Exercises to regain jumping confidence?

[Dreamchaser]

I picked up my safety vest last night and was determined to make myself jump something today. I set up a tiny x (maybe about 1') and tried to remember to keep breathing as I jumped it But you know, it went just fine. I was actually very impressed with Dolly, who mostly packed me over the jump and kept a nice slow even pace.

Can anyone recommend some exercises to help regain confidence? I want to keep things small until I almost grow bored of the height because I know pushing myself is only going to make my confidence worse than it currently is.

 

[pinkypug1]

It may not sound like it but grids are the best to regain jumping confidence for both horse and rider. My friend totally lost her nerve but when she was jumping single fences even if they were tiny she would sometimes get the striding wrong and end up on the horses neck or worse still falling off cos horse would stop or jump from far off!

I set up a grid of 3 fences (a bounce then 1 canter stride to a jump) I only set them at small cross poles. Horses jump grids well and so long as you set the stride right they should hit each one spot on. The horse will be forward going through the grid and take you to each fence. It really gave her her confidence back after only a few lessons and she is noe jumping around small courses!

Give it a go, its fun for ** horse too

 

[CER1389]

To be fair I think the best way to gain jumping confidence is to do lots of trot poles into a fence, so that you keep the pace and speed.
Have someone standing, centre to the fence but far back. As you turn into the fence you can focus on them NOT the fence. Helps you ride straight, and not look down at the fence - obviously still remember to ride the fence!
Also mini cources...like cross poles 3 holes high....are good fun and you can practise steering and turns.
Just don't try and go higher and higher, stick to a height your comfortable with until you want to jump.
Alos, no matter how confident you feel, when you've done a couple of jumps nicely, stop jumping for that session! If you end every session on a high note you'll feel more confident.

 

[Sofi P]

grids and combinations of poles and jump will really help as described above, grids will also help when you start to want to jump a bit higher as you can raise the last jump of a grid slightly so you're already into a good rhythm when you come to the scariest fence!

If you're worried about getting the striding right for a single fence use a placing pole to give you the right stride. Or another thing I use as an instructor is to shout 'jump' at the exact stride the horse will jump on, that way the rider doesnt need to worry about getting it right at first if they're worried about the height or a specific horse or something. Once they've done it a couple of times with me saying 'jump' I leave it up to them to get right, but the more you do something right obviously the more confident you're going to feel about it.

I would advise not ending on the biggest or hardest jump you want to achieve in the session, instead, after you have done something you're pleased with but that might have been a bit worrying, go back to a height or jump you're comfortable with and end on the feeling of jumping something you're really confident about.

Do you use a neck strap? If not, they're perfect for grabbing as you go over and they move so you wont be holding your horse back when they need to stretch.

Finally, if it's your horse that is worrying you have a go on something that you know is capable and you're comfortable with. That way you can work on your confidence without worrying about the horse. I have taught a few girls who had their jumping confidence wrecked by being made to jump stupid horses at the local college, the first thing I did was let them jump the RS horse they were most comfortable with and even if the jumps weren't as high as college jumps I made sure they were doing everything right on a horse they were happy on.

If you're lack of confidence is the result of getting out of practice then jumping lots of little fences will really help. If it's the result of a specific event then you could try visualisation methods, personally I think they're a bit hippy dippy for my liking but I know people who have overcome a bad fall through it.

Best of all, find a good RI who you are happy with and who will work on jumping with you, it's such a hassle getting on and off to change jumps when you're riding so someone on the ground is so handy!

 

[CER1389]

I would advise not ending on the biggest or hardest jump you want to achieve in the session, instead, after you have done something you're pleased with but that might have been a bit worrying, go back to a height or jump you're comfortable with and end on the feeling of jumping something you're really confident about.

See thats all very weel and good, but I found from experience, that I would end on the higher fence (and I'm walking like 2ft here!) and then out it down and end up falling off because the horse would refuse! I'd be so coplacent that they;d jumped the big fence I would end up under riding into the little fence and come off.
Also if I rode a little fence at the very end when I next did a jumping session I'd feel slightly insecure about how I felt. However ending on a higher jump made me try to aim to get back and aim to jump that fence at the end of my session.
Saying that, if you're jumping a course of fences I always find having the 3rd and 4th fences the highest is the best way to do it. Just have some before and some afetr them in the course that are smaller.

