what are your irrational fears?

notpoodle

notpoodle

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Jul 16, 2003
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just wondering whether i'm alone on this one!

my worst fears ....

-getting trampled in the field (highly unlikely, I know ...)
- horse falling over with me riding (again, not very likely, i don't even jump!). this means i won't go fast on uneven ground etc normally!

and ... the strange one ...

TROTTING POLES! i can just about clamber over them in walk, actually trotting over them is very nervewracking for me and i don't think i am EVER going to be able to canter over poles. in the same way i can't do cartwheels - i just CAN'T! i freeze up and my body says no!

oddly, i am ok-ish at jumping small crosspoles - probably because it's kind of agreed that these WILL be jumped. with the poles on the ground - goodness knows what will happen!!!!!!!

anyone else have this weird fear of trotting poles?
 
Not to add to your fears notpoodle but I have been knocked over and run over twice in fields and now try to avoid handling horses unless someone else is around the place unless in an emergency.

Irrational fear however of driving over bridges over rivers, deep victorian baths and anything water related (except water jumps??)!!!
 
My biggest irrational fear has to be spiders. I can cope with them up to a certain size and then I'll say to Dom "Sorry... that one's just too large" and he'll have to deal with it. However, I don't have a problem with wasps at all... (which can and will sting me and cause Dom to run, funnily enough!) I will quite happily and calmly get a glass and catch it and release it outside... work THAT one out!!! :giggle:
 
popularfurball said:
Horse stumbling and nose diving down said horses shoulder
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This is my close second after Jack tripped and went onto his knees a couple of weeks ago. I didn't come off but I smacked my mouth on his mane (no blood and all teeth intact, thankfully) I'm absolutely terrified he's going to do it again and it's spoiling riding for me right at the moment :eek:

I wonder if an RS-Tor may help my mindset....?
 
im another one who doesnt like bridges, they scare me so much, i find my self holding my breath if we are going over one in a car, and walking over them i just hold onto the hand rail for dear life and cross as quickly as possible! in snowdonia last month we had to cross over this quick flowing stream on a little bridge made from a rock in the middle of the river and planks of wood that looked very old between the sides and the middle with an old rail that moved on one side and nothing on the other, omg i was so scared. dont know why though as nothing has ever happend to me when crossing a bridge, they just really freak me out

also i wont ever go on the euro tunnel as im so scared it will cave in.

remind the of that book, "we cant go over it, we cant go under it..." but im happy to go on a boat! that might be where my fear of it comes from, i LOVED that book so much when i was younger, i think i might still even have it somewhere...
 
I think my irrational fears are;
My horse bolting on the road and getting hit by something
Him going down with me like he did a few weeks ago (he sliped and lost his footing but we were both ok)
Deep water - Mainly because I can't swim lol it just terrifies me!
 
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notpoodle said:
- horse falling over with me riding (again, not very likely, i don't even jump!). this means i won't go fast on uneven ground etc normally!
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Again, not to worry you but I've had this one! And I wasn't even going that fast! Was having a sedate little trot out on a hack on grass on my share horse when she stumbled, stumbled a bit more, a bit more, and then fell over! As she fell down she threw me slightly clear - and luckily my feet came out my stirrups, but she did land on one of my legs! No harm done though - other than adding another thing to be worried about to my list!! The ground was quite uneven though with some molehills so that's probably why it happened.

Anyway - I try to tell myself that that really doesn't happen very often and particularly not if you are careful about the ground.

Domane - I also had a horse slip on tarmac and go down on his knees. Not very nice but the worry about that happening did seem to just go away after a few better rides!
 
See I don't think any of my fears are irrational. I think there's a definite risk of them happening. Thats why they're fears lol!

1. Horse spooks, I fall off, horse runs home via busy road. Gets hurt.
2. Horse spooks, I fall off, I get hurt.
3. Take horse in trailer, trailer tips over, horse injured.
4. Grass sickness
All of these carry an absolute fear of my horse or I being injured/dying.


