When did your ride really start? Your ride should begin when you THINK about going for a ride. Learning to raise your level of awareness that at every moment you are interacting with your horse (starting with when you catch him) or are even in close proximity, you are influencing the conversation, energy and focus for the upcoming ride.

Distractions, stress, goals, patience, sensitivity, work, family, “real life...” Leave "reality" at the door. If you're not mentally present for your horse, there is no way you can want for your horse to be 100% present.

Intention-Purpose-Self Analysis

Do not brainlessly go through the motions, even when catching, grooming and tacking up. Have an initial "plan" that can be adaptable. If you set small goals (even just for every three or four steps of the ride) you will be able to break down what you are offering, how you are communicating it, what your horse is doing in response, and what changes you need to make to become more refined in your communication.

Be open to Change

If something is NOT working, try creating a change in you in order to find one in your horse. Many people think that repetition is the way to teach a horse something.

Put it into people terms. If someone were trying to teach you something, and you didn't understand, if they kept saying the same exact thing over and over, louder and louder each time, you STILL would not understand. They would have to change how or what they were saying to find a way to offer you a better explanation.

Clarity

The same goes for riding. Even if you think you're being clear, you need to address each time your horse isn't understanding, notice when he starts to get get mentally checked out, physically tight and defensive because of his concern. This may cause you to divert from the "original" goal, in order to help clarify in areas he was asking for help. If he doesn't understand the small pieces, he will not be able to accomplish the entire goal.

Brainlessly offering the same movement over and over until your horse accidentally or finally figures out what is being asked of him, decreases his confidence and willing to try and learn the next time you offer something new.