I guess I'v lost my confidence so many times jumping that I'm a big of an expert at getting it back! I've now stopped jumping...but stopped with my jumping confidence at its highest. So if I get a horse that jumps nicely again, I will start.

 

[Sofi P]

Also if I rode a little fence at the very end when I next did a jumping session I'd feel slightly insecure about how I felt. However ending on a higher jump made me try to aim to get back and aim to jump that fence at the end of my session.

That's an interesting point, I was looking at it more from the point of if the big jump wasnt quite perfect you dont end on a negative, instead, by finishing on a comfortable height you end on a high. But if the big jump went well then by all means end on the biggest positive. My experience in building confidence has come from treaching others rather than my own lack of confidence, I'm lucky enough to have a great horse whom I trust to jump anything, and I have a friend who will stand there and shout at me to get on with it when I hesitate!

 

[~*sugarlump*~]

i agree lots of trotting poles and grids, they work wonders.
i find i tend to ride fans and small spreads alot better, dont know why, maybe the horse just prefers them
hold onto a piece of mane or neck strap if you are nervous.

what REALLY works for me, is knowing ive done it before, no matter how big or small the fence. ok obviously i dont know the biggest that you've jumped, but if i tell myself "hey ive jumped that big/bigger before" it gives me confidence so i KNOW i can do it, regardless of the horse you are on, the weather you are riding in, the joddies you're wearing

also, make a course of jumps, and just put the tiniest or Xpoles there, or maybe even just a pole on the ground and go round them like you would a SJ course, this gets you more focusing on the next jump and looking ahead rather than thinking " oh my days im approaching a jump"

hope that helps a little bit

 

[Hollymead]

Speaking from the experience of one who was/is/will probably ever be very nervous of jumping, my favourite is jumping on a circle.
Have you ever done canter poles? I set four out on a 20m circle, at 12/3/6/9 o'clock as it were. I get cantering round them on both reins until I have got my eye in with the striding, my pony has relaxed and I've seen which rein is going to be our better one that day. I then get a friend to change one of the poles to a little vertical (I pick the pole that I have been meeting right the most consistently, I always find there's one I struggle to meet spot on every time). I then canter round the circle again, popping over the little jump as I get there.
As I'm continually cantering, and continually turning I find my pony gets in a rhythm, and as I have so much to think about I can't worry about the fence. If your confidence increases a bit, then you can raise the pole on the opposite side the circle from the one you've already raised, or just raise the height of the one you are already jumping.
It's quite hard work, so don't do it for too long. What I do is warm up in walk and trot, then canter the poles from the start, and get someone to raise the pole whilst I'm circling, again so I don't have time to think about it. As soon as I've done it a few times and relaxed, then I finish and have a walk down the lane to stretch out the pony and reflect on the fact that I might actually, possibly be smiling after jumping, lol!

 

[vimto92]

Personally... go at your own pace!

Its totally up to the both of you if you want to jump, nobody should be pressuring you, and you can do more and put up bigger jumps when you want to and feel confident enough to!

So for the moment, just pop a small fence at the end of the ride, trust me... the bug and confidence will soon return!

To get you and Dolly both into it again, put a jump up anywhere in the school... ride around it, ignore it untill you want to jump it. You don't have to rush into getting higher and higher, its best for you to perfect your technique and raise your confidence than whack it up and frighten yourself.

xx

 

[Sticky's GF]

I think this has more or less been said above, but here's my input anyway!!

We had a nasty fall in august and have only just started jumping again. My confidence and possibly his has taken a knock so we started with trotting poles with a x pole behind. This worked fine for trot but when I tried a x pole on its own in canter he charged at it (exuberance or panic i'm not sure) so I tried 4 x canter poles on the ground and got him used to going boing boing over the poles then made the last pole a x pole. Because of poles on the ground he couldn't rush and it ensured his strides were perfect each time, as there is nothing like iffy striding to knock even more a dented confidence! That worked fine so put the x pole up to an upright of about 2ft6, popped that then called it a day.