02/02/2026
I wanted to give this video a post if it’s own and go a little bit in depth on the significance of it for Reli.
Reli has always had a hard time when it comes to people above him moving around or moving towards him. For example, if another rider were to sidepass over to him or he sidepasses over to the other rider, he has a really hard time with it and tries to back/move away from said person. He’s perfectly fine with having a rider on him and someone else riding in the arena, that hasn’t been an issue, but coming close to him or moving above him is the struggle.
Now that I have Nala back home, I was able to work on that quite a bit today. I first started with sidepassing into him without him scurrying off, then I would sidepass away so he knows once he does the correct thing and stays put, the pressure gets released without him feeling the need to leave the situation.
Once he got that part down, I asked him to side pass one step into me and I’d move off, leading him to believe that he was the one to make the scary thing move away which helped build his confidence. Once he was good with one step, I’d ask him to add more and more steps until he was right beside me and I was able to pet his whole body/side. Once he was beside me again, I’d move away while he stayed.
I want to build his confidence with people above him while doing it in a safe and controlled manner. I want him to be relaxed instead of tense, so me leaving before he starts to internally panic (which leads to him bolting) helps build that confidence up to where it eventually won’t be a problem.