Relaxing when mounted & bot losing your bottle

[Bertie]

Sorry this a long post!! I know and understand the why it's important to stay realxed when riding and not wind yourself up as it transfer through to the horse in your hands, seat etc

Most of the time during my lessons at my RS I'm fine no mater what the horse or pony I'm riding does, there's a little pony that bronc's when excited I find it very funny and just sit there quietly till he dizzies himself out (usually about 30-seconds to a minute) and there's a larger mare who is very spirited at times usually in canter and if get stressed it becomes a very big vicious circle of problems but on her I'm fine again I sit there till she's done about 3-strides of canter and she normally works out everythings fine so goes perfectly - she gains confidence from her rider.

But last night I rode a new mare, who bronc'd everytime we went into canter, how I stayed on is a miracle :eek: it was an hour of problems till we started doing figures of 8 in canter, she did an almighty buck, calmed down as we crossed X, when went down to trot she was giddy then canter again she went ballistic bronc'd and did a mini rear I think.

Basically I got myself so tense I was widning her up which was winding me and the vicious circle just esculated. I got off and did the move on another horse and one of the RS's instructors (who was riding with us) ride her and did it perfectly, the mare wasn't even giddy.

It was one of those moment where in the space of 30-sec's I felt a complete failure, terrible rider and complete imbolsile.

So after this long drawn out post (sorry :o ) my question is how do I stay calm on this horse, I can do it on others but why couldn't I do last night???:confused:

[Jessey]

Hey Bertie, sounds like you have come on in leaps and bounds in the last few months :D
It probably was nothing you did, just more that you rode the sillyness out before your RI got on ;)
It may not have even been to do with this horse, were you feeling tense about something else in the day? Maybe the person who rode her before you struggled with canter and jabbed her in the mouth or something?
The most important thing about staying relaxed is about controlling your breathing, if you hold your breath you tense and if you breathe to quickly you tense, so laughing or singing or huming or whistling are good ways to make you breathe better :D
Did you ask the RI where you went wrong? or perhaps what you could have done to rescue that situation quicker?
I often find with anything that bounces riding them forward is the best answer, if you try and pull a broncer up they just release the same ammount of energy, it just comes out more as height instead ;) :D soft hands and a confident and positive seat make them think you are relaxed and confident, even if you aren't :D

J x

[Pandora]

Are these excitable horses really suitable to be RS horses ? Obviously you can deal with them, but a novice like me would be put off from giong again if I had this experience.!

[Bertie]

Thanks jessey, I did speak to my RI and she basically said I'd got myself into a vicious circle of tensing, horse the tensed up, so I tensed up more and so on and so forth and couldn't do anything about it and carrying on was just pointless. I know exactly what you mean about tensing up I usually just sit there with her till she chills out, which usually takes 3-strides max.

The other person just got on completely chilled and the horse was fine - so was a great lesson in the importance of relaxing :rolleyes:

No not all of these horses are suitable for beginners Pandora to be honest, these are mainly ones ridden by the more experienced clients, the one I rode last week is actually new to the yard and is only being ridden by selective clients - I won't be one in the future!!:p

[Jessey]

Thats so often the way it goes a real vicious circle, It is amazing I have been able to fool horses and people reacently about being very relaxed when acctually my heart has been pounding in my throat and I have felt physically sick BUT once I fool everyone else I seem to fool my own brain too then I end up totally chilled, That has also become a useful skill when going for job interviews :D