When Your Horse Feels Anxious in Training, Look at the Stage First

Many training sessions begin with a clear plan and familiar behaviors, yet sometimes, even when nothing obvious has changed, the horse shows signs of tension that feel out of place or unexpected. You might notice increased movement, difficulty settling, subtle changes in facial expression, or a general sense that your horse is trying hard but cannot quite relax.

Individual signs like ears held back, extra movement, or a distracted expression do not automatically indicate a problem on their own. Horses use their bodies and faces in complex ways, and a single signal rarely tells the full story. However, when multiple signs appear together, especially alongside difficulty settling or an increase in seemingly random behaviors, it often points to underlying tension rather than disobedience or lack of understanding.

These moments invite us to slow down and look at the bigger picture, not just what the horse is doing, but what they are responding to.

When this happens, it can be tempting to focus on the behavior itself and wonder what went wrong or what needs to be fixed, but in many cases, the more useful question is not about the goal behavior at all. Instead, it is worth asking what might be influencing how that behavior feels to the horse at that moment.

Antecedents Are the Stage for Behavior

In training, everything that exists before a behavior happens, and while it is happening, matters. These factors are known as antecedents, and they form the stage on which behavior appears.

Antecedents include things like the environment, weather, insects, footing, proximity to other horses, handler position, body language, tone of voice, and even emotional energy. None of these elements exists in isolation, and when several of them shift at once, the stage can quickly become more demanding than intended.

Because of this, antecedents have a profound impact on how easy or difficult a behavior feels to the horse. A task that feels simple and calm in one setting can suddenly feel confusing or stressful when the stage changes, even if the cues and expectations remain the same.

Thoughtful training places significant emphasis on setting up antecedents that match the horse’s current ability, emotional state, and level of experience.

Antecedents though, can also sometimes cause a horse to temporarily mask how they feel too. Sometimes, a horse may briefly appear more relaxed when their attention shifts away from the training task, only to show tension again once their focus returns. Sometimes horses can also be so overwhelmed or distracted in certain antecedents that they appear to be “well behaved” and doing fine, only to have the frustration and anxiousness resume in calmer, more “normal” antecedents. 

We have to be mindful of this and be careful not to assume that this means our horses are bored, or that they need more variety or distractions in order to do well. In fact, the exact opposite is likely true. We need to spend more time working on a stage that is peaceful and safe for the horse, so they feel more comfortable expressing their true emotions about the behavior(s) we are working on. 

Same Behavior, New Stage

One of the most common challenges in training arises when a familiar behavior is moved into a new context.

Although a horse may have practiced a behavior extensively, those early learning experiences are often closely tied to the environments in which the behavior was taught. When the location, orientation, or surrounding conditions change, the horse may not immediately recognize that the same response is being asked for.

From the horse’s perspective, the behavior has not disappeared, but the stage has changed.

This is why behaviors that appear solid at home can fall apart in new settings, whether that setting is a show environment, a different area of the property, or even just a new configuration within a familiar space. Without intentional preparation, those changes can create uncertainty and emotional pressure. This is when we see unexpected tension in behaviors that previously were nothing but relaxed and fluent.

When tension appears, it is often more productive to evaluate the environment than to question the horse’s willingness or motivation. But not just the environment, as in everything outside of you and your horse, but you included! Remember that you are part of the environment. As are the flies, the temperature, where their herd mates are (and how they are doing), the busy road nearby, and that puddle of water on the ground. 

Environmental discomfort, social dynamics, proximity to other horses, changes in handler posture, variations in reinforcement, or subtle inconsistencies in cues can all contribute to a behavior suddenly feeling harder than expected.

None of these factors indicates that the horse is being difficult. They simply indicate that the training setup may need adjustment to better support the horse until your horse is more prepared for that new stage setup. By treating tension as information rather than a problem, trainers can respond with curiosity and flexibility rather than pressure.

Supporting the Horse Through Change

Performing any learned skill under new conditions requires additional emotional and cognitive effort. A task that feels easy in one environment may feel surprisingly difficult in another simply because the context has changed. New surroundings, new expectations, and increased stimulation all add layers of pressure that the horse must navigate alongside the behavior itself.

If we want behaviors to hold up across a wide range of situations, we must practice them across a wide range of stages, gradually and with intention. Overfacing your horse with too much change too quickly can create distrust, fear, learning events, and have a lasting negative impact on how your horse feels about performing that behavior in the future. 

We have to remember that even things as subtle as changes in posture, energy, attention, or communication style can influence how a horse experiences a training session, even when the behavior being practiced remains the same. These subtle shifts provide valuable practice in handling variables in the environment, later leading to much more obvious changes as the horse is ready for them. The result will be a behavior that is not only reliable under a wide variety of conditions, but a horse that can trust not only the trainer, but the environment and themselves too. 

However, many times things do not go according to plan. How do we support a horse when the stage becomes challenging unexpectedly? Support in these situations often looks like predictability, clarity, and a willingness to lower expectations temporarily.

This might mean maintaining steady, consistent cues so the horse has something reliable to orient to, reducing criteria and reinforcing more frequently for smaller pieces of the behavior, or shortening the session to prevent emotional overload.

In some cases, returning to a more familiar setup and building up more gradually can be the most ethical and effective choice. Progress will not be lost by taking a step back; it is reinforced by ensuring the horse feels safe enough to continue learning.

Give the Process Time

When a horse struggles, it is rarely a sign of unwillingness. More often, it is a sign that the stage has changed in a way that makes the behavior itself, or the horse as a whole, feel less secure.

Good training is not about demanding performance and 100% perfection all the time. It’s about noticing when the environment, the expectations, or the setup need to change before asking our horse to do more. It’s about being patient, observant, considerate, intentional, and mindful. 

When we take the time to adjust the stage, we create learning environments where behaviors can grow stronger, more resilient, and more transferable, without sacrificing the horse’s (or our) emotional safety and confidence along the way.

If you want to see how these decisions unfold live, you can watch the full video this post is based on.

Watch the video here:

It offers a real-time look at how I read tension, evaluate the training “stage,” and make adjustments that support the horse rather than pushing through confusion or stress.

And if you’re interested in deep diving even more on how to apply this mindset to your training, from foundations to under-saddle, you’re invited to join The Willing Equine Academy.