Confidence

SandraG

Hi All, will keep my riding 'background' brief! Started when I was about 8, rode for years until I was 16, did a cross country and had nasty fall, havent ridden since (got rid of my horse and everything )

So now - 10 years later, I have decided to get back in the saddle, have had three lessons now on an old schoolmaster, my legs hurt,my back hurts,my bum hurts but Ive been totally bitten by the riding 'bug' again

So far I have nervously managed to walk,trot,canter,canter poles,trotting poles and TINY jump!! Im talking about 30cms!!

My problem....

My nerves are totally destroying me, everything Im doing at the moment Ive done 100 times before and yet my mind goes blank, my heart beats fast, I psychically shake and all my reason goes out of the window,Ive been close to tears becuase I couldnt stop my horse in canter - morto!!

Im having private lessons at the moment and my instructor is amazing, Ive tried breathing techniques and envisioning (SP?) positive rather than negative but its not working

Can anyone please help, I want to enjoy EVERY part of my lessons not just the part when I get myself and the horse over the jump and Im happy to be alive!!!!

togster

I have had some terrible falls. I have also been very nervous afterwards albeit not as bad as what you are unfortunately experiencing.

I would suggest the following.

Just keep riding and riding as much as you can. You have been off 10 years now and you are sure to feel anxious etc. I guess by selling your pony and quitting you did the worse thing possible. Instead of getting over your nerves you avoided dealing with the accident.

You must push yourself all the time. The more you challenge yourself the more you will beat your nerves. Remeber the nerves you are experiencing can be controlled by your brain. When you think about riding do you think about your accident? I think if you wanted to you could go to a sports psychologist. They are great with mental exercises and breathing techniques to help conquer those blasted nerves!

Believe me it will get better, with more ridin, challenging yourself, and sensible positive thinking.

Good luck.

You will be fine. It's perfectly normal

campervan

you could try hypnosis? I dont know much about it, but it helps people's fear of flying etc.

campervan

campervan wrote: »

you could try hypnosis? I dont know much about it, but it helps people's fear of flying etc.

Don't bother - time in the saddle will deal with it.

As Togster says, keep pushing yourself.

Let your instructor know as well - I had a very bad fall hunting one day which left me terrified of a certain type of drain. However, some people knew this and made sure I had to jump some real awful ones. After this happened a couple of times I had no issue with them anymore.

Just keep on riding and you will sort yourself out.

SandraG

Thanks for your comments, I guess it will take time and Im glad Im even jumping tiny cross poles at the moment,its definately a step in the right direction! My instructor is being very good with me, he's knows my background and he will push me but never too far,I'll have to make sure I keep pushing myself too!:D

fits

Dont be afraid to try a few different approaches. What works for one might not work for another.

I've heard of neuro linguistic programming courses in the UK specifically for nervous riders. But I dont know if they're any good or not. If I were you I'd definitely try improve on my own first by pushing through it.

mariebeth

I agree with togster - you have to keep pushing yourself, it's the only way to get over nerves. I suffer pretty badly at times with nerves - when I'm jumping in my lessons I tend to forget to breathe! but I set little goals for myself - maybe getting to a certain jumping height like 90 cms and so on. I've had a couple of falls at jumps - my most recent one being the first (and only time so far) that I tried to jump a 90cm jump and I couldn't sit back up afterwards and ended up coming off. Since then I've been suffering nerves, but I'm my goal is to get to 90cm again and not fall off this time! I'm not doing too bad though - I just keep pushing myself.

FabulousGirl

SandraG wrote: »

Hi All, will keep my riding 'background' brief! Started when I was about 8, rode for years until I was 16, did a cross country and had nasty fall, havent ridden since (got rid of my horse and everything )

So now - 10 years later, I have decided to get back in the saddle, have had three lessons now on an old schoolmaster, my legs hurt,my back hurts,my bum hurts but Ive been totally bitten by the riding 'bug' again

So far I have nervously managed to walk,trot,canter,canter poles,trotting poles and TINY jump!! Im talking about 30cms!!

