Build Confidence with the Safety Circle

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Today's exercise is the Safety Circle. This is a wonderful exercise if your horse is tense or nervous, or if your horse dislikes one particular area or corner in your arena. When I was younger, I started a lot of young horses, and I found that using the safety circle was the best way to build confidence (both for her horse and the rider) and to get your horse focused and on the aids. We all know that forcing your horse towards something they are afraid of simply does not work!

Most horses, have a particular corner or side of the arena that is the "spooky area." It could be the side of the arena near the road, the judge's booth, an open door, or a tree. Since horses are prey animals, their instincts are what keep them safe. Forcing them to go directly to the scary area doesn't work, so instead, you can use the Safety Circle exercise and gradually work your way around the arena.

Here's how to implement the Safety Circle: Start by riding a circle in the middle of your arena or in the area of the arena where your horse feels most comfortable. The goal is that you take the relaxation and confidence that you have in that 'safe space' and use the safety circle to bring that feeling to the rest of your arena.

On the safety circle, ask your horse to bend around your inside leg and look towards the inside of the arena. This helps shift their focus from external distractions to you, their rider. As you ride through the circle, pay attention to your horse’s ears and body position. If your horse’s ears are pricked and looking around, it means they’re not fully focused. Keep encouraging with your inside leg and rein to ask them to look inside and bend to the inside.

Here are the key points you want to focus on:

maintaining the bend around the inside leg
steady rhythm with no speeding up or slowing of tempo
breathing steadily to calm our own nerves

If you find that you are still struggling to get your horse's attention, make the circle smaller by spiraling in.

Once you have your horse relaxed and focused on your safety circle, gradually start expanding the circle, incorporating short straight lines (just a few strides will do it!) before circling again. You continue to move down the arena making these oblong circle shapes until you can use the whole arena with your horse staying calm and focused. If at any moment you feel like you're losing their attention, don't go any bigger until you get it back. Then continue on moving around the arena.

Happy Riding!

Amelia