In the photo above, one horse is within his comfort zone checking out the tarp. The new horse standing behind is unsure about what is going on. In this situation, the confident horse is helping to build the new horse’s confidence, which is a great way to proceed.

Beginnings are Hard

When we begin doing new things, it takes time and effort to get the feel of what we are doing. Getting this ‘feel’ for a new activity doesn’t happen in ten minutes. Same for horses.

Doing something new takes us out of our comfort zone. We know when we are out of our comfort zone because our heart rate and breathing speed up. We may sweat more and have feelings of un-ease, often beginning in our gut or stomach. Same for horses.

It’s important to recognise how we feel when we are out of our comfort zone, as well as how we feel when we are back in our comfort zone. And we need to recognize when our horse is out of his/her comfort zone.

Only desire, effort and application can make a comfort zone larger. Learning and education are all about expanding comfort zones.

Obviously, both the handler and the horse have comfort zones. If both parties are out of their comfort zones, it may not be a good horse day. So it’s important that when the handler is out of his or her comfort zone, the horse is in his comfort zone.

When we take the horse out of his comfort zone, we ideally want to remain in our own comfort zone so we can maintain our emotional neutrality. By understanding our own and our horse’s comfort zones, we’ll have more good horse days, until every day is a good horse day. (The bold items are in the Glossary page.)

For a horse at a particular time, ‘comfort’ can mean the freedom to move and run, using up adrenalin and enlarging his personal space.

At another time, the same horse may find ‘comfort’ in a quiet, restful state.

As the handler gets to understand the edges of a horse’s comfort zone, it becomes easier and easier to thin-slice tasks to suit that particular horse.

The diagram below has six arrows that illustrate the six situations that a person or horse will come across.

The inner circle with the smooth boundary is the existing comfort zone. We can call the boundary of this circle ‘Edge One’ because it is a threshold that determines our behavior, or the horse’s behavior.

To expand our comfort zone, we have to move out toward the wiggly, broken line. Out there is the world with all kinds of thresholds that challenge us. We can call the broken line ‘Edge Two’.

The numbered arrows following the diagram refer to the six situations that will arise whenever a person or a horse is faced with expanding their comfort zone.

Comfort Zones: All of us, horse or human, have a ‘comfort zone’ within which our heart rate is normal and we can allow ourselves to relax. Expanding a comfort zone takes active intent. The six numbers are explained below.

1. Lacking confidence to leave the comfort zone.
2. Can leave the comfort zone for a bit, but then has to hurry back.
3. Able to leave the comfort zone for longer before going back.
4. No longer needs to retreat to the former comfort zone. The comfort zone has expanded.
5. Starting to feel comfortable well beyond the old ‘Edge One’ threshold.
6. I can do this now. What is the next challenge? I’m ready to set a new ‘Edge Two’. ‘Edge One’ has moved out to encompass the original ‘Edge Two’. The comfort zone has expanded.

If we push ourselves, or our horse, toward ‘Edge Two’ too quickly or too soon, we, or the horse, will feel worried, anxious or fearful.

We will ‘run away’ in our mind and make up reasons to avoid going ‘out there’ again. The horse will indicate that he’d like to leave the situation or he will ‘shut down’. Either one means he has given up trying to understand what we’d like him to do.

This avoidance response is the brain’s way of keeping us safe. It’s a useful instinct in some situations, but in today’s human world, and with horses forced to live in captivity, we have to both find ways of successfully expanding our comfort zones.

As we learn to recognize where we and the horse are in relation to our comfort zones for any given situation, we will be able to take more control of where we are, in relation to where we want to be.

Safety is always the first priority. The horse has to learn how to respond appropriately to a variety of human pressures. The handler has to know how to influence the horse to keep everyone safe when a stressful situation occurs.

A stressful situation can arise in a split second. It helps a great deal if the horse has faith in us and if we know how the horse will probably respond when his adrenalin is up, so we can take pro-active measures.

With careful positive reinforcement training, stressful situations will become less common.

Boots is temporarily distracted out of her comfort zone as Smoky gallops around the paddock next door. Bridget waited quietly until the excitement was over, then carried on with trailer-loading skills.