After Falling/Being Chucked Off My Horse 5 Times I've Lost All Confidence!!

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lauren_wenbourne

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I've been riding since about january this year & my mum thought summer was the right time to get me my own horse, after she saw how much I enjoyed it & how quickly I had learnt the ropes. So when the horse arrived I gave him a week and a bit before I started to ride him, & then gradually bought him back into work with assistance from my mum (I'm 16), he was nice to ride but just a little spooky. I fell off him within the first 3 weeks of having him when he saw a motorbike & reared up in the school, I came off the back of him & landed on my back, luckily I was wearing a body protector! I've came off 2 times whilst jumping, another time during schooling & once when I was having a lesson, this was the fall that really knocked my confidence down, the lesson was going very well, after about 30 minutes I saw a pony in the opposite field galloping along the fence & then I heard a bike, I was going to stop but thought he'd just be worse, so I continued to trot, the bike shot past him when he had he's back to it, he went galloping off, done 3 big bronchoes (came about 3 foot off the floor) & I came off... This has really knocked my confidence & I now know he has a major fear of bikes! But is there anything I can do to bring my confidence back up? I can ride the horse I learnt on with nothing to worry about, its just him! Any advice would be appreciated. :)
 
There are 2 elements to this, improving your confidence and then your horses confidence.

You need to work at desensitizing your horse and help him regain trust in you. Ideally have help, but if none available, I believe clicker training may really help increase the bond between you both, help you understand how horses learn and also make your horse listen to you. Try googling Hannah Dawson. To access her videos does cost a little, but I haven't found anything else comparable that would give you a way forward clearly, described on video and give your horse parameters, manners and also help despook him.

Your confidence is different. Again, ideally you need help, but to regain confidence with your horse is going to be a long process, so i would just accept this and enjoy the journey, you will learn huge amounts. If you do a search on here for 'confidence' there are some very interesting threads with many personal journey to regaining confidence which might inspire.

Good luck.
 
Do you know anyone with a bike ? if so would they come up your yard and feed loads and loads of treats ? it may take a week or two, but if they would let the horse become used to the look of the bike, then the gentle sound of the bike, and then the loud noise of the bike by associating bikes with nice things.

One thing to remember bikes puff out air, and very often it is not the sound, its the puff of air that sets the horse off as they feel this on their legs.

My Ginger was never very happy around bikes until i started to court my husband - OMG after about a month of him popping up to see us she would literally run after bikes as she thought they were all my OH under the helmet and try and get treats off them ! lol

As for confidence - your young, you bounce, and the only person that can give you confidence is you and you need to put on a big brave face as your pony is looking to you to be the leader - and if your scared of him, he will be of you.

You will be fine, if you had brought a plod you would not have anything to work on - so no hasty decisions, do not stop riding the pony even if you get someone in to help you for a while - the only person that can step up and do this is you - so go on girl you can do it - your no quitter :)
 
How old is your horse, and what sort of experience has he had before you bought him? If you have only been riding for 7 - 8 months then you are really still a beginner (no matter how well you've learned the ropes) and perhaps not ready to take on the training of a horse. A set of further riding school lessons would probably be the best way for you to regain some confidence.
 
I think that maybe you've tried to run before you can walk hence the current problems. But don't give up either on yourself or the horse just yet. It sounds like he needs desensitising as already said by previous posters and you need to work on both your riding skills and understanding of horses. If you are still confident with the RS horse then concentrate on riding him and improving your overall riding ability until your confidence improves. If youve become anxious about riding him then i'd avoid doing so until you feel better or he will sense how you feel and this would just make things worse for you both. Can you get help with your horse? maybe get him a bit more confident and learning how to work with him from the ground so that you build up a good trusting relationship. Is there someone who could hack him out for you so that he can start getting used to traffic and bikes? I'm also a relatively new rider but have been really fortunate to have lessons on a very nervous horse who has taught me a lot about me and being calm and how to keep him relaxed in the process. The good well behaved steady ones can only teach us so much so this is also your opportunity to learn more . Keep safe and good luck. :)
 
I lost my confidence i while ago after i had a bad fall after being bucked off from my horse! I then discovered IRide (http://equiwebuk.com/) There was one in particular that i used called Building Confidence with Your Horse It is by Danielle Olding. It really helped me focus on what i needed to do in order to gain my confidence back and helped me realise the thing that i wasn't doing correctly in order for my horse to gain trust in me again. It gave me an insight into what i could do in order to achieve what i wanted. After i had gained my confidence back then went on to use other downloads such as 'The circle of contact' to improve on what i had gained back! Hope this helps :)
 
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