fear of jumping

[Judith]

I have been riding nearly 3 years (I'm 49 now) and adore it. I've got over a lot of my fears with flat work. I love cantering and will hack out and gallop on a horse I really trust. I have regular lessons. I'm certaily not at all experienced but I'm beginning to feel much more in control on a horse, learning to vary the paces and just becoming more subtle and confident in my riding.

BUT I cannot get over a bit of a phobia about jumping. I've been jumping on and off all the time and now all my lessons include a bit of jumping. Most of my falls have been jumping so that's part of the problem, although I've never really hurt myself badly. When I first learnt to jump I learnt in half seat i.e approaching in half seat and staying in half seat throughout. Now, with my new teacher, I approach in sitting canter and only fold for the jump returning to sitting position after landing. I find this more difficult although of course I can control the horse and the pace of approach more easily. But I find judging the take off very hard. I feel I have to do more this way. In half seat the horse just sort of did it!

I know I need practice and more,but I just wish I didn't feel so sick beforehand. I'm off to ride tomorrow and already I'm feeling butterflies and anxiety and it's only about the 15 minutes of jumping at the end of the lesson. I'm really looking forward to the flat work. I don't want to give it up though. I'm actually quite good at it and I want to be a moderate all rounder but I cannot rid myself of this anxiety. I have felt physically sick in the past! I can jump a little course and then start retching! And we're talking tiny beginner jumps!

Any thoughts? Or do I just need hypnosis?!

[taffy]

i had a phobia like that for about 10 months i coundnt even touch a trotting pole. i am now completly cured. i started of doing trotting poles and then raised them higher and higher. now i am jumping 3ft . :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D


hope this helps

[ros]

Hey Judith - there's no rule says you have to jump, is there?

The main thing is that riding should be ENJOYABLE, whatever discipline you choose. If you really want to get to grips with your own fears, then fine, carry on: but if you just want to enjoy your riding without feeling sick with anticipation, then stop jumping. It's as simple as that. And don't be swayed by what other people think - it's your decision. If your present instructor won't or can't accomodate you, find one who can.

[kedwards]

I just wanted to second Ros's statement. Decide for yourself if you really want to jump at all. You certainly don't have to give up the flat work if you don't want to jump. Dressage could provide a whole lifetime worth of challenges without so much as jumping a crossrail.

If you do really want to jump (and it's coming from your own desire, not other's expectations about what a good "all around rider" ought to do), then share your fears with your instructor if you haven't already. I'd approach her outside of the lesson, tell her about your concerns, and work out a plan with her that feels comfortable. Maybe that will mean going back to working on ground rails and cavaletti, until you become more comfortable with your timing.

[heland]

I totally agree with kedwards:D

Don't give up just yet, go back to basics first. I like Dressage, jumping and x country:D but I'm no expert JUST FUN and if I get a prize then thats a whoping big bonus:)

[muzzy]

I agree with Keywards! You should not feel pressured into jumping before you want to, and feel that you are confident enough to. :rolleyes: I am quite a nervous rider like you, and sometimes if I worry and worry about something then it just gets worse, it sounds like you just need to relax and be more confident, easy to say I know but harder to do :D. Confidence building exercises over trotting poles or v. small jumps sound like they would help you, rather than tackling a whole course at the moment...why don't you have a private lesson so you can tell your instructor what is worrying you??
Good luck, lol
muzzy ;)

[Judith]

Thanks everybody. I do want to persevere because there was a time when I was less scared and I think maybe a fall I had last August has unnerved me more than I thought. I'm sure that to jump poles and then go slowly higher, never going higher than I feel my balance will cope with, is the answer. And it probably needs a bit of intensive work to really reinforce any progress.

I have jumped little courses and it felt great. So I need to get that confidence back. But you're right I don't have to do it if it's spoiling the overall enjoyment and just knowing that is helpful!

[lamprellsarah]

yeah just enjoy it, have fun and get more confident, half the people up at my stables don't jump, simply because they don't feel a need to and just love general riding and hacks. :)

[Lucy J]

I too have a similar fear, I used to watch the kids at my yard jumping 4 foot and higher when I was scared to jump 2ft. I have fallen lots of times but like you have never really been hurt, I am now jumping 2ft 6 to 2ft 9. I gained confidence through my old horse, he'd never really jumped and knew I was scared and so he wouldn't jump, then just before I retired him he took me over a course of jumps at a show as if to say see look you can do it, we came 4th at the show next to all these experienced riders and their younger horses and I've not looked back since, he is sadly no longer with us, but it was his thank you to me, I am still scared, but because I know I can do it its more of a thrill than fear. You just need to believe in yourself and in the horse and enjoy it. Good Luck!

[Judith]

Thanks, Lucy. You're right it's a thrill as well and sometimes it's hard to sort out what's fear and what's excitement because they're really close.

(I found what you said about your horse's thank you to you really moving!)

