How do I handle a horse that spooks on the trail and get it more confident?

Trail spookiness is best addressed through a combination of at-home desensitization and systematic trail experience that gradually builds the horse's confidence in its rider and in its own ability to handle novel situations. At home, work on desensitization to the categories of things that spook horses on trails: unusual objects, sounds, sudden movement, and unfamiliar footing. A horse that has investigated tarps, flags, plastic bags, bridges made of plywood over ground poles, and water crossings in a familiar arena carries that exposure onto the trail and encounters new things with more curiosity and less panic. On the trail itself, ride with a calm, confident horse early in the horse's trail education — the experienced companion's relaxed response to ordinary trail stimuli teaches the green horse that those things are not worth worrying about, faster than any other method. When a spook happens, your response is the most important variable: stay quiet, stay centered, breathe, and ride forward past the alarming thing without making a big event of it. Pulling back and staring at whatever spooked the horse communicates to it that the object was worth fearing. Ride with soft hands and a forward leg and let the horse move past. If a specific object repeatedly spooks the horse, address it directly: ride back to it, allow the horse to look and sniff, move away and approach again, until the horse relaxes in its presence. Over consistent trail exposure with a quiet rider, most horses settle significantly within a season.