Must.Stay.Relaxed.I've had a fab day with my horse - I posted earlier in the week that because I was of on my hols I was going to spend some quality time with Thea addressing the nervous nelly 'issues' that had been creeping back in recently and today we achieved a double whammy....we cantered for 1/2 the school AND we went out in the stubble fields on our own with my OH watching from a safe distance this time and she didn't nap once and infact felt as cool as a cucumber!! Tomorrow I'm going to have a go without any back up and hope it really 'spurs' me on to getting back out and hacking properly again - I was so chuffed with us both! I know that cantering in the school probably doesn't sound that 'wow' but when I bought her, canter was pretty much non-existent and she's my first own horse and we've gone through some bronchoing to get here- hence the nerves!! Slowly but surely...................
Here's some pics, a bit blurry because they are stills from a video but proof!!!
I have had advice from lots of people but the best ones are those who say to go at your own pace and not worry what others 'might' think - say no when you aren't comfortable doing something and set little goals and more people suffer with nerves than you realise!!
I have done this before in my teens and I remeber then I didbnt like it! I dont want to be a wuss and sit those jumps out, any tips on jumping them?
My goal was to get him to do a nice small course of jumps on tuesday but as he refused to come in it never happened and i felt quite good about doing it too lol, IF he will come in i am going to go up before work tomorrow and we WILL do some jumping! If that goes according to plan Saturday will either be a hack or schooling, hack if there is anyone to go with as i don't know all the paths yet so might get lost if i go alone
Tacked up and it started raining so decided to just do some schooling with no jumps, weather got worse though, very windy and heavy rain, he was quite spooky too which he has never been in the school before but put it down to the weather. He was a good boy though so i'm quite pleased with how it went today 
Hope the weather picks up a bit tomorrow. it was very scary so know how you feel (just waiting for horse to take a big tangled tumble & break something). I was dreading tacking her up again 2 days later thinking she'd remember how scared she was and would associate it with her bridle (even if she had spooked herself ) but the only one who remembered the incident was me - she didn't flinch even though I was a bit shaky and trying so hard not to let it show. So try not to worry, go back and lunge him again to get your confidence back in that and then take it from there when you're ready. I didn't get back on for about 5 days after our little 'episode' but she was good as gold when I did, again only me who was worried about anything! Chin up & good luck, I hope it works out with Oliver - I'm sure it will (Although have to admit I don't tie Thea anymore, just thread the leadrope through a loop of string and leave it - she seems to stand quieter because there's no resistance!!)tomorrow morning frankie and I are going on our first hack with someone from the yard, think we're going on the roads so they'll be buses and all sort about
I was hoping to go a bit further with my hacking in the open fields today but the wind and rain put me off, too many monsters in the hedges on days like today!
Can we come and play, you must be fairly local! I went in the school instead today although that's still outside but the wind made it difficult to do much at all - typically though once I'd untacked, the sun came out...looks good for tomorrow though so hopefully nice conditions to hack around in - wind across those fields just isn't fun!!I am deeply evnyous of your fields full of stubble! We have loads, but a farmer who hates horse riders and will let no one on his land.
I have some weird hacking fears. I utterly detest road riding. However, as long as where I am riding has some kind of a boundary and no cars I am fine. It's not even like our guys are bad with traffic, 99% of the time they won't bat an eyelid. I am the same - I'd like to move to a yard where there's proper off road hacking even though my girl seems pretty good with most traffic and we don't have to do much road work, mostly lanes but need to cross main A4 for some rides. My worry is getting dumped in the woods and her running for home....such a worrier
Still, I took Rio out in company last weekend and managed to stay relaxed enough that he didn't get all silly. Small steps and all that. Exactly -I think its best for horse & rider (mine's only 6 and I want to do things right)
My advise, for what it's worth, is push yourself if it is something you really want to do or overcome, but don't let anyone else dictate to you what your goal or target for that day should be!
Kat
. Anyway we are now having major napping problems on the road especially near the old yard as he wants to go back there (god knows why??? 
) so it turns into a battle with Ozzy going left me turning him right and the instructor shouting instucions to me. I won tonight with only a minor fight. Have also changed to a pelham as Ozzy has zero respect for the snaffle and has no brakes at all in it.. I could see her field mates watching at the gate by now and so could she but she didn't misbehave even if she was on her toes a little and we were soon back - big sigh from me and lots of praise for Thea.......hurray our first time in the BIG open field with no one watching over us, I'm so chuffed with her this week - I have almost achieved everything I planned to do this week, its just too hard in our school to jump, I am so happy though - just need to keep this up. Thanks for listening if you got this far, I'd offer you my huge iced bun but I've just eaten it 
