Disclaimer: our thoughts:

 Possibly unwanted and unwarranted - feel free to stop reading now...

One of the concepts I talk about is The Confidence Cup for Riders is that confidence is built through repeated positive experiences.

Every good ride, successful outing and moment of trust fills the cup.

So when the occasional “bad thing” happens — a spook, stop, poor round or confidence wobble — it doesn’t completely drain confidence… because the cup was already 95% full.

But when riders or horses only experience negative moments? The cup empties quickly — and confidence can hit rock bottom.

This is why some partnerships look invincible.

Take Amelia and Spicy Nina (yes… she has a red chilli bridle charm 🌶️).

Nina can be dramatic — kick out, jack up, bite and occasionally remind everyone she has opinions.

But Amelia’s confidence in Nina isn’t shaken by the behaviour.

Why?

Because their confidence in each other is rock solid. They’ve had enough positive experiences together that the occasional theatrics don’t empty the cup.

That may not be the case in a new partnership.

A new rider may see the same behaviour and completely lose confidence.

And that’s exactly why horse matching matters.

We have to assess whether confidence is truly resilient — regardless of the horse and occasional setbacks — or whether it’s heavily tied to one partnership and years of positive experiences.

Because they’re very different things.

And understanding that difference can prevent very expensive and stressful mismatches.