The lower level stuff -
1. Doing my girth up while in the saddle - scared horse spooks and takes off.
2. Mounting - horse spooks and takes off/ starts walking off mid leg over(witnessed girl having this issue today and although she very nimbly managed to sit to her horse's mini rear and freak out, I was freaking out just watching).
3. Bareback/ no stirrups
4. Meeting other horses while out on hacks
5. Riding out with horses my horse doesn't know
6. Dismounting
7. Riding while on the lunge
8. Horse lying down to roll while I'm on him
9. Horse tripping and going down on his knees
10. Horse shaking while I'm on him


Lets just leave it there shall we, otherwise I'll be wondering why I bother thinking about riding. :frown::unsure::redface:
 
Enclosed spaces, causes probs with stables and loading into trailers or boxes!, going head first and knocking my teeth out! and another one who hates bridges oh, and not too keen on spiders either

Think i should maybe just become a recluse!!
 
Outdoor schools, could never ride in one and don't enjoy watching others either, always think you could end up on the fence.:eek:

Meeting someone walking llamas, knowing my boy will take off down the road, well it has happened once :cry: ditto donkeys, never met one but previous owner did tell me he is scared of donkeys.

Bridges especially on a horse, what if they spook and go over the side.:redcarded:

Going down on knees has happened with my boy, tbh didn't really bother me, he was back up so quick I hardly noticed. :wink:

Non horse fears heights and spiders.
 
eml said:
Irrational fear however of driving over bridges over rivers, deep victorian baths and anything water related (except water jumps??)!!!
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Once again, separated at birth! I am pretty much terrified of being 'over' water, despite being a good swimmer. I used to go miles out of my way to avoid bridges. Crossing them in a car, on a horse, on foot....Scary!

I have a 'memory' I can't possibly have, of knowing I am going to drown, and being over / on water, surrounded by ocean, no land in sight and knowing I will die. I have had this for ever. I must have drowned in a past life. :unsure: I also have a huge fascination with 'tall ships' - Think 'Master and Commander' film (one of my favourites!) type ships and feel total affinity with them. But I am terrified of water.
 
One I didn't know I had until I had to drive one particular road several times on holiday last week - driving near the edge of a very steep hill. I found myself feeling very anxious, butterflies etc convinced that somehow my hands were going to jerk violently to the left and send us over the edge (of the perfectly normal width a road) and go tumbling down the hill.
I also worry about jumping/falling in front of trains especially the underground?!?!?!
I don't have a death wish - they're irrational because they just pop in my head just in case I might!
 
This is a very scary thread ...


Quite a lot of these things have happened to me, including a horse doing a somersault over a jump, but i wish I hadn't read it all the same :eek::eek:
 
Ah but KV I am also a petrified non swimmer despite numerous courses. I can swim perfectly well with a person holding a hand near mine or with kids arm bands or other 'safety aids' on!

I have been known to plan journeys to avoid bridges and once found myself in horsebox on a giant (Severn) bridge and had to push on in the outside lane so I didn't have to look at the water. Funniest however was staying in an old hotel with victorian baths where I filled a lovely bubble bath , got in and immediately pulled out the plug as I felt unsafe!!

Haven't yet tried the channel tunnel but used to work in Liverpool and hated the tunnels under the Mersey!

Yet I love looking a the sea although I always crossed the channel when I needed to on the Hovercraft...30minutes was just about copeable with!

Oh and I hate seeing clouds below me in an aircraft so thats a no no as well!!

Fortunately I like the UK!!
 
I'm not scared of falling off as such but I am scared of falling off over a jump. Also terrified of being dragged.

Non horsey. I HATE level crossings! I always think the barriers aren't going to work and a train will be coming. It's even more ridiculous as I am a train driver:frown:. I'm not scared of them when I'm driving the train, only when I'm in a car! Plus it's completely irrational as I KNOW a train won't approach a level crossing if the barriers haven't operated. :rolleyes: It's possible for a car to jump a barrier or drive around a half barrier onto a track but not the other way round. Just doesn't make any sense whatsoever.:rolleyes:

Also don't like dust carts, those jaw like things pulling all the rubbish in freaks me out! Those street cleaners which have that giant pipe that cleans the kerb and sucks things up too.:cry::rolleyes:

And combine harvesters.:redface: They're just too massive and scary!
 
learningcurve said:
Bridges especially on a horse, what if they spook and go over the side.:redcarded:
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I also share this fear,and will not ride over bridges.I will lead horse over and then get on but I won't ride over them.Falling off on level ground is one thing,but the very slight chance of falling off and ending up falling right over the side is enough to put me off in a big way!!