[horsemad]

Jumping - eek, SCARY! I'm glad I'm not the only one to have a fear of jumping. I have always been really scared of jumping, but would still attempt to do small jumps. But I've come to the conclusion that I'm never going to enjoy jumping, so I think I'll just stick to the flatwork. I know some people really enjoy the thrill of jumping, but all I get is a sense of relief when its all over! So I think I'll just give up on the jumping altogether!

[jUmPingIsLifE]

allrighty...first go back to troting poles start out with one and have someone add them on. make sure you feel totally in control of your horse and have no butterflys at the poles. than set up a cource with the poles like a jumping cource just with troting poles and trot around your troting pole cource type thing. than put down canter poles and go over those. than go to a little x-rail without ground poles and trot over it (posting) take it like a ground pole. than add ground poles and jump. have troting poles before it though so you horse should be relaxed over it and something i do during lessons sometimes is i sing softly like row row your boat. this just means your breathing. my instructer has us do it sometimes to make sure we are breathing.
~nikkI~

[Somethingroyal]

I think that everyone at one time or another has been scared of jumping, and to tell you the truth, not everyone gets over tht fear. Basically the more you jump the more confident you get.

What I would suggest is to think of jumping as dressage over fences. It is not differnt than flatwork except you horse has to get over some obstacles in the meantime. Start with one pole on the ground, and concentrate on going over it exactly like you would a jump. Concentrate on your horse's pace and not the pole on the ground. Go into your half seat over the pole, but dont actually look at the pole. Feel your horse lift his stride a bit and just go with him. Make sure that you sink down into your heels and grab mane and use his neck for balance if you need to feel more secure.

Im guessing that you don't feel very secure in your seat over the fences, and you might feel a bit vulnerable. Like if the horse were to do something weird, you might not be able to get control like you could on the flat when you are sitting in the saddle. If this is the case, work with your trainer on developing a solid postion where your legs are wrapped around your horse, your heels are locked down, and maybe you have a chunk on mane in your hands with the reins to keep you with the horse.

Sorry for going on so long but I just have to address one more problem that you mentioned. You said that you felt like you had to do more when you sat to the jump. The best advice that I can give you is just to let your horse kind of push you out of the saddle. Dont even think about it.

Good Luck:) And Remember- Riding is supposed to be fun

[Silvia]

Hi somethingroyal,
Good to see you are back! :D How are Nana and Komiker?

[conne the mara]

I'm so scared of jumping I feel physically sick if asked to do it. I love watching it though and watch the jumping lessons at our yard every thursday nite and regularly go to Olympia, Hickstead, etc. I've even been a jump judge!!!! At the yard we're at there is a mixture of people. Some are like me and love dressage, others feel sick at the thought of dressage!!! Others are eventers


I've decided not to let anyone force me to jump. I tried to do a confidence jumping day on a 17'1. I fell off after the last fence of 10, onto the hard ground and cracked my hat and gave myself concussion. All because I was told I ought to do it. I didn't like jumping before but now.......!!! So I'll stick to dressage, showing and hacking thx very much. I have a certain amount of self preservation! I'm getting a friend who is an extremely good showjumper to jump Kango as he loves it!

Good luck!

[ros]

I think for me my feelings about jumping have been coloured to a great extent by the horses I've had to jump over the years.

When I was a child I jumped on riding school ponies who couldn't care less, sometimes stopped, sometimes ran out, sometimes cat-jumped from a standstill. When I was about 13 I rode a new horse at the riding school I then attended; it was quite big (for me, at least), hogged (if I remember rightly) and was an ex-show jumper which wasn't used to jumping 18" jumps. The first time I jumped it I wasn't ready, and got catapulted into the air, did several somersaults and landed in an undignified heap on what was fortunately quite a soft surface. Everyone laughed, and the instructor then said "don't worry, he's done that to everyone who's jumped him so far." I was NOT impressed.

After that I didn't do much jumping until I was 20-something and bought my first horse. I learned from a very nice lady who was a BHSI and had a couple of really nice horses, one of which was a darn good jumper as well as a very well-schooled ride, and I think that was the first time I really ENJOYED jumping. No more cat-jumping - this mare really wanted to go and I wanted to go with her!

Next on the list was an instructor in Devon whose "thing" was show-jumping. My own horse wasn't the best jumper in the world, but we were pushed into "learning together". Sometimes Frank would be really pinging: other times he's just run out and cat-jump everything, and when Frank cat-jumps you REALLY knew about it. I also used to ride a big mare who wasn't very brave, and a couple of times I got catapulted off her as well when she'd hesitate and then jump.

I had one last amazing ride at the same school on a wonderful horse - great big 17-something, wrote the book, got the T-shirt - we were flying that day and I never felt so good since I rode Ebony all those years ago.

Nowadays I really don't think I want to try to teach Merlin to jump. I'm not confident enough in my ability to try to teach a youngster to jump (I don't believe that learning together is a good thing) and I'm quite happy to keep our feet on the ground!