i am sad

[laurel]

I am depressed. For those of you who know i fell off a while ago and landed on my back, that is the reason i am depressed.:( I used to be so confident and fearless when it came to jumping and i am not bragging. I jumped 1.70m from TROT once!!! Can u imagine. But now, every time i turn 2wards the jump i get this icky feeling in my stomach and i imagine the horse refusing and me just flying away again!!! Those kind of things never used to come into my mind.

:confused: Does anyone know what i can do? I want to get back my confidence and be able to fly over anything again(still on the horse's back of course!!)

This is a cry for help (for those of u who dont notice that!!) It is really getting me down folks. Thanx

[floppy]

are you still jumping big jumps???
go back to little jumps or even take a break from jumping and go hacking for a while to take it easy and then try jumping again but with small jumps to begin with and build up from there...set yourself targets for each time you go riding but dont set them too high because if you cant achieve them you feel even more sad! cant think of anything else to say..:)

[katyptaty]

There was a run of great articles in some of the horse mags (can't remember which) which came at a great time for me... my horse bolted when a train went over the bridge we were going under. No stopping him, pulled a thorasic nerve meaning any movement of the torso was painful. I was building everything up slowly again, i.e. the getting on again, taking him down to the railway line in hand and accompanied by an older horse etc. I was still a problem though, or should i say, my imagination.... what will happen if etc.

Think in the PRESENT. This is the best advice i had. Don't think about negative things that have happened and could happen. Think about the positive... you jumped before, you can do it... take it slowly, as Floppy says. Go back to small jumps, even trotting poles but think in the present. I used to chant it to myself when approaching the railway line 'think in the present'- nothing happened at that bridge for 1.5 years so nothing will happen again..

There is a good book that allows you to think about how to relax. Great exercises that allow you to think about what you are doing with your body instead of worrying about what MAY happen! I shall come back to you with the title.

Try to relax, breathe deeply and just think of that trotting up to the 1.70m jump!

It may take a little while but once you get the feeling back again, you will be fine. Don't let ANYONE push you into doing too much too quickly. Do it all at your pace!

Good luck!

[JackiAH]

This is an extremely cruel method, but it works sooo well!

I was extremely scared of jumping ever since I went flying off Pal. My trainer knew this.

I was riding in the jumping course, and she told me to go over the cavaletties. I went to go over them, when I *purposefully* turned him so I wouldn't have to go over them. She said to do it again, this time go over them. So I tried again, and at the last minute he shyed. Trainer started yelling "THAT IS NOT ACCEPTABLE! YOU TURN THAT HORSE AROUND RIGHT NOW AND YOU GO OVER THOSE GROUND POLES RIGHT NOW!" I was half-scared half-angry because she was yelling at me. So I went over them. Again. And Again. Then I messed up turning him, "NO! THAT HORSE COULD GO OVER THOSE POLES BLIDFOLDED!" So I got extremely frustrated and went over them, just to show her I could.

When she lined up 3 fences in a row, I got extremely nervous. We had just finished doing a cross-rail (we went over it a few times), and right before the first fence (which was a cross-rail) I didn't click or kick before or I pulled the reins, and he stopped right before the jump. Sally just looked at me. I went to back him up to go over it again and she said not to. She said to make him go over the jump from right there. So I kicked him, and he went up to it, tripped, then walked back, "Go over the jump Jacki. Now." So I got him to walk it. Finally, after we did the fences 3 times, she told me to try it one more time. All three times I had messed up and she had screamed at me.

So I cantered him up to it, cleared the first one. Second one, "JACKI! KICK HIM! YOU ARE NOT A PASSENGER!", and third, "ATTA GIRL! PERFECT FORM!!!"

I felt sooo good at those last words, it made up for all the time she had yelled at me. ANd she had screamed at me to get me more mad at her than I was scared of jumping, and it worked!

Jacki

PS Good Luck!

[clip-clop-oops-crash]

i once rode a horse 4 the first time + nobody tole me what hw was like (a bucking bronco who will do ANYTHING 2 get rid of his rider) so i rode him over a jump + he just started bucking + rearing + threw me off then dragged me across the field. so i thought, never mind try it agian but he did this with me another 6 or 7 times til he hurt me bad enough so i couldnt get back on - after that i decided i NEVER wanted 2 ride this horse again. until that was i turned up at the yard the next week + my instructor had him tacked up and told me that i WAS going 2 ride him.................. ill admit it now - i was terrified but my instructor basically told me 2 stop being so pathetic + if i wanted 2 ride horses id have 2 learn 2 ride horses (it made sense at the time!) + by the end of the lesson i was jumping him bareback! anyway 1 thing that i was told + always remind myself of when im riding my nutters (suzie any1?!?!) is not 2 think of what the horse 'can' or 'might' do or what 'might' happen but concentrate on what 'is' happening now, so just b/c a horse sumtimes canters of with its rider it's more important that he isnt cantering off now....so think of that next time your riding + go get a really mean trainer!!! :D

[floppy]

jacki-
i had an instructor like yours when i was between the age of 15-17. He use to make me jump and no matter if i cried becaus ei was scared or tried to turn the horse away he had a right go at me and eventually i went over every single last jump he put before me! he was a brilliant instructor..for me anyway...he got me completely over ym confidence crisis with jumping..but iw as only scared of jumping because this new horse i was riding at the time always jumped and bucked at the last jump and if he couldnt throw me off he would lay down. But finally my instructor gave me a stallion to ride and i never looekd back :) oh those were the days

[laurel]

Thanx. :) I have gone to jumping smaller jumps to work up again and believe me when i tell u my instructor yells when necassary. Dont u think it's normal to yell when i pulled my horse away at the last minute from a jump less than a foot high. I have this funny idea my confidence flew off the horse along with me. Only just me got back on. I hope i get over it soon. I have gone hacking and just worked on the flat 4 a while but then my instructor says "Okay Anna time to set u up a little course!!" And i was thinking "From no jumping to a whole course? HELP"
Well wish me luck. C YA :D

[Gwenllian]

How did it go?? Let us know.And if you haven't done it yet....good luck! Go for it gal.....