Bit of a pain as I have quite few over-road and railway bridges near me,that I do actually need to go over,just means I end up walking a lot further than I need to lol.In my defence and so I don't sound like a complete wuss couple of my bridges are flyovers that must be 200ft+ high,I even get the collywobbles leading him over them,think riding would just about finish me off!!



eml said:
Irrational fear however of driving over bridges over rivers, deep victorian baths and anything water related (except water jumps??)!!!
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I sort of understand this fear,being anywhere too near vast or deep bodies of water makes me uncomfortable,and I will avoid places like resevoirs and large lakes.
I'm not scared of all things water related,and love being *near* the sea (shoreline or shallow depth) ,in my swimming pool etc (I can swim so that not the issue),BUT I get very unhappy on/in/above deep water or vast areas of water.Dams over resevoirs frighten the poop out of me,bridges over big rivers or the sea,being on a boat in a deep lake/sea,basically anywhere I can't see the bottom or what's underneath me I guess?? It's probably not irrational to be scared of water,it *can* be a very dangerous susbstance!!

Did anyone else hear about that tragic accident in the resevoir week or so ago?? Whole family wiped out when their car entered the resevoir during a road accident,water was over a 100ft deep right next to the road,how scary must that have been,poor family.

Hearing things like that absolutely petrifies me and justifies every fear I have about water!!
 
Agree with eml and others that your fears are not irrational. But to the point.

I dont like going over poles. This is a very sore point and leads to aggro with my teacher. First, it is convenient to her to dismantle the jumps and lay the poles on the ground in the school. I am fine doing walk exercises over a square made of poles, or using them as a maze for steering or ground work.

I force myself to trot over poles, preferably in forward seat, as that is part of BHS Stage 1 riding.

But my instinct is against riding over them. RI says it is very good for horsey to do trot transitions over three poles. The exercise with transitions over poles is to do it exactly, when the front feet of horse are just before a pole, or when the front feet have crossed the pole but not the back feet.

I hate this with fervour. It makes me very annoyed to be ordered to do something which I dont feel happy with. I am really grateful to you for mentioning it. Now I know you feel the same way, maybe I will mentin it to RI and insist on never doing it again?

I am a completely happy hacker - my eyes need to be partly on the ground - I pride myself on steering exactly round low branches, rabbit holes, man hole covers on the grass track (yes, we have them) - and my instincts are all against going over poles.

The other fears are not irrational - like on the track I too dont like riding alongside another rider over a stream, on a bridge with low brick sides, because if a horse spooked going over, I might be pushed sideways off the bridge. I dont like level crossings because one of my daughter's friends was killed on one. I dont like heights so dont lke crossing very high bridges or mountain roads, though we do it all the time in USA Natiuonal Parks.

But the poles are a real misery and cause bad lessons and bad temper.
 
popularfurball said:
Horse stumbling and nose diving down said horses shoulder

Horse falling over in the school
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it has happened to me and angel once! doing a VERY SMALL clear round in somewhat deep sand. she lost her footing on landing and we went over. i roly-polied clear (two roly polies, or so onlookers informed me! i was THOROUGHLY covered in sand ...) luckily. also went over with a horse on a muddy corner going too fast in my erm youth (ok WE were bareback and my friend who was sat behind me insisted she held the reins even though I was the one who could see where we were going ... all in all, an accident waiting to happen!) which was not nice either!

in non horsey terms in am terrified of

clowns
people wearing masks (you find me indoors at halloween ...)

any form of audience participation (eg i cannot go to eg standup comedy)
unwashed dreadlocks (actually make that greasy hair - the smell makes me gag)
 
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