Getting Rid of Your Nervousness!

Ceraptor

Ceraptor

Canter, Baby, Canter!
Oct 21, 2001
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Bangkok, Thailand
elfwood.lysator.liu.se
Whew. Let me confess...I'M A NERVOUS RIDER! I'm very, very comfortable around horses but when I'm on the saddle, the "balloon of nervousness" goes tight and bursts! (Oh, and did I mention I fall off a lot? Nothing serious but...ugh!).
Heck...so post here your favorite ways of getting rid of nervousness! Some tips here and there can actually help some nervous riders out there, including me.
My two ways of getting rid of my nervousness would be spraying this guava extract underneath my tongue or running around an empty arena until I sweat. What are some of your secrets?
 
Some one told if that you are verry

nervous and you feel as if you are going to fall off when you trot for the 1st time you hold on the front bit of saddle and your legs go back a bit

I hope I have help you
 
Sing! Yep, ......just sing! A tip we had from Dorothy Johnson recently at a dressage seminar.Works a treat,because in order to sing you have to breathe deeply, particularly if you happen to be riding at the time!! I do it regularly if I'm out hacking and see something I think my horse will spook at.Because if you get scared your horses senses it immediately.Start singing, that always reassures them, or at the very least confuses them, so thay forget to be scared!!!!
 
In my case, the singing would probably scare the poor animal more! :D What I do is just try and think about something else. Especially if I'm out on a trail ride (and trail rides with my instructor aren't always relaxing! ;) ) I just think about what the scenery looks like, or what I'm going to do after my lesson. That sort of thing. :)
 
My idea is similar to the singing one but I just talk to the horse I'm riding....I say anything from what the weather is like to how well we are going to do the next exercise! A bit strange, but I works for me!! lol!:D
 
i chat away to myself and the horse constantly, particularly on babies. i do a lot of breaking in, and it's always a bit nerveracking getting on the first few times. talking or singing keeps you breathing and stops your body getting too stiff, so it helps to stop the horse picking up on your nervousness from your body language. if i'm teaching someone nervous, i try and keep a conversation going, which also keeps the mind on something else so the rider isn't just thinking about what might happen.
 
As soon as you and the horse are warmed up, get to work as quickly as possible and make it as interesting as possible. I am able to find my center and get my balance a lot faster if I start right in on transitions and changes of rein and different figures, rather than doing endless boring trots or whatever around the arena. If I am focused on interesting work, even if it is a bit difficult and my execution is less than perfect, it leaves less room for nervousness. I think especially for mature riders who are goal oriented, the need to do the assigned task can over ride the fear sometimes.
 
If I knew that I'd be in a situation that might make me nervous with my horse I'd wear some perfume to hopefully "mask" any scents of fear. Its my "good luck charm." If you think something works, it probly does. But don't confuse nervousness with wisdom. Don't do more than your ready to do at that time. I do lots of walking and asking him to "give" to the bit and halt on request etc and it works the edge off for both of us.
 
Talking and singing and singing and talking....

I have to agree with the others - singing can be an excellent way of banishing the nerves. I certainly used to do that when first hacking out alone on Ellie (my share-mare). Now if I have an 'iffy' moment (perhaps I think she's going to spook, or canter off after another horse in the distance at high speed) I tend to talk to her.

Now, there is one downside to this, as I found out to my cost. I was riding past a field of particularly scary sheep and was talking to Ellie all the time. You know the sort of thing 'Oooo, scary sheep, eh Ellie? I'm scared, just look at that one - killer sheep, ooo, ooo..... I've never seen anything quite so scary in all my life....' and I did such a good job of settling my nerves that I failed to notice the two teen gals who were leading in their horses just over the hedge from me, within earshot..... Lord, did I feel daft!

But it can work!

Good luck - Heather :D
 
Yes. I was caught out like that, by the bin men!! We came out of our lane, and there was a new pile of salt the council had put there.I knew that Dan, my old gelding wouldn't like it, so I was talking to him in much the same way as you were about the sheep. "look, Dan...it's a pony-eating pile of salt" ,etc,and all of a sudden I heard stifled giggles.And two burly rubbish men by the hedge, a little afraid of laughing methinks as I had my DISABLED RIDER tabbard on, and I think they were assuming that the disability was north of my neck!!!
 
Scary sheep? :) Oh my...

My special get over the nervous speech with Litfield, my 12 year old riding partner. I'm gonna get strange looks this saturday, but heck. It helps me get over my nervousness.

"I'm just gonna forget about the entire boss thing. I don't carry the crop, and you don't wander off where I don't want you to. You listen to me, I listen to you. We'll be partners. I pull too hard on the reins, just give me a soft reminder. I fall off, you don't troddle on me. Got that? Good...here's a sugar cube..."

To tell you the complete truth, I don't like that entire boss thing. I'm very firm and in control with the horses I ride, but the pure thought of being a boss...ergh. That's why I'm never going to major in business in college.
 
I more the other way around!
I get nrevous before the lesson but once I'm on I relax.
I get nrevous around some of the horses when tacking up because some do try and bite and Jappy once pinned me up against the wall!!!:eek:
 
I have to sing when ever I go around a course at a show. It's not that I'm nervous, but I completely forget to breathe. :D
 
Well, I don't sing loudly, and the judges usually sit outside of the ring so I don't think they can hear. If they can, they don't care, because I always place well.
 
breathe out fully and then when you would normally breathe in, don't. breathe out some more until you have to blow (as if you were blowing up a balloon). It is impossible for your body to be tense with no oxygen in it! and horsey won't pick up on your nervousness because you've just breathed it all out. Take a big breathe in (you will have to) and again this seems to help any tension. and repeat ... ... until scary bit has passed.


[i think the inward breathe is better through the nose though]
 
*Laughs* Oxygen starvation!! I never breathe wneh I jump - I have gone around an eight jump course without one breath. After the last jump, I nearly fell off from it!

I talk. Only sometimes that makes me more nervous. But the rest of time time it works. Actually, I don't ride any horses who will stand still long enough to get nervous on. They're usually the sweetest horses, but it takes a great deal of work to stay at a walk. So I forget to be nervous.

I have to say though, I rode my instructor's team penning gelding; he's the perfect beginner horse, and I had to grab the mane on the first trot. I'm so unused to a horse staying quiet and still that I got more and more nervous...
 
I get really excited before I ride-probably because I only ride once a week and I love horses! Anyway, when I starte to groom that is when I calm down. I have some buisness to do-you know make the horse comfortable for the ride. If I get nervous in the saddle I usually take deep breathes. I also, if I am really scared, I talk to the horse. I also talk to the horse when I am completely relaxed. I have noticed that I am completely relaxed before/when I start, I am harder to scare-but, mind you, I didn't say how much harder!:D But that is what I do.:)
 
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