im not scared any more

[notpoodle]

moving yards seems to have done wonders for my confidence :) i seem to be out of this habit where i quickly get someone to help whenever something doesnt go to plan, eg. angel tries to barge down to the field or is not keen on worming etc. i found myself 'mastering' more 'scary' (well, to me they were scary, they probably wouldnt be for anyone a bit more gung-ho than me) situations with angel. and she started reacting a lot better when i say NO and mean it (eg with the barging down to the field, she seems to have grasped that its not just yard staff who mean business and that good old julia can mean business as well!) :)

weve also had an incident where we were about to go down the bridlepath and someone was rolling a field with a tractor on the way out of the yard. normally i wouldve postponed the little solo hack until the tractor had gone. but! i just rode straight past it without worrying she might spook. and she didnt :D

sorry bit of a pointless thread, but its nice to have the feeling i mastered yet another step on the big ladder of confidence :)

julia
x

[eventerbabe]

well done you :) :) not a pointless post at all. its nice to hear when people are growing in confidence

[amandal]

That's fantastic, your confidence'll be spreading to her and things will only get better for you both now. :D :D

[notpoodle]

it took me almost a year to get there :) i used to wince and get help ('oh no she is going wild, could YOU take her down to the field for me, im so scared she'll take off with me ...' and note that angel doesnt actually 'go wild' anyway, she's just sometimes a little bargy/excited when she hasnt been out and sees the field in the distance ...) and now im quite happy to have a go myself, because i trust pony to listen and not do anything stupid.

julia
x

ps: hope i havent jinxed it all now :D

[amandal]

I'm suffering a serious lack of confidence at the moment - my old share horse was hell on the ground but a dream to ride, full of confidence and just what I needed. Zizzi's not spooky but a series of incidences appear to have shattered our trust in each other, while I'm waiting for the saddle and the op to happen I'm doing loads of groundwork and just spending time with her, in the hope that it all comes back.

You won't have jinxed yourself, it's onwards and upwards from here.

[notpoodle]

its just weird because angel really isnt a scary pony at all :) she just gets excited at times and then goes ever so slightly over the top, and she sometimes tries to find out just how far she can go. which i found a little bit intimidating at times and wasnt sure how to handle it etc.
but i think my 'leadership' skills are definitely on the up :)

good luck with zizzi and i hope you recover soon from the op :)

julia
x

[Drummers mum]

Its not silly, its BRILL! :D I know exactley how you feel! It has taken me this long to be really confident with Drummer and he really does sense the difference in me and is better behaved!

Riding still has its down moments! I can't get him to go through the brook and I'm too scared to make him in case he jumps and one of us gets hurt! :o

[notpoodle]

aww :) theres a little ditch in the field, angel was on the wrong side of it this morning. and even though there isnt even any water in most of this very shallow ditch, angel just had to bunnyhop it (i was only leading though, so no probs, i know she s unlikely to jump on me) :rolleyes:

julia
x

[KarinUS]

Good for you! Nothing quite so empowering as doing it on your own... :D

[notpoodle]

it is!!! its nice to master them little challenges :)

julia
x

[Angelina]

Well done, Julia. It's lovely to hear of growing confidence like yours. It takes me back a while, but I've been there too. I guess that's why I work with nervous riders as a bit of a specialty. Case of been there, done that, got the T shirt and know exactly where they are coming from. (Still gets me sometimes when I'm least expecting it!) :D

Like someone said... onward and upward. You are boss horse now, not Angel. (What a lovely name for a pony. What is she? I'm really curious.)

[notpoodle]

shes an exmoor :) and her registered name is actually Angelina :D

julia
x

[horsemad]

Fantastic :) Its great to see your confidence growing like this. It is so easy for your confidence to spiral downhill after a few negative experiences. But then it does seem to be possible to build your confidence up again if you can acheive goals (no matter how small) and then build on this.

I am (very slowly, and with the odd backward step) becoming more confident with my horse too. I'm trying a more assertive riding approach and it seems to be starting to pay off - maybe its a case of if you act like you are confident and in control, you start to feel a bit more confident. It is still a very fragile thing though, and I know it wouldn't take much for me to revert to nervous nellie mode :rolleyes: When my silly old girl raced off with me last night, I certainly wasn't happy about it, but I didn't panic as much as I would have done previously. But at the same time, if she does this the next time I ride her, I will start to worry about it. So I have to make sure I get calm, controlled riding experiences for the next few days to stop my confidence disappearing again!

But keep up the good work with Angel - she sounds like good fun!

[notpoodle]

ive had my share of bad experiences as a teenager. i never got seriously hurt but it was enough to instill fear :rolleyes: i rode at a place where the school horses consisted of crazy ex-racers (sometimes just off the track ...), stallions at times and generally a motley crew of horses - most of them were not exactly suited for novices :rolleyes: (Samira from on here will know exactly what im talking about!).

angel is great, because she didnt mind my nervous fumbling and stuff when i first got her. okay, she probably got away with a few things in the process, but she NEVER endangered me or anyone else. she's done so much for my confidence!! i even happily pop over diddly jumps with her (something i would have NEVER done before!) :)

julia
x

[Cheko]

It's surprising how easy it is to lose confidence and how long it takes to get it back. I've been there but now Falcon and me are getting along fine. He's a good boy and will do anything you want but because he's young, you have to be very precise with him. You also have to be prepared for him to take a bit longer to work things out. But, we're getting there, we're ok (says she)!!!!!

[hackedoff]

I know exactly how you feel NP, I used to panic and gasp and tense when Archer spooked or llama-necked ,now I just say "Oh get on with you, you silly b*gger!!!"
Someone came onto the yard who hasnt seen the two of us for about 5 months and she said she couldnt believe the difference " Yeah he's coming along isnt he?" I remarked
"No" she said, "I meant in YOU!!!!!"
Nuff said!