leg. I was perfectly fine other than behind my knee got bruised up for a while, but after that, I was always nervous to get back on her and ride her as I didn't want to make that issue happen again. So, now whenever I ride her, I've decided to slow down and take things one step at a time, and not progress beyond the basics (ie: walking, head down, transitions, etc) until both her and I are comfortable.

I'd love for you to do a video on breeds and how they differ in temperament, riding style, and maybe things we wouldn't imagine necessarily. I've been watching so many of your videos that I started watching to learn how horses really 'work', and one thing that is fascinating me is how such varied breeding has effected the inner world of the given horse breeds.

This really helped because a couple of days ago I almost got rolled over on and I haven’t wanted or felt comfortable doing certain things and this really helped me know what to do going forward.

This is such a good video, not just for riding but for life in general. Being a new rider (of a whole 5 weeks) I definitely think this is a good lesson for me to take moving forward. It's also so applicable to my job as a woodwork teacher. My students would definitely benefit from this sort of explanation for being around tools and machines!

This is exactly what I do with my riders during lessons - one week we might feel the horse, I notice they have pace and rhythm, I might challenge them a bit more. Another week they are not feeling good, we just stick to basics, check if everything is working as it should so far. I think it's important to have understanding of this as a rider but as a riding instructor as well.

Thank you. I needed this.

Excellent video instruction on this important matter. Horses are large powerful animals and there are bound to be fears while having horses in our lives both on the ground and in the saddle. 🤠🐎

thanks so much for this video, my confidence has really boosted and ive improved as a rider

I always enjoy your videos my new Challengingexperience with my new horse is he broke into a cantor on lunge line when I didn’t ask. I couldn’t stop him and he looked panicked. I was releasing all pressure aids and using low tone in voice to slow him. I was alone in arena and could not stop him. I’m new to riding I’m 53 years old and I just adore my horse I’m almost ready to purchase him I’ve been leasing him and I realize he’s so much bigger than me and I lost my confidence. Finally he stopped cantering and came right to me with a big exhale we went on a trail walk together me just walking next to him and have a nice rest of our evening I will say I am a little nervous cause I’m not sure why he broke out into the cantor. My favorite comfort zone is ground work with Benjamin but now I’m not so comfortable.

Thanks! Last time I rode (about 5 months ago,) I had my first bolt, and that wasn’t good for my confidence. Today I am riding for the first time since then (Western now, my first time riding western) and I will take this into consideration!

I really needed this video... My last ride I had my lesson horse was feeling a little zesty, after having two months off due to covid... I’m a beginner rider and have a lot of fear and anxiety when it comes to riding. So when I asked him for the trot he took off at the canter. I didn’t fall off, but it was still enough to really freak me out. Once he finally stopped I was wicked shaky.. I have another lesson this week, and I can’t help but feel that when I get on again and ask for the trot... That I’m gonna be too nervous to ask for the trot because I’ll be afraid that he’ll take off again

I think that's the best thing I've heard on the subject. Many thanks for that because it really makes sense and gives me an idea how I will spend my next time on training.👍⚘⚘⚘

Thanks for the great video Callie. I'm working on building my confidence after a fall. At the moment my comfort zone is just walking but I'd like to build back up to doing trotting again on this particular horse.

Thank you for mentioning the nervus system. I had a realy bad accident on a trail ride. I have always realy liked canter in the forest and out on the fields but not after the accident. Now to get back into canter I have started to do it in the paddock or in the indoor arena. At first I even did it on the lungeline. I think this video helped me to understand the back and forth in the comfortzon zon. It is a fine line to be in the comfortzon but still take on a challange.

This totally resonates, and makes SO much sense.

Great video, You explain perfectly how to challenge & improve both your own and your horses abilities, in a steady, safe manner. I will definitely be taking this advice on board 😊

Brilliant stuff. I never looked at it that way, with the waves, up and down, in and out, until your comfort is there, then continue upward but at a pace that is comfortable for you. Well done and thank you.

Love this! Very helpful.

I had a fall while jumping. It was weird as it didn't affect me on the riding school horses but when I got on my shared horse who is more forward I panicked before jumps and she started refusing them. I'm working on it by going back to the very basics of jumping and working my way back up slowly. I hope I can gain the confidence and happiness I once had riding my shared horse jumping. I was able to do anything on her and confident to jump almost anything but now I'm scared of a cross pole 😞🏇

Thanks Callie for this really helpful video; I have just started riding again in Italy after two and a half months of lockdown .

Thank you Cally 😊 This will definitely help me as I need to push myself out of the comfort zone and this chart will help me do so 🤞 Sums me up pretty well! 💛

Excellent video! Thanks for sharing.

Thank you for your thoughtful and evidence based riding and behavioral tips. I'd love to train with you but at least we have RU-vid!

This is why I dislike saturation desensitization. You or the horse either are able to cope, fall into learned helplessness (which is an explosion waiting to happen), or get worse. It is important to know to that it is okay to stop if you have pushed to far outside the comfort zone. I used to be very confident on the trails around to barn and would go out all the time alone. Walk, trot, canter, it never bothered me. Then a few years ago, I had a bad fall by myself at the canter. Ended up breaking my helmet and chasing my horse through the fields. I no longer go faster then a walk by myself and if my mare gets jumpy, I dismount and we walk until I'm calm once more, then try again.

Your so helpful ive only just did my first jump then we went into lock down could you do a video on how to sit a canter

My fear in riding is a different one to most peoples but whenever I went hacking at my riding school and we went across the fields, they were always covered in mud and I’ve had several incidents where the horse I was riding or other peoples horses have tripped and it just gives me so much anxiety, I don’t know why it makes me worried it’s a little silly but now that it’s summer the mud is gone so I’m much happier 😂

I love this! We call it ‘titration’ in yoga therapy❤️

Love this 💕

Great video, basically rediscovering ourselves and start from scratch so to speak. Blessings to the journey and good health for all

This is really random but was I only one who had the smallest comfort zone ever when I started

I have a question, so recently I've started riding again and I only know how to walk and do riding trot however I am learning sitting trot, however when I'm in the trot i find it hard to kick and i feel like my feet got to far into the stirrup, I was wandering what I may be doing wrong, I think it may be because I forget to keep my heels down but I am not sure. If anyone has any advice please I would greatly appreciate it.

Hi, my daugter is 9 years old. She loved learning to ride and had a good start with a pony at the school. The school pony was moved by its owner and we had to buy a pony. Her instructer advised us on a pony to buy, but the pony was not trained. The pony was broken in and she started riding the pony last year January. At a school competition the pony threw her on 30 cm twice just doing Equitation for beginners. That set her back. We then reverted to Dressage with which she felt comfortable. Yesterday still she did only poles on the ground not even wanting to attemp anything higher than that. I was thinking at night that maybe she should change ponies for a while? Maybe she has a love for her pony but also fears her pony at the same time? This causes a lack of confidence when riding. She was also bullied at school which further had an impact on her confidence. It was so bad we had to change schools. How do we go forward. Any advise would be appreciated. Thanks, Ansja

Feeling kinda stuck I get so far and feel like I’m ramming into a brick wall super frustrated

What is the movement position with Canker it’s same Trot.

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