My problem....

My nerves are totally destroying me, everything Im doing at the moment Ive done 100 times before and yet my mind goes blank, my heart beats fast, I psychically shake and all my reason goes out of the window,Ive been close to tears becuase I couldnt stop my horse in canter - morto!!

Im having private lessons at the moment and my instructor is amazing, Ive tried breathing techniques and envisioning (SP?) positive rather than negative but its not working

Can anyone please help, I want to enjoy EVERY part of my lessons not just the part when I get myself and the horse over the jump and Im happy to be alive!!!!

Hi Sandra,
I am in the same position as you. I rode several times a week from the age of 4 to 18 when I had a terrible fall xc. My horse tripped, I fell off and he fell on top of me. I was unconscious and hospitalised for a few days over it. Thank God I was not seriously harmed but I couldn't get up on a horse again. I'm now 24 and am just back horse riding over a year.
The thing is I just can't get past thinking of my bad fall and everytime we go to jump I am absolutely terrified something bad is going to happen to me! I know I'm being silly but I just can't get past it no matter what I try to do. It really depresses me as my favourite things before were xc, showjumping, drag hunting and now my heart races when I think of going over anything higher than my knee. My instructor is really good but in a group lesson you don't really get the 1:1 you need and with work constraints I don't have time to go for extra lessons or private tuition. Help!

togster

OK i think you really need to break down what actually caused the accident.
Was it rider error? Lapse of concentration on the horses behelf?

I think you should try and understand that the accident was an isolated incident at that particular fence at that particular course on that particular horse. Do you get me?

e.g i had an atrocious accident hunting one year. Horse flipped upside down over electric fence. I had to realise that it was my own fault and the wires

This helped me get over the nerves of jumping stone walls. And eventually i got over my fear of jumping wire to a degree

I think you should take time to process what happened in your head, break down what exactly happened and more importantly why. In this way you can prevent it form impacting upon the areas of your riding which have nothing to do with the accident.

SandraG

FabulousGirl wrote: »

Hi Sandra,
I am in the same position as you. I rode several times a week from the age of 4 to 18 when I had a terrible fall xc. My horse tripped, I fell off and he fell on top of me. I was unconscious and hospitalised for a few days over it. Thank God I was not seriously harmed but I couldn't get up on a horse again. I'm now 24 and am just back horse riding over a year.
The thing is I just can't get past thinking of my bad fall and everytime we go to jump I am absolutely terrified something bad is going to happen to me! I know I'm being silly but I just can't get past it no matter what I try to do. It really depresses me as my favourite things before were xc, showjumping, drag hunting and now my heart races when I think of going over anything higher than my knee. My instructor is really good but in a group lesson you don't really get the 1:1 you need and with work constraints I don't have time to go for extra lessons or private tuition. Help!

Hi there! Not sure where you live etc however Im having semi private lessons in Broadmeadows - Ashbourne, its just myself and my friend at the moment but the instructor is really good, he pushes me but he knows all about my nerves and he's great with them, the lesson is on a tues eve and you could join perhaps?? We'd be in the same boat together?? If interested pm me!

FabulousGirl

togster wrote: »

OK i think you really need to break down what actually caused the accident.
Was it rider error? Lapse of concentration on the horses behelf?

I think you should try and understand that the accident was an isolated incident at that particular fence at that particular course on that particular horse. Do you get me?

e.g i had an atrocious accident hunting one year. Horse flipped upside down over electric fence. I had to realise that it was my own fault and the wires

This helped me get over the nerves of jumping stone walls. And eventually i got over my fear of jumping wire to a degree

I think you should take time to process what happened in your head, break down what exactly happened and more importantly why. In this way you can prevent it form impacting upon the areas of your riding which have nothing to do with the accident.

I don't really know what happened to make my horse fall. I thought I heard a glass bottle under his legs just as he tripped. The grass was quite long so I can't be sure. I know it wasn't anything I did or anything the horse did, it was just one of those things that could have happened to anyone with any amount of experience or knowledge.
I know I can get past this, I just don't know how